The past two weeks have been overwhelming in terms of just how many articles have been posted relating to anime and religion/spirituality. There’s so much to dig into – I hope you have as much fun reading through these articles as I did!
Are you headed to SuperCon at the end of this month? If so, check out our own Samuru’s panel, “Finding God in Anime and Video Games.” [Gaming and God]
Part of what makes Noragami a fascinating series is how it tells us quite a bit about modern religion in Japan. [Fantastic Memes]
In times of weakness and pain, there we can find strength in something (or hopefully, someone) greater. Just see Iwasawa from Angel Beats as an example. [Old Line Elephant]
Speaking of Angel Beats, the most direct reference to God in the show is from Takeyama, who wants people to call him “Christ.” Mmm…not so fast. [2]
Ciel from Black Butler believes that some people are beyond redemption…but the Bible and many examples from within (like Job) and without (St. Augustine) prove otherwise. [3]
The complete story of Oscar, as presented in Rose of Versailles, reminds us of the value of life itself. [Mage in a Barrel]
In response to Anime Reporter’s essay on homosexuality and the referendum for marriage quality in Ireland, aniblogger JekoJeko takes the question from a Christian point of view [Unnecessary Exclamation Mark!]
D.M. Dutcher offers some advice for Christian speculative fiction writers using Bubblegum Crisis as a basis. [Cacao, put down the shovel!]
For Christians who feel persecution, they might find an odd bedfellow in Naruto. [Lady Teresa Christina]
The world of Haibane Renmei without a doubt shares some ideologies with Christianity. [Kidd’s Anime Blog]
I’m a month late on this article, but it’s more than worth linking to
Oregairu’s Hayato as Satan? In a sense… [Christian Anime Review]
Wiseman from Sailor Moon perhaps has some similarities to 2 Thessalonians’ man of lawlessness. [2]
Episode 3 of Re-Kan! gives us that common anime scene of a character who refuses to cry, then breaks down. But why the resistance? After all, “Jesus wept.” [3]
—
As part of the Something More series of posts, 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 to be included.
Wow, thanks for sharing my response! There are some parts of it, looking back, that I could have handled a lot better; the tone kinda got the better of me, and I may have gotten distracted from the point I was trying to make overall (that casting the net too wide in an accusation makes the holes in the net big enough to swim through). I learnt a lot from letting off steam via that issue, though I’m still deciding whether to do more things like that in future or to just focus my blog on commenting on anime with an English student’s mindset and/or Christian values.
I’d also like to apologise to Anime Reporter if any remarks made in that response sounded like I was undermining his credibility as a blogger. I love his site and the way he offers a personal but professional opinion on everything he touches; this was just me taking an issue with how catch-all essays/rants/whatevers, in general, lead more specific readerships – such as the Christian community – feeling like they’re being talked to in a way that doesn’t apply to them. I don’t think I did that amazingly well, but I guess it’s up to readers how they see the matter at hand.
Also loving the Angel Beats! articles; with Charlotte and the new OVA coming up, I should probably be throwing something at the internet about it too. 🙂
The great thing about running a blog is that, unless your blog becomes corporate in nature, it retains that sense of being “personal.” I think it would be great if you sometimes shared these more personal posts on your blog!