Wow, long-time-no-post. Sorry for those of you who have given me so much encouragement over the Spiritual Bridges series. I don't actually plan when to write about an anime, manga, or video game; I just write about something when I discover it. And it's been a long time since I've discovered an anime with spiritual bridges--last Fall's season wasn't very good in that regard. This Spring, however, is different.
For those that read this series, I want to draw your attention to an anime that's currently airing on Fuji Television called Higashi no Eden (東のエデン), or Eden of the East. It is 11 episodes long (episode 8 just aired this week), to be followed by a theatrical movie later this year. I don't know, as of now, whether the movie will be a concise re-telling or the conclusion to the series. Time will tell.
The first thing to draw attention to is the staff behind this anime. It was animated by Production I.G., famous for their work on the Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex series and the Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit series, and many key staff members from those previous projects are involved in this one too. Anyone who has seen either of the previous series will tell you that that's a good thing.
The second thing to draw attention to is the premise of the story. At first, it seems like an animated version of the Bourne trilogy of movies, but it quickly throws in some other elements that differentiate it. For example, unlike Jason Bourne, Takizawa Akira (the lead male, also with amnesia) wasn't an assasin; he was a messiah (small "m"). He discovers that he is one of 12 messiahs in the country of Japan. Each person has been hand-picked and given a simple mission: change/save Japan by any means necessary. In order to do this, they've been given a phone charged with 10,000,000,000 Yen and access to a mysterious woman known as "Juiz" (Portuguese for "judge"), who, for the right price, can even influence the Japanese prime minister.
I'll leave the rest of the story for you to discover should you decide to check this series out, but I wanted to bring it to your attention. Why? Because it's one of the most respected animation companies, comprised of staff members that have their own following, that is brainstorming ideas of possible ways to save the Japanese culture. I doubt they'll come up with any viable solutions, but it illustrates many things that people are thinking about right now. Already, we've seen one messiah who uses his money to create a haven for abandoned elderly people in need of medical treatment and another who thinks that if he can support enough people in becoming NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), he can force business tycoons to start changing their practices. It's interesting, and it's food for thought. So, if you like this kind of story, check it out. I'm sure it'll be a good way to start conversations, if nothing else.
Follow-up: As the series goes on, we are introduced to many NEETs and even a Hikikomori. Both groups are portrayed in an extremely positive light that highlights not what they are, but what they could become if they were just allowed to use their gifts. After watching the finale, I will unhesitatingly pronounce it the best anime of this season, and recommend it to anyone. We'll see about a Spiritual Bridges post, but as the end of the season is not the end of the story, I'm not sure I can write that post yet.
Showing posts with label Spiritual Bridges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spiritual Bridges. Show all posts
Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, November 24, 2008
Spiritual Bridges in Video Games - The World Ends With You
If you were to die today, do you know where you would go? Heaven? Hell? Shibuya? Well, according to the minds over at Square-Enix and Jupiter, the answer is c) Shibuya. The game is called "The World Ends With You" (Japanese title: Subarashiki Kono Sekai - It's a Wonderful World)--an RPG (Role-Playing Game) for the Nintendo DS released earlier this year. I (Scot) picked it up without any idea that I'd be writing a post on it; I simply wanted to play what I anticipated would be one of the greatest games of all times. [In that, I wasn't disappointed; this easily falls into the top 10 Nintendo DS games ever made, and it will be remembered long after the system becomes defunct.] What I wasn't anticipating was that the story would be an unintentional modern re-telling of the book of Job that directly deals with the pitfalls of Buddhism.This came as a huge surprise to me, since I have been playing games by this development team for six years now. They are responsible primarily for the Kingdom Hearts franchise, though they have contributed to a half a dozen Final Fantasy titles too. Having played most of their games, and having even read the director's personal blog for a short stint, I can say with utmost confidence that this is not a Christian company. All of the spiritual bridges I am about to write about were not intended by the creators, but are simply evidence of God's law being written on every man's heart.
Before we begin, let me offer up a warning. I am going to go very far with the spoilers here, not only talking extensively about the ending, but also referencing things that are only unlockable on the second playthrough. If you have any desire to play this game, please stop reading right now and come back to this blog when you are finished. (For the unitinitiated, gamers are even touchier than movie-goers when it comes to spoiling the ending.) But also be warned, this is one of the most difficult games I have ever played, so I would ward off inexperienced gamers. With those warnings in place, let's begin.
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The World Ends With You(すばらしきこのせかい - It's a Wonderful World)
Developers: Square-Enix, Jupiter
System: Nintendo DS
English Adaptation: Square-Enix
The game begins as the protagonist, Neku Sakuraba, wakes up in the middle of the Shibuya crosswalk. Annoyed by people in general, he puts on his headphones and tries to get out of sight. Unfortunately, his headphones don't seem to be blocking out anything. Instead, Neku finds that he is not only able to hear people's words, but also their thoughts. Just what he needs. As he is trying to figure out why he has this ability, many things happen in rapid succession: he recieves an email on his broken cellphone that gives him a mission telling him to make it to the 104 building in 60 minutes or face "erasure", a timer painfully appears on his right hand, frog noise appear out of nowhere and start attacking him, and a cheerful young fashion designer named Shiki forms a pact with him that saves both of their lives. All of this, and the bystanders don't even bat an eye.
As events unfold, Neku slowly learns that he is involved in "The Reaper's Game", a sadistic underground game that takes place in a parallel dimension, allowing him to be invisible while reading and eventually making imprints on the thoughts of others. He and his partner, Shiki, are fighting towards the ultimate prize, which will be awarded to the winners at the end of seven days. Both of them gave up the thing most valuable to them in order to participate, which will be lost forever if they are erased. For Neku, it was all of his memories before waking up in the crosswalk, and, by inference, his identity. For Shiki, it was her appearance, as she now looks exactly like her best friend whom she had been jealous of for years. Oh, and one more thing: they're dead. The ultimate prize is none other than being restored to life.
Most of the missions include clearing areas of noise, which are the physical manifestations of negative emotions and distractions. Oftentimes these noise will be hindering a person's relationships or business. By clearing them, you are restoring friendships and helping people to succeed. In short, you're making the world a better place. But in the meantime, you are being hunted by reapers, who can survive only by erasing you.
Fast forward. Many events happen, and Neku and Shiki end up winning the game after Neku opens up and makes his first friend (Shiki). Shiki deals with her own jealousy, which had been eating her up. But there is a twist. Only one can be restored to life; the other must play again. Neku is forced to play again, and his entry fee is none other than his previous partner--the only person he had ever let inside his emotional walls.
Fast forward again. Neku ends up playing the game a total of three times, partnering second with a self-possessed boy named Joshua who entered the game illegally while still alive, and third with a hot-headed boy named Beat, who gave up his status as a reaper in order to help Neku proceed through what he percieved to be an increasingly unfair and malicious game. Both boys, Joshua and Beat, are obsessed with taking down and replacing a man named "The Composer"--the creator of Shibuya and the Reaper's Game. They see his creation as deeply flawed and in need of renewal. Neku, in addition to completing his missions, helps them on their quest, as he knows that he can't survive without them.
The story continues to progress, and we discover some startling things. Mainly, that the composer is absent, and the game is being run by his proxy, The Conductor. The Conductor has his own plans for "saving Shibuya," which include eliminating everyone's individuality and causing them to think alike. His missions have been slowly building to that crescendo, and Neku has been helping him reach that goal without realizing it.
When the game reaches its final showdown between Neku and the Conductor, we are still in the dark about why all of this is taking place. Why is Neku in the game, and what is its true purpose? Upon defeating the Conductor, all of the loose ends are tied up. The Composer was disgusted by the depravity of his creation, and had plans to destroy it. The Conductor stepped in at this point and proposed that the two of them play a game to decide the fate of Shibuya. (The Conductor was playing for his own gain, as he really wanted to become Shibuya's Composer.) Each side had limitations placed on them. The Conductor had 30 days to complete his assignment, and the Composer was not allowed to play directly. He chose Neku to play as his proxy, knowing that Neku would go through untold suffering, but also knowing that Neku could win in the end. In the final moments, Neku finds out that the Composer was none other than his second partner, Joshua. Having won the game, he has given Joshua the right to destroy Shibuya. Worse yet, as his memory returns, he finds out that in order to make Neku his proxy, Joshua killed Neku in the real world. Everything, from a limited understanding, points at Joshua as the bad guy. Thankfully, Neku doesn't have that limited understanding, and he realizes that though Joshua was sometimes harsh, he always helped people whenever he could. Even his sharp demeanor was there to goad Neku into making the right decisions (Joshua confirms this in Mr. Hanekoma's secret journal entries). So, at the last moment, Neku realizes that he cannot be the Composer, and decides to trust Joshua, even if he doesn't fully understand. As the story wraps up, we discover that Joshua not only decides to sustain Shibuya, but also to restore people's individuality. As a parting gift, he restores Neku, Shiki, and Beat to life.
Phew. Compressing 20 hours of plot into one page is tough. I am scared that I've done nothing but make your head spin, rather than communicating the depth and humanity this story contains, much less its spiritual relevance. Those that have played the game will hopefully have their memory jogged by this synopsis. (My apologies for leaving out the subplot with Mr. Hanekoma and Sho Minamimoto, but adding in their "wild card" status would have made this post surely incomprehensible. Hopefully, I will be able to include Mr. Hanekoma in a future post about the role of the "sin-bearer" in anime, manga, and video games.)
The story borrows elements from many Biblical stories. Certainly you can see the presence of Abraham and Lot as they pleaded for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah. You may have even seen Moses pleading with God on top of Mt. Sinai to spare the Israelites. For me, it is Job who stands out most clearly. Job was a man in the Bible who suffered in untold ways for very unclear ends, only given the assurance in the end that God was sovereign and good. The whole time, he is told to curse God and die, but he remains faithful, and in the end, God restores his life in such a way that he has more than he did in the first place. It is a story about God's sovereignty, and his right to direct our lives not only for our own gain, but for the gain of everybody. This is reflected in the character of Neku, who suffers physical, mental, and emotional strain from three weeks straight of playing a game where he could be killed at any moment. He gives up his memories, his only friend, and even the potential of making more friends and allies, all for the purpose of proving the Composer's right to create and destroy as He pleases. In the second playthrough, Joshua, the Composer, explains that the purpose of taking away the things most valuable is not to make people suffer, but to free them from things they are hanging on to in order to mold them into better people. In the end, Neku chooses to trust the Composer rather than taking matters into his own hands, and the Composer not only restores everything he had previously, but gives him everything he gained during the struggle--mainly, the ability to feel, empathize, and have friends, which he had previously lacked.
On a more philosophical note, we have the intriguing character of the Conductor, who is more than a stand-in for the role of Satan. I find it extremely interesting that his idea of salvation was to "snuff out" individuality and make everyone part of the Universal One. It's intriguing because, at the heart of it, that is the goal of Buddhism, the main religion in Japan. Yet here, we have a story that portrays that idea as a half-measure compared to the real salvation. Whether the creators meant to put it in or not, the message is clear: loss of desire and individuality is not something to hope for, but something to be avoided.
Finally, we have the character of Joshua. The name in iteslf should be a dead giveaway of this spiritual bridge, as it has the same meaning as Yeshua (Jesus). His decision to make Neku a proxy caused Neku suffering, but Joshua didn't leave him to flounder for himself. He, in a sense, "incarnated" himself (he entered the Reaper's Game) to impart to Neku the knowledge that he needed (the existence of the Conductor and Composer, and where to find them), and to make sure that Neku wasn't alone. I'm am not partial to Joshua's portrayal as an apathetic and annoying individual, but the seed of truth is still there. I am very interested in the fact that after his "ascension" back to his original place, Joshua decides to show mercy and speaks as an advocate for the people that he met. Connect that with Hebrews chapters 4 and 5, which talks about how we have an advocate (High Priest) who can sympathize with us.
As you can see, the spiritual truths are abundant. They are unintentional, and a little bit murky, but they are there. And as this is one of the highest-rated games on the Nintendo DS, people who have played it will know what you are talking about. They will have something concrete to latch onto in order to understand the ideas of why suffering is necessary, and how God can still be good in those circumstances.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Japanese Pop Culture: The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge
Scot's good article several months ago "The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge" received several great comments and just got another one today. I realized that they deserve to be featured in a post so will re-post the original article and include the comments at the end.
Please leave your comments, adding value to this post. And, I invite you to go to the bottom of the column on the right and subscribe by email. It is VERY easy, just put in your email address and hit "subscribe." Your email address will never be made public. When you subscribe, new posts will automatically go to your email account.
Original Post <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I (Scot) am in the midst of preparing the next "Spiritual Bridges" entry on Eureka seveN--a series released roughly two years ago which unfortunately was never really given its due (I suspect it will only grow in popularity as people discover it in DVD form). Anyway, one of the bridges I was going to write about was the presence of a strong icon in the anime: a tree of knowledge. However, I also recently finished the incredible Gonzo anime Romeo x Juliet (*very* loosely based on Shakespeare's original play) where there were two trees named "Escalus" which held the sky continent of Neo Verona (I said it was loose) in the air. Which in turn got me thinking about Miyazaki's "Laputa - Castle in the Sky" which had the presence of a similar tree. As I started reflecting, I realized that the concept of a special "centralized" tree is present in a LOT of Japanese media. Oftentimes, this tree can represent life or centralized knowledge. Here is a quick list off the top of my head of places I have seen this symbol (feel free to add more in the comments section):
*Eureka seveN (anime series) - the collective consciousness of the Coralians is represented as a tree (knowledge).
*Romeo x Juliet (anime series) - the twin trees of Escalus hold the sky continent in place and give it life (knowledge and life).
*Laputa: the Castle in the Sky (anime movie) - the mythical city of Laputa is built on the foundation of a tree (life).
*The Twelve Kingdoms (Juuni Kokuki) (anime and light novel series) - children, animals, and grasses are all borne from the fruit of white trees, not from mothers' wombs (life).
*Final Fantasy IX (video game) - the Lifa tree. Self explanatory (life).
*Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime series, anime movies) - among other randomly placed symbolism is the tree of knowledge covering a huge section of Ikari Gendo's office (knowledge).
*Okami (video game) - in each region, you must restore life to a Sakura tree. Doing so restores life to the entire region (life).
*Death Note (anime series, manga series, movie series) - though the trees are not present, the apple has very strong symbolic meaning, representing Light's ambition to become a God (knowledge).
And the list escapes me. I have never really watched for this particular symbol before, so though I have vague memories of it popping up elsewhere, the details are hazy. Even so, it seems that the "tree" has a very important place in Japanese spirituality.
Anyway, I am wondering where the basis for this is. Is it a symbol contained in Japanese folklore, or has it crept in along with other Christianized things?
If this is contained in Japanese folklore, I can see a potentially strong opportunity to use this as a bridge in more than just media-based conversations. I myself have been intrigued in the past year or so to see how often the symbolism of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life show up throughout the Bible. I'm also intrigued by the fact that according to Revelation, the Tree of Life will be in the center of New Jerusalem, and it will grow on either side of the River of Life. [I tend to take the Bible literally whenever possible, so I really do believe in a New Heaven and a New Earth, and I take the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life to be more than just symbols; I take them as history. Feel free to disagree with me on this.] What intrigues me most, though, is that Adam and Eve's choice between life and knowledge was not simply a face-value decision, but a decision of whom they would worship. More on that later...
For now, I'm asking from comments from the hundreds of people who come through this site without ever leaving any. Where else have you seen this symbol emerge? For those of you more versed in Japanese folklore, is there a basis for this symbolism aside from Western influence? What strengths and weaknesses do you see arising from using this symbol as a spiritual bridge? Thanks in advance, and sorry for my rambling in this post.
~Scot
Yu Shibuya said... Thanks for investigating a fascinating symbol! Here are some random notes to add to your research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etrian_Odyssey
Blogger Jose Gabriel said... Hey Scott...
I wonder if its better to use "cultural bridges" instead of "spiritual bridges". I am actually doing a research on Islam and I am using the concept of spiritual bridges to propose an evangelistic approach...
Just in case... you can see the use of spiritual bridges in the Bible when Paul talks in Athens quoting Greek poems originally applied to Zeus, or when Jesus talks to the Samaritan about the Taheb (Samaritan mesiah) and the living water (that was one of the mayor doctrinal believes of samariatan people). "Living water" was not a common concept in Jewish terminology...
Great work...
God bless...
Blogger Scot Eaton said... Jose, Actually, the moniker "Spiritual Bridges" was very intentional. I have little interest in bridging the gap between two cultures, such as Japan and Midwest America. I DO, however, have a rather large interest in bridging the gap between God and man using cultural forms that are already existent.
Too much "Missionary Culture" has been transmitted in the past here in Japan, and I feel the aftereffects of that every time I go to church. I would like to see what happens when God is understood within Japanese culture and expressed through it.
So, "Spiritual Bridges" was chosen. Actually, it was from a book on Islam (which you are probably reading) that I originally got the term.
Anonymous said... The idea of a "world tree" is found in many cultures, mostly in pagan myths that tell of a "world tree" or "cosmic tree" in the middle of the earth that connects to the underworld with its roots, to the earth with its trunk, and to the heavens with its branches, and is seen as a pathway between earth and heaven.
Also, the "tree of life" is central in the teachings of the Kabbalah, which has a very gnostic and occult worldview. Just as we see pagan and secular stories about gardens reflecting a long-past knowledge of the loss of the Garden of Eden, so we see these trees in non-Christian stories as possible echoes of the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
Please leave your comments, adding value to this post. And, I invite you to go to the bottom of the column on the right and subscribe by email. It is VERY easy, just put in your email address and hit "subscribe." Your email address will never be made public. When you subscribe, new posts will automatically go to your email account.
Original Post <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I (Scot) am in the midst of preparing the next "Spiritual Bridges" entry on Eureka seveN--a series released roughly two years ago which unfortunately was never really given its due (I suspect it will only grow in popularity as people discover it in DVD form). Anyway, one of the bridges I was going to write about was the presence of a strong icon in the anime: a tree of knowledge. However, I also recently finished the incredible Gonzo anime Romeo x Juliet (*very* loosely based on Shakespeare's original play) where there were two trees named "Escalus" which held the sky continent of Neo Verona (I said it was loose) in the air. Which in turn got me thinking about Miyazaki's "Laputa - Castle in the Sky" which had the presence of a similar tree. As I started reflecting, I realized that the concept of a special "centralized" tree is present in a LOT of Japanese media. Oftentimes, this tree can represent life or centralized knowledge. Here is a quick list off the top of my head of places I have seen this symbol (feel free to add more in the comments section):
*Eureka seveN (anime series) - the collective consciousness of the Coralians is represented as a tree (knowledge).
*Romeo x Juliet (anime series) - the twin trees of Escalus hold the sky continent in place and give it life (knowledge and life).
*Laputa: the Castle in the Sky (anime movie) - the mythical city of Laputa is built on the foundation of a tree (life).
*The Twelve Kingdoms (Juuni Kokuki) (anime and light novel series) - children, animals, and grasses are all borne from the fruit of white trees, not from mothers' wombs (life).
*Final Fantasy IX (video game) - the Lifa tree. Self explanatory (life).
*Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime series, anime movies) - among other randomly placed symbolism is the tree of knowledge covering a huge section of Ikari Gendo's office (knowledge).
*Okami (video game) - in each region, you must restore life to a Sakura tree. Doing so restores life to the entire region (life).
*Death Note (anime series, manga series, movie series) - though the trees are not present, the apple has very strong symbolic meaning, representing Light's ambition to become a God (knowledge).
And the list escapes me. I have never really watched for this particular symbol before, so though I have vague memories of it popping up elsewhere, the details are hazy. Even so, it seems that the "tree" has a very important place in Japanese spirituality.
Anyway, I am wondering where the basis for this is. Is it a symbol contained in Japanese folklore, or has it crept in along with other Christianized things?
If this is contained in Japanese folklore, I can see a potentially strong opportunity to use this as a bridge in more than just media-based conversations. I myself have been intrigued in the past year or so to see how often the symbolism of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life show up throughout the Bible. I'm also intrigued by the fact that according to Revelation, the Tree of Life will be in the center of New Jerusalem, and it will grow on either side of the River of Life. [I tend to take the Bible literally whenever possible, so I really do believe in a New Heaven and a New Earth, and I take the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life to be more than just symbols; I take them as history. Feel free to disagree with me on this.] What intrigues me most, though, is that Adam and Eve's choice between life and knowledge was not simply a face-value decision, but a decision of whom they would worship. More on that later...
For now, I'm asking from comments from the hundreds of people who come through this site without ever leaving any. Where else have you seen this symbol emerge? For those of you more versed in Japanese folklore, is there a basis for this symbolism aside from Western influence? What strengths and weaknesses do you see arising from using this symbol as a spiritual bridge? Thanks in advance, and sorry for my rambling in this post.
~Scot
Yu Shibuya said... Thanks for investigating a fascinating symbol! Here are some random notes to add to your research:
- The tree in "Okami" is a reference to "Hanasaka-Jiisan," a famous Japanese fairytale. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanasaka_Jiisan
- Two more games that feature the World Tree are: "Seiken Densetsu" and "Sekaiju no Meikyu."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etrian_Odyssey
- I agree that the image repeats in Japanese media, but I'm not sure if it's our own. The obvious one that comes to mind is Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, and perhaps its assigning of mystical energy to a tree resonates with the Japanese Shinto belief of worshiping nature.
- Ultimately, I think any tree in mythology is man's rendition of Eden, since mythology is, for the most part, man's attempt to rewrite scripture, whether he knows it or not.
Blogger Jose Gabriel said... Hey Scott...
I wonder if its better to use "cultural bridges" instead of "spiritual bridges". I am actually doing a research on Islam and I am using the concept of spiritual bridges to propose an evangelistic approach...
Just in case... you can see the use of spiritual bridges in the Bible when Paul talks in Athens quoting Greek poems originally applied to Zeus, or when Jesus talks to the Samaritan about the Taheb (Samaritan mesiah) and the living water (that was one of the mayor doctrinal believes of samariatan people). "Living water" was not a common concept in Jewish terminology...
Great work...
God bless...
Blogger Scot Eaton said... Jose, Actually, the moniker "Spiritual Bridges" was very intentional. I have little interest in bridging the gap between two cultures, such as Japan and Midwest America. I DO, however, have a rather large interest in bridging the gap between God and man using cultural forms that are already existent.
Too much "Missionary Culture" has been transmitted in the past here in Japan, and I feel the aftereffects of that every time I go to church. I would like to see what happens when God is understood within Japanese culture and expressed through it.
So, "Spiritual Bridges" was chosen. Actually, it was from a book on Islam (which you are probably reading) that I originally got the term.
Anonymous said... The idea of a "world tree" is found in many cultures, mostly in pagan myths that tell of a "world tree" or "cosmic tree" in the middle of the earth that connects to the underworld with its roots, to the earth with its trunk, and to the heavens with its branches, and is seen as a pathway between earth and heaven.
Also, the "tree of life" is central in the teachings of the Kabbalah, which has a very gnostic and occult worldview. Just as we see pagan and secular stories about gardens reflecting a long-past knowledge of the loss of the Garden of Eden, so we see these trees in non-Christian stories as possible echoes of the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Spiritual Bridges in Anime - Eureka seveN
Good day to you all. After a long hiatus, Spiritual Bridges is back in full force. We were pleased to have Robin White’s excellent post on “Gedo Senki: Tales from Earthsea” last month, and we look forward to including more guest writers in the future. Please let me begin by writing a note about the name of this series. The series name is “Spiritual Bridges,” not “Spiritual Bridges in Anime.” So far, we have covered only anime shows, but future projects may cover manga, light novels, and even live-action movies. I was also recently asked why I didn’t name it “Cultural Bridges.” The answer is that I am not trying to bridge any cultures. I could care less about bridging Japanese culture with Western culture. There has been far too much of that already, which is one of the reasons why people are confusing the message of Christianity with elements of Western culture. For example, look at how Christianity is portrayed in anime. Most of the examples I can think of are either from the vampire genre or include demon-hunting catholic priests/nuns. This is what results when spiritual bridges are confused with cultural bridges. So bridging cultures is pretty low on my list of things to do. Rather, I seek to highlight elements that already exist in Japanese culture to bridge the gap between them and God. A lot of Western anime fans will find things in this series that apply to them, and that’s great. However, that is a secondary goal, not the main one. My main goal is to spark dialogue between Japanese youth and Christ’s ambassadors.
I have been very pleased at the number of positive responses this series has been getting. A little while ago, Paul informed me that we were linked on the Adult Swim forums for the show Death Note. [note: Adult Swim is the late-night block of time on the American Cartoon Network where Death Note is currently airing.] Praise God!
Today, we will be looking at another anime that recently aired on Adult Swim (the original run was in 2007). I first saw this series when I lived in Korea. I didn’t have high hopes for it, but when I read that it was scripted by Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Wolf’s Rain) and animated by BONES (Fullmetal Alchemist, RahXephon, Escaflowne), I decided that I would at least give it a shot. Well, in the end, I watched all 50 episodes in a matter of two weeks, and I currently list this anime as my favorite anime of all time. So, please excuse me if my love for this series gushes forth.
Psalms of Planets: Eureka seveN (交響詩篇 エウレカセブン)
Series Composition and Direction: Dai Sato (佐藤大) and Tomoki Kyoda (京田知己)
Animation Company: BONES
English Licensor: Bandai Entertainment
So, what is Eureka seveN? It’s a 50-episode anime series in the Mecha genre. However, it has multiple spinoff projects, including a 6-volume manga series that re-tells the story in a different way, two Playstation 2 video games that operate as a prequel story (and have two manga volumes themselves), and a movie which was recently announced in the Japanese Newtype Magazine. It has also won 8 awards at some fairly prestigious conventions.
Though the name of the story is taken from the female heroine Eureka (pronounced e-u-re-ka, not yu-ri-ka), the main character is 14-year-old Renton Thurston. When he was a young boy, his father sacrificed himself to save the world, and his sister, who was convinced that their father was still alive, disappeared while looking for him. So Renton has grown up with his grandfather, while everyone expects him to act the hero, just like his father. That’s not his dream though. His dream is to join a professional sports group known as Gekko State and become a famous lifter. [Lifting being an offshoot of surfing where the rider reflects off of concentrations of “transparent light particles” in the air. As a special note, there are no oceans on this world.] Then, in the middle of the night, Eureka literally crashes into his house. She has been sent from Gekko State to have Renton’s grandfather repair her giant mecha (LFOs in this series), known as the Nirvash typeZERO. The machine is missing a vital component, and has ceased responding to her. She and Gekko State think that the missing part is a special piece that Renton’s father created; however, they soon discover that the missing part is actually Renton himself. So Renton’s dream comes true, and he is officially invited to join Gekko State.
What follows is a classic coming-of-age story. Renton quickly learns that his dream of joining Gekko State is a mixed blessing at best, as he spends the first part of the series as an errand/shop boy aboard the ship. In this time, he also learns that people are not always as they appear, and he begins to see the flawed people around him in an adult manner; he sees all of their flaws, but learns to love them for who they are. In return, people discover that Renton has a very special ability: He can make people smile, and he can disarm even the grouchiest and bitter people he comes across. He even manages to break open the shell of Eureka’s emotions, which she has never been taught how to express.
In one very powerful scene in the first half of the series, Renton learns from Eureka that she was trained as a child soldier, and that she has killed many people. Renton, having no idea what to do, simply accepts her for who she is and doesn’t hold her past against her. This freedom allows Eureka to weep for what is presumably the first time in her life, and emotional healing begins in her life. With this emotional healing comes the ability to think for herself and make her own decisions. This becomes our first unlooked for spiritual bridge: the power of confession for healing. Confession is not a very popular subject in Protestant Christianity, as it brings to mind the very penance and indulgence system that Protestants tried so hard to break away from. However, confession is a very Biblical principle, and it almost always leads to healing.
Now, let’s look at Renton’s ability a little bit more. Renton’s ability stems from what I consider the main spiritual bridge of this series: unconditional love. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he talks extensively about love. He says the following: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Never have I seen this so clearly portrayed in any modern medium. Renton loves and forgives everyone around him, but no one more than Eureka. This series does what I have never seen an anime series do before: partway through the series, the beautiful female lead is injured very badly, and she becomes rather ugly. She has scars all over her face, her eyebrows have fallen out, and her hair has been lost. Throughout all of this, Renton continues to love her. Even after he learns that she isn’t completely human (more on that later), it doesn’t change the way he looks at her. His love extends even to his enemies, as later in the series he devises a way to fight his enemies and disarm them without harming them. Because of all of this, Renton provides a very unique role model in the world of anime. Though he makes mistakes while learning to love unconditionally, he learns from them and grows.
Let me give one more note about the love portrayed in this series. It is distinctly split into two parts. In the first half of the series, Renton and Eureka are in the process of falling in love and going through all of the growing pains associated with that. However, when the credits roll for episode 26, that thread of the story is resolved; Renton and Eureka are together. Happily ever after, right? Not quite. The second half of the series depicts how they learn to live with each other; how they argue and reconcile; how they learn to think and live as one. As they do so, they slowly uncover a way to save the world, but it requires both of them to give up their pride and themselves. It is a beautiful depiction of some of the elements that I believe Godly relationships are built upon.
There are many, many more spiritual bridges in this anime, but I’m only going to mention one more: the character of Eureka. As I mentioned before, Eureka is not entirely human. On the planet where this takes place, there are two main forms of sentient life: humans and Coralians—a kind of living coral. The Coralians have a hive mentality, where one thought is shared amongst them all, essentially making Coralians one personality. Humans are trying to destroy the Coralians, but the Coralians are simply trying to understand the humans and form a relationship with them. As a result, they fashion a Coralian with a human body, Eureka, and give her a distinct personality. She is to learn all that she can about the humans and then rejoin the Coralian entity. She is likened to a “blank page” that humans can write anything that they want on. Depending on what is written on her “page”, the Coralians will either sacrifice themselves to support human life, or they will destroy the humans to save themselves. Though it is not a perfect bridge by any means, this can lead the way into a discussion about Christ from the book of Hebrews, where He is presented as High Priest and Mediator, being our perfect advocate before God because He understands everything that we have gone through. Though Eureka is not perfect, she represents the hope associated with incarnation, and it is powerful.
As I said, there is a lot more to cover. This series also touches on racism, the importance of father figures, facing problems instead of running away from them, disciplining in love, and much more. It is not my favorite anime for no reason. How can you get ahold of it? In Japan, it should be available in pretty much every rental store in the country. In America, it stands a high chance of being in rental stores, though Netflix is always sure to have it. Unfortunately, no box sets have become available yet, so the price for purchasing it is still really high. Still, I doubt you will be disappointed.
Here is a trailer from the series, made by a fan.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Spiritual Bridges in Anime - Tales From Earthsea
Well, after a long hiatus, the Spiritual Bridges series is back, and this time with a guest writer. Expect to get more in this series in the next two months. I have one post that is almost done, and we have another guest writer working on a different piece right now.
Let me tell you a bit about today's entry. It is written by Robin White, the author of the Japan Log blog and the SkitZo MaN comic. We met through this blog, when he left comments on my post on Manga Outreach. He is a missionary based in Nagoya, and he shares a very similar vision to Paul and me. It's a priviledge to have him write for us. When we were talking about which series he would write about, we decided to have him write about an easily accessible one--a movie. I, for one, think he did a very good job. So, let us begin.
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Tales From Earthsea:
Let me tell you a bit about today's entry. It is written by Robin White, the author of the Japan Log blog and the SkitZo MaN comic. We met through this blog, when he left comments on my post on Manga Outreach. He is a missionary based in Nagoya, and he shares a very similar vision to Paul and me. It's a priviledge to have him write for us. When we were talking about which series he would write about, we decided to have him write about an easily accessible one--a movie. I, for one, think he did a very good job. So, let us begin.
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Tales From Earthsea:Japanese title: “Gendo Senki”, ie “Ged’s War Chronicles”
(Very loose adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea novels)
Director: Goro Miyazaki
A Studio Ghibli film
For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Earthsea_(film)
Studio Ghibli’s Tales From Earthsea is the directorial debut of Goro Miyazaki, son of the more famous Hayao Miyazaki. Reviews for the film have been mixed at best: Fans of the novels were disappointed that it’s such a loose adaptation of the books, while Studio Ghibli fans can’t help but compare it to the studio’s other movies -- which form a pretty impressive list. Let’s face it, Goro’s got some pretty big shoes to fill. So let’s not be too hard on the guy.
I can’t compare it to the books, since I’ve not read them, but if any readers want to chime in on that aspect, feel free to leave a comment. I can compare it to other Ghibli films, however, as I am a big fan of them. Earthsea is missing a lot of the fun and whimsey of previous Ghibli films (in fact, I don’t remember any comic relief at all). And it’s a more “typical” kind of fantasy story (with wizards and dragons, etc) than the others. Another weakness is that there are parts of the plot that don’t seem to have been fully explained.
But the animation is still classic Ghibli, while the characters are interesting and the story is engaging.
There are also some great spiritual bridges. But let’s talk about the story itself first.
Tales From Earthsea opens with a storm at sea and two dragons doing battle. We soon learn that this is a bad omen, a sign that something is wrong with the “balance” of world. Soon after, we meet the main character, Arren, who in his first appearance kills his father, the king. After murdering his father, Arren is on the run. He meets up with Sparrowhawk the Archmage, and ends up accompanying him on his journey.
Sparrowhawk, as it turns out, is searching for the cause of the disturbance in the balance. What we eventually find out is that the very thing causing the darkness within Arren, and from which he is running, is the cause of the disturbance: Lord Cob, an evil wizard searching for the key to eternal life.
The other main characters in the story are Tenar, a peasant woman whom Sparrowhawk has known for years, and a young girl named Therru, who is cared for by Tenar on her farm. After a run-in with some slave traders, Arren and Sparrowhawk retreat to Tenar’s farm for a few days. The slave traders, who work for Lord Cob, use Tenar to lure Sparrowhawk into a trap. Meanwhile, after an angsty Arren has run away from the farm, Lord Cob manages to capture him.
And this is where the spiritual bridges come in:
Before running away, Arren has a conversation with Therru, to whom he confesses that he killed his father. He talks about the darkness and anger he feels, and how at times he feels like there is “someone else” inside him. What a perfect bridge for talking about our sin nature. In this fallen world, sin comes naturally to us. Outside of Christ, while we still have the freedom to choose, we have something else inside us always drawing us toward sin. Thankfully, because of God’s grace, we can be saved from our sins.
In Earthsea’s mythology, everyone and everything has a “true name”, a secret name. The key to magic is knowing that name and how to use it. I’m told the author of the Earthsea books, Ursula K. Le Guin, is the daughter of an anthropologist, and that this idea of our true names was influenced by a concept found in the belief systems of various tribal peoples (such as the Motilone of Cambodia). As we’ll see, there’s also a Biblical parallel.
As I mentioned above, Cob’s quest is to gain eternal life. He does this by delving into a kind of dark magic that is forbidden, and somehow Arren is a part it. There’s a scene where Cob is manipulating Arren into revealing his true name to him. I can’t help but think about the parallels between that scene and the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden, or of Jesus in the desert. In the film, Cob tempts Arren by trying to convince him that he’ll gain something in return -- eternal life. He preys on Arren’s fear. This is another great bridge to talk about sin and temptation. What looks good and appealing is often the devil in disguise; what we think will bring us life leads to death.
It is through Arren and Therru’s revealing their true names to one another that Arren is saved and Cob is finally defeated. The message here seems to be about being true to yourself -- your true self. The Christian could take this message a step further: it’s only through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that we can truly know ourselves and be the person we were meant to be. There’s an interesting passage in the book of Revelation that reflects this, where Jesus says He will give His followers a “white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it” (Rev. 2:17). God knows us better than we know ourselves. We’re not really free to be ourselves or live life to the fullest outside of a relationship with Him.
There’s a great quote near the end where Therru says to Arren, “Death isn’t what you fear most -- you’re afraid of being alive!” That’s true of so many of us, I think. We let our fears control us and keep us from truly living life to the fullest. But the Bible tells us that “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). And where else does perfect love come from but God?
The most obvious spiritual bridge, of course, is on the subject of eternal life. In the world of Earthsea, we find out, there is no possibility of eternal life. Instead we should live our only life to the fullest and be true to ourselves, and in doing so find real life. While the Christian would disagree, and say there is indeed eternal life, there’s also a kernel of truth here: It’s not in selfishly grasping for life that we find it, but in giving our lives to something -- someone -- greater than ourselves, someone who gave His life so that we can truly live -- and yes, live eternally, too!
Jesus said “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25)
It’s only in Christ Jesus that we can really know ourselves. It’s only in Him that fear can be driven out of our hearts completely. And it’s only through Him we can truly live.
Arren starts out as a murderer, running from his past -- from himself, really. Eventually he comes to terms with what he’s done and who he is. Tales of Earthsea, while not Ghibli’s best offering, is nevertheless an engaging story of redemption. But even better, it can be used to point the way an even better story of redemption: the true story of the Gospel.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Spritual Bridges in Anime - Death Note
So, have you heard about the new Death Note movie? If the answer is “No,” then you probably haven’t been to a movie theatre, bookstore, CD shop, video rental store, manga café, karaoke room, or combini lately. Either that or you don’t live in Japan. The new movie, L – Change the world, has been the #1 movie in Japan since its release just over two weeks ago, and it has seen the release of a novelization, a soundtrack, and a one-shot manga (a story that begins and ends in one chapter) as well as gracing the covers of multiple manga magazines—even ones that never serialized it. So, there’s a bit of hype.
So what is Death Note? It exists in three forms: a 12-volume manga (plus extras), a set of two live-action movies (with a 3rd spinoff movie currently in theatres), and a 37-episode anime series (with two 2-hour remake specials). It’s also the name for one of the most controversial mainstream mangas ever released. In this entry to Spiritual Bridges, I will be covering the anime version for a variety of reasons. First, the movie is not considered “canon,” as it changes some crucial plot details. Second, the anime trims down some of the excess exposition that makes the manga badly paced. Third, it’s beautiful. Whether you are talking about art, music, dramatic timing, voice acting*, or any number of other categories, my personal opinion is that the Death Note anime series approaches artistic perfection more than any other series I have ever seen. I don’t say that lightly.
[*I am referring to the Japanese voices. I have only seen one episode with the English voices, so I feel unqualified to comment on that. However, the English dub is currently airing on Cartoon Network, so many of you may be more familiar with that.]
Now, for the standard disclaimers. I was originally planning on saving Death Note as one of the final entries in this series. This series is about as non-Christian as a series can get, and the themes that are brought up are at once brilliant, powerful, and profoundly unsettling. As such, this may be the hardest series that I will ever work with on this site, but I deal with it because of its great potential. I am dealing with it now because the new movie has brought it back to everyone’s mind.
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Death Note (デスノート)
Original Author/Artist: Ooba Tsugumi (大場 つぐみ) and Obata Takeshi (小畑健)
Animation Company: Madhouse
English Licensor: VIZ media
The story begins with Yagami Light, a senior in high school who is quite possibly the smartest person his age in all of Japan. One day after school, he finds a notebook dropped by the Shinigami (death god) Ryuk. But this notebook is special. In it, the following rules are written. I reproduce them in their entirety because they are necessary for understanding the series:
1. The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
2. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
3. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
4. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
5. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
And thus, Light gains the power of life and death—and anonymity. But Light is an ambitious boy, and decides to not use this power for petty purposes. He decides that he will use the Death Note to judge the world, cleansing it of its criminals, effectively bringing about worldwide peace. He will use the rules of the Death Note to his advantage, making all of the criminals die of heart attacks, so that the world will realize that there is intention and purpose behind the deaths and change their ways. He earns the name “Kira” which is the katakana of the English “killer.” In the end, he purposes to become the God of his new world. But one man arises out of nowhere to stand in his way: a faceless and nameless (read: unkillable) detective known only as “L”. Light must figure out a way to kill L, and L must figure out a way to convict Light. Though each of them knows who the other is, Light is never able to get L’s name, and L is never able to find any evidence against Light. This is the groundwork for our story. You might wonder how we will ever draw spiritual bridges from such a story, but bear with me. First, we need to talk about characters.
Yagami Light, the main character, and the protagonist, is also the bad guy. In many ways, Light is the human embodiment of the principles of Niccolo Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche. He is brilliant, and his brilliance brings him to the edge of criminal insanity. He knows how the world works, and he knows how to manipulate people. He even manages to work his way onto the taskforce that has been formed for the sole purpose, ironically, of catching him. Throughout the series, through Light, we get to see how criminal insanity is formed, and it is very, scarily believable. We see him becoming the very type of person that he originally set out to cleanse the world of. In short, Light becomes evil, in the purest sense of the word. He kills those close to him with little regard or second thought, though those people, unaware, would follow him willingly to their death. By the end of the series, though people love him and follow him, he literally loses his ability to love. There is only one person in the series that he ever comes close to loving, but he ends up killing that man in the worst possible way.
L, in contrast, is the antagonist, but not necessarily the good guy. He is equally as brilliant, but differs from Light in the fact that he doesn’t believe it is right for a human to judge other humans. In many ways, L represents one of the main themes of the series: balance. His brilliance comes from the fact that he can balance logic and intuition, inductive and deductive reasoning, and most importantly, justice and mercy. He suffers from the same pride that plagues Light, but never loses his ability to love. During one episode of the series, he becomes convinced that Light is “Kira”, but becomes completely unable to prove it. We see him standing in the rain on top of a building pondering things. Light, who is on the investigation squad at this point, comes to fetch him, and the two have a very meaningful conversation. L reveals that Light—whom he knows is Kira, but who is also the only equal he has ever faced—is his first friend. As they are drying off from the rain, L, in a completely surprising moment, stoops down to wash and dry Light’s feet. This profoundly affects Light, and when Light draws his last breath, it is to address L. Nonetheless, minutes after this touching moment, Light’s plan, which has been set in motion for months by this point, results in L’s death at the hands of a Shinigami.
This brings us to the third and final main character: Ryuk, the Shinigami. I have mentioned that one of the main themes of this series is balance. Ryuk’s entire purpose in this series is to upset that balance. If Light and L represent order, Ryuk represents chaos, and both of the main characters meet their deaths because they cannot balance order and chaos. L cannot catch Kira (Light) because he is unable to account for Ryuk’s actions. Light ends up killing his only friend and bringing about his own demise because he cannot balance the chaos either. [This, in essence, is a very Japanese way of looking at supernatural intervention. We humans try to live our lives in order and balance, but the kami intervene and cause disorder and disharmony when we fail to honor them. As such, the Japanese worldview is one of passive acceptance of outside forces, all while trying to keep the gods placated and at bay.] Ryuk’s only motivation for his actions in the series is boredom. He has been alive for thousands of years, and his only real purpose has been to supernaturally shorten the lifespans of humans. He has no affiliation with either Light or L, but capriciously helps Light at times simply because he finds Light interesting, and Light provides him with his favorite food (apples). Aside from that, his actions are completely self-serving, and he feels no remorse at the end in abandoning Light, to his death. Ryuk represents the unpredictable, from the first episode to the last.
So, with a series like this, and characters like this, how are we to ever explain the gospel of Christ? As I said before, this is hard, but the result can be very powerful. But in order to build the bridge, we are building more on what is unsaid than on what is said. One thing unique about this series is that it never seeks to answer the questions it asks. For example, it asks, “What is true justice?” but never answers the question, since neither Light nor L represents true justice. It also asks what it would take to change humanity and bring about peace, but never provides an answer. And this is not lazy storytelling; it’s intentional. So now, I am going to try to show how one can go from watching this show to entering into dialogue with people to answer these questions.
One of the most surprising things about Death Note is that the bad guy wins. Halfway through the series, Light succeeds in killing L, and the rest of the investigation squad, still unaware that Light is Kira, elects him as L’s replacement. The story then goes on break, to be picked up 5 years later. Light, Kira, has succeeded in making his new world, and there are those who openly worship him as God. He has enacted justice on criminals, worldwide crime has dropped by over 70%, and people seem to be living in peace with one another. It’s a utopia, right?
No.
Light succeeds in cleansing the world, but not in cleansing peoples’ hearts. Crime has dropped off, but only because of fear. People no longer commit crimes because they know they will be killed; not because they truly want to become better people. In one very telling moment, a man knowingly commits a crime and strategically kidnaps a media spokesperson that Kira has put in place. He fully plans on being arrested and thrown in jail, but the police surround him and shoot him dead without warning him, noting that Kira would have killed him anyway, and they were just saving Kira the trouble.
All of this illustrates in a very clear way the profound human paradox that what people need in the deepest part of their hearts is not justice, but mercy. Justice was given for five years, and the world became clean on the surface and rotten underneath. It is impossible to watch this series and miss that idea. From here, we can guide people on the last step to ask what it would really take to change the world. Would absolute justice truly create a better place? Would people become better if every crime was followed-up on and punished appropriately? Would we, you and I, change our hearts if God always enacted his righteous justice and never showed us mercy? No. No. No. For what truly changes people, whether they be American, Kenyan, Iraqi, or Japanese, is to receive pardon when they know in their heart-of-hearts that they don’t deserve it.
This is a message that Japanese people need to hear. For heaven’s sake, they need to hear it! There is no recovery, no forgiveness, if a large enough mistake is made in Japan. There is no way to regain face or honor, save by a cycle of death and rebirth, where the karma of your mistakes follows you anyway. Something needs to break the cycle. Something needs to intervene if peace will ever be obtained. This series doesn’t directly say that, but it illustrates it in a profound way.
In the end of the series, as Light is dying, Ryuk informs him that when humans die, they don’t go to either heaven or hell. The place that they go is “Mu” (nothingness). And that is the end of the series. That’s the end of the story. It begins in chaos and ends in nothingness. There is no hope; there is no joy. The despair and pointlessness is so poignant that you can almost touch it. And yet, from that point, we as ambassadors for Christ can speak words of hope, words of balance, words of mercy, and words of love.
I could write more, as there are dozens of characters that I didn’t even mention, but I suggest that you invest in this series. Rent it from your local video store if you’re in Japan, watch it on Cartoon Network if you’re in the US, or buy it if you’re in either country. It is not a story of hope, and it’s not a story that is easy to build bridges from, but it is a story which portrays some of the fears and the questions that are in the minds of Japanese youth right now. It is a story that portrays the desperate need for hope and mercy. Most importantly, it is a series that asks good questions—questions to which we have the Answer.
Spiritual Bridges part 2
So what is Death Note? It exists in three forms: a 12-volume manga (plus extras), a set of two live-action movies (with a 3rd spinoff movie currently in theatres), and a 37-episode anime series (with two 2-hour remake specials). It’s also the name for one of the most controversial mainstream mangas ever released. In this entry to Spiritual Bridges, I will be covering the anime version for a variety of reasons. First, the movie is not considered “canon,” as it changes some crucial plot details. Second, the anime trims down some of the excess exposition that makes the manga badly paced. Third, it’s beautiful. Whether you are talking about art, music, dramatic timing, voice acting*, or any number of other categories, my personal opinion is that the Death Note anime series approaches artistic perfection more than any other series I have ever seen. I don’t say that lightly.
[*I am referring to the Japanese voices. I have only seen one episode with the English voices, so I feel unqualified to comment on that. However, the English dub is currently airing on Cartoon Network, so many of you may be more familiar with that.]
Now, for the standard disclaimers. I was originally planning on saving Death Note as one of the final entries in this series. This series is about as non-Christian as a series can get, and the themes that are brought up are at once brilliant, powerful, and profoundly unsettling. As such, this may be the hardest series that I will ever work with on this site, but I deal with it because of its great potential. I am dealing with it now because the new movie has brought it back to everyone’s mind.
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Death Note (デスノート)Original Author/Artist: Ooba Tsugumi (大場 つぐみ) and Obata Takeshi (小畑健)
Animation Company: Madhouse
English Licensor: VIZ media
The story begins with Yagami Light, a senior in high school who is quite possibly the smartest person his age in all of Japan. One day after school, he finds a notebook dropped by the Shinigami (death god) Ryuk. But this notebook is special. In it, the following rules are written. I reproduce them in their entirety because they are necessary for understanding the series:
1. The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
2. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
3. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
4. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
5. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
And thus, Light gains the power of life and death—and anonymity. But Light is an ambitious boy, and decides to not use this power for petty purposes. He decides that he will use the Death Note to judge the world, cleansing it of its criminals, effectively bringing about worldwide peace. He will use the rules of the Death Note to his advantage, making all of the criminals die of heart attacks, so that the world will realize that there is intention and purpose behind the deaths and change their ways. He earns the name “Kira” which is the katakana of the English “killer.” In the end, he purposes to become the God of his new world. But one man arises out of nowhere to stand in his way: a faceless and nameless (read: unkillable) detective known only as “L”. Light must figure out a way to kill L, and L must figure out a way to convict Light. Though each of them knows who the other is, Light is never able to get L’s name, and L is never able to find any evidence against Light. This is the groundwork for our story. You might wonder how we will ever draw spiritual bridges from such a story, but bear with me. First, we need to talk about characters.
Yagami Light, the main character, and the protagonist, is also the bad guy. In many ways, Light is the human embodiment of the principles of Niccolo Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche. He is brilliant, and his brilliance brings him to the edge of criminal insanity. He knows how the world works, and he knows how to manipulate people. He even manages to work his way onto the taskforce that has been formed for the sole purpose, ironically, of catching him. Throughout the series, through Light, we get to see how criminal insanity is formed, and it is very, scarily believable. We see him becoming the very type of person that he originally set out to cleanse the world of. In short, Light becomes evil, in the purest sense of the word. He kills those close to him with little regard or second thought, though those people, unaware, would follow him willingly to their death. By the end of the series, though people love him and follow him, he literally loses his ability to love. There is only one person in the series that he ever comes close to loving, but he ends up killing that man in the worst possible way.
L, in contrast, is the antagonist, but not necessarily the good guy. He is equally as brilliant, but differs from Light in the fact that he doesn’t believe it is right for a human to judge other humans. In many ways, L represents one of the main themes of the series: balance. His brilliance comes from the fact that he can balance logic and intuition, inductive and deductive reasoning, and most importantly, justice and mercy. He suffers from the same pride that plagues Light, but never loses his ability to love. During one episode of the series, he becomes convinced that Light is “Kira”, but becomes completely unable to prove it. We see him standing in the rain on top of a building pondering things. Light, who is on the investigation squad at this point, comes to fetch him, and the two have a very meaningful conversation. L reveals that Light—whom he knows is Kira, but who is also the only equal he has ever faced—is his first friend. As they are drying off from the rain, L, in a completely surprising moment, stoops down to wash and dry Light’s feet. This profoundly affects Light, and when Light draws his last breath, it is to address L. Nonetheless, minutes after this touching moment, Light’s plan, which has been set in motion for months by this point, results in L’s death at the hands of a Shinigami.
This brings us to the third and final main character: Ryuk, the Shinigami. I have mentioned that one of the main themes of this series is balance. Ryuk’s entire purpose in this series is to upset that balance. If Light and L represent order, Ryuk represents chaos, and both of the main characters meet their deaths because they cannot balance order and chaos. L cannot catch Kira (Light) because he is unable to account for Ryuk’s actions. Light ends up killing his only friend and bringing about his own demise because he cannot balance the chaos either. [This, in essence, is a very Japanese way of looking at supernatural intervention. We humans try to live our lives in order and balance, but the kami intervene and cause disorder and disharmony when we fail to honor them. As such, the Japanese worldview is one of passive acceptance of outside forces, all while trying to keep the gods placated and at bay.] Ryuk’s only motivation for his actions in the series is boredom. He has been alive for thousands of years, and his only real purpose has been to supernaturally shorten the lifespans of humans. He has no affiliation with either Light or L, but capriciously helps Light at times simply because he finds Light interesting, and Light provides him with his favorite food (apples). Aside from that, his actions are completely self-serving, and he feels no remorse at the end in abandoning Light, to his death. Ryuk represents the unpredictable, from the first episode to the last.
So, with a series like this, and characters like this, how are we to ever explain the gospel of Christ? As I said before, this is hard, but the result can be very powerful. But in order to build the bridge, we are building more on what is unsaid than on what is said. One thing unique about this series is that it never seeks to answer the questions it asks. For example, it asks, “What is true justice?” but never answers the question, since neither Light nor L represents true justice. It also asks what it would take to change humanity and bring about peace, but never provides an answer. And this is not lazy storytelling; it’s intentional. So now, I am going to try to show how one can go from watching this show to entering into dialogue with people to answer these questions.
One of the most surprising things about Death Note is that the bad guy wins. Halfway through the series, Light succeeds in killing L, and the rest of the investigation squad, still unaware that Light is Kira, elects him as L’s replacement. The story then goes on break, to be picked up 5 years later. Light, Kira, has succeeded in making his new world, and there are those who openly worship him as God. He has enacted justice on criminals, worldwide crime has dropped by over 70%, and people seem to be living in peace with one another. It’s a utopia, right?
No.
Light succeeds in cleansing the world, but not in cleansing peoples’ hearts. Crime has dropped off, but only because of fear. People no longer commit crimes because they know they will be killed; not because they truly want to become better people. In one very telling moment, a man knowingly commits a crime and strategically kidnaps a media spokesperson that Kira has put in place. He fully plans on being arrested and thrown in jail, but the police surround him and shoot him dead without warning him, noting that Kira would have killed him anyway, and they were just saving Kira the trouble.
All of this illustrates in a very clear way the profound human paradox that what people need in the deepest part of their hearts is not justice, but mercy. Justice was given for five years, and the world became clean on the surface and rotten underneath. It is impossible to watch this series and miss that idea. From here, we can guide people on the last step to ask what it would really take to change the world. Would absolute justice truly create a better place? Would people become better if every crime was followed-up on and punished appropriately? Would we, you and I, change our hearts if God always enacted his righteous justice and never showed us mercy? No. No. No. For what truly changes people, whether they be American, Kenyan, Iraqi, or Japanese, is to receive pardon when they know in their heart-of-hearts that they don’t deserve it.
This is a message that Japanese people need to hear. For heaven’s sake, they need to hear it! There is no recovery, no forgiveness, if a large enough mistake is made in Japan. There is no way to regain face or honor, save by a cycle of death and rebirth, where the karma of your mistakes follows you anyway. Something needs to break the cycle. Something needs to intervene if peace will ever be obtained. This series doesn’t directly say that, but it illustrates it in a profound way.
In the end of the series, as Light is dying, Ryuk informs him that when humans die, they don’t go to either heaven or hell. The place that they go is “Mu” (nothingness). And that is the end of the series. That’s the end of the story. It begins in chaos and ends in nothingness. There is no hope; there is no joy. The despair and pointlessness is so poignant that you can almost touch it. And yet, from that point, we as ambassadors for Christ can speak words of hope, words of balance, words of mercy, and words of love.
I could write more, as there are dozens of characters that I didn’t even mention, but I suggest that you invest in this series. Rent it from your local video store if you’re in Japan, watch it on Cartoon Network if you’re in the US, or buy it if you’re in either country. It is not a story of hope, and it’s not a story that is easy to build bridges from, but it is a story which portrays some of the fears and the questions that are in the minds of Japanese youth right now. It is a story that portrays the desperate need for hope and mercy. Most importantly, it is a series that asks good questions—questions to which we have the Answer.
Spiritual Bridges part 2
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Spritual Bridges in Anime - Fullmetal Alchemist
In my (Scot's) original post on this blog, I gave a list of three topics I planned on posting about. So far, I haven't posted about a single one of those topics. What's more, in the two most recent postings I have given, there has been a relatively negative tone. I stand by what I said, but I don't want to be negative all of the time.
So, I am going to start a new series of posts--a series which will run indefinately, called "Spiritual Bridges", where I will take a critical (but hopeful) look at anime and manga, Japan's biggest cultural export, and attempt to build some bridges between the ideas presented in the anime/manga and the Christian worldview. It is my hope that these postings will allow Japanese Christians and Missionaries alike start to speak the language of this country's youth, telling them about the incredible gospel of Christ in a way that they can understand.
Before we begin, let me get a few things taken care of. First, let me explain the different mediums we will be working with.
Anime is a an abbreviation of "animation," and in Japanese refers to cartoons in genearl. In English, it specifically connotates Japanese cartoons, drawn in a specific style. Anime exists in two basic forms: movies and television shows. Movies are standalone works, and television shows are continuous stories spanning a certain number of episodes (usually 12-13, 24-26, or 50-52, corresponding to the average number of weeks in a season) that must be watched in order.
Manga is the Japanese word for "comic book" which in Japan covers all forms of graphic novels. In English, this word specifically refers to Japanese graphic novels. Like anime, manga tell a continuous story, and each chapter must be read in order. A good number of anime were originally manga (like Dragonball Z and Naruto). Manga is released by chapter either weekly or monthly, and after a set period of time, multiple chapters are collected into a bound volume. There is no standard length for manga. Some stories cover six volumes, whereas others (like One Piece) are in the 40's.
Also, a disclaimer. There is very little manga and virtually no anime from a Christian perspective. None of the pieces I mention here were made by Christian authors. As a result, I urge readers to think critically. There will be parts of every story that we cannot affirm, but that doesn't mean that these stories are morally or spiritually void. Now, without further ado, the first post of this series.
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So, I am going to start a new series of posts--a series which will run indefinately, called "Spiritual Bridges", where I will take a critical (but hopeful) look at anime and manga, Japan's biggest cultural export, and attempt to build some bridges between the ideas presented in the anime/manga and the Christian worldview. It is my hope that these postings will allow Japanese Christians and Missionaries alike start to speak the language of this country's youth, telling them about the incredible gospel of Christ in a way that they can understand.
Before we begin, let me get a few things taken care of. First, let me explain the different mediums we will be working with.
Anime is a an abbreviation of "animation," and in Japanese refers to cartoons in genearl. In English, it specifically connotates Japanese cartoons, drawn in a specific style. Anime exists in two basic forms: movies and television shows. Movies are standalone works, and television shows are continuous stories spanning a certain number of episodes (usually 12-13, 24-26, or 50-52, corresponding to the average number of weeks in a season) that must be watched in order.
Manga is the Japanese word for "comic book" which in Japan covers all forms of graphic novels. In English, this word specifically refers to Japanese graphic novels. Like anime, manga tell a continuous story, and each chapter must be read in order. A good number of anime were originally manga (like Dragonball Z and Naruto). Manga is released by chapter either weekly or monthly, and after a set period of time, multiple chapters are collected into a bound volume. There is no standard length for manga. Some stories cover six volumes, whereas others (like One Piece) are in the 40's.
Also, a disclaimer. There is very little manga and virtually no anime from a Christian perspective. None of the pieces I mention here were made by Christian authors. As a result, I urge readers to think critically. There will be parts of every story that we cannot affirm, but that doesn't mean that these stories are morally or spiritually void. Now, without further ado, the first post of this series.
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Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師)Original Author: Arakawa Hiromu (荒川弘)
Animation Company: BONES
English Licensor: FUNimation
This story exists in two forms. The original is a monthly manga by Arakawa Hiromu, which currently has 79 chapters and is still running. The second is a 51-episode anime + movie (The Conqueror of Shamballa) by Studio BONES. These two forms have the same characters, but are essentially different stories. When the manga finishes, I will post about that. For now, I am posting about the anime version.
The story begins with two young alchemist brothers named Edward and Alphonse who are on a quest to retrieve the legendary Philosopher's Stone. This stone allows the user to bypass the laws of Equivalent Exchange--the first rule of alchemy. Basically, alchemy is a skill which allows the user to break an object down into its base elements and rearrange it however they see fit. Thus, Equivalent Exchange means that the atoms on one side of the equation must equal the atoms on the other side of the equation. A few years before the story begins, the brothers tried to use alchemy to recreate their dead mother. However, they didn't factor in the price of a soul in their experiment, and were punished severely for trying to "step on God's territory." Edward, the older brother, lost his left leg; Alphonse, the younger brother, lost his entire body. In order to save Alphonse, Edward sacrifices his right arm in order to bond his brother's soul to a suit of armor standing in the corner. Maimed, scared, and remorseful, the two set out on a quest to procure the Philosopher's Stone and restore each others' bodies. Edward uses his life savings to buy a prosthetic arm and leg, which their childhood friend (Winry) manufactures.
One of the main spiritual bridges in this anime is the concept of selflessness stemming from love. Neither Ed nor Al are out to restore their own bodies. Each of them feels equally responsible for their mistake, and is working for the benefit of the other. This selfless unity, which places no blame, allows them to work together to overcome overwhelming difficulties along the way.
Another bridge is the value of human life. Never have I seen an anime cover this so thoroughly. Many questions are asked. Since Al is only a soul, without a body, is he still human? Some characters say no, but ultimately, the show illustrates that human worth is not dependent upon human status. It's easy to go from this to talk about how humans have worth not because of our beauty or ability, but because we are made in the image of God. This is explored further too. Many times in the series, the end is in sight. Ed and Al have countless opportunities to accomplish their goal, but not without compromising their moral ground. They hold fast to what is right, even though it is much more dangerous and difficult. In contrast, one character, Scar, compromises constantly, living for himself and being unafraid to kill those who stand in his way. After observing Ed and Al, however, we see a scene that shows Scar's utter emptiness. In the end, he sacrifices himself for the sake of others. The spiritual connections in this should be obvious.
The end of the series is where the most poignant bridge comes in. The story is a coming of age story for the two brothers, and we see them developing through the whole series. In the beginning, Ed is arrogant, boasting that there is no God, and that the science of alchemy makes him the closest thing to a God that most people will ever see. In the end, both brothers are forced to take a grim look at the world and realize its many imperfections. In the process they are forced to look at their own imperfections. The ending itself is imperfect, as the brothers never truly accomplish their objective. They do, however, learn to see beauty in the imperfection, and love the world despite its many flaws. The arrogance is replaced with selflessness, and in the ending monologue, God is acknowledged as being much more powerful and sovereign than the alchemists. More than any Christian production, this show illustrated to me what it means to love despite imperfections. It is a powerful message, and though it may be used as a spiritual bridge, you may want to absorb it for your own benefit first.
If you are looking to use Japanese pop culture to communicate the message of the gospel, this is a perfect place to start. As this is a very popular series, it should be possible to rent one disc at a time, even in America. FUNimation is also releasing box sets of 13 episodes apiece for $30-40, which is a VERY good deal for anime. It's dark at times, and the characters make some very bad mistakes, but we see them grow, and we identify with them. Selflessness, forgiveness, human worth, and love... all illustrated clearly, and all available as a bridge to start talking about what Jesus said on these issues.
Spiritual Bridges part 1
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