Though the series Sonny Boy, which tracks a group of Japanese students who are given superpowers and find themselves transported to alternate universes, has been playing with the idea of salvation since early in the series, episode five more directly alludes to that idea as it crosses into religion. From any perspective, the new angle… Read More Sonny Boy, Episode 5: Making of a Judas, Rising of the Beast
What does it mean to truly arise from the tomb, from everything the tomb implies? That is, death not only (only!) of the body, but of certainties, of hopes, big and small, of innocence, virtue and long-sustained efforts, of wisdom, of connections, of memories, of meaning, of the past and the future, of the entire… Read More Holy Week 2021 [Arise]: Arising from Angel’s Egg Deluge
Glass no Kamen (2005), one of the adaptations of Suzue Miuchi’s 1976 manga, has recently brought me back to the joys of my time as an amateur theater actor at university. The anime gets it right—the audience, the lights, the bonding and the rivalries, the last minute changes, the unexpected accidents which require fast improvisation,… Read More Glass no Kamen: Christians of Spring and Winter
When it comes to anime and light novels, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an isekai series or six. Countless stories spanning many genres have used the person-travels-to-another-world premise. To borrow language from the infamous TV Tropes, the isekai concept has been played straight, played with, inverted, subverted, parodied, deconstructed, reconstructed, and more.… Read More The World Is Not Enough: Isekai and the Hope for More
Ninja Girl and Samurai Master (Nobunaga no Shinobi) is a short form anime series set during the warring states period of Japanese history coming from a historical fiction standpoint. In the current story arc we were recently introduced to a political, military, and Buddhist religious leader named Hongan-ji Kennyo. After his introduction, it becomes clear that… Read More Newman’s Nook: Amida is not Jesus
In the far-off future, humanity as we know it has ceased to exist, and in their stead, 28 crystalline lifeforms known as the Lustrous have now inhabited the earth. The Lustrous frequently face the threat of the Lunarians, and must fight against them to prevent themselves from being kidnapped to the moon to be used… Read More First Impressions: Land of the Lustrous
Hola mis amigos! To all those who have been looking forward to Something More, I hope I meet your expectations. I am Samuru, one of the staff writers here at Beneath the Tangles who enjoys writing on video games and occasionally anime. I used to write a column on Geeks Under Grace called Treasure Chest… Read More Something More: Ghost Hunting, Spiritual Personas, Suffering from God and Djinns in Final Fantasy