A Story of Love and Heroes
"All throughout this world flows an enigmatic power we call...Anima. Where it comes from and how it works is a mystery."
The Story of Anima is a Fantasy Webcomic by Bladerabbit
set in a world where everyone emits a powerful energy known as "Anima". Normally this can be harnessed into mundane technology known as "Catalysts", but some individuals, known as "Animus", can directly focus their Anima into incredible superpowers.
Our story begins when a group of mercenaries known as the Bloody Flames attempt to assassinate Princess Jade Marigold. They disable her airship and slaughter the crew, but with the aid of her loyal bodyguards, the princess flees in an escape pod, only to end up in the clutches of some bandits.
Luckily, a trio of heroic travelers, Kit Vulpes and the Brother–Sister Team of Hayden and Ada, are passing through. They make short work of the thieves and rescue Jade, letting her join them in their travels.
Meanwhile, her surviving bodyguards are scouring the land to find her. But whoever hired the Bloody Flames in the first place won't rest until the princess is out of the picture for good.
You can read it on Tapastic and its own tumblr blog.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Ada. Her first big fight scene has her effortlessly jump onto a bandit's outstretched fist and kick them in the face.
- Action Prologue: A few moments are spent setting up the characters, then the prologue is pretty much nonstop fight scenes until the comic proper begins.
- Art Evolution: Starting entirely in black and white before gaining some shading during the prologue, then switching to full color once the comic proper starts.
- Badass Cape: Dante wears a long green cape that cuts an imposing figure.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Rudy. Snappy dresser and professional ass-kicker.
- Badass Longcoat: Most of the Bloody Flames. Overlapping a bit with Your Size May Vary, Rudy, Kit and Hayden's jackets can look much longer in certain shots, creating this effect.
- Beast Man: Or rather, beastkin.
- Big Damn Heroes: Right before his opponent could kill him, Pocket is rescued by the timely intervention of Medi's giant snake hair.
- Blade Run: Or Fist Run, in this case.
- Blood Knight: Hayden and Ada seem to enjoy fighting, but Hector takes to another level by being bored by his opponent going for his neck.
- Cool Airship: What better way to transport royalty?
- Cool Sword: Kit Vulpes wields an incredible, angel-winged sword in one piece of bonus art.
- Cunning Like a Fox: Kit Vulpes is a fox beastkin who fights with his wits and agility.
- Deadly Dodging: Pretty much the entirety of Kit's "fighting style". He won't even try to throw a punch, but good luck landing a hit.
- Differently Powered Individual: The Animus, people who can harness their Anima into actual superpowers.
- Disappeared Dad: Hayden and Ada are on a quest to find theirs. Kit as well.
- Elemental Weapon: Catalysts can allow weapons to take on elemental properties, fueled by the wielder's Anima.
- Enhanced Archaic Weapon: The bandit leader's weapon of choice is a whip made worse by having a Catalyst that allows it to ignite.
- Escape Pod: The airship came equipped with these, dropped directly to the ground. How exactly they cushion the impact is unclear.
- Extremity Extremist: Rudy fights primarily with kicks, augmented by his armor-plated shoes.
- Eye Patch Of Power: Dante wears a metal one to hide his Magic Eye.
- Eye Scream: Dante's right eye was gouged out by his brother, which caused his Animus power to manifest.
- Famous Ancestor: Charlie Blackmare, who's descended from the infamous Blackmare Pirates.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Hector, one of the Bloody Flames. A ruthless Blood Knight who has no qualms with killing children.
- Ghibli Hills: The Morning Walk mini-arc has our heroes stop to sight see in a vast flower field.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: A downplayed example, but not only can Hayden effortlessly cut off limbs is a single stroke, he can also more traditionally disarm foes while barely even paying attention.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Hayden's slices a bandit's arm off when one tries to attack Ada from behind.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: The population is divided among humans "beastkin".
- Living Weapon: "Bio-Weapons", hideous and powerful beasts that were once weapons of war.
- Magic by Any Other Name: Anima.
- Magical Eye: Dante's Animus power is black fluid he can manipulate that comes from his missing eye. The narrator appropriately names it "Reaper's Tears".
- Magitek: Catalysts, which allow Anima to be channeled into technology.
- Medusa: Medi, a little girl in a straight jacket with gigantic snakes for hair.
- Morph Weapon: How Dante's Animus manifests. Its base form is a black fluid that he can shape into the desired weapon, from a scythe to a monster-sized guillotine.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "The Bloody Flames" already sounds like a group you wouldn't want to run into, and even they learn to fear Dante, "The Executioner".
- Non-Standard Character Design: Both Pocket and the bandit leader have much longer snouts and digitigrade legs compared to the other beastkin characters.
- Nice Guy: Kit Vulpes, a generally kind and compassionate kid who doesn't even think twice before launching to the rescue when someone's in danger.
- Phlebotinum Overload: How Kit's able to destroy the bandit leader's Catalyst.
- Psycho for Hire: The Bloody Flames, a group of merciless mercenaries that are way too in love with their work.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Just one look at Penelope's is enough to make Dante spill his backstory to her.
- Rebellious Princess: Jade would much rather be seeing the world with her new friends than ruling over a kingdom.
- Saving the Orphanage: Dante's stay at a farm that's under siege from some aggressive buyers. The farmer's granddaughter manages to scare them off just by invoking Dante's reputation.
- Soul Power: The leading theory on what exactly Anima is.
- Specs of Awesome: Ada proves why you shouldn't hit a lady with glasses: you'll just get your face kicked instead.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Pocket's Animus allows him to create knives out of thin air.
- Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Anima, to an extent. While its effects fairly well understood, the circumstances that can create an Animus aren't fully understood, nor is its actual nature.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Defied."Let's scram while he's running his trap."
- Technical Pacifist: Hayden and Ada will kick your ass, but aren't particularly into killing or maiming (at least Ada isn't). Kit takes it further as his fight revolves entirely around dodging and disarming his opponent without so much as throwing a punch.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: Pocket can feel emotions, but can't express them in any way other then saying them outright.
- The Worf Effect: Pocket is the only one of Jade's personal bodyguards who is introduced as an Animus. He's also the only one who has to flee his opponent after barely putting up a fight.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: Rudy's shoe soles are armor-plated.
- Treasure Map: As the descendant of a legendary pirate clan, Charlie Blackmane is in possession of one.
- Unobtainium: Catalysts require special minerals that react to Anima.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Jade's caretaker appears for all of one page before the Bloody Flames attack and is never mentioned again.
- Would Hurt a Child: Hector has no problem dropping Penelope, the farmer's daughter into the jaws of a giant Bio-Weapon.
- Your Size May Vary: The scale between characters can differ for dramatic effect, especially beastkin compared to humans.
