The power of words is undeniable. But words don’t always connote power; sometimes they demonstrate a lack thereof.
The idea that words might can mean everything or nothing was recently demonstrated in an intriguing panel from the Boku no Hero Academia manga. Michelle of Inside the Mind of a Quiet Girl sent it to me along with some information about the scene. I’ve only been keeping up with the anime series, so I’ll try to put it in context as accurately as I’m able.
Deku has recently met a child who is quite the opposite of him. The boy hates heroes and he hates quirks, because his hero parents were killed in the line of duty when he was very young. Deku didn’t know how to respond to the child (the identity of whom is a spoiler – one that was spared me and which I’ll spare you as well), and asked Todoroki about it. The panel below shows his response.
According to Todoroki, words don’t mean a whole lot. Even though Deku knows a bit about the kid’s background, he doesn’t know him intimately, and Todoroki advises Deku that if he tries to comfort the boy, he’ll likely just succeed in annoying him. The communication he intends to get across might do the opposite (as our communicate is often wont to do). I’ve been very aware of this in my own life lately. Someone close to me recently lost a friend to suicide, and she was frustrated that those close to her gave words of comfort that were at best trite, making her feel bitter and even more alone instead of consoling her.
But Todoroki doesn’t stop there – he turns the idea around on the receiver. Todoroki claims that if words were enough to change someone, he must not have been that heavily affected in the first place. In other words, if Deku succeeded in comforting the boy, that child probably didn’t really need comforting anyway. To an extent, that rings true as well, especially if the person feels better with words that aren’t especially sincere or given out of deep knowledge of the situation. For instance, if my friend has been comforted through banal platitudes, it might demonstrate that she didn’t feel that profound a loss at all.
And then Todoroki closes with an important point, a familiar one: “…words are always accompanied by deeds.” That quote brings to mind these words from I John 3:18:
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
I don’t think it’s hard to understand that as with faith (James 2:14-26), words without deeds don’t mean much. It’s the same idea that skeptics of prayer carry with them when they bitterly criticize those who post “Pray for _________” whenever a tragedy happens, angry that these purveyors of “just pray” memes and images are finding comfort in peaceful words rather than muddying themselves in the real work of helping people in need during a tragedy. And for sure, those things are true – words, faith, prayer – none of these things replace action.
But what Todoroki maybe misses here, and what critics may as well, is that sometimes words are action. While words loosely given without any heart are often worse than none at all, genuine love expressed through words can help a person through tough times. Words are not excluded from deeds. Todoroki is wrong when he claims that people who are really hurting can’t be moved by words; words are powerful enough that they can put life back into us in the most hopeless of situations or destroy us even if we were feeling great the moment before. I know I could revisit dozens of occasions where people intimate to me have done one or the other.
Everybody is different. Every situation is different. And so, too, should my response be. When I take each person for who he or she is, and each painful experience as something unique and deep and meaningful to that person, I’ll do what I should. I’ll love that person as best I can – in words, in deeds, or both.
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Boku no Hero Academia is released in manga format by Viz Media.
Hi. So, this is a bit off topic of Boku no Hero Academia, but I’ve been a fan of anime for nearly 10 years, and have watched various anime. Only recently have I been growing in my faith, and testing myself with different things. I found this website, and I thought it was amazing because I never thought to find a site that fills the gap between Christianity and anime. Lately, I’ve been sorta on and off with anime. I feel like I shouldn’t be watching it, but I don’t understand why. I then think, “well, there’s a community of Christian otakus, my parents are encouraging and even watch it themselves, and I mostly watch it for the fact that I see Jesus’ values in it.” And then I feel this reassurance. But then two days later, I start saying again, “Is it ok?” I always ask God to give me wisdom when watching, and what I watch, and I always thank Him for the opportunity and ability to be able to see anime in a new light and see his wonderful values in it, but I hate that every second day, I begin asking questions again. I like anime, and I feel like it’s helped me grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, and I love, love, LOVE seeing Jesus in a place where I never expected to find Him. What do you think?
Thanks for reaching out to us, Samantha! I’m really encouraged by how thoughtfully you approach entertainment. I think that’s a lot of what we try to express here on Beneath the Tangles. While content is certainly important, our actions and minds are as well as we try to submit our lives – even our how we approach media – to God.
There are some people that need to stay away from anime – either for a certain period of time or indefinitely – because they are encouraged to sin through it or because they otherwise just aren’t in a point in their faith where they feel they can grow while still consuming this kind of media.
But for you, if it is helping you grow, it could be that there’s something else at work that’s making you feel guilty. If that’s so, I just encourage you to pray about it, share it with other trusted Christians, and explore why it’s so. And if God is revealing himself to you through anime (if like us, you see how so much anime unintentionally demonstrates to us the gospel message), then it’s likely something’s that indeed good for you.
Whatever it is you discover, I encourage you to keep developing your relationship with God, especially through prayer, scripture, and relationship with other believers. And we of course welcome you here as a place to discuss God further in relation to this media we all enjoy so much. Take care and God bless!
Thank you for your reply! I was not expecting one, haha.
I’ve been thinking and praying, and I believe I’ve come to a good conclusion. I think it’s a great deal of good that Christians are able to see God’s values in material produced in a place where Christianity is so devoid. It just goes to show that God’s love and values are everywhere, even in places we never expected.
This next one I never really thought much about. Anime has much good and potential. Some may not see that all the time. But that good and potential can be used for God’s work that He has for us. We can use these anime, and help others, whether it’s emotionally, mentally, or even show them the gospel through anime. If it has the potential and good, then why dwell on the bad? Instead of wasting this time looking at all the bad, we can be sharing Jesus’ love and joy. God chooses to look at the good in us, so we should do that too, and not just with anime, but with all things. Although I do agree that anime isn’t for everyone. If it’s doing more hurt than help, it should be stopped, and I think I have a better understanding of that now. But anime has definitely helped me, and I think being able to take something I liked a lot for nearly 10 years, and be able to serve my God with it, is amazing. It’s great to be able to see the parallels within anime and Christianity. And I also think that sometimes even Jesus Himself would enjoy the themes of anime. I’ve always imagined Him watching Haikyuu!!, sitting at the edge of His seat in suspense to see who’d win the match (even though He already knew.)
I do not intend to take anymore of your time. I noticed on this website that there’s a list of anime and manga recommendations, but I was wondering, what are some of your own suggestions? I’ve watched things along the line of Haikyuu!!, Fairy Tail, Bungou Stray Dogs, etc,.
I’m glad you’ve reached a conclusion! Sounds like a good way to approach this facet of your life.
Let’s see…those are all pretty recent series. Among shows from the past few years, I’ve really enjoyed ACCA-13 (one of our writers did an episode-by-episode of that series), OreGairu is my favorite. My Hero Academia, March Comes in Like a Lion, ReLIFE, and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash were all really good, too, but none of these shows are as high energy as the ones you listed.
Here’s my anime list (in decending order of ranking) if you’re interested: http://www.anime-planet.com/users/TWWK/anime?sort=rating&order=desc
Thank you so, so much! I’m gonna look at that list, and watch some of them.
Thank you again for your replies. They helped me a lot. I was praying for God to guide me on things I should watch, so this list will help. I always keep worrying that I shouldn’t watch anime because God doesn’t want me to, but now all I want to do is serve Him through anime. I hope I can bring lost souls to Him through His help and through anime. I hope I can do exactly what you guys do here at Beneath the Tangles. I feel a lot better and happier now. I trust God to guide me, and I’m glad I’m able to see Him in anime and all sorts of media. I want to share His love to other otakus, and I’m so excited and happy to be able to have these opportunities to serve Him. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited lol.
So thank you again. I’m so glad I found this website. You all are really helping so many, and me too. So please never stop doing what you all do! This website is a blessing. Thank you, and God bless!