Hmmmm. . . . It's okay
I bought this knowing that the story would be different, and it was! I liked it, but I'll have to try listening to it in Japanese. Alita (Gally, in this OVA), has SUCH an irritating voice in english. She's too girly compared to the manga. There should have been more action, but what was there was pretty good.

Hugo was a jerk, not the out of reach tease he was in the manga.

I have to say there were way too many sex scenes! (Just two, but it was indecent!)

I enjoyed it, especially "Tears Sign" ("Tears of an Angel" in the manga).

If you choose between this and the manga though, get the manga. 5 million times better!

Needed to be longer
Above Scrap Iron City exists a floating city called Zalem. To live there is a dream for most of the residents in Scrap Iron City. In a way Zalem is heaven, while Scrap Iron City is hell. While searching through a junkyard during one of Zalem's dumpings. A cybernetics doctor named Ido finds a scraped android who is still alive. He rebuilds and names her Gally. Gally has completely lost her memories but still knows how to fight.

I give this anime alot of credit. Even though it is very short and the story really could have went further. The picture that is painted of Scrap Iron City being hell is very well done. The atmosphere speaks for itself. Plus it's very hard not to feel for the characters.

The battles are good and have some nice gore. The ending was kind of shaky concerning the last battle because the earlier ones were so much better.

The soundtrack is pretty good and the animation is nice. I really did like the artwork.

Now, don't go me wrong. I think the anime is pretty good but when compared to the manga. It's beyond awful. I'm glad that I chose to seperate the two or else I would still hate this anime.

I recommend this, if you read the manga and love it. Avoid Battle Angel, it can be a huge disappointment. If you're an anime fan, then I mildly recommend this. It's very short with only two episodes and you're going to crave more. So, I recommend picking this up, only at a cheap price. Anything more than ten bucks, just isn't worth it. 3.5 stars overall.

Disappointing
Bone Fox's review is pretty close to how I feel about this anime. I am also a die-hard Battle Angel Alita fan and this attempt to convert the novels to an anime is a joke.

Too much of the story is left out. For example, the first face off between Alita and Makaku where Alita suffered a defeat, which in turn leads Ido giving her the berserker's body (which plays a massive role in book 5). Makaku's past and how he came to be was left out and replaced with him receiving help from a made up character that was never in the novels. Another massive mistake was leaving out the "small fights" between Alita and Zapan which later leaves to what is know as "the point of no return" in the series. There are other big mistakes and holes in the story. To type them all would lead to about 3-4 pages long...

I agree with Bone, if you have never read the novels, you may like this anime. If you have read them, this anime will make you sick and wish that it never came to be. I truly hope James Cameron can do the movies that he is planning to do and do them right and stay true to the novels. I know Cameron is a big fan of the series, but I am worried he may already be making the mistake of wanting to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ido. Arnold as Ido...it doesn't fit...

Depends
To begin, I am a die-hard fan of the Battle Angel Alita manga. When I first saw this 'episode' of the Battle Angel anime and the anime version of 'Tears of an Angel' I was very disapointed. I agree with the offcial reveiw that it is impossible to translate Yukito Kishiro's extensive manga into an animated format without losing the incredible artwork. However, the loss of the story is what disapointed me the most.
I feel that the depth of the original plot is simply cheapened in the anime. The main villian (Makaku in the manga) has been replaced by a simple "brain eating gladiator". The intense scenes where Alita attempts to save Koyomi from Makaku are completly left out. The anti-hero Desty Nova, who plays a significant role in the later books, is also missing.
If you have never read the manga, you may enjoy this.
If you have read and enjoy the manga, you may want to save your money.

A horrific sci-fi story about violence and love!!
Good:
* Intense blood and gore.
* Deep storyline (easy to understand).
* Cool character desing (so look alike to the anime in Kill Bill).
* Great action scenes with good animation (there were like 3 or 4 action scenes).

Bad:
* The graphics were kind of smudgy.
* Sad story.

The story is simple because is about this robot girl called Gally who want to become an assasin for hire so she can get a better life but later the problems become more complicated.
This anime is not those who seeks for action-packed, this is more like a violent movie but is still a classic and very recomended for anime fans.

P.S: The english dub was GREAT but way to overacted at times, I think the voices were better than the acting but is worth to hear, so don't pay to much attention to the other people because is not THAT bad. In fact! this is one of the best dubs I ever heard since Princess Mononoke and Twilight of the Darkmaster.

Adios!