Looking at anime art

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Hi everyone, I know there have been similar questions on this but I felt that putting out a new topic was better than bringing back an old thread.

I enjoy anime and I go on image boards and such. I usually have no problem with avoiding provacative art. However, sometimes I look at certain pictures (say with female characters that are not meant to be fanservice) and I look at all the parts (legs, midriff, etc.). In my mind, I’m thinking that I am appreciating the artists work, yet at the same time, I can’t help but fear I may be committing lust by looking. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

for reference of some of the art I’ve seen:
zenovia.cool.ne.jp/masa/illust/081228.jpg (main page is zenovia.cool.ne.jp/masa/)

WARNING: this next link is only the image becuase the majority of the work on the page is NSFW.
yahagi.deviantart.com/art/bus-stop-53184037
 
Wow, on the first image I was actually more focused around the center with all those really awesome ships. It was only when I looked again did I notice the girl in the background. Still, I’m loving it all. 👍 It’s very futuristic though I find the title a little kiddie. XD

The second one’s pretty good too. It gives that nice, rugged, and rural feeling I get every time I wait for a jeepney ride in the rain. The way the girls are dressed really helps enforce that too. Trust me, you don’t see someone dressed in a 50s-style long skirt in that kind of place/scenario.

With that said, I think the best way you could avoid having “lustful thoughts” is by simply seeing those girls as part of the background. That’s what sorta separates an image that’s meant to be provocative and one that isn’t. The elements that normally would’ve meant to be sexual aren’t standing out.
 
With that said, I think the best way you could avoid having “lustful thoughts” is by simply seeing those girls as part of the background. That’s what sorta separates an image that’s meant to be provocative and one that isn’t. The elements that normally would’ve meant to be sexual aren’t standing out.
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That’s excellent advice. On a related note, I got so worried over the whole thing today that I actually considered not recieving communion, and waiting for next weeks confession.
 
There is plenty of anime style art out there that is not only provocative but intentionally so.

I can’t say these would count. 😉 I mean…if you find yourself staring at the legs and trying to see if there’s a hint of something up the skit, then I’d be concerned. But there’s nothing wrong with noticing an artist’s detail.

Heck even some of the greatest art inspired by Judeo-Christian figure show humans completely naked. Michelangelo’s David anyone? It’s one thing to appreciate his attention to detail and beauty of the human body…it’s another to be turned on by it. The two are not the same thing. 😛
 
These particular pictures you’ve shared as examples are pretty tame, but we have to consider the reality of anime beyond this. Yes, today you were tempted by something relatively innocent, but tomorrow you might come into contact with something lewd or even just plain pornographic if you’re not careful.

What I would be concerned about here is not that you looked at these particular pictures, but WHY you looked at them. The artist cannot be faulted for drawing something morally neutral. At least I feel these pictures are morally neutral in that they have artistic quality and merit. However, YOU can be faulted if your mindset has shifted due to the pictures. One of the things that troubles me when I draw (I’m an anime artist) is the thought of ‘what if my pictures are leading others astray or into sin’. At times, this has lead to obsessive compulsive thinking and in some particular cases, has stopped me from drawing something I wanted to. Surely, if this trouble exists for we the artists, surely and perhaps more so in some ways, it would for the viewers/fans/whatever. We may draw the stuff, but it’s ultimately your choice to look at it or not. If we’ve committed any sin, it’s on us, and if the nature of the pictures constitutes grave matter, then I believe we’re also accountable for any who are lead astray because of that grave matter. Of course, this type of a unique sin is forgiven in confession, but what good is it if you intend to continue drawing like that, it’s a habit, or, worse yet, it’s what you’re good at drawing. I rant, but my point in closing is that it’s all about intent. It’s about the intent we have in creating it, and the intent you have in viewing it.

We can cross the line, and so can you. We have to watch ourselves, always.
 
These particular pictures you’ve shared as examples are pretty tame, but we have to consider the reality of anime beyond this. Yes, today you were tempted by something relatively innocent, but tomorrow you might come into contact with something lewd or even just plain pornographic if you’re not careful.
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I’ve seen whats out there and sometimes it is pretty, other times…not so much.
What I would be concerned about here is not that you looked at these particular pictures, but WHY you looked at them.
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I like looking at anime simply because I enjoy the art style. My problem is that even though I enjoy looking at figures on an illustration, sometimes I’m not sure if that enjoyment is “pure” or not. For example, If I see an exposed part of the thigh or something like that, I find myself thinking “that looks nice”. However, I can’t help but think if that enjoyment is bad or not. Sometimes I can’t look at an entire character in fear that I may become aroused (yes I am that quirky).

On a somewhat related note, when I look at real women, I usually only look at their faces. Believe it or not, I trained myself to do that after struggling with improper glances.
 
Mr.Blank1.5 said:
On a somewhat related note, when I look at real women, I usually only look at their faces. Believe it or not, I trained myself to do that after struggling with improper glances.
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It’s funny how you mention that when I’ve practically lost all attraction to real women due to seeing much cuter ones in anime. >.>;;

It’s probably just me though. 🤷
 
I don’t mean to make this a non-sequitur, but I object to any style of anime that sexualizes young girls, or that blurs the line between youth and womanhood, and the same goes for men/boys. This may not be helpful to the OP, but it is one of my issues with a good deal of the anime that people I know enjoy, and it’s relatively on-topic. :twocents:
 
Havard said:
Oh dear… that is not good.
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Just a quick question. Would you rather I hanker after fictional 2-D drawings with large, moe eyes and crazy hair…

…or actual girls who live actual lives and are actual human beings? 🤷
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
Just a quick question. Would you rather I hanker after fictional 2-D drawings with large, moe eyes and crazy hair…

…or actual girls who live actual lives and are actual human beings? 🤷
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It’s one thing to observe the beauty of a person, but to dwell upon it longingly - if the object isn’t someone you are courting, or plan to court - is unhealthy, because it disassociates physical attraction from love.
 
Havard said:
It’s one thing to observe the beauty of a person, but to dwell upon it longingly - if the object isn’t someone you are courting, or plan to court - is unhealthy, because it disassociates physical attraction from love.
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Um… I’m not sure how that answers my question. All I’m simply asking is, which is worse?

To be physically attracted to a real person and lust after said person, which (from my understanding of what makes lust wrong) reduces that person to a sex object?

Or

To be physically attracted to something that is not even physically real; an image drawn on a two-dimensional surface?
 
I’m saying it doesn’t matter, I discourage both. They both objectify women and disassociate physical attraction from love.

Do you feel that you have no choice but to pick one? If so, I will pray that you see differently.
 
Havard said:
I’m saying it doesn’t matter, I discourage both. They both objectify women and disassociate physical attraction from love.

Do you feel that you have no choice but to pick one? If so, I will pray that you see differently.
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You are right to say that that’s what makes both wrong. However, I really don’t like it when people make the mistake of equating one with the other.

When you lust after someone. There are two parties involved. The offending party (the one lusting/objectifying) and the targeted party (the person being desired).

In the case of lusting after a drawn unrealistic image (e.g. anime girls), the aspect of objectifying women is still there and makes it wrong. However, the fact that the person being desired is nothing more than a fictional entity (enforced by the fact that the such a person bears no resemblance to any real person whatsoever), makes it impossible to put it on the same level as lusting after a real person because there is no real person having his/her dignity being violated by being reduced to a sex object.
 
Lust is a grave (mortal) sin, whether it is after a real person, or a drawing, or merely a thought in your mind.

You are required to avoid not only the sin itself, but you are forbidden the desire and forbidden to enter into near occasions of the sin. What is a near occasion? An occasion where you normally fall into the sin.

In this case it would be visiting websites like the above, which I have not actually gone to look at myself but can clearly say it is wrong to simply from how you have described them.

I might add that viewing lots of photographs or drawings of women should be a no-brainer as a no-go for a good Catholic. And that includes just viewing them for ‘art’s’ sake and similar deceptive excuses.

Our culture is very opposed to chastity. Getting over this takes a lot of work for a Catholic man. This is understandable. But one is required to make that 180 degree turn, there is -no getting out of it-. Period.

So – Give up the pictures of the pretty ladies, drawn or photographed. I doubt you’ll find a gallery anytime soon full of properly dressed ones according to the standards of Catholic modesty, and even if you did looking at a ton of these at once wouldn’t be wise either however well dressed they were.
 
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