Manga goes East - And we thought they only messed up Catholics

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TarkanAttila

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You know how anime and manga manage to badly distort Roman Catholicism? And how incredibly disturbing yet funny Anime “Catholicism” can be?

Well, my Eastern brothers and sisters, you get to join in on the fun, too, in case you didn’t know. Behold, the latest in Japanese misconceptions of Christianity: Seikon no Qwaser, or “The Qwaser of Stigmata”.
Wikipedia:
The story chronicles the school lives of Mafuyu Oribe and Tomo Yamanobe at the Japanese Eastern Orthodox school St. Mihailov Academy where they have endured persecution and ostracization from the other students led by the daughter of the current dean Miyuri Tsujidou and her second-in-command Hana Katsuragi. Mafuyu and Tomo’s lives take a drastic turn when they nurse the silver-haired Russian-born Aleksander “Sasha” Nikolaevich Hell back to health upon encountering him unconscious during their home commute one day. Almost immediately, Sasha begins to repay Mafuyu and Tomo’s humanitarianism as he repels their tormentors; unfortunately, this does not change Sasha’s prologue as a throw-away Qwaser from the Adepts and that the Adepts have no qualms about making an absolute war zone of the Academy in order to acquire the Theotokos of Tsarytsin from Athos who wishes to keep the icon’s existence a secret from the world.
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It features a breastfeeding (thankfully non-graphic) icon of the Theotokos - called the “Theotokos of Tsarytsin” that’s supposed to possess amazing powers, an anime “Catholic” church - but with icons at the front of the church (yeah; that really makes a church Orthodox) - and a lot of “fanservice”.

Welcome, my Eastern brothers and sisters, into the absolutely horrifying world of Anime Christianity. 🙂

PS, I’m not bringing this up because I think this is a good or wholesome anime to watch. Just the opposite. Avoid watching this unless you absolutely must. I think anime “Catholicism” - and now anime “Orthodoxy” - is at best silly and misinformed, and in cases like this, horrifying. :eek: What do you guys think for this bast***ization of Orthodoxy?

I was hoping I’d find something good when I Googled “Orthodox manga”!:rolleyes:
 
Honestly, it doesn’t suprise me. Western-branch Christians hardly understand Orthodoxy, and if they cannot, how are the majority of Japanese expected to?

Plus, Japan is infamous for producing really weird stuff in the entertainment industry. Western entertainment demands some level of realism, even in high fantasy. Japanese entertainment does not seem to hold to that standard: just look at such franchises as Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Mario, et al.

Hopefully people will recognize that the work is wholly fiction and dismiss it as nothing more than (quite possibly crude) entertainment.

I cannot think of much to add regarding content beyond what Jharek has already said.
 
It takes on a whole different meaning when we know that in this particular anime, a particularly powerful substance called soma is…

well, liquid substance that gives life. Put two and two together. :blushing:

And if TV Tropes is to be believed…

You know what? I’m not going to say any more. Just don’t waste your time with it. I saw it. There’s almost nothing even remotely Orthodox about it except that they’re supposedly Russian, and they have icons. That’s it. There’s absolutely nothing else redeeming about this anime. :rolleyes:
They seem like they have used a mangled version of some well known miraclous icons, as usual just as in the west people use shorthand versions of particular religions or culure that are often ludicrous to actual members of those the Japanese are doing the same with manga. I have not actually ever seen an Eastern Orthodox clergyman portrayed accurately in any comic in the west or from Japan. I have in a few Russian comics but those are little known outside their home nation.
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To be honest, I have never seen an Eastern Orthodox clergyman anywhere. Well, that’s a lie. I saw a priest and a nun (both accurate in costume) on Seinfeld. But nothing else anywhere in America or Japan. Or for that matter Russia. :confused:

In what fictional publications have you seen Orthodox clergy, I wonder?
 
On July 3, the Icon of the Virgin “Galaktotrophousa” (Γαλακτοτροφουσα, meaning “the Milk-Giver”) is celebrated. The Icon shows the Mother of God breast-feeding Christ.
The specific Icon dates from the 6th century A.D.
 
Martin Scorsese is making a movie about Japanese persecution of Catholics in the 17th century called Silence (based on a novel).

They used to make people step on images of Christ and Mary to abjure their faith.



Nothing new under the sun.
 
Pity, too. Christ seems to have found such a happy home in them:

youtube.com/watch?v=0ZioHktO_Wo 🙂

I think the Catholics and the Orthodox are both wonderful faith traditions; it’s a pity they are both so utterly misrepresented in the popular eye. The world would fall in love with the Orthodox if they knew about them. 🙂 And only then if they knew who they truly were.
On July 3, the Icon of the Virgin “Galaktotrophousa” (Γαλακτοτροφουσα, meaning “the Milk-Giver”) is celebrated. The Icon shows the Mother of God breast-feeding Christ.
The specific Icon dates from the 6th century A.D.
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Ah; so they didn’t just pull this icon out of thin air? I would have been real cross if they’dve done that. In the West, I learned (according to Wikipedia, anyway) it’s called the " Madonna Lactans" or the Nursing Madonna. But since the Council of Trent’s decree against nudity, it’s been slowly fading away.

This anime’s version looks kinda like Our Mother of Perpetual Help, with her robe and the Child Jesus covering any and all bare skin. Hm.
 
Actually, Japanese Anime makers do good amounts of research into anything they put into their stories. It doesn’t mean they’ll use the information faithfully though. For example, one of my favorites of all time is Neon Genesis Evangelion, which borrows a lot from Christian, Judeo and Gnostic symbols. Remember that their intention is not to catechize and the information they use, while mostly accurate, will be bent to conform to the story.
 
Off topic but some might find interesting… currently on display at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology here in Berkeley are a number of rescued stained glass windows formerly in the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani. One of those is of the Lactation Miracle of St. Bernard: “From the Middle Ages through the Baroque period, much theological and pictorial attention was made on the subjects of Christ’s blood and Mary’s milk. By the Blood of Christ one gained redemption. Mary’s milk became, on the other hand, a symbol of nourishment and hope on that road to salvation.” from a longer piece by Fr. Michael Morris, OP along with a picture of the Lactation Miracle of St. Bernard window found here.

Fr. Loya talked about icons of the Mother of God nursing Christ God in one of his Light of the East radio programs quite some time ago.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Actually, Japanese Anime makers do good amounts of research into anything they put into their stories. It doesn’t mean they’ll use the information faithfully though. For example, one of my favorites of all time is Neon Genesis Evangelion, which borrows a lot from Christian, Judeo and Gnostic symbols. Remember that their intention is not to catechize and the information they use, while mostly accurate, will be bent to conform to the story.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion, eh? [Insert Shinji joke here] 😃
 
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