+Anima
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| プラスアニマ (+ Anima) |
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| Genre | Adventure, Fantasy, Shōnen | ||
| Manga | |||
| Authored by | Natsumi Mukai | ||
| Publisher |  MediaWorks  Tokyopop |
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| Serialized in | Dengeki Comic Gao! | ||
| Original run | January 2001 – 26 March 2005 | ||
| No. of volumes | 10 [1] | ||
+Anima is an internationally published manga series of 10 volumes authored by Natsumi Mukai. The story is about four anthropomorphic characters who are outcasts and are searching for others of their kind. Despite its popularity, the manga ended on its tenth volume.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The plot of this story revolves around four +Anima. These four travel the world in search of others and of a place to call home. They encounter some villains and a +Anima friend every now and then. The story begins with Cooro meeting Husky and then with a promise the two take off on a journey. At this point there is no hint given to what Cooro planned on doing in an adventure. All he says is traveling is more fun with a group. although it was rough at the beginning. but he finally managed to get some animas into his group in search of a place they could call home.
[edit] Main characters
[edit] Cooro
A boy with crow-like powers, he can spring black feathered wings from his back and is able to fly with them like any bird. He is naïve, a bit absent-minded, and slow to make decisions. However, he is optimistic and always cheerful. It is revealed that he fell from the sky when younger. Another thing revealed at the end of volume one is he is involved with a man who appears to be a scientist or a priest and he acts as if Cooro went into hiding or ran away. It also appears when he was younger he by chance fell into a bed of roses on a church alter, there by mystifing his past.
- Parallel-In the original short story, Cooro is much more violent, wields a small hatchet, and has noticeably larger wings and a bird-like tail.
- Likes- Food(Mostly Apples), flying, discovering, helping, anything fun.
- Dislikes- Bees(In volume two he knocks down a bee hive)
- Alias- Black Angel, Black wings of death, Messenger of Death
[edit] Husky
A fish-boy, whose legs completely transform into a fish-tail when jumping into water. Similar to a merman, he also grows gills, allowing him to breathe underwater and stay submerged indefinitely. Although Husky is male, he is appears effeminate, and is even thought to be a girl by some of the characters. He is considered to be the most intelligent and rational of the group. He wields a long staff for a weapon. When he was younger apparently he was captured in a fishermens net and then sold to the circus, although he claims he works there willingly. That possibility is low because he is bound and gagged in his final performance as the Mermaid Princess. Has stud earrings that he apparently treasures. The stud earrings are made from his mother. In a flashback to his past, it shows he could have been born wealthy, and that he was teased because he looked more like a girl than a boy. Later in the series, after learning about Senris past, Husky pursuades everyone to go to another counrty, where he was born, to the capital to visit his mother, and let her know he is alive. However, he is seperated from the group, and it is unknown if he will be able to meet up with his mother.
- Parallel-the only differences in the original are that he wears a headband and has a more detailed transformation, instead of a flash of light.
- Likes- Money, valuables(most of all jewelry), fish.
- Dislikes- Girls (he says they're noisy, loud and selfish) getting wet
- Alias- Mermaid Princess, silver princess
[edit] Senri
A bear +Anima. A boy presumably older than the other 3 characters, probably in his late teens. He is capable of transforming his right arm into a bear-like arm, giving him sharp claws and great strength. He is the strongest melee combatant from the group; thanks to his Anima, he does not need any melee weapons, although he does have a falchion-like sword which he uses when does not want to reveal his +Anima identity. Not a man of many words, he very rarely says anything and often demonstrates odd behaviour- like licking the blood off of a comrade's wound. He has a book — possibly a diary (suggested by Husky), or a gardening book (explaining why he is such a good cook with spices and knows more about most plants than the other characters) — in which he collects souvenirs, especially flowers, as reminders of places and people he has seen. Cooro's feather once fell into the pages of his "book". He is also quite skilled at cooking. He was revealed to have grown up with a caravan and is possibly a Kim-un-kur and the one who give him the book was the chief of the caravan and she was considered as Husky's long lost mother. He's also the strongest Anima in his village because he has a special power that he has as a heritage from his father.
- Parallel-In the original, Senri has no book (until the last parallel chapter), and armor plates on his bear arm.
- Likes- Cooking, collecting stuff for his book so he can remember the event that he met in his adventure, abon weed, small flowers, honey
- Dislikes- When his friends get hurt, losing his book(A young girl once stole it from him in a city called octopus, all he said to her was "Book", and then he ended up comforting her after he saved her from "leech" like worms.)
[edit] Nana
Wields bat powers. The only girl in the group, Nana is capable of sprouting wings much like Cooro; however, they are bat-wings. She is also capable of flight. Nana's ears can grow very large, gifting her with superior hearing that is capable of detecting sound in the ultrasound frequency. In addition, she has uniquely-developed vocal cords, making her capable of emitting ultrasound waves from her mouth, which she may use either to navigate when her eyesight is useless, as bats do, or as a powerful area-effect weapon. Her personality is kind, albeit immature, and quite feminine. Nana does not like violence and does not use any weapons. Her drunken father beat her and her mother; she accidentally stabbed him one night with her stitching scissors and took off into the forest. In a flashback near the end of Volume 1 she reveals that she discovered her powers that night. It is apparent she joined a group of all-girl-orphans that she ran away from after believing she was hated. In volume 2, she appears to have a crush on Senri, along with a girl named Rose. She also thought Husky kept a secret of him being a girl. To prove her theory, she purchased a dress and forced it on him. He took off all his clothes to prove he wasn't.
- Parallel-In the original, Nana seems older and has small notches in her ears in her bat form. The dress and coat she wears is also different. She also scolds Cooro very much.
- Likes- Cooro, cute boys, ribbons, frills, cute clothes, bread, Senri (In chapter 8 she seems to have a crush on Senri as she gets jealous of how close Rose is to him)
- Dislikes- Night, dark forests, camping, Husky (most of the time)
- Alias- Phantom Thief Nana
[edit] Other +Anima
Rose: A 16 year old merchant. Despite her age she claims to be an adult, making her Nana's idol. She also has some form of attraction or affection for Senri, possibly because he reminds her of her little brother. She is a cat +Anima- when she transforms, her fingernails turn into claws and she gains catlike speed. she also has two tiger like stripes on her cheeks and a stripe on her forehead.
Hopps: The sheriff of Antsmine in the Parallel story "Shining in the Darkness". At first it is assumed he is one of the people that hate +Animas. However at the end of Volume 2 it is shown that he can turn his head into a gator's head. Despite being one, he throws the four +Animas out of town, but not before advising them to be proud of their gifts and to not give normal people a reason to hate +Anima (though he says he is a +Anima subtly).
Margaret: First appears in chapter 11. She is a deer +anima and lives with Harden. Although you only see her use her powers in a flash back, she openly admits that she "was" a +anima. She also says that since the purpose of a +anima power is to protect the user, she says she lost her +anima because Harden was now her protector. She appears to be an adult. When she transforms, her body is similar to a centaur's, with the lower body of a deer, but the torso of a human. She also has deer-like ears.
Mister Bison: As his name implies, he is a bison +anima, who first appeared in chapter 14. Not much is know about him (not even his name, it is put here as Mister Bison because that is what Cooro calls him). It seems that he is unable to change out of his +anima form, which is why he only uses the hot springs at night. He is an adult man and left the group after they tried to drive him out of the hot springs. He has two small horns, and his whole upper body is covered in hair.
Shinon: Appeared in chapter 17, he was the +anima of a water bird. Shinon is actually the first occurance of a human transforming into a +anima. He was the 'friend' (effectively a slave) of Magdra, future leader of Maggie Vil. After declaring to Magdra that he wants to go home, she imprisons him in the dungeon, in the cell next to where Husky and Cooro would later be. He then escapes to the coliseum where Magdra sics her pet lions on him. In desperation, he reaches up to some passing water birds, at which point one of the 'tattoos' appears on his left hand, and his arms grow feathers, allowing him to fly away.
[edit] The +Anima phenomenon
In the +Anima fantasy world, some humans have an unusual gift that grants them the ability to morph one or more of their body parts, such as limbs, into a form similar to an animal's body part. Some are capable of even more radical changes, such as growing wings or full-body transformation. The transformation processes are very fast, and occur at the user's whim. When inactive, the morphed areas revert back to normal, leaving person's clothing and body completely untouched. The only visual mark of this ability appears on the body of the person, in the form of a black tattoo-like marking. Occasionally, the user bears some behavioral characteristics of their animal, but this is not common.
All who have such an ability are collectively referred to as +Animas (Plus Animas).
The +Animas are capable of controlling their powers at will. Their abilities range widely — including, but not limited to, superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, as well as heightened senses, and the growth of physical features such as claws or wings. All of these originate from the characteristics of a +Anima's animal. Every +Anima bears the characteristics of only a single animal.
The origin of this phenomenon is unexplained, but is slowly revealed that there is more than one way to obtain this power; the vast majority of the characters acquired their +Anima features when facing a desperate situation, as if the powers came to their help; but the Kim-un-kur, the people among which the phenomenon began to spread (and the people Senri comes from), chose willingly to become a +Anima.
[edit] Outcasts
The +Anima's powers are not understood by the normal people, and the +Anima are subject to negative prejudice. Similar to the X-Men of Marvel Comics, they are feared as monsters, and even hated by some. Some are envious of such powers and seek to gain control over them. Thus, afraid of the negative reaction from others, most +Animas tend to hide their true powers whenever possible, although Cooro doesn't seem as ashamed of his powers as the others. He actually tends to love, cherish, and show off his +Anima powers.
[edit] References
- ^ +Anima (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-17.
