Pseudo-Christian Themes in Anime

[loyalbabus]

I'm aware there are very few Japanese Christians, that said I am seeing Christian themes in an incredible portion of the anime I've watched. And for the record, I don't mean just things that might be connected to Christianity, but entire series dedicated to an exploration of Christian theology (+giant robots and fan-service of course).

It could just be pop culture, but I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about the Japanese interest in a spirituality that they have very little contact with.

 

[Dracil]

You mean Evangelion?

They pretty much do the same to other religions, even their own Shinto religion. Heck, my avatar and signature are examples of that. If you want I can explain their pseudo-Buddhist/Shinto/Taoism relations.

Western media does it too (*Cough*The Matrix*cough*)

 

[loyalbabus]

You mean Evangelion?

They pretty much do the same to other religions, even their own Shinto religion. Heck, my avatar and signature are examples of that. If you want I can explain their pseudo-Buddhist/Shinto/Taoism relations.

Western media does it too (*Cough*The Matrix*cough*)

Well, more than Evangelion (though that might have been the start of it). I've just begun to notice a spike as it were.

 

[Vylo]

Eh, I've seen it anime new and old. I tend to watch mostly newer titles however.

 

[coolkat1002]

I was reading my bleach manga the other day and what they said about Ichigo's relationship with Zangetsu's was just about Identical with a little blerb in my 40 days book about our relationship/friendship with God. it was pretty cool I was like O_O I never noticed that before...

 

[Moana]

I have seen some overtones:

a guy named Noah in yugioh was using a lot of cards that were animals and a big ship.
Charachters in DBZ got to HFIL or heaven depending upon how good they are.
How goku was held by the bonds during the fight with majin Vegeta, he looks as if he is being crucifed.
Many heroes are modled after Jesus.
Gohan says in the Buu saga: I'ts all or nothing, there is no inbetween. Much like Jesus once said.

 

[nuclear]

It's not particularly surprising, and has been around for ages. Different animes draw from many different religions new and old as inspiration. It's similarly prominent in many games (Ifrit and Shiva make appearances ALL THE TIME) Sometimes it's the backbone for the main plot, others it's just slight references. All in all it just adds some external interest to the story, something you can look up at your own time and go "Oh! So that's were they got it from!" In some cases, it even helps in the making of educated guesses on the nature of future plot twists

 

[Blurrai]

If you ever watch the original, unedited Japanese version of Yugioh, there's a lot of Christian bashing. Then again, the very first season of Yugioh (not seen in the states) mocked all religions in one foul swoop. Or, shall we say, one foul season?

Actually, even with dub edits, Yugioh still has a lot of references in it. Like the Noah one Moana mentioned. But things like hexagrams, posession, and Hell seem to always get cut from dubs...

 

[GuitarHero2]

- Well I'll name an obvious one "Trinity Blood". It's a story set 500 years in the future in a post-apocalyptic senario. The Vatican has become a big military peace-keeping nation that fights a war with an group of scheming vampires trying to keep the what's left of the human race safe. Yeah it's kinda out there but still pretty darn cool, with some actual religious over-tones.

- Another one is Inuyasha. Well the manga/anime has mainly Buddhist and Taoist themes but there are some christian over-tones. Such as the concept of heaven and hell.

 

[Blurrai]

Full Metal Alchemist makes reference to Christianity being the downfall of civillization - one character named Rose stated that one church was 'a symbol of oppression, because these people would not allow others with differing beliefs to coexist with them'.

But nothing will ever compare to Yugioh. Posession, magic artifacts, curses, spells, rites, rituals, symbols in all the cards, angels, demons, death, a cult led by the villain, and games which end in someone's soul been sealed in Hell.

...Yet I'm still a fan of Yugioh. XD

 

[SAint Mark]

I have yet to see a series that is dedicated to exploring christian theology. Nothing comes even close. Evangelion has a lot of symbols that can be linked to christianity but thats about it. A lot of series are very amusing because of all the misconceptions they have about christianity which just shows how few christians there are in Japan (less than 1%). Many animes have a good strong sense of moral that is in allignment with christian moral, and I do like this fact, but christianity is in all likelyhood not where the Japanese got it from. For example Confucionism is very a moral philosophy that is widely spread in Japan. Most religions agree in many things concerning general morals and what sets christianity aside is the belief in Jesus. The fact that we can not earn our way to heaven is radically different from all other religions. My point is that I've yet to see anything (and I've seen a lot, trust me) that in a deeper meaning I would directly link to christianity. Nothing that hits close to the core of christianity so to say. I have seen a lot of stuff that is very loosely linked to christianity or myths/missconceptions about christianity.

 

[shirono]

Most anime have a good deal of symbolism borrowed from religions and popular culture. I mean look at Armitage III, the first movie/OVA was filled with references to H.P. Lovecraft's books. I think it just shows how well read the authors are. They are able to bring many different influences into a show/book, it makes you feel more connected to a story when you recognize references to something you already know.

 

[Blurrai]

In the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh, Yami asks Tea who God is (since Yami has been isolated from the rest of the world for 5000 years, he genuinely has no idea what Christianity is). In reply, she just groans and says she can't explain that to him right now. Unfortunately, this was all cut in the English version - too bad, because Yami's puzzled expression was one of the funniest moments in that episode.

 

[KazeNoKoe]

The Bible contains everything and the opposite of everything so I'm sure anime has a lot of stuff that resemble it. So do most music, movies, books and pretty much any argument you can think up. Whether the authors actually meant to use biblical themes is usually unclear; Oshii quotes from the Bible in almost every anime movie he makes, yet there are also quotates from a lot of other books about philosophy. He's the one who uses the Bible and the Christian religion most, yet in his movies you'll never find anything even remotely close to an exploration of Christianity. I think you guys should simply recognize those references for what they are: at their best, symbols used to convey some kind of meaningful and interesting message; at they worst, meaningless, cosmetic stuff that makes the anime look just a little more exotic.