+Anima

+Anima (Japanese: プラス アニマ, Hepburn: Purasu Anima) is an internationally published ten-volume manga series by Natsumi Mukai. The story focuses on four "+Anima" characters—humans who have metamorphic abilities, and are shunned by society as a result.

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 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 birthmark ( tattoo-like marking that determines their +anima). 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.

Anima

Anima may refer to:

Titles and brands

Xenosaga

Xenosaga (ゼノサーガ, Zenosāga) is a series of science fiction video games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco. Xenosaga's main story is in the form of a trilogy of PlayStation 2 video games. There have been three spin-off games and an anime adaptation. The Xenosaga series serves as a spiritual successor to the game Xenogears, which was released in 1998 for the PlayStation by Square. The creator of both Xenogears and Xenosaga is Tetsuya Takahashi, who left Square in 1998 along with Hirohide Sugiura. Using funds from Namco, they started MonolithSoft and the Xenosaga project.

The first game in the trilogy, Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht was released in February 2002 in Japan, and in February 2003 in North America. Xenosaga Freaks, a lighthearted game with a playable demo for Episode II, was released in April 2004 in Japan, but was not released elsewhere. Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse was released in June 2004 in Japan and February 2005 in North America. Xenosaga: The Animation, an anime based on Episode I, premiered on TV Asahi in Japan on January 5, 2005. Xenosaga Pied Piper, a three chapter-long cellphone-based game depicting the history of cyborg "Ziggurat 8" 100 years before the start of Episode I, was released in Japan in July 2004. Released on July 6, 2006, Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the final title in the Xenosaga series; six episodes were originally projected, but by the time Episode III was released, Namco had already established that it would be the last entry, effectively halving the series. A retelling of the first two episodes titled Xenosaga I & II was released on the Nintendo DS in March 2006 in Japan.

Future Leaders of the World

Future Leaders of the World is a rock band formed in 2003. The band released their debut album, LVL IV in 2004, before going through a period of being named Machina, featuring former Evanescence members guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray. After a hiatus, the band reformed in 2014 and released another album under the "Future Leaders of the World" name, Reveal, in March 2015.

History

Formation and LVL IV

Future Leaders of the World was formed by guitarist and singer Phil Taylor, who formed the group in Buffalo, New York with drummer Carl Messina and bassist Toby Cole. Taylor recorded a demo with Shawn Rivera of Az Yet and executive producer Allan Fray in Los Angeles. At a later time, Jake Stutevoss was also added on guitar. The group signed with Epic Records and released a full-length album, LVL IV. The album reached No. 153 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the US hit singles "Let Me Out" (No. 6 Mainstream Rock, No. 32 Modern Rock Charts ) and "Everyday" (No. 30 Mainstream Rock). The group toured with groups such as Shinedown, Seether, Crossfade, Chevelle, and Alter Bridge, but during their dates on the Sno-Core tour, they learned that Epic planned to dissolve their contract, and the group disbanded.

Machina (company)

Machina is a clothing brand company specializing in wearable technology.

The company attempted to make a MIDI controlling jacket. A 2012 review in TechCrunch called the jacket "a cool concept and an interesting and kinetic way to trigger and control beats and sounds."

A Kickstarter project in 2013 produced a prototype, with a delay of almost a year behind the projected delivery date. Since then, there have been no substantial updates and the announced open source hardware has not materialized.

References

Spira (Final Fantasy)

Spira is the fictional world of the Square role-playing video games Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. Spira is the first Final Fantasy world to feature consistent, all-encompassing spiritual and mythological influences within the planet's civilizations and their inhabitants' daily lives. The world of Spira itself is very different from the mainly European-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on southeast Asia, most notably with respect to its vegetation, topography and architecture.

The creation of Spira includes distinct ethnic minorities including a portrayal of the fictional Al Bhed language that is prevalent throughout the game's dialogue. The backstory and concept behind the dark religious themes of Final Fantasy X were a central theme to the story and their ultimate resolution was well received. The popularity of the Eternal Calm video served as the impetus of Square Enix to do Final Fantasy X-2 to make their first direct sequel in video game form and depict the evolution of Spiran society after religious and political upheaval results in new factions and instability in the world. Spira and its inhabiting characters have been featured in several other Square Enix works including Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy and three games within the Kingdom Hearts series and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.