I've known Star Wars all my life. Albeit movies and the computer games Supremacy and Battlefronts I and II.

I've known 40K most of my life. Including the now finished Specialist Games, some books and FFG's RPGs.

But all I know of Anima is seeing some miniatures on the Coolminiornot website.

Please tell me what it's all about and if you think this is a game I'd be interested in. Bearing in mind I know nothing about it.

My favorite way of describing Anima is to say, it is what Dungeons and Dragons would be if it was created by an Otaku/Anime culture. It's still a Medieval-Fantasy style game, but with the feel of the world's best Anime.

Some good ideas, many copied, excessive rules, patches worst than the bugs, the author wanted create a comic rpg with the rules of games like d&d or Rolemaster, you will love it or you will hate it.

Gryphynx was on the right trail I suppose. Though don't listen to Sebastian last few posts I've seen of his points to his dislike of the game system.

Has 1 similarity in regards to D&D and that is simply its a Table top RPG, other than that its extremely different.

If I were to compare it to the game/stories you mentioned yourself I would say it probably has a more complex character creation/building system than 40k rpg franchise. And as for Star Wars, only RPG system I'm familiar with in that regards is a D20 system thats basically D&D.

But if your looking for a game system that has an extremely deep story full of twists and plots. Waring Kingdoms, the fear of being hunted and persecuted for using supernatural powers. Unknown powers and organizations pulling the strings from the shadows controlling the world. Medieval/Steampunk era setting with lost technology just waiting to be found. Complex but almost limitless Character concept possibilities, just takes an open and creative mind and time, this is the game system for you.

As in regards to Gryphynx, this is a European table top RPG system highly influenced off of Asian culture mostly the Anime culture I suppose. But isn't restricted to that because its also inspired by European culture and others, as it has Norse, Greek, Latin references. But probably the thing I like most about the game system is the fact if you can imagine a character or pull one out of your favorite stories, be it Starwars, 40k, anime, or w/e; with this system once you really get to know it, you can create that character.

But if you are looking for a simple RPG to pick up I would not suggest this game. As Sebastian said it has excessive rules(material) to understand. Unfortunately some hard to understand as FFG poorly translated some material from its source language. But any thing you can't understand yourself, post it here and someone will answer you in a somewhat timely manner. or head over to http://cipher-studios.com/AnimaBB/index.php.

I recommend at least giving it a try, but this is my opinion.

The game mechanics can indeed be a bit daunting when you start out but once you get the hang of them you won't find yourself having to pause to look them up that often. The only real exception I have found to this in my group is when a player comes up with an idea for a power/ability that isn't already in the game or thinks of some really bizarre way to use a power in the game. But that is the Game Master's domain and a seasoned GM shouldn't have too much trouble balancing such things and will usually be able to use something already in the game as a guide. For instance we had a "Future" campaign and a player wanted to have a magic path that controlled droids and mechanical devices so our GM created Mechromancy and based it off of Necromancy and with some rewording and a few mechanic tweaks it was a fully working magic path.

But as cdcace mentioned some of the games big draws are indeed the near limitless possibilities for character creation and the sheer volume of lore in the system for the GM to work with when creating campaigns.