T
Tenofovir
Guest
Of course what you say is obvious and true. Depictions of the Catholic Church are pretty bizarre in anime series, as is much everything else. False stereotypes are aplenty. Black people are usually presented either bald or in Afros. Americans are all big and clumsy unless the character is a blonde woman in which case she may be one of the prettiest girls in the series. English are for the most part little gentlemen. Getting back to Christianity, you have, as you say, either the Church battling vampires such as in Trinity Blood or somehow involved in some cover up such as in A Certain Magical Index. Often enough the portrayal is just incidental from Sailor Moon Live Action TV - Sailor V rescuing a churchful of attendees from a monster to endless marriage fantasies in Christian/Catholic churches originating in the minds of generic bishoujo characters. In Ghost Hunt, an anime about exorcisms, there is a combo of Catholic priest, Buddhist monk and Shinto priest who work with a mysterious owner of a ghost exorcising firm and a young, easily-smitten high school girl character (heroine). In this series the priest gets some respect however, and his incantations sometimes work, while the Shinto priestess is the butt of most jokes.
However, don’t expect theology from anime. The genre is not about that. Still it’s refreshing to note that many characters feel objective morality exists and fight for it. In one current anime for instance, Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouto ga Iru (is the title), the lead character upon finding out that there is a chance he may end up marrying his sister (as one of the girls chasing his affections is his long lost sister) says that it would not be a good thing to marry her, not because as someone else suggests it may embarrass the family, but because it’s an objectively wrong thing to do. Still, as long as you’re not taken in by the occasional fanservice elements of many anime, the shows I think are more wholesome then most Western mainstream shows, the latter of course promote dodgy ethical systems and morals while the animes usually do not. Forgiveness and redemption as well as compassion and self sacrifice are common in many anime too. God belief is also not uncommon, although generic. For example in the scientific anime “Steins;Gate” mention of God is made, although in passing and is not ridiculed.
I would be weary of looking for anime depicting Christianity correctly. One does not watch anime for theological teaching, there is church, Bible study, religious study, philosophy, theology and similar for that. I don’t think one should cast the pearls of Scripture before the swine of mindless, escapist entertainment. I think it’s the wrong approach. I also don’t think most audiences care. They general appeal for anime is the different, one does not watch these shows in Japan or abroad to learn something new - i.e. they’re not documentaries.
As for religious anime, as close as it gets, there is an old children’s Bible anime called Superbook. It was made by Tatsunoko - from the the people who made Macross/Robotech.
