If you’re like me, sometimes you watch an anime that doesn’t seem all that great, but for some reason captures your imagination anyway. Perhaps you realize why only later. For me, Onmyou Taisenki (“The Great Battle of Yin and Yang”) was such a show. The premise of the anime is nothing that hadn’t been explored… Read More “Shikigami! Summon!” Spiritual Gifts Personified in Onmyou Taisenki
Thousands of people need help. If you won’t help now, when will you? – Sakae Jinnouchi Summer Wars is a multi-layered film with a number of themes, including perseverance, redemption, the dangers of identity theft, family bonds, and doing what is right. But perhaps the theme that stood out most to me was the important… Read More Summer Wars and the Art of Loving Others
So, after all that, what does it all mean? I’ve given some analysis of the results in each of this week’s posts, and many of you have contributed thoughtful comments and additional breakdown. As a whole, though, here are some of thoughts about what the survey revealed: The Aniblogging Generation The aniblogger sample for this survey… Read More Anime and Religion Survey: Conclusions
While I’m open to exploring all sorts of religious connections to anime and manga on my blog, my focus is on Christian spirituality. I’m a Christian, and so I was very interested in how anibloggers felt about the faith. As I mentioned earlier this week, 1/4 of survey respondents identified themselves as Christian, much lower than the… Read More Anime and Religion Survey: Anibloggers and Christianity
Anime is almost never a proselytizing tool. So, it’s no surprise that religion usually doesn’t take the forefront in anime series. Even when religion plays a major role, it’s typically bended and used for aesthetic or plot reasons (ex. Evangelion) by the series animators. Still, it’s ever-present in anime, as religion is deeply imbedded in the country’s culture. … Read More Anime and Religion Survey: Spirituality in Anime
What do you believe? Is there a God? What is your faith? Do you have a faith? I wanted to know how the aniblogging community would respond to these questions. About half of all respondents were either atheist or agnostic, with responses split exactly evenly between the two. In other words, 49% of respondents don’t believe… Read More Anime and Religion Survey: Religion of Anibloggers
In mid-December, I conducted an Internet survey regarding anime and religion. The results are in, analysis done, and conclusions drawn! Over the next week, I’ll reveal the results and discuss some of the most interesting items from the surveys. I hope you’ll join in the discussion and offer your own opinions, analysis, and critiques. The… Read More Anime and Religion Survey: Introduction
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