I know it may appear I’m stuck in a GloBL review streak here but it’s merely coincidence (my next one will be another one but then I’ll get back into the Japanese BL after that one, I swear!).  It’s only because there are so many incredibly awesome GloBL titles out there that it has become a bit distracting.  Plus, to be honest, I haven’t really reviewed any before this minus the occasional mention of the various Web comics like Masque of the Red Death and Whore of Turfan.  I, myself, have been a bit of a GloBL snob (like many of us Japanese BL fans are prone to be) so I’m trying to open my eyes to everything out there relating to BL regardless of origin.  Ok, enough preaching.  J

Anima is a GloBL title by Italian creators Dany & Dany.  D&D have a very distinctive artistic style and once you’ve seen it, it is easily recognizable.  Their typical character has the large anime style eyes and feminine facial features but don’t let that fool you; their bodies are muscular and very nicely drawn.  There is a certain sensuality that exudes from their characters that I find appealing.

Typically, I like to read the story and then read the back cover to see if my perception of the story is similar to the synopsis on the back cover.  Surprisingly, I do not agree with the description given of Anima.  This is not a bad thing, I just feel like the true emotion and intentions of the characters were not really represented correctly.  Patrick is presented as very cynical and calculating and that his arrival in Danya’s world is a bad thing for Danya.  That all being said, let me give you my take on the story.

Anima is set in a world where humans and androids coexist.  Danya Arseniev is a world famous dancer and Patrick Owens is an award winning expose journalist that quickly falls for the beautiful dancer.  Danya’s agent and mentor Nikolaj is not happy with Danya’s subsequent involvement with the journalist and for good reason.  Danya has a few secrets of his own that if found out would mean the end for Nikolaj and Danya both.

I really ended up liking this story although it is rather short so it was a bit rushed.  The manga is only 140 pages long and for this story, I really think it warranted more pages.  It is such a unique story that it is truly a disservice to end it so quickly.  Danya and Patrick fall for each other rather quickly and I think the extra pages would have been well used on developing their courtship a bit more.  That all being said, their courtship and subsequent romance are sweet (think lots of blushing, cuteness, and the occasional chibi).  However, don’t think it’s all just sweetness with no substance.  The secret Danya hides is a pretty big one and the pressure from Nikolaj and the mob puts a lot of pressure on this newly formed couple.

This leads me to a few additional things that I really liked that Dany & Dany did that is different from the standard BL manga.  First off, there were three sex scenes (pretty steamy, no full frontal shots but plenty of everything else to make up for it) and there was no definite uke/seme roles.  The first two one of them topped whereas in the last one they switched roles.  Secondly, the one that you would guess to be the uke (if you had to choose) didn’t pull the typically “I’m a wimpy uke who doesn’t have a backbone and needs to be saved” crap.  Lastly, there were a few situations where I thought the typical lack of communication type misunderstanding was going to occur that is so typical in BL manga but surprisingly it didn’t.  They actually acted like a pretty normal couple.  Weird, I know.

As far as the book itself, as I mentioned before, it is rather short compared to the usual 180ish pages we usually get.  The illustrations are very detailed with lovely contrasts of darks and lights.  I think the characters are very attractive and I like the contrast of the feminine face with the masculine body.  The plot was different and the sex scenes were nicely done.  There were a few grammatical errors with either words missing or a word too many but not enough to be distracting.  I had absolutely no trouble following the speech bubbles either, which is always a plus.  If I had any complaint about this one it would simply be that it wasn’t long enough and as a writer, that isn’t a bad complaint to have if you ask me.  Anima is a lovely title done by two lovely mangaka and well worth a read, in my opinion.

Characters = A-

Plot = B+ (Good plot but I wish there was more)

Book Design/Illustrations = A-

Sex Scenes = A-/B+ (Either more sex scenes or full frontal)*

Translation = A- 

Overall Grade = A-

*To be fair, I do prefer hard yaoi so my review reflects my preference.  If you don’t prefer full frontal, you’ll love this title even more.

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