A couple of months back, The Otaku HQ release a terrific post entitled, “Religion in the Anime Community.” The blog’s editor, Jordan, put together excerpts from three interviews, with Nafi (Muslim), Canne (Buddhism and ghost worship), and myself (Christian), investigating how our faiths affect our viewing of anime (or how they don’t). For some, faith might effect habits profoundly. I feel strange doing this, but allow me to quote myself (ha!):
I think, most of all, [my faith] holds me accountable to watch what I consume. Maybe I’m just easily swayed, but for me that old idiom, ‘trash in, trash out’ really applies. And we all know there’s a lot of trash in anime – not just poor quality productions, but also themes and imagery that I believe influence us to sin. In this regard, [blogging] helps me, because I know I’ll be writing about what I watch and I don’t want to be ashamed of it, before men or God.
For others, like Canne, there’s significantly less of a connection:
Buddhism affects the way I live as a whole person but not specifically as an anime fan, though sometime it makes me understand some of the ceremonies in anime more easily.
But what about you?
Does your faith (or lack of one) affect your viewing habits?
Do you avoid some anime or specifically watch others because of your faith? Do you turn off an anime when some scenes perhaps run counter to your religion?
We’d love for you to share! As always, let’s try to respect each other comments and discuss in a thoughtful and open manner.