The Anime Thread #1

[Dancelittleewok]

Again with the trump card. I don’t think anime is “demonic” as dancelit said. I just think it has been used for that. That’s what I find disturbing.

I’m suprised you guys see nothing wrong with stuff like that. Why do you think we are catholics?

Forgive me. I must have misunderstood you. What I’m struggling to understand why you continue to look to the anime industry when you believe that it’s used by demonic forces or morally depraved. If anime doesn’t meet your standards, why watch it?

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Again with the trump card. I don’t think anime is “demonic” as dancelit said. I just think it has been used for that. That’s what I find disturbing.

I’m suprised you guys see nothing wrong with stuff like that. Why do you think we are catholics?

Where did I say you claimed anime was demonic? Stop putting words in my mouth.
I just think your scrupulosity is something to be fixed, not something to be preached.You know? Like I’ve already told you on more than one occasion here?

One sign of this is your apparent inability to distinguish fantasy from reality. I’ve used dragons and demons in trading card decks. Played (and still play) as a warlock in more than one MMORPG. Guess what? I still go to Church. I don’t support twisted liberal ideas like abortion. And finally, I have not experienced anything close to a demonic encounter (except maybe an occasional stroke of rotten luck ).

My real life is different from the ones I have in fantasy and in my imagination. Period. It’s the same in anime. If you know how to distinguish that, sharpen that skill!

 

[Dancelittleewok]

Where did I say you claimed anime was demonic? Stop putting words in my mouth.

EW:

gain with the trump card. I don’t think anime is “demonic” as dancelit said. I just think it has been used for that. That’s what I find disturbing.

I’m suprised you guys see nothing wrong with stuff like that. Why do you think we are catholics?

EW is referring to me, not you.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

EW is referring to me, not you.

Yeah I know but he quoted me and I never said what you said.
He was implying that I was thinking the same way you did when… it’s not, exactly.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Lay off him.

If more Catholics weren’t so busily romancing the world, the flesh and the devil, we wouldn’t have this hellish world.

I have been guilty of that myself, but I’m a convert. What’s your excuse?

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Lay off him.

We would if he would learn to lay off preaching his scrupulosity. (Instead of trying to cure it?)

If more Catholics weren’t so busily romancing the world, the flesh and the devil, we wouldn’t have this hellish world.

I have been guilty of that myself, but I’m a convert. What’s your excuse?

Whoa, rewind! God created this world. How can anyone not romance something that beautiful? I really find it sad how people scorn “the world” and make it out as if we’re to be an isolationist religion.

Furthermore, we gave the devil an image. Not Him. I don’t remember God saying Satan looked like some pointy-faced imp in a red jump suit.

That’s no excuse. That’s logic. God’s other gift to mankind.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

EW has nothing to be ‘cured’ of.

Maybe some people are made uncomfortable by his lack of enthusiasm for sin because it reminds them of their own unfortunate attachment to sin. I mean the whole ‘plank in the eye’ projection thing.

EW—there are a couple of specifically Christian anime forums where no one will pile-on because you wish to avoid certain shows. For instance, if someone asks, ‘Where can I find an anime that doesn’t portray magic?’ no one jumps ugly and says, ‘You shouldn’t like what you like or avoid what you avoid! You need to be CURED!’

I used to belong to a number of forums but withdrew due to the filthy language, images, and militant paganism displayed there.

Anime Angels and Christian Anime Alliance are the good forums I’m thinking of.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

EW has nothing to be ‘cured’ of.

Maybe some people are made uncomfortable by his lack of enthusiasm for sin because it reminds them of their own unfortunate attachment to sin. I mean the whole ‘plank in the eye’ projection thing.

Yes he does. Being unable to reasonably distinguish what is actually a sin and what is not, is not something the Church holds up in high regards. It’s not an enthusiasm at all. It’s religious fear inhibiting the human function to use logic.

EW—there are a couple of specifically Christian anime forums where no one will pile-on because you wish to avoid certain shows. For instance, if someone asks, ‘Where can I find an anime that doesn’t portray magic?’ no one jumps ugly and says, ‘You shouldn’t like what you like or avoid what you avoid! You need to be CURED!’

You know it’s one thing to dislike stuff because it makes you feel queasy and another to say such queasiness should be elevated to something everyone else in the religion should emulate. Savvy?

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

It’s amazing to me how EWTN supplies immediate needs. Today’s homily, for one (given by a priest I don’t know, who looks about 14). It’s about white martyrdom. (You can listen either on EWTN online or YouTube).

Well worth it!

EW is being persecuted by some for HIS sake. If he bears it with patience, even joy, that is white martyrdom.

Hold on, EW, some of us are with you in spirit. Others feel convicted by your words and lash out.

 

[Eagelswings]

It’s amazing to me how EWTN supplies immediate needs. Today’s homily, for one (given by a priest I don’t know, who looks about 14). It’s about white martyrdom. (You can listen either on EWTN online or YouTube).

Well worth it!

EW is being persecuted by some for HIS sake. If he bears it with patience, even joy, that is white martyrdom.

Hold on, EW, some of us are with you in spirit. Others feel convicted by your words and lash out.

Thanks. I just got the homily from itunes. I’ll have to listen to it. By the way, you don’t mean the priest is 14 years old do you?

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Thanks. I just got the homily from itunes. I’ll have to listen to it. By the way, you don’t mean the priest is 14 years old do you?

Naah, I just mean he LOOKED about 14.

The older I get the younger everyone looks to me.

Oh, PS: His name is Fr. Joseph.

 

[Frozenvirtue]

Hmm… well, anime can be used for both good and evil, I think I agree with that much, though I haven’t read the argument in detail, so i wont attempt to quote from people. But I think that most of the time wherever God is represented as an evil… well, you know, in the media is when people kind of miss the point of religion.

For example, in the Japanese game series Shin Megami Tensei, YHWH and his angels are portrayed as ruthless, moral absolutists willing to sacrifice many people for a ‘greater good’. However, this is a very different image from the loving, merciful God that we have come to know (even in the Old Testament, eg. Hosea 11:8- “Ephraim, how could I part with you? Israel, how could I give you up?”).

It’s for this reason that I like the fairly new anime ‘Angel Beats!’. It’s about a group of teenagers who die and find themselves in a high school, where carrying out normal school activities results in you disappearing mysteriously. Having led unfulfilled lives, and coming to the conclusion that disappearing is a terrible thing (being reincarnated as barnacles, anyone?), they proceed to create mischief and generally make life (afterlife?) difficult for the Student Council President, Angel. As of the latest few episodes, it’s been revealed that the school is actually a Purgatory like place where they could live out their unfulfilled dreams before moving on to Heaven (or something like that, it’s not made very clear). Granted, the series isn’t over yet, so I don’t know how it will end, but I pray and trust it will continue in this vein.

My proposal is this: I’m sure most of us have an interest in drawing manga, or in other art forms. Why not use our talents to glorify God? Music is another medium that can be used to either praise or slander the Most High. Great people like St. Francis used what they had in their time, music and poetry, to glorify God. Today, can’t we do the same with a wider array of arts that we have today. Let’s have manga where God is actually portrayed accurately for a change. Imagine angels as true guardians sent by God to help us, or how awesome a manga St. Michael tearing through hordes of demons would look. We are always worried that the media will have a negative effect on people. Why not try the opposite?

 

[Ducard]

If anyone’s interested, I just finished a live action teaser for Fullmetal Alchemist:

youtube.com/watch?v=AimaDz96fEw&fmt=18

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Let’s have manga where God is actually portrayed accurately for a change. Imagine angels as true guardians sent by God to help us, or how awesome a manga St. Michael tearing through hordes of demons would look. We are always worried that the media will have a negative effect on people. Why not try the opposite?

Actually portraying God in a positive light without coming off as preachy isn’t the problem, for me at least. The problem is more likely to come from those who rail against any form of new innovation regarding the faith be it music, books, or art. These types usually include Protestant fundamentalists and traditionalist Catholics of the SSPX variety. No genre of anime can satisfy these types.

 

[foolishmortal]

Unless it’s high art, at least for what the parish can afford, it doesn’t belong in church or in the building of it. That '70s avant garde **** has no place there. Outside…whatever. Regarding the portrayal of the faith, don’t mess with the Holy Family.

EW, I think Bruce Timm and the gang made American anime out of Batman: The Animated Series and with Batman Beyond and then those Simpsons/American Dad cartoon shows are popular. Teen Titans mixed anime drawing with American humor. Who says you have to make your characters look or behave Japanese [well, their (societal) released form, in which they don’t have to behave appropriately]? How about an American cartoon/Japanese cartoon character physical trait blend with Catholic values? You could mix in stories of the saints. Have one be a wandering priest-monk, who places sacramentals on demons and does exorcisms, but is not a lecherous one like Miroku (LOL). The items would not work for those without faith and might not work if God has decided they won’t (to make it not appear as a magic charm). They couldn’t follow a demon around though. They could have a sensitive (who can “read” souls) with them. They’d probably need a tough guy to hold down attacking possessed people or persecutors. Exorcising is where priests are popular, so that would be the angle. you could throw in a liberal to make for friendly banter–like that Quincy does with Ichigo or Piccolo and/or Vegeta with Goku.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Unless it’s high art, at least for what the parish can afford, it doesn’t belong in church or in the building of it. That '70s avant garde **** has no place there. Outside…whatever. Regarding the portrayal of the faith, don’t mess with the Holy Family.

The problem is some of the extreme types hold no distinction between inside and outside the Church building.

 

[foolishmortal]

Simplifying is OK, but they mistook simple and pious (like maybe Padre Pio’s place or some grotto-style design, like you’d see in The Holy Land) for tacky geometric shapes and some stuff that’s not even a pattern, such as recent shrines to Padre Pio, Our Lady of Guadalupe and big churches like the L.A. Cathedral.

 

[itrytofight]

Hate to change topic, but I’d like to talk about the latest chapter of Bleach… and quite possibly the end of the Fake Karakura Town Battle Arc.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

So this arc finally comes to an end, and the plot finally moves foreward despite its sluggishness (I mean, the whole Hueco Mundo Arc took nearly four years or so I’m told).

Despite all this, I like where the direction is going. I mean, from what he’s shown, the main baddie as of now, Aizen, has a real chance to massacre Karakura town’s populace to forge their souls into a key to gain access to the Royal Family of the Soul Society and kill them, their Royal Guard/0 Division be damned.

All thanks to Aizen’s Hogyokou sponsored powerup.

With this, there is a new sense of urgency on what’s left of the good guys to do something which makes the story alot more exciting. Further more, the author may finally include characters he either saved for future events or just plain forgot about (like Nanao Ise) and expand character relationships and pasts between the Vizards (former Shinigami almost transformed into soul eating Hollows thanks to Aizen 100 or so years prior) and the curren Shinigami.

I guess I’m saying that I’ll stay tuned to Bleach just to see where Kubo’s going to take it.

As for the big battle between Aizen and the Gotei 13 and Vizards, I’m kinda dissappointed he destroyed them with almost little effort on his part and the good guys failed to come close to matching him. Kubo just doesn’t know how to use power levels.

This little clip of FMA Brotherhood pretty much sums up the battle I just described, sans magical spirit magic, Aizen’s Genjutsu sword, supersonice flashstepping, etc.:

youtube.com/watch?v=yALR9sPI3lQ

And that’s the last of my rant/

 

[Eagelswings]

Unless it’s high art, at least for what the parish can afford, it doesn’t belong in church or in the building of it. That '70s avant garde **** has no place there. Outside…whatever. Regarding the portrayal of the faith, don’t mess with the Holy Family.

EW, I think Bruce Timm and the gang made American anime out of Batman: The Animated Series and with Batman Beyond and then those Simpsons/American Dad cartoon shows are popular. Teen Titans mixed anime drawing with American humor. Who says you have to make your characters look or behave Japanese [well, their (societal) released form, in which they don’t have to behave appropriately]? How about an American cartoon/Japanese cartoon character physical trait blend with Catholic values? You could mix in stories of the saints. Have one be a wandering priest-monk, who places sacramentals on demons and does exorcisms, but is not a lecherous one like Miroku (LOL). The items would not work for those without faith and might not work if God has decided they won’t (to make it not appear as a magic charm). They couldn’t follow a demon around though. They could have a sensitive (who can “read” souls) with them. They’d probably need a tough guy to hold down attacking possessed people or persecutors. Exorcising is where priests are popular, so that would be the angle. you could throw in a liberal to make for friendly banter–like that Quincy does with Ichigo or Piccolo and/or Vegeta with Goku.

Thanks, but I’m going more with the sci-fi approach.

 

[Dancelittleewok]

Simplifying is OK, but they mistook simple and pious (like maybe Padre Pio’s place or some grotto-style design, like you’d see in The Holy Land) for tacky geometric shapes and some stuff that’s not even a pattern, such as recent shrines to Padre Pio, Our Lady of Guadalupe and big churches like the L.A. Cathedral.

Ugh…I went to a Catholic wedding over the weekend in the ugliest church. The church itself was circular, making the altar in the center with the red-rust cantor/singling space behind it while the pews surrounded the altar. The walls were covered with pale brick and above that was a royal purple block, wrapping around the whole place . Everything was supported by wood, but the wood was different shades–the priest chair was oak while the ceiling wood looked like it had been stained…a long time ago.

The small but long altar was made of dark and white marble. The table on the altar was upfront while the reader’s place was right behind it, in the direct center. The priest chair was off to the side. No Baptismal candle. No Tabernacle, making it confusing about where to bow to. The colors were shades of white and neutral, which made my eye draw to the bright red cantor’s place. The big gospel book and always lit candle weren’t even on the altar, but rather by the cantor’s place. (Forgive me, I don’t know the correct words).

No saint statues. Just wooden statues (made of a different wood again) that looked like stick figures that artists use as models for drawing but with oversize arms, holding musical instruments. (In the chapel next door, I did find a modernized version of Our Lady of Guadlupe and and a really, really weird version a cruxifix. The Crucifix was made of connecting black pipe in an skewed “man”. If you were drunk, maybe it would look human but other than that, no.) No stain glass depicting saints, just a jigsaw of blues and whites, very nautical.

The whole Mass, I felt like screaming, “Help!!! I’m stuck in a bad dream of Vatican 2!!!”
/end rant…

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread…