This is a slightly tuned excerpt from an academic paper on gender representation in posthuman narratives specifically within the Japanese cyberpunk tradition The cyborg is a creature in a postgender world it has no truck with bisexuality preoedipal symbiosis unalienated labour or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a higher unity. In a sense the cyborg has no origin story in the Western sense a final irony since the cyborg is also the awful apocalyptic telos of the Wests escalating dominations of abstract individuation an ultimate selfuntied at last from all dependency a man in space. A Cyborg Manifesto 1985 by Donna Haraway imagines a world where gender is not just socially but biologically fluid a liberation from natural inhibitions and in turn socially ascribed categories. The foundation of this theory is the human but not in the traditional humanist sense of the modernist thinkers. Haraway proposes a biotechnologically advanced world geared toward the enhancement of our natural faculties and the dissection of our physical presence from the ghost or the consciousness that determines our perception of social/biological/cultural reality. The deterrent is that the existence of a posthumanist setting lies mostly within the realms of speculation cybernetic parts are not quite as fascinating or liberating as we might hope. For instance biotechnology in our time is not concerned with reshaping social structures but more so with the treatment of diseases amputation and other physical ailments. This is precisely why examining animated works that defy our notions of the actual and exist within the realm of pure fantasy allows for a far more concrete understanding of what constitutes gender liberation in the posthuman sense. While anime is not quite as researched in Western academia I will keep concerns of academic imperialism out of this paper there has always been a noted exchange between Japanese and American science fiction. Dating back to works like Neuromancer and Blade Runner it is not incidental that both nations are the biggest consumers of science fiction media in the world. And the imagination of Japans anime industry is one of technocentric fiction and in my view manga/anime present the finest expression of posthumanist ideas. The world of Gunnm resembles the settings of other dystopian stories like Brave New World particularly in its portrayal of class divisions. The city of Tiphares floats in midair with its metropolitan skyscrapers over the surfacedwelling earthlings who remain to inhabit the disasterridden wasteland of our planet in the 26th century. The earth is one gigantic junkyard full of squandered cybernetic parts poverty and crime. We are quickly introduced to our main character Alita who was merely a beatup dysfunctional mesh of robotic parts before being recreated by Daisuke Ito a Typharean scientist who was banished to the city of the Scrapyard. After reconfiguring Alitas body Ito gives her the name of his dead pet. In terms of presence Alita is a young spry and empowered cybergirl. She is secretly programmed with martial arts that allow her to defend Ito and fight back against the impoverished criminals of the surface. She is selfdetermined malleable in her gender performance and for the most part amicably portrayed by the narrative. Alita dresses naturally and casually for a young girl her motorball uniform is fitting for protective cyber gear. In some instances Alitas body is depicted in callous ways when she is being operated on by the scientists around her. The paneling of the manga focuses on her anatomical breasts and the process of the operation itself is uncomfortable for her and quite often sexually coded. Male adversaries will invade her body and dissect its technology in panels that harken to rape and abuse. This is not a value judgment on the works feminist barometer I view it more as a curious case study of what Anne Balsamo dubs as the sexualization process. In her book Technology of the Gendered Body 1995 Balsamo points to the existence of an organic human state that is reinforced regardless of cybernetic advancement. Mainly because the texts examining posthumanist ideas exist within a regular humanist framework. Balsamo concludes that many heroes of scifi cyberpunk and posthumanist fiction are white men. The identities of these men might be vaguely described and obscured through cybernization but they still manifest contextually within masculine and racial traits. An example of this is how the women of Tiphares are dehumanized and used for their reproductive organs. They exist as mere incubators to facilitate the eugenicist and racist structure. The women inhabiting Tiphares have no agency or right to life beyond their reproductive bodily parts. Alita on the other hand is incapable of reproduction this is presented as liberating by the narrative. In cybernetic terms Alita is free of an essential biological quality she exists outside of the genesis of gender and has evolved beyond organic signifiers. This does not change that Alitas coding remains female and her status as a cyberfeminist hero is marked by her distinct interactions with men in the series. When she undergoes the process of forced cloning Alita is presented as though she is being violated and assaulted by the scientists who invade her bodily freedom. The forced cloning plays out much like sexual assault. Eizenburg the evil scientist uses the language of a rapist stating that in order to make Alita behave he would bring in some people she would warm up to. He does not treat her as a human or posthuman instead she is used as a sample or product to be experimented on. In response to Eizenburgs abuse of her bodily integrity Alita responds as many women respond to rape: with rage disbelief and horror. She feels utterly debased and shouts at her male violator HOW DARE YOU and again How dare they. She reiterates that the entire situation is a nightmare. Alita is the only character in Battle who experiences forced cloning or any type of cloning at all and so her gender and female embodiment remains the most significant. This discordance is illuminating Alita cannot be placed easily into either assigned gender paradigm that of feminine or masculine. Like an angel her corporeality is malleable. But Gunnm explicitly adheres to the sexualization of its main character almost like Alita is in a constant battle with her author. She might be empowered in her strength and usage of cybernetic tools to transform her body yet she remains constrained by gender roles appropriate for the time. Posthumanist fiction cannot tackle its core principle of humanist defiance without overcoming our historical cultural and media contexts. Perhaps the natural conclusion to draw is that posthumanist fiction cannot exist it is unreasonable and illinformed to strip a work of its locale and period. Much like A Cyborg Manifesto its just conjecture of what ought to be. Personally Alita is the closest manga Ive read to solving the problem of posthumanisms incongruency with humanist fiction. For the potential and possibility alone I recommend it.