Battle Angel Alita is the best manga I have read in my life (and I have read a lot). It has an amazing steampunk atmosphere, the artwork is very detailed, the attention to technology and the terminology they are using gives them an extra touch of realism, and the action scenes are epic and brutal.
Of course all that are just surface elements any shonentard could say to make even Black Clover to sound like a masterpiece, so let’s move to more substantial things. The protagonist is for me, by far the best female character in fiction. She is not defined by her gender or her sexuality, which is the case with almost every female character nowadays. She has a personality of her own, she is proactive, she is not dependent on men for feeling happy or secure, and above all, she constantly moves forward seeking more about who she is and what she wants in life.
On a superficial level, the story is like a fighting shonen. Progressively stronger enemies appear, the protagonist is an underdog with amnesia that needs to power up and beat them for protecting her loved ones and eventually the world, before it’s revealed she was never an underdog and was special all along. The huge difference (which is also what makes it a seinen by the way) is how every conflict is mostly internal instead of external. Every challenge she faces is always related to how she thinks and feels; it’s not some generic one-dimensional villain who wants to take over the world for the heck of it. Overcoming a challenge is never about punching the bad guy harder than before; it’s about facing your fears and doubts. Hear that, D.Gray Man, you piece of shit?
Another great thing about it is how it’s an actual subversion of typical superhero and fighting shonen stories. The term has lost its meaning these days, since people are using it for everything, but this manga is the purest form of it. Every arc starts in a cheesy way, it has a twist that flips around everything you assumed about it, it ends in a way that feels cathartic, and leads to legit character development. It’s not a satire that treats twists as a joke (One Punch Man), it’s not trying to be different for the sake of being different without actually doing something with it (The Force Awakens), and it definitely gives you much more than what you initially expected out of the premise (Black Clover).
And I have to point out how it has a great plot progression with reasonable threat escalation and never collapses because of power creep. Getting stronger does not mean something superficial such as your hair having a different color, or your aura is bigger (Dragonball Super). The conflicts escalate in volume as they do in importance, beginning from backstreet psychotic killers and go all the way up to demigods that control the solar system. Their motives are not the same generic rule or kill everything, regardless of how strong they are.
The more influence someone has because of his abilities, drastically changes his responsibilities and motives, which is why the petty street thug does not behave or think the same way as a demigod, so even the psychological conflicts gradually change from petty ones to bigger than life cosmological debates. And this is something I keep hearing a lot of people disliking about later arcs, especially in the Last Order sequel. A big part of the story is no longer about Alita, it’s about the world around Alita, which makes her feel distant and less relatable because of it. Even though that is the whole point of her plot progression; gradually becoming less selfish and more interested in existentialism issues that reach a cosmic level.
Many complaints have also been said about the fighting tournament that takes place in Last Order. A huge part of it shows us what the other characters are doing instead of focusing on Alita all the time. Which is a completely dumb thing to say since that is exactly what made The Zenith of Things the best fighting tournament in fiction. In comparison to the Tournament of Power in Dragonball, which was just Goku and Vegeta steamrolling dozens of nobodies, and the sports festival of My Hero Academia, which was just a few boys screaming at each other with no tension whatsoever, ZOTT in comparison is a masterpiece. It bothers to flesh out most of the contestants, while offering world building at the same time, by showing us all the other places Alita never went to, and yet is supposed to be affecting with her ever-growing powers. Entire universes have been wiped out in Dragonball Super and you don’t give a shit about them because you know nothing about them. How is this better to what ZOTT is doing, you fools? You treat the manga as a fighting shonen and just want to see Alita as a waifu that steamrolls everyone. You are missing the big picture.
In conclusion, Battle Angel Alita is the best manga ever made, and retains its consistency throughout its duration. It was not ruined like Berserk after the Eclipse, it did not lose its plot density like Eden is an Endless World, and it did not mutate from a Parasyte imitation to flower symbolism about one-dimensional rapists (Tokyo Ghoul). As for the complaints about the bug eyes Alita has in the upcoming live action movie, Cameron, you fucking idiot, every child-like character looked like that in the manga because of the artstyle. You killed its appeal a year before the movie is out and you will only manage to make people to read the manga. Which is better than nothing I guess. At least this way a lot of people will realize what trash fighting shonen have become nowadays. Fuck modern, Alita is almost 30 years old by now and it wins. As all retro always does.