+Anima

+Anima is a manga series written by Natsumi Mukai, and licensed in America by TOKYOPOP. Beings who possess animal-like powers walk among humans in this alternate universe. These mysterious mutants, the +Anima, are shunned by society. Four outcasts in particular - Cooro, a boy with crow-like powers; Husky, a fish-boy; Senri, a bear +Anima; and a girl named Nana, who wields the power of the bat - search for others like themselves while trying to gain acceptance in a world cruel to anyone or anything that is different. It's Better Than It Sounds.

Tropes used in +Anima include:
  • Aerith and Bob: In the fifth volume, the four mains (Cooro, Husky, Senri and Nana) meet a boy named Kevin. (Since they travel a lot and have crossed into at least one other country, cultural differences might justify this.)
  • Abusive Parents: Nana reveals that her father used to beat her and her mother. A flashback shows that during one beating Nana tried to stop him which accidentally led to her impaling his hand with her sewing scissors. In a rage he chased her into the dark woods with a cleaver, where she first turned into her bat +Anima to save her life.
  • Animorphism: And how... most of the time.
  • Artificial Human: Blanca.
    • Subverted with Cooro, as Aaron's story negates what Fly tells Cooro about his birth.
  • Attractive Bent Gender: Husky, whenever he's cross-dressing. And even when he's not. (He likes jewelry...)
  • Berserk Button: Don't call Husky a girl.
    • Also, don't hurt Senri's friends. Or take his book.
    • Talking about +Anima or Kim-un-Kur around Igneous isn't the best idea, either.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: Fly to Cooro. Dear God.
  • Big Eater: Cooro, for the most part.
  • Big Screwed-Up Family: Husky's family.
  • Bishie Sparkle: Cooro can summon these at will. Husky sometimes gets them too, though in his case it's more like Bishojo Sparkles...
  • Bishonen: Husky.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Magdala.
  • Blood Brothers: Cooro and Husky, for the most part.
  • Break the Cutie: Having his Anima taken from him by Fly was pretty much what finally sent Cooro mindlessly spiraling. See Driven to Suicide for the outcome.
  • Catgirl: Rose, though as a sort of subversion she only has the claws, slitted eyes and Naruto-like Facial Markings - no ears or even Cute Little Fangs.
  • Cheerful Child: Cooro.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Blanca. We see her on the FIRST PAGE of the entire series, right before chapter 1.
  • The Chick: Nana, although she does fight occasionally.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: All of the main characters have one of these, because childhood trauma causes children to become Anima
  • Cool Big Sis: Rose acts like this both to her younger brother and, to some extent, to our gang.
  • Crossing the Desert: For some reason, most of Sailand just is a desert. And with help from Crystala, Cooro and Nana cross one to try and save Husky and Senri.
  • Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: Chapter 8.3, Shines in the Darkness.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Cooro has black wings, which makes most people think he's a bad guy, ie, an angel of death. However, he is nothing but a +Anima, albeit a very unique one.
  • Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: When they sit around and talk with Fly, who tries to sweet talk them into giving up their Animas. For some reason, only Cooro is the one catching on, albeit silently.
  • Driven to Suicide: Volume 10: Cooro.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: One gets dropped on Kevin.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Poor Husky; it even gets to the point where the characters themselves question his gender.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Magdala, at least in her fashion.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: That being said, not many girls have actually been interested in Husky anyway.
  • Everything Is Worse With Bears: Senri, though he's generally nice unless you decide to harm his friends. Of course, there's the matter of what happens when his eyepatch comes off...
  • Eyepatch of Power: Senri wears one to keep his rabid, man-eating Anima contained. When it comes off, you have but seconds to run far, far away. His +Anima is also why he doesn't express any emotion.
  • Extreme Doormat: Cooro. He has emotions and opinions, but smiles through it all and never goes against another's choice, even if he wants to. He fits the trope to a 'T' when near Fly.
  • Fairy Tale Motifs: The "Mermaid Princess" legend pararells to The Non-Disneyfied Little Mermaid story.
  • Fantastic Racism: In some chapters, the group come across people who hate +Anima. Taken Up to Eleven in Sailand.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Senri's backstory can get... bloody.
  • Fetish: Senri tends to have a thing for Bloodplay. (Although not introduced sexually, it's a pretty herfderf concept.)
    • Rose, being older than the kids, did seem to catch on to the sexual aspect of it... She suddenly seemed to give up on her interest in Senri after he licked Cooro.
  • Flash Back: Nana's explanation of how she got her Anima, among numerous others about their pasts.
  • Flower in Her Hair: Rose.
  • Forgot I Couldn't Swim: Cooro, Cooro, Cooro... *sigh*
  • Friend to All Children: Senri. He will go great lenghts to protect a child, immediately from the moment he sees it's needed.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Averted, sort of. Cooro uses his ONCE in the entire series.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Nana (bat wings) and Cooro (crow wings) would generally fall under 'Evil' wings, but the characters certainly aren't evil. Fly with Cooro's wings, on the other hand...
  • Happiness in Slavery: Daisy, and some others. Senri when he was owned by Crystal probably counts.
  • He-Man Woman Hater/Girls Have Cooties: Husky. Like wow.
    • Husky's technically prepubescent, but since he doesn't actually think girls are 'icky', and has actual legitimate reasons for hating them, it's safe to assume it's unlikely for him to really warm up to women in the future.
  • Hitchhiker Heroes: Especially in the first couple chapters.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Chapter 14, when the crew finds themselves in the town of Bubbly.
  • I Believe I Can Fly: There sure are a lot of winged +Anima; of the 15 named ones, 8 are birds or other flying critters of some sort, including Blanca, though she's all sorts of things at once. There's even Shadow, who can't fly, but he wishes he could.
    • Justified as children gain their +anima when they are about to die and see the animal in question. You're a lot more likely to see a bird than anything else just because they're always around and the power of flight in most cases will save the child's life.
  • Identity Amnesia: Senri gets this after his eyepatch is removed. He not only goes berserk, but does not remember Cooro, Husky, or Nana. This happened previously when Senri was young, and was given his pressed flower book to remember Crystala.
  • Idiot Hero: Cooro, though he subverts it often.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Nana often feels like this, and at one point she is offered a chance to give up her Anima, though she decides against it.
  • Instant Cosplay Surprise: Played a little different. Cooro is stripped of clothing very quickly by Husky (who also strips himself), instead of being changed into a new outfit. Cooro comments on Husky's ability to remove entire outfits from two people in a span of what seems to be 3 seconds, and soon becomes confused on 'why [he's] naked too.'
    • Also played straight, when Nana knocks Husky out and puts him in a dress.
  • Interrupted Suicide: Husky manages to convince Cooro not to kill himself at the last minute.
  • Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Sinon tries to quit his 'job' as Magdala's guard, and in turn gets thrown into a coliseum and used as a play toy for Magdala's pet Lionesses. It nearly kills him.
    • Similarly, Husky and Cooro politely turn down the opportunity to become her guards, so they get thrown into a dungeon and get water poured on them all night so they can't sleep.
  • Karmic Death: Fly
  • Kids Are Cruel: None of Husky's siblings treated him well.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Due to their constant travelings, they only get one new set of clothes through the series. Except Nana, who just turns up with new clothes whenever she feels like it. (She does say where she got them from - she usually sews them herself.)
  • A MacGuffin Full of Money: The treasure chest in one of the extra chapters. But, it ends up getting eaten by an interesting looking fish.
  • Made a Slave: Senri in his backstory and later during the story, along with Husky in Sailand.
    • And any +Anima who lives in Sailand.
    • Husky being sold to the Ringmaster may also count as this.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Fly.
  • Modest Royalty: So much, in fact, that Husky never even tells them he was a Crown Prince before becoming a +Anima.
  • Modesty Towel: Everyone but Rose keeps their towels on after entering the onsen in chapter 14.
  • Near-Death Experience: Anyone with an Anima.
  • One Myth to Rule Them All: More subtale version. It's implied that legends like mermaids, werewolves or angels may be actually people with Amina power.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: Husky. For one thing, he's male.
  • Parental Abandonment: Happens quite a lot, actually.
  • Parental Favoritism: A very large part of Sailand's Royal Family. The King's children were ranked from Most Favorite to Least Favorite. This is why Husky was named Crown Prince out of birth order. It's also why Dylana then tried to kill him.
  • Perpetual Molt: All the bird +Anima.
  • Petting Zoo People
  • Ping-Pong Naivete: Cooro's usually pretty ignorant to the world, but he has his moments of knowledge.
  • Porn Stache: The Ringmaster has one. Oh yes.
  • Power Tattoo: Actually, it's a scar, but the +Anima mark is the source of a +Anima's abilities.
    • However, as shown in Chapter 50, losing an Anima causes the scar to melt away.
  • The Runaway: Husky and Nana. Both can technically be considered Type 2.
  • Silent Bob: Senri and Pinion.
  • Shipper on Deck/Yaoi Fangirl: Though it's played for laughs, Nana makes a lot of innuendoes about Kevin's crush on "the mermaid" (i.e. Husky). Sometimes she seems to hint at Husky/Cooro, too.
  • Shoot Your Mate: Subverted. Cooro attacks Husky because he thinks it'd be fun, and less because they're in opposing gangs who like to kill each other.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: People with Anima power are believed to have Kim-un-Kur blood in their veins. In reality, children gain ability to turn into animal they see during their near dead experience.
  • Stepford Smiler: Cooro. Much like his Extreme Doormatism, Cooro uses his smile and cheer to hide how positively unhappy he is, especially when someone even hints at Fly's person.
  • Super Drowning Skills: You're not Husky? Oh, ok; then you can't even come close to being able to swim.
    • More like, you're not a fish +Anima? Forget you!, since Husky couldn't swim either before he became a +Anima. Actually, that's the whole reason he is one.
  • Super Human Trafficking: In Sailand all +Anima are slaves. If they don’t have master, they will be arrested and sold on the slave market anyway. It’s the law. They are mostly sold to people, who can make use of their powers (swimming +Anima for fishman ect.), but more attractive ones may be bought to just stand around and look pretty.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Subverted when Nana spends a whole chapter trying to find a proof that Husky is a crossdressing girl. When he finds out, Husky proves her wrong in no uncertain terms.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Cooro and his apples.
    • According to the author, Nana loves homemade food and baking, which reminds her of a warm and comforting home.
    • Senri like sweet things, such as honey.
    • Apparently, Husky likes eating fish.
  • True Companions: At least two of the main four have given up the possibility of stable and permanent homes to continue traveling with the others.
  • Tsundere: Husky, and how.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Senri. Though it isn't really his fault.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Played with - straight, sometimes averted, and lampshaded with Husky, whose Anima powers are only any use when water is involved... which happens a lot. However, Nana once remarks that hey, Husky was the only one who didn't use his Anima in this chapter, to which he answers that duh, there was no water. Cooro then suggests they try to find a lake for their next destination, just because.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Husky, again. In Chapter 1 and Chapter 39/40.
    • Plus that time in chapter 13, though to be fair Nana did it while he was unconscious.
  • Wicked Stepmother: Lady Dylana.
  • Winged Humanoid: Cooro, Nana, and all the other bird/flying +Anima.
  • Youngest Child Wins: Unfortunately for hostile step-brother Kean, Husky isn't hostile back, is younger, and most definitely wins.
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