+Anima, Volume 9

This nineth 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. This volume takes up the story with the cliffhanger (almost literally) of the previous volume with Husky's father, the king, plummeting into the sea after Kazana's attack. There are six stories in this volume. The first one concludes the story that ended the previous volume on a cliffhanger and wraps up Husky's adventure to see his mother once again. The other five pick things up with the kids returning to Astaria. In "Where Wishes Go", Husky rescues his father from the sea and Crystala subdues Kazana. Husky bids his goodbye to Crystala, his aunt from whom he learned his staff-fighting technique, telling her he's decided to go make a future for himself in Astaria with the other kids. In "Blue Wings", we have a flashback into Mr. Fly's past where we learn he was a childhood friend of Igneous and we see his first encounter with a +anima girl that leads to his decision to study +anima. In "The Angel's Lake - Part I", the kids encounter another winged +anima whom the local townfolk believe to be an angel. In "The Angel's Lake - Part II", the kids learn that the winged swan +anima pretending to be an angel is in love with a girl in a troupe of actors who portrays him in their plays. Two men from the research facility attempt to abuct the 'angel' but the kids thwart them. In "Childhood Friends - Part I", the kids come to Yellow Valley where a special race just for +anima is being held. There Cooro runs into a girl named Lyra from his childhood who is now a swallow +anima. In the sixth story, "Childhood Friends - Part II", Cooro and Senri participate in the race, where Cooro rescues Lyra from an attack by a ruthless hawk +anima. Afterwards, Cooro is approached by Mr. Fly and the researcher Marca who ask him to return to visit him at the church in the nearby town. We also get a brief glimpse of Nana's idea of what each of the kids might look like as adults. The stories in this volume are not quite as satisfying as those in the previous two volumes, but are still good reads and help to move the series towards it's end, which I somewhat dread as one hates to see something this enjoyable come to an end. This is a really great manga series with great characters and a truly interesting set of plot lines that keep yielding surprises. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys this genre.

I love this series because it has a good storyline, grate artwork, and the humor is well thought out (you don't find that in allot of books). All of the main characters have interesting personality flaws, because of some traumatic event in there past. All of the symptoms of there traumatic experiences are shown before the event is revealed. So it is fun to guess what is about to happen. All in all it is a grate book, that is entertaining on a simple and intellectual level.