Anime and Christianity

Greetings all!  You may notice that this week’s post is not a review.  In light of the impending holiday season, I decided to do a special discussion post.  It’s a bit controversial, but this was a post I’ve wanted to do for some time now.  So bare with me, and I do apologize in advance for any offense that I make.

So to start this post, we all know it’s the holiday season.  For many people, the biggest holiday of the season is Christmas.  And it also may not come as a surprise that this is a dominantly Christian holiday.  With this Christian aspect of Christmas in mind, I begin my post.  With the anime shows I have seen over the years, not many of them focus on religion-particularly Christianity.  In the few cases that it is involved, whether directly or indirectly, there are some things presented in them that are questionable.   And this is where I begin my discussion.  Here I will discuss a few ways that Christianity is depicted, why I think it is presented in these ways, and what I think in general about the matter.  So enough of my intro and let’s get to the good stuff.

Mixed Symbols    

    

One thing that I’ve noticed when it comes to anime and Christianity, there’s a bit of a misunderstanding when it comes to religious symbols.  What do I mean by this?  Well, based on the shows that I’ve seen, often times, the first religious symbol we see is the angel.  In scenes that feature churches, the stain glass windows are adorned with beautiful images of angels.  Among the most impressive images that I’ve seen was the ever iconic picture in Code Geass that shows a bloody and naked C.C. sitting in front of an altar with a stain glass window of an angel in the backdrop (it's the photo at the very top of the post).  Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the angel being a common image.  But to Christians, often times the first religious symbol that comes to mind is Jesus or God.  So although this is not the wrong way of thinking, many Christians would argue and say that this is wrong.  The creators may have the right idea, but it still is not right. 

Going further down the list of symbols, the next one depicted in anime is the cross.  Among the most iconic cross symbols in anime is that of the famous traveling priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun, who carries a giant cross with him wherever he goes.  Now, Christians will agree that if the cross is not the first symbol that comes to mind in, it is also a very common symbol.

From the Christian’s perspective, anime has the wrong idea of what the correct religious symbols are.  Or to but it simply, the symbols are mixed up.  Though Christians would use Jesus a symbol of Christianity, anime doesn’t do that.  This is not something that would be upsetting for Christians, but it would be something that would be of concern

Offensive Clergy

The next thing I noticed in anime religiously concerned those who are involved in the church.  Interesting fact, in all of the shows that I’ve seen, the number one member of the clergy that I’ve seen is the nun.  In almost any anime that makes a reference to religion, nuns or monks are often the first members of the cloth to be seen.  Cowboy Bebop has a nun as Ed’s former caretaker.  Black Butler has an entire cult of nuns and monks.  Miroku, one of the main characters from Inuyasha, is a Buddhist monk.  C.C. from Code Geass receives her Geass powers from a mysterious nun.  And there’s probably a dozen more that I could include.Now despite the number of these clergy people making an appearance in anime, the anime world depicts them as less than saintly. 

Often time these people do a number of things that would make them sinners.  Miroku in Inuyasha is famous for flirting with young woman and asking them the famous question , “Will you bare my child?”  The nun in Code Geass acts a bit selfishly and cleverly in tricking C.C. into killing her to end her life and pass the curse of living for eternity to C.C.  And on a lighter note, the nun in Cowboy Bebop muddles through a blessing over a meal.  And among the worse, one of the nuns in Black Butler has sex with Sebastian after he seduces her for information.  Yeah, not very saintly personnel, if you ask me.

 Priests are also mentioned a few times.  However, I’ll use the ever famous traveling priest again.  Though Wolfwood claims to be “a man of the cloth,” he uses firearms, curses, and smokes (though smoking isn’t necessarily a sin, it does alter a person’s image considerably).  And let’s not forget, the cross that Wolfwood carries around is actually a storage place for his collection of guns.

Christians would certainly look at these individuals and certainly see them as less than holy.  It certainly makes them no different than the average person.  For otakus, this is often a source of entertainment.  But for others, this is a bit of an insult.

The Church as Evil

Finally, the last thing I’ve observed with anime is that in some shows, the typical Western view as the profane as bad and the sacred as good are reversed.  In other words, the church or related Christian symbols and figures are evil, and the monsters are the heroes.  The two shows that best depict this reversal of roles are Hellsing Ultimate and Black Butler.  I’ll start with Hellsing first.

Many who are familiar with the Hellsing franchise know the gist of the series.  Alucard is a vampire who works for the Hellsing Organization and is the servant to Integra Hellsing.   He is also the main character of the series. Everyone knows that vampires are monsters that often play villainous roles in Western culture.   In any other circumstance in Western film and television, a vampire being the main character would probably not happen.  On the other hand, there is the Vatican, particularly the Iscariot Organization.  This secret organization within the Catholic Church doesn’t seem to get into much trouble at first.  However, it is not until later on in the series that the Vatican plays a pretty sinister role in the series.  After Bishop Enrico Maxwell is promoted to Archbishop and given control to a massive army called the Ninth Airborne Mobile Crusade, he declares London an unholy place that needs to be destroyed and attacks the city- and not long after the Last Battalion, Millennium’s army of Nazi vampires, has attacked London  .  He even declares at one point during the massacre, “The only good Protestant is a dead Protestant!”

Black Butler is very similar.  However, the primary character Sebastian Michaelis is a monster that is more satanic than Alucard.  Then again, he is a demon.  Black Bulter follows the young Ciel Phantomhive after making a deal with Sebastian to seek revenge against those responsible for killing his parents in exchange for his soul.  As the first season progresses, Ciel discovers that a cult was a huge contributor to his parent’s death.  But this discovery eventually leads to the real culprit, a fallen angel who plans to burn London to the ground in order to “purify” it.  The angel, called Ash, is also known for taking advantage of Queen Victoria and purifying Ciel’s parents by combining their bodies.  The season finale includes an intense fight between Ash and Sebastian in his true form (which is unseen throughout most of the fight).  Sebastian inevitably wins the fight.

Overall, these two shows would be a huge offense to Christians.  The idea of the church being evil is something that would not sit very well with many Christians.  Also add to the fact that monstrous and even satanic beings are the ones seen as the good guys.  It’s an odd twist, and it’s something that I think a lot of Christians would not take sitting down.

So Why is this Happening?

I have but one explanation for this: Japan is not dominantly Christian.  The most practiced religions in Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism.  Christianity is practiced in Japan, but only by a very small percentage.  I believe that this small percentage contributes to a lack of knowledge of Christianity.  This is not huge because with some shows, like Hellsing, it is evident that there is a clear understanding of the religion.  However, this may be very basic.  If you want the actual numbers for religions in Japan, here’s the link were you can find them:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html

What do I think about this?

Honestly, I don’t care.  I will admit that throughout most of this post I seemed to have been siding with Christianity.  After all, I am Christian.  But, I am also an otaku.  Much of this doesn’t offend my at all.  I enjoy watching Miroku get slapped after another failed attempt to have sex with a girl.  Hellsing Ultimate is one of my favorite shows of all time!  And I have to admit, Sebastian Michaelis is definitely a hunk even though he is a demon.  I think what this all comes down to is perspective.  What do I see when I watch this?   I don’t see any of these shows that I’ve mentioned as trying to be offensive.  I see them as entertainment.  That is what many of these shows are intended for in the first place!  However, many people don’t hold the same views as I do.  Their perspective of anime, in the religious sense, may be far different from mine.  So to conclude this post, perspective is the driving force of religion and anime.  These are things that I’ve noticed as a Christian, but I don’t take any offense to these things because I enjoy anime and know that offending others is not the overall intention.

So what do you think?  Do you think perspective matters? Do you have other examples of religious symbols and persons in anime?  Come on people, speak up!  I want to hear what you have to say!  However, this was a controversial post, so go gently.  Anyways, that’s all I have for this week.  Stay tuned for more because next week will be the last Character of the Month for 2014- December will be a short month because of voting for Character of the Year.

-Hanime on Anime