Tommy of Anime Bowl doesn’t shirk from calling fansubbing a sin and also comments on the anti-Christian atmosphere of anime conventions. [Anime Bowl]
In his thoughtful blog, Pirates of the Burley Griffin, John Samuel is going through a twenty-day series on Haibane Renmei, analyzing each episode in concise, informative fashion, while also adding additional commentary. Although not specifically about religion or spirituality, I mention these posts because Haibane Renmei is chock full of religious themes, symbolism, and imagery. [Pirates of the Burley Griffin]
SilentSerenata relates two theories about Kuroshitsuji, including one that pegs Sebastian as the Faustian demon, Mephistopheles. [The Otaku’s Blog]
The Mainichi Daily News reports on a young monk in Japan who is changing the way monks are viewed, beginning with the free publication Freestyle Monks, created in a one-room apartment filled with Buddhist-themed manga. [The Mainichi Daily News]
Scott Green reports on cute prayer amulets developed for the anime series, Kill Me Baby. [Crunchyroll]
2DT begins his podcast this week, which focuses on the anime “holy land” of Akihabara, by relating the religious birth of the area. [2-D Teleidoscope]
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As part of the Spirituality in the Anime Blogsophere series of posts, each week, Beneath the Tangles links to writings about anime and manga that involve religion and spirituality. If you’ve written such a piece or know of one, please email TWWK if you’d like it included.
I guess there are still people who throw anti-Christians and non-Christians into the same pot? Sigh. Especially him bringing up the Jesus cosplay confused me, since it could as well be done by a more liberal Christian, otherwise paintings of Jesus could as well be called blasphemic. (Posting this here because in my experience directly arguing with these kind of people doesn’t bring very many results.)
I know Tommy a bit and one thing about him is that he’s uncompromising. He’s also had some poor con experiences (he frequently attends), including at least one that was directly related to his belief. However, I think he’s probably a lot more open to having real conversation (aka not a one-way argument) than you’d imagine.
As for Jesus cosplayers…my experience (which is limited) is that its generally done by individuals trying to get a reaction, not Christians trying to combine their hobby with their faith. It’s a little different from paintings because of the purpose and because of how these individuals portray Christ, who is obviously holy to utmost in Christianity. I think if I saw a con-Jesus I’d go and engage that person in some conversation, but at the same time, I have to admit I think my first reaction would be to cringe.
That said, there was a video I posted a while back that featured a interview with a con-Jesus who was pretty cool. 🙂
Someone wore a Jesus cosplay with a raptor head on top, calling themselves “Raptor Jesus.” I consider that as blasphemic as those pictures I saw last week of Jesus winking and pointing and wearing the jersey of Ben Roethlisberger.
The legality/morality of fansubs is a topic of great interest to me.
Thanks for providing the link to this Anime Bowl post. I agree that, even though some people consider it a “gray” area, fansubbing is stealing….especially when it is for profit or direct download. I used to watch all anime for free, licensed or unlicensed. That was before I actually sat down and thought about what I was doing. I was just so used to the internet having so-called free material for viewing, that I didn’t even consider the creators and companies; much less the Commandments.
It took me a sacrifice from what I was used to, but I now vigorously (financially) support the industry. I love the steps that Funimation and Viz are taking, what with streaming their material for free with ads. I think that this would be a smart solution to the problems of fansubbing/piracy in the anime world. Many internet users, especially anime viewers, are used to getting their material for free…Which is why I think that Viz and Funi are really handling this well. They are, in this respect, listening to their customers and offering a compromise. Their ad revenue from the free streams must be significant. If more sites would go legal (kind of like Crunchyroll!) and companies could work with fansubbers, the problem of piracy could be significantly assuaged.
No problem – and thanks for sharing! I think more and more of us are turning to Crunchyroll and other legal avenues, though some are more lax (like myself) than we should be.