Storyline
The introduction relates how the Animals pursued technological prowess, creating more intelligent robots every year. Finally they created self-aware, thinking robots but ignored their moral guidance. This resulted in the robots turning evil and thinking they should control the planet.
Years after a global war between the Animals and their robot rebels, protagonist Effdee and an unnamed friend smuggle supplies for refugees in robot territory. Robot soldiers ambush the duo and kill the friend, and Effdee barely escapes. Effdee gets an epiphany and decides to become a warrior. He sets out for Fortress One, the city-sized Animal military base sitting between the Animal and Robot territories.
Along the way Effdee rallies a city of slaves to robot overlords for mining precious metals. They rebel and win but realise the great price in lives they pay for freedom. Effdee himself duels Gildrik, a super-robot gone mad, and only defeats him with the help of Fiekat, an ex-commander of the Animal army.
Deadwing and Sauron - robots that transform into fighter jets and both vying to be Robot Air Commander, pursue Effdee. In a surprise twist, Deadwing kills Sauron while he is busy fighting Effdee, and lets Effdee live in gratitude.
At a freezing mountain location, Effdee meets the mercenary Randy. Both receive training from two highlander-like old warriors. This is also when Effdee first hears the fable of how planet Anima was created – a God-like being called the Guardian gave dumb beasts the secrets of thought, speech and doing, but withheld the secret of happiness when He was disappointed with how his creations turned out, and abandoned them.
At the outskirts of Fortress One, an active landmine wrecks Effdee’s hover-car and both are escorted into the base. Because of Effdee’s freeing of the enslaved Animals, he is enlisted as an officer (termed 'commander' in the Anima army) and Randy passes a few funny trials to become a mercenary for the army.
Under the mentorship of Moosey, a veteran warrior blessed with incredible strength, Effdee faces his first major battle. This battle is meant to showcase the fighting abilities of the main characters and the colourful arsenal of both armies. Rivalries are set up, particularly between Randy and Garat (a robot assassin who killed his father), as well as Supreme Commander Leo and Robot Overload Primatron.
The Animals barely win, and Leo realises they cannot take another beating of this magnitude. Together with his assistant, a good robot called Tivimiton, they devise a team of specialist fighters called the ‘Elite Team’. The final member count consists of Effdee, Moosey, Randy, a half-crazed acrobatic saboteur called Jack, and a scientist looking for action called Branny.
During the first mission Branny meets his old academic rival, who is now a leading scientist. The rival wants to use genetic engineering on the Animal race so they can finally defeat the Robots. The Elite Team stops him after he turns himself into a crazed super-Animal.
On the way back, Deadwing ambushes the Elite Team and steals the blueprints for the secret weapon. The team trudges back in shame after barely escaping their crashing transport. Leo wishes to disband the Elite Team. An inspired Effdee suggests sneaking into the Robot capital Technopia to get the blueprints back. Everyone protests but he persuades them to agree one-by-one. Tivimiton joins them.
A long flight across one continent later, the Elite Team infiltrates Technopia from its sewers and encounters strange monstrosities like mutated Animals and abandoned Lesser Robots. They meet Zack, leader of a rebel group, who is actually Leo’s cousin. With the rebels’ help, they sneak into the Argotron, the enormous tower that houses the Robots’ nerve center. The heroes fight some Robot champions like Garat, the ground forces commander Brutus, and Primatron’s bodyguard Thor.
They win the blueprints back and return to Fortress One - triumphant and redeemed. Bracing themselves for more adventures, Effdee remarks that the future will be “more than they ever imagined”.
Read more about this topic: Anima: Age Of The Robots