Anima review: Science fiction with a generous dose of human yearning

There's a slippery magic that can occur between two strangers. At first, they are nothing to each other, except perhaps a means to an end. Maybe they are even slightly repelled by each other. Then something flicks, and they are not just strangers anymore. They are people who, for better or worse, can see truly each other, even if they never see each other again.

This is the story at the core of Anima, which has a sci-fi setup that might suggest a cold world of disconnected folk. The story begins with Beck (Alien: Earth's Sydney Chandler), a young woman with a bob that's best described as retro-futuristic while French. Though trained as an engineer, Beck's lack of peo...