+Anima

+Anima (プラス アニマ) is an internationally-published ten-volume manga series by Natsumi Mukai. The story is about four kemonomimi characters; outcasts who are searching for others of their kind.

Plot
The plot revolves around four +Anima children: Cooro, Husky, Senri, and Nana. Brought together by their +Anima powers, they search for others like themselves and a place to belong. Along the way, they encounter villains and friends alike, as well as other +Anima.

In the +Anima fantasy world, Astaria (a primarily desert land with European influence), 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 of 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 will. When inactive, the morphed areas revert back to normal, leaving the 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 very common. +Anima are not treated kindly by the normal humans. Therefore, when some are treated bad enough or have a taken over neglected feeling, their anima often takes over them.

All who have such an ability are collectively referred to as +Anima. The +Anima 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 fur,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. Some who have been experimented contain two or more +Anima, each alone, or the two or more +Anima might fuse together to create a different or whole new +Anima. These experiments make the user's body a permanent animal trait such as a tail and claws pop out of the user when they are angry, embarrassed, or scared.

The origin of this phenomenon is rumored to come from the Kim-Un-Kur, a type of tribe(s). the criteria for one to become a +Anima is being slowly revealed. The main one of which are; 1) They are usually children age 5-14 2) they are very close to death or in a desperate situation. The Kim-Un-Kur seem to break these criteria, as they seem to voluntarily equip their anima and do not seem to vanish under the criteria under special experiments.

There are different theories how an animal is chosen for a +Anima. It is also possible for +Anima to be implanted into someone or the person done experiments on. Lyra was originally a normal human, but had said she was implanted with her recently disappeared swallow anima by Fry Greena Aight, a royal researcher in Asteria. In other words, naturally given +Anima are like birthmarks - they are more permanent and bestowed to them naturally. An implanted anima is not like the real thing and can fade over time.

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 +Anima 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.

The treatment of +Anima differs greatly in Astaria and Sailand, the two major countries in the +Anima world. In Astaria, +Anima are treated in various ways. More commonly they are treated with suspicion or dislike, not necessarily hate, although some in the army see them as enemies. However, later in the series Astaria does try to recruit +Anima to work in the army, as to make use of their abilities. On the other hand, +Anima are valuable slaves, for example; Crystala (Husky's aunt, the twin sister of the king of Sailand) buying Senri for 7000 gillah (1 gillah = 100 pillah, 1 pillah = 1 yen). They are looked down on and seen as less than humans. They work for their masters and are arrested by hunters and sold in slave markets if they have no master (which happened to Husky at one point). To identify them as slaves, they are forced to wear collar- like chokers with their masters symbol.

Another reason +Anima can be considered outcasts and dangerous is the fact that their anima can get stronger over continuous use for daily life, even to the point where individuals eventually (most likely involuntarily) give up their human sanity and become more and more like the animal they were bestowed.

There is also indication that they it may be possible for them to lose their powers, such as the blacksmith's wife. This usually occurs when they reach adulthood, or when they do not need their anima any more.

It is later revealed that researcher Fry Greena Aight took Cooro to the research centre years ago. Cooro later left with orders from Fry to find other +Anima and bring them to him, however it is suggested that Cooro deliberately forgot since he preferred traveling with the others. When visiting the orphanage where Cooro grew up, Nana and Husky find a tunnel underneath the church altar which leads them to where Blanca, a girl with an angel +Anima is stored in a tank. She is later revealed to be an artificial lifeform created years ago, found under the research centre. It is revealed that Fry has been removing +Animas and implanting them into Blanca. As Cooro promised to give Fry his +Anima when he was older, Fry implants it into himself, whilst Cooro goes to where his mother died where the others find him. Blanca is accidentally revealed to the King and his officials, she flies away, and Fry reveals his black wings and flies after Blanca. However his +Anima implant disappears, it is assumed he fell to his death, and the +Anima reverts back to Cooro. The children go to live with Haden the blacksmith.

Characters

 * Cooro (クーロ), born August 3rd in the 331th year of the Astarian calendar, is a crow +Anima, and can summon black feathered wings from his back and use them to fly. Cooro is naïve, a bit absent-minded, and slow to make decisions. He tends to honor people's decisions, to the point that if people tell him to go away or to leave them alone, he will do exactly that and won't pursue them. However, he is optimistic and always cheerful. In Cooro's hometown, it is said that the souls of the dead are taken by the crows who gather around the body to Heaven. His mother died when she was pregnant and when the crows gathered over the body, he burst out, with a crow +Anima, trying to follow his mother's soul. This means he was born a +Anima, so he, unlike the others, has no idea what is like to be a normal human. Due to his black wings, Cooro sometimes gets mistaken for a black angel, a messenger of death. Cooro has the rare ability to sense +Anima, and these powers are exploited by a man named Fly. Fly has Cooro locate +Anima so he can steal their +Anima and give it to a +Anima girl with white wings (Fly claims she is an Angel +Anima, an artificial lifeform found under the city). Cooro had also promised to give Fly his wings when he was older, so that Fly could fly with Blanca. In the Mukai's original short story, Cooro is much more violent, has wild behavior, and wields a small hatchet. He also has noticeably larger wings, a bird-like tail and the feathers on his arms are smoother.


 * Husky (ハスキー)((real name is Myrrha)), born March 4th in the 332nd year of the Astarian calendar, is a fish +Anima, 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. When he first meets Cooro, he is in a circus sideshow starring as a mermaid princess (wearing a wig and pearls) Cooro helps him escape and Husky joins him on his journey. Husky has a small fear of water because Lady Dylana, a rival queen and the mother of Keane (who used to tease and bully Husky), attempted to drown him, from which he gained his +Anima. He wields a long staff for a weapon that he took from the Beehive Manor. Husky is revealed to be a wealthy prince who had been teased because of his effeminate appearance. Due to his mother being from the North, children also teased him for his "husky" voice. Also, Husky does not like girls because, as he quotes, they are foolish, and because from a young age he was surrounded by the many Queens of Sailand who fight with each other for the Kings affection, although others think it is because he looks like a girl. Nana also beleaved Huski was a girl and was afrade to admit it. In Mukai's original short story, the belt around the collar of his cape is slightly smaller and his staff is different. Husky is also more brash and looks older. He may not like Nana in the beginning but starts to care for her as the series progresses.


 * Senri (センリ), born April 30th in 327th year of the Astarian calendar, is a bear +Anima. 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; due to his +Anima, he does not need any melee weapons, although he does have a falchion-like sword which he uses when he does not want to reveal his +Anima identity. Senri met Cooro and Husky at a village called Abon where Senri is protecting the village from a gang, when Cooro and Husky helped get rid of them Senri joined them.Senri very rarely says anything and usually doesn't speak in complete sentences. Senri carries a book, in which he stores various items and flowers. It is later revealed that it is the only key to his memories, as he suffered major trauma from when his father died and had severe problems accessing memories. With the eye patch that he has it keeps his +Anima under control, without it he goes berserk, transforming into a full body +Anima and fighting anyone he sees. In the Mukai's original short story, Senri has armor plates on his bear arm, and appears to be slightly more talkative.


 * Nana (ナナ), born October 12th in the 332nd year of the Astarian calendar is a bat +Anima. Nana is capable of sprouting wings much like Cooro; however, they are bat wings. With them, she is 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 or as a powerful area-effect weapon that temporarily knocks out those who hear it. Her personality is kind, albeit immature, and quite feminine. Nana does not like violence and does not use any weapons. Nana reveals that her drunken father beat her and her mother and, one night, she accidentally stabbed him with her stitching scissors and ran away out of fear. While hiding from her enraged father, she became a bat +Anima. Afterwards, she joined a group of all-girl orphans in the city of Octopus. However, she ran away from them, thinking she was hated because of her powers, which actually the leader of the all-girl orphans told Nana that she was jealous of her. In Mukai's original short story, Nana appears older and has small notches in her ears in her bat form. She also dresses differently and scolds Cooro often. Nana argues a lot with Husky about many different things. In Chapter 13 "Husky's Depression", Nana wonder why he looks so pretty all the time and why he doesn't bathe with Cooro and Senri, she thinks he might be a girl and finds out he isn't. It is hinted that she might have a crush on Husky on chapter 15.