For as long as I can remember, my family has vacationed in a small village by the Cantabrian Sea for the summer. We would rent a little house and stay there for a month. A the family would grew bigger each year, more inventiveness was needed, but only in times of great need did we… Read More Nagi no Asukara: The Liturgy of a Love Story
Kyousuke is back, yet again. He lies over the table of the school canteen, tired—more so than he has ever been. The Refrain route, the last one, is about to begin. It is the last chance: Life, death, friendship, the past, the future, love and treason are all going to play out now. If only he… Read More Kyousuke Natsume and Meeting the Crucified Christ (II)
Spring shines outside as a new school year begins. Yukko Aioi, a schoolgirl of fourteen or so, is resting over her desk, groaning and grumbling. She has no motivation to do anything, she says. So Mio Naganohara, her best friend, suggests that she finds one. “But I lack motivation to do even that!” Yukko complains.… Read More Nichijou, comedic hope and my own ordinary life
Well, what a time! I´m 27 this year, and as I start to resemble more a seinen protagonist that a shōnen one, I know I want to be both, and I have for a long time. Long before I first watched Erased four years ago, the hope that a balance of both adventure, wonder, innocence,… Read More The Shōnen Guide to the Eucharist
Near Eastertime, our newest write, Gaheret, began developing a series meditating on the holiday and relating specifically to the Ten Commandments. With this morning’s post, the series has been completed, and I hope you’ll read through them. Although Gaheret is a lawyer in Spain by trade, his posts are particularly un-barristerlike, full of rich details… Read More Ten Commandments. Ten Anime.
20/20 in 2020 Article: Our blog’s theme for this year is “20/20 in 2020: Setting Our Vision on Christ.” Throughout the year, we’ll post articles which relate to this theme, which encourages you, our readers, to turn away from the world and toward the Holy One. Enjoy the post below, which is part of our… Read More How Not to be a Villainess in Your Next Life
Where did it all go wrong? As the events of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry) reset again and again to square one, like an inadvertent Goundhog Day, protagonist Keiichi Mabara repeatedly asks himself this question. Caught in a murder spree of some sort or another, with a different friend of his group involved… Read More Higurashi, Lent and the Martyrs
Day 11: Victory May all of our dear readers be enjoying a happy and penitential Advent in preparation for the feast which—to quote the carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen—”all others doth deface.” For my “12 Days of Christmas” post, I have chosen to reflect on episodes 10 and 11 of Patlabor, which occur on… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime: Patlabor
I perceived a fascinating juxtaposition in the new arc of Boogiepop and Others. Boogiepop refers to herself as a shinigami or the Reaper, aka Death, but what are we to make of the Imaginator? The Imaginator is obviously the villain, but I wondered why a villain should be referred to as “he who imagines”? While pondering… Read More Death vs. the Devil in Boogiepop and Others
Us liturgical Christians are in the middle of Lent, a penitential season marked by prayer, fasting and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. It recalls the forty days that Christ spent fasting in the desert, in preparation for his ministry (Matthew 4:1-2). It’s the season that I struggle the most with, where I can feel a… Read More A Lenten Haruhi Suzumiya