Nanotechnology Through the Lenses of Science Fiction: Case Study of the Manga Ganmu (Battle Angel Alita) by Kishiro Yukito.

Nanotechnology has emergerd as a rapidly growing field whose dynamics and prospects pose many challenges to society at large. One of them is to overcome the radical opposition between nanophilic and nanophobic perspectives, whose science fictional rhetoric blurs the boundaries between "real" science and SF. However, if we assume, as Colin Milburn has pointed out, that nanotechnology is a "science fiction", it should be worth considering the ways science-fiction explores its so-called social and ethical implications. Japan offers an interesting example inasmuch as manga and animation, as a modern medium for SF, has dealt a lot with the political, economical, social and ethical impacts of nanotechnology. I will thus focus on the manga Ganmu 銃夢(Gunnm) by Kishiro Yukito 木城 ゆきとto analyse how Japan apprehends a nanotechnologically modified future.