Three pastor's break down pop culture anime juggernaught My Hero Academia through the lens of Christianity.
It's a show we all love and wanted to breakdown a little further!~ I hope you enjoy it! Have a blessed day and let us know what you think!!!
Bunch of Pastors unpack My Hero Academia!
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Three pastor's break down pop culture anime juggernaught My Hero Academia through the lens of Christianity.
It's a show we all love and wanted to breakdown a little further!~ I hope you enjoy it! Have a blessed day and let us know what you think!!!
To start off with, "Japanese anime" is not just redundant (the term "anime" exclusively refers to animated content produced in Japan), but will frequently get a commentary piece dismissed out-of-hand because it so very often indicates a lack of familiarity with the overall industry.
Simply referring to it as a "fictional Japanese series" would be more accurate, as it started as a comic book and has since been adapted to television.
Simply referring to it as a "fictional Japanese series" would be more accurate, as it started as a comic book and has since been adapted to television.
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Only three minutes in and I had to pause it again.
1. The comic started publication in 2014, and the anime started airing in Japan in 2016. So while it's still a fairly young franchise, it only appears to be "new" because the anime only recently made it to American television.
2. "Shonen" simply means "material aimed at a teenage male audience". This goes beyond anime and into comic books, novels, live-action shows, and the like. While fantasy and superhero shonen have indeed caught on internationally, there are also a large number of shonen works devoted to sports (such as "The Prince of Tennis", which follows a high school tennis team), science fiction (this is where a lot of your "giant robot" properties wind up), and slice-of-life (such as romantic comedy "We Never Learn").
Shonen Jump, the top comic anthology magazine in Japan, actually has an app wherein individual chapters of select titles can be read for free, usually the three most recent chapters of what's currently being published and select chapters of older titles (some of which may have already concluded or which may have moved to sister publications).
1. The comic started publication in 2014, and the anime started airing in Japan in 2016. So while it's still a fairly young franchise, it only appears to be "new" because the anime only recently made it to American television.
2. "Shonen" simply means "material aimed at a teenage male audience". This goes beyond anime and into comic books, novels, live-action shows, and the like. While fantasy and superhero shonen have indeed caught on internationally, there are also a large number of shonen works devoted to sports (such as "The Prince of Tennis", which follows a high school tennis team), science fiction (this is where a lot of your "giant robot" properties wind up), and slice-of-life (such as romantic comedy "We Never Learn").
Shonen Jump, the top comic anthology magazine in Japan, actually has an app wherein individual chapters of select titles can be read for free, usually the three most recent chapters of what's currently being published and select chapters of older titles (some of which may have already concluded or which may have moved to sister publications).
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*cracks knuckles*
The issue with Naruto is that his early antics are a desperate plea for attention. His parents were killed on the day he was born, and he was largely shunned by the village because he's a human weapon of mass destruction. The head of the village has nominal responsibility for him, but by the time Naruto was 10 that "responsibility" came down to nothing more than putting him up in an apartment, giving him money each week, and ensuring that he was enrolled in school.
Naruto is practically feral from lack of human interaction, with Iruka being the only reason he can even do basic things like read and write... and even then, he's well behind for his age.
It takes several story arcs for him to learn things that other kids his age already know about human interaction, and in the process he's forced to do a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time.
In the "Shippuden" portion of the anime, it's literally shown that his greatest temptation in life is to abandon the society that so completely cast him out, and as the series progresses he does in fact suffer a considerable amount of heartbreak... including an infamous sequence where he is forced to realize that his crush never loved him back and as a result her efforts to show him affection were nothing more than a diversion to keep him away from something else, leading to him eventually suffering a full psychotic break.
...And even then he still saves her life after her own foolishness nearly gets her killed, showing his great ability to forgive.
The issue with Naruto is that his early antics are a desperate plea for attention. His parents were killed on the day he was born, and he was largely shunned by the village because he's a human weapon of mass destruction. The head of the village has nominal responsibility for him, but by the time Naruto was 10 that "responsibility" came down to nothing more than putting him up in an apartment, giving him money each week, and ensuring that he was enrolled in school.
Naruto is practically feral from lack of human interaction, with Iruka being the only reason he can even do basic things like read and write... and even then, he's well behind for his age.
It takes several story arcs for him to learn things that other kids his age already know about human interaction, and in the process he's forced to do a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time.
In the "Shippuden" portion of the anime, it's literally shown that his greatest temptation in life is to abandon the society that so completely cast him out, and as the series progresses he does in fact suffer a considerable amount of heartbreak... including an infamous sequence where he is forced to realize that his crush never loved him back and as a result her efforts to show him affection were nothing more than a diversion to keep him away from something else, leading to him eventually suffering a full psychotic break.
...And even then he still saves her life after her own foolishness nearly gets her killed, showing his great ability to forgive.
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*Cracks ankles*
That's true, we had wondered if saying Japaneses anime might be redundant but we're also reaching audiences beyond anime fans. There are people we know who love My Hero Academia but are really unfamiliar with both anime and maybe even their terms. To make it easier, we simplified some phrases and expanded on some others.
I believe also it is mentioned in the video that the anime was released around that time. I know it's not specific, but it also doesn't really have to be. The fact that it is an anime that has come out in the past few years, specifically getting such a popular following in america, especially amongst new people is noteworthy. While it's not technically new, it's new to the audiences that it's reaching! which is pretty cool.
Also you are correct about the shonen term! *Cracks kankles* but once again for it's general purposes and that we really didn't feel like taking the time to expand on it further, we gave something a little more general.
Also having watched Naruto pretty much all the way through, I definitely understand the character and where it came from and it's story. But at first glance, I still felt that way. He was a skeevy kid and I didn't care for him. It took a very long time to establish him. It doesn't take nearly that long to establish Midoriya, hence the comparison.
Appreciate the feedback and we'll try and be a little more conscious about these terms in the next opinion/christianity piece we do!
That's true, we had wondered if saying Japaneses anime might be redundant but we're also reaching audiences beyond anime fans. There are people we know who love My Hero Academia but are really unfamiliar with both anime and maybe even their terms. To make it easier, we simplified some phrases and expanded on some others.
I believe also it is mentioned in the video that the anime was released around that time. I know it's not specific, but it also doesn't really have to be. The fact that it is an anime that has come out in the past few years, specifically getting such a popular following in america, especially amongst new people is noteworthy. While it's not technically new, it's new to the audiences that it's reaching! which is pretty cool.
Also you are correct about the shonen term! *Cracks kankles* but once again for it's general purposes and that we really didn't feel like taking the time to expand on it further, we gave something a little more general.
Also having watched Naruto pretty much all the way through, I definitely understand the character and where it came from and it's story. But at first glance, I still felt that way. He was a skeevy kid and I didn't care for him. It took a very long time to establish him. It doesn't take nearly that long to establish Midoriya, hence the comparison.
Appreciate the feedback and we'll try and be a little more conscious about these terms in the next opinion/christianity piece we do!
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What you're describing with MHA in the later minutes of the video is the stock standard premise behind a *lot* of the more popular shonen titles, especially the fantasy series.
You have a core figure, a young man who somehow starts off with what in the world of the series is a major disadvantage. Rather than let this disadvantage stop them, they work hard at what they can do, and in the process develop a considerable sense of empathy for others who are likewise on the fringes or otherwise suffering. Because of this, when they discover that their disadvantage is actually a cursed gift of some kind, they're in position to take advantage of it.
This fact, coupled with their genuine good nature, allows them to slowly win over those around them, at which point they begin to organically grow a cadre of friends, mentors, and supporters. Typically, there will also be a sweet thing whose heart he winds up stealing as he goes. They're both young and inexperienced, so he often doesn't realize she's in his corner and she often can't express her feelings. But no matter how bad things get she's right there whenever he needs her.
A more recent example of this that puts matters in full detail is the "Black Clover" franchise, another Shonen Jump alumni like "My Hero Academia".
Asta is an orphan born into a world resembling medieval Europe. Magic is everything in the Clover Kingdom, as is a person's class status. So an orphan boy who seemingly has no magical ability at all, on the surface, seems to mean that he's consigned to the farming town where his orphanage - which is little more than the local Catholic church - is located. Yes, a form of what is clearly Catholicism is the de facto state religion.
Rather than surrender to this, Asta does an intense amount of physical and mental conditioning. He's not the brightest kid around due to his often missing studies to train, but by the time he's a teenager he can actually outperform many of the adult men of the town.
It turns out that Asta was born with a literal demon cohabiting within his body, a demon whose power to negate magic is suppressing what magic Asta has. This ability, combined with Asta's strength and stamina, mean that he is the only person in the Clover Kingdom who can wield a series of ancient swords. For example, one sword has the power to negate magic, while the other has the ability to absorb magic.
Asta is quick to learn how to both tap into the magic negation ability *and* the special abilities of each sword, something that makes him so powerful even several high-ranking officers have no means of countering him when they try to duel him. It's only a handful of elite commanders who have the strength, experience, and self-discipline to match him, and most of them recognize that he's got a legitimately pure heart and can easily be forged into an elite knight with their assistance (which does in fact include a fair bit of tough love).
Along the way, his kindness and bravery impress a series of young ladies. For example, squad mate Noelle has been on the receiving end of verbal and emotional abuse her entire life, so Asta's kindness is the first step in a very long process of healing.
You have a core figure, a young man who somehow starts off with what in the world of the series is a major disadvantage. Rather than let this disadvantage stop them, they work hard at what they can do, and in the process develop a considerable sense of empathy for others who are likewise on the fringes or otherwise suffering. Because of this, when they discover that their disadvantage is actually a cursed gift of some kind, they're in position to take advantage of it.
This fact, coupled with their genuine good nature, allows them to slowly win over those around them, at which point they begin to organically grow a cadre of friends, mentors, and supporters. Typically, there will also be a sweet thing whose heart he winds up stealing as he goes. They're both young and inexperienced, so he often doesn't realize she's in his corner and she often can't express her feelings. But no matter how bad things get she's right there whenever he needs her.
A more recent example of this that puts matters in full detail is the "Black Clover" franchise, another Shonen Jump alumni like "My Hero Academia".
Asta is an orphan born into a world resembling medieval Europe. Magic is everything in the Clover Kingdom, as is a person's class status. So an orphan boy who seemingly has no magical ability at all, on the surface, seems to mean that he's consigned to the farming town where his orphanage - which is little more than the local Catholic church - is located. Yes, a form of what is clearly Catholicism is the de facto state religion.
Rather than surrender to this, Asta does an intense amount of physical and mental conditioning. He's not the brightest kid around due to his often missing studies to train, but by the time he's a teenager he can actually outperform many of the adult men of the town.
It turns out that Asta was born with a literal demon cohabiting within his body, a demon whose power to negate magic is suppressing what magic Asta has. This ability, combined with Asta's strength and stamina, mean that he is the only person in the Clover Kingdom who can wield a series of ancient swords. For example, one sword has the power to negate magic, while the other has the ability to absorb magic.
Asta is quick to learn how to both tap into the magic negation ability *and* the special abilities of each sword, something that makes him so powerful even several high-ranking officers have no means of countering him when they try to duel him. It's only a handful of elite commanders who have the strength, experience, and self-discipline to match him, and most of them recognize that he's got a legitimately pure heart and can easily be forged into an elite knight with their assistance (which does in fact include a fair bit of tough love).
Along the way, his kindness and bravery impress a series of young ladies. For example, squad mate Noelle has been on the receiving end of verbal and emotional abuse her entire life, so Asta's kindness is the first step in a very long process of healing.
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IRL I'm an entertainment writer.
A very common occurrence thus far has been for me to encounter a fellow writer who is convinced that they're the hottest thing around, often the result of their having gotten a degree from a fine arts school and their fully buying into whatever the popular trend or sentiment of the day is.
As the saying goes, their level of knowledge is typically a mile wide and an inch deep. They'll use fancy words to opine on things they barely understand, get torn to shreds on social media, have people explain at length the details of what they were commenting on and why they completely deflate the argument the writer has presented, and completely fail to comprehend why they're experiencing such negative feedback. Rather than listen to the comments and learn, they'll presume a large group of haters found their piece and start blocking people.
Before they even realize it, their career has self-destructed because no one takes them seriously and no one can get through to them to explain why. The echo chamber they've created has become a vacuum chamber, and the air finally got sucked out.
In that sense, I thank you for considering what I have to say.
But for obvious reasons, when I am asked to review someone's take on something I do get a bit detailed.
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The manga is on chapter 255 as of this past weekend (Shonen Jump is weekly, so most titles have new chapters at least every other week), and the broadcast on Cartoon Network has just cleared episode 123.
The current story arc as of where the anime is has Asta being subjected to a kangaroo court because he has a demon inside of him; even though he was one of the knights who just saved the kingdom from a powerful demon, the king presumes like = like and his inquisitor is of the same mindset.
The king and his cronies were publicly humiliated when a pair of high-ranking nobles, under the command of the nation's top mage, spoke on his behalf, noting his record as a knight and his key role in saving the kingdom. Not only did this establish him as a hero, it also raised the prospect of a full-on coup if Asta was convicted without any solid evidence against him; the king's quite unpopular outside of his inner circle, and so doesn't have the support to resist the efforts of popular high-level nobles if they decide to oust him. Even the inquisitor flinched when Asta was able to suppress the man's magic ability, indicating that he knows he's now playing a dangerous game.
The manga is much, much further along, and involves Asta's unit having to protect a neighboring kingdom from a full-on demonic invasion led by the commander of the demon who he just recently saved the Clover Kingdom from.
I think a full subscription on the Shonen Jump app is $10 or so, which gives a full year of access to everything that has since been uploaded to Shonen Jump's online archives. That'll include "My Hero Academia" as well (it's up to chapter 276) and the spin-off series "My Hero Academia: Vigilantes" (up to chapter 80).
If you have satellite or digital cable, you may have access to on-demand programming; if you do, look for "Adult Swim On Demand", as Cartoon Network classes it as part of their Adult Swim lineup of after-hours shows despite it actually being a part of the Toonami block.
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