+Anima, Volume 5

This fifth volume of +Anima continues the adventures of the characters introduced in the first volume: Cooro, the cheerfully impetuous crow-winged boy; Husky, the sulky hot-headed mer-boy who can't stand girls; Senri, the silent older youth whose right-arm is that of a bear; and Nana, the chatty bat-winged girl who main defense is her ultrasonic scream. Rose, the sexy older cat +anima girl who sometimes travels with the four younger +anima, and her younger brother, Pinion, whom they rescued in the previous volume, do not appear in this one. However a new character is introduced, a woman named Marca who is fascinated by stories of +anima and travels around hoping to actually find some. There are five stories in this volume, one a two-parter. In "Contact", our heroes meet Marca in her search for +anima, but there's something about her that makes Cooro wonder if he's met her before. In "The House of Applies", the kids stay for a bit at an apple orchard with a farmer and his wife, who sees in Cooro reminders of her son. Sweet and poignant. In "The Boy Who Loved A Mermaid" (the two-parter), they arrive at a coastal fishing village where Husky, to his great dismay, is mistaken for a mermaid ("I'm a boy! he keeps protesting) after rescuing a young man from drowning. In "Teddy Bear", Senri once again gets drawn into a chase, protecting a young girl who has apparently stolen a teddy bear. This story leads into the final one, "Moss Mountain", which ends the book on something of a cliff-hanger for a change as our heroes find themselves not only running into their old adversary Igneous, but also coming face-to-face with the Kim-Un-Kur, the tribal people who hold the key to Senri's mysterious past. All are good stories, and we get more clues about Cooro and Husky's pasts and are set up to learn a lot more about Senri's. I love the way Mukai keeps working in these tantalizing tidbits so that we learn a little more with each book. If you liked the first four volumes, then you'll definitely like this one as well (though you'll have to immediately go on to volume six to find out how the story begun in "Moss Mountain" turns out). Definitely a good, fun read.

I always found this series funny and there is so much exciting things happing in every book i have to find out whats next. I've always been the curious person so when a new book comes out in this series i get happy like a kid in a candy store that gives away free candy.

My niece is reading this series and I picked up a couple of the books just to check it out. The art work is excellent, the story is cute -- though not too deep. It emphasizes acceptance of people who are different and that is nice. Plus there is a good amount of humor in the stories. A good read.