Anima Mundi: Dark Alchemist

Before Anima Mundi, I had never played a boys' love computer game before. I had seen plenty of screen shots around the Internet with varying degrees of explicitness, but I still didn't really know what to expect. Anima Mundi seemed like the perfect first game for me: not only was it compatible with my Macintosh, but the gothic horror theme was right up my alley. Besides, this was a new direction for Boys' Love in the U.S., and I wanted to support that.

Georik and Timothy

I never expected to become so completely obsessed.

Every aspect of Anima Mundi weaves together intricately to draw the player in to its darkly elegant world. From the broad and complex plot to the illustration-style visuals, from the spot-on Japanese voice acting to the intriguing game progression system, Anima Mundi creates a complete world tapestry and lays it out before the player like a continually scrolling tapestry. The game builds up a series of mysteries, and each new choice leads to a new answer, which leads to new questions.

Georik and Dashwood

You play the game as Georik Zaberisk (Okiayu Ryuutarou), a doctor in the countryside of Hardland, a kingdom that somewhat resembles Germany of the early to mid 1800's. Georik lives in his family mansion with Lillith, his thirteen-year-old sister. However, Georik has been called back to his old home, the capitol city of Hardland, to become an assistant to the royal physician, the deliciously wicked Bruno Glening (Koyasu Takehito). His two best friends, the adorably absent-minded scientist St. Germant Cassel (Akira Ishida) and Captain of the Royal Guard Mikhail Ramphet (Midorikawa Hikaru), are thrilled to have him back in town after an absence of several years.

However, before the Zaberisk siblings can move out of their country home, Lillith is attacked by the country villagers, and decapitated for witchcraft. Eerily, her head remains alive, conscious and awake, and Georik rescues his sister's head in the nick of time. All of this is only the beginning of the long, complex story. Don't think for a moment that any of the characters you meet won't be important, or shouldn't be carefully watched. Everyone, from the smarmy money collector Francis Dashwood (Suwabe Jyunichi) to the young boy Georik picks up as a house servant, Timothy Riari (Katagiri Rekka), has a necessary part to play.

St. Germant and Mikhail

As you progress through the story, moments of choice appear, and you have a limited amount of time to make a decision. Each choice has the chance of changing the path of the story you see, but beware: one wrong choice can throw the story out of control and take you down a dark path toward one of the dreaded "Bad Ends."

As the story continues, Georik takes up alchemy in order to create a new body for Lillith, and it is imperative for you to gather materials for him to complete his research. Finding items and completing research is necessary to progress through the story -- if you can't create an item through alchemy by a certain time, you will most certainly get a Bad End. However, don't be surprised when this happens; reaching Bad Ends and starting over is all but required to progress through the story. Luckily, the game offers over 20 save slots, so you can save your game as often as you like, and return to earlier portions of the story to make new choices, and continue on. The process of gaining items and doing research is one of the best parts of Anima Mundi: it elevates the game from a simple "choose your own adventure" story and turns it into a complex quest to find what you need and save Lillith.

St. Germant and Bruno

But of course, Lillith is not the only important person in Georik's life, and that is where the most interesting part of the game lies. Georik's relationships with certain characters develop well or poorly depending on your choices, though this is not quantified in any way, and only clear in the amount of time you end up seeing that character on screen. You may decide to interact more with the criminal Dashwood; your friendship with the nobly upright Mikhail will surely deteriorate! However, concentrate on doing the right thing and making Mikhail happy, and you may never see certain deep, dark parts of the game that take place at the infamous Hell-Fire Club. Keeping many separate saves of the game is highly reccommended. You can always start over and take a completely different path.

The artwork which accompanies some of the most important scenes is absolutely stunning. Unlike many BL game graphics, which look obviously computer-generated, Anima Mundi's images seem to be hand-painted, even watercolored at some points. Many are completely breathtaking, especially when the scene between Georik and one of the other beautiful male characters turns decidedly romantic, even sexual. You become so wrapped up in the story and the well-defined personalities of the characters that when they grow close, it's a heart-pounding moment. None of the images are very explicit -- all nudity is above the waist and anything sexual is teasingly hinted at rather than shown. This just makes Georik's relationships all the more tantalizing when they aren't explicitly drawn out. The talents of the voice actors enhance every scene, leaving the player's imagination to construct anything that isn't shown.

Bruno's Punishment

The only disappointing thing about Anima Mundi is a decision made by Hirameki International, the releasing company for the game, to seek an ESRB rating of Mature. Some of the full-screen artwork images have been altered to cover up or obscure particularly gory or violent images, or to conceal or eliminate completely some scenes deemed too sexual. Leaving the artwork unchanged would have earned the game an Adults Only rating and limited Hirameki's ability to sell the game in some outlets, but it creates an incomplete experience. Some of the edits are completely and sadly obvious, and leave a feeling of dissatisfaction where you know you are missing out on something. I wish Hirameki had not made this choice, but overall, it did not detract too much from my enjoyment of the game.

All in all, Anima Mundi is an incredible game, with beautiful visuals and top-of-the-line voice acting. I have been playing the game for months and still have not uncovered all of the endings, nor completely unravelled the mysteries of Georik Zaberisk. In truth, I wish I never had to reach the absolute end of the game. The world of Anima Mundi is too fascinating to leave forever.