Spirituality in the Anime Blogosphere: Wisdom of Heartseed, Ghibli in Catholic Magazine, and Christianity in Evangelion, Trigun, and FMA: Brotherhood
Draggle continues to examine Kokoro Connect with Christian language, finding the kids caught up in a battle between flesh and Spirit, and Heartseed as similar to Ecclesiastes’ teacher. [Draggle's Anime Blog]
Sarah Greydanus, the teenage daughter of reviewer Steven D. Greydanus, reviews Whisper of the Heart. [National Catholic Register]
After finally finishing Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sweetpea provides her overview of the series, including some commentary on the use of religion in the show. [Going in Blindly]
Rocklobster review a classic, Trigun, and includes examination of Vash as a stand-in for Christ and of Wolfwood’s portrayal as a priest. [Lobster Quadrille]
Annalyn is rewatching FMA: Brotherhood, and notes some commentary about religion in the show. [Annalyn's Thoughts]
On a more somber note, Annalyn also reflects on the death of a young man she knew. [Annalyn's Thoughts]
Posted on 08.18.2012, in Anime, Christianity and tagged Catholicism, death, Fullmetal Alchemist, Kokoro Connect, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Trigun, Whisper of the Heart. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
About mangas that show Christmas in their stories………….. the japanese non-Christians have a warped sense of Christmas and it’s real meaning.
Extremely rare to find anime, too, that mentions Jesus at all in connection with Christmas. Then again, 99% of Christmas programming in the U.S., outside of a couple of channels and “Charlie Brown Christmas,” are the same!
But then of course we all take it for granted that we all know Christmas is the birthdate of Jesus. The japanese’s idea of Christmas is like the Ameicans’ idea of Easter …. easter eggs, bunnies, whatever.
I think you hit the nail on the nose. I mean, in America you have people who are always campaigning about Christ being in Christmas, and over half the population is Christian. Therefore, you’ll have the vast majority of Americans knowing what it is. Japan is less than 5% Christian, so you just don’t have that awareness. You can’t. It’s like asking people outside of Chicago the meaning of Polaski Day.
Well…I think the Japanese are more informed than we think. The average Japanese person, I would guess, knows that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birthday.
The choice, of course, is to celebrate as a day about presents, Santa, romance, and snow. Because of the tiny portion of Japanese that is Christian (I’ve read that 1% is the most accurate number), we can’t expect the country to celebrate it accurately, particularly when Christmas in America has probably become a lot more about the above-mentioned ideas than Christ.