Anna Reksik

Anna Reksik is a fictional model regularly appearing in Viz, who has eating disorders. The strip's conflict is mostly centred on Anna's struggle with her weight, which fluctuates drastically and grotesquely. In addition, she regularly vomits to lose weight.

Additional recommended knowledge

Guide to balance cleaning: 8 simple steps

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

Daily Sensitivity Test

One strip shows her doing a photoshoot in Florida. When she asks for a drink, it's obviously a diet one. She instantly puts on an impossible amount of weight after one can and of the crew tells her that in America, "diet" means "two thousand grams of sugar and fat per millilitre".

Other times when her weight fluctuates, events can often take a very surreal turn. One christmas episode has her wearing a turkey costume as part of an assignment, only to be mistaken for an actual (albeit very scrawny) turkey and get stuffed as one. Since the weight gain is instantaneous, it's constantly rubbed in by Anna being drawn by the cartoonist looking like the bird.

The surreal elements often parody a topical event or phenomenon, such as genetic engineering or Heather Mills's relationship with Paul McCartney. For example, Anna hears something about it taking more energy to eat celery than it contains, where we see her being exhausted. The shop keeper tells her that:

"It's been genetically engineered to taste nice. It's made out of chips and Chocolate Cake. The tiredness could be because of your bingo wings."

She is shown in the next frame with adipose deposits on her arms.

The surrealism is often expanded into a wider satire on health and body image, as demonstrated when she's on the Florida photo shoot. After putting on the weight from drinking the "Diet" drink, she says in despair:

"I'm surrounded by all these thin, beautiful people and I'm fat. I think I'll cut myself."

Her words are juxtaposed against the stereotypical fat Americans around her, which could be seen as a commentary on body image and the fashion industry's attempts to manipulate it by engineering Anna's delusions and low self esteem. The irony is that her leg falls off while cutting herself, when suddenly she is met by Paul McCartney.

In some strips she has a friend called "Belle Emia", a fellow model who encourages her to starve herself in order to lose weight.