Christianity in Anime

[Evangelion Unit 01]

I would have to say that I feel that they do this because it probably speaks to a large audience. I know that their are some animes that have Buddhism in the original Japanese version and then are changed the Christianity. The only reason is because it speaks to more people. I bet most people who are into anime know about as much of Buddhism as the pope does. I will say I do know a lot about Buddhism because I took a mythology class that taught it, and I took a eastern civ class where the first half of the semester was on nothing but Buddhism. After taking that class I feel like I could join the Buddhist religion, but then I would have way to much karma (as I say while looking at the 12 wall scrolls and books shelf of anime DVDs) . Anyway most people in america can't relate to Buddhism because this is the biggest Christian nation in the world. I mean I bet a lot of people would like a lot of animes less with that Christianity taken out of them. oh and I am not saying this because I am Christian, I am actually Jewish, but this is the reason I feel that there is a lot of Christianity in anime.

Also on what some might consider a blasphemies note even though I don't mean it in that way religion is story telling, and people like myself love a good story, and what is the best place to start rather than some of the 2000 or so year old stories. They are the bias for most stories to day, and that includes all religions.

[Zalis]

From what I've pieced together, people in Japan seem to frown on the idea of "you either go to heaven, or you go to hell," so that's why Christianity gets a bad rap in many anime. When we watched Chrno Crusade at our anime club, many people noted, after the series was over, "Gee, they really don't seem to like Christianity that much."

Another anime with Christian themes that hasn't been mentioned already is the 1985 movie "Night on the Galactic Railroad." It's slow, and very weird, but it's also interesting and rewarding if you can get through it.

[AMV_4000]

well, theres always Eva... and then there was that 1 hitler scene in DBZ movie 12... but for the rest, i dont really recall...

[staces]

-_- Aurgh.

As much of a Evangelion fan I am (and belive me I love it) I truly hate the impact it's had on many stupid, stupid fans (no one in here, I'm sure ). Personally I'm a Christian, and pretty knowledgeable about it, but it's not something I talk about a lot. And when otherwise eneducated in the ways of Christianity fans go spouting off random bullfunky (because half of the Eva stuff is "canon" in the Bible and the other half is eh it suits our crack plot). And if you get into a discussion with these people about the real deal they're like "Nuh-uh! Evangelion said blahbliddlyblah! And Gainax anime is a infallible source for information on Western religion! The Bible is wrong! Evangelion knows the truth!"

It's idiots like that that make me wish animes would steer clear of religion altogether. No religion and no politics. . . I mean, come on! They screw up their OWN religions (Buddhism) in animes! Watch Saiyuki sometime. -_-

[BasharOfTheAges]

And Gainax anime is a infallible source for information on Western religion! The Bible is wrong! Evangelion knows the truth!"

Well, the cristian church (a political organization at the time that was primairily concerned with preserving their own power) did decide to pick and choose what went into the bible and kinda translated scriptures from a language that isn't really understood today, so you could kinda see how anyone could choose to believe something like Eva is the 'truth' when it'as just as good as any other idea...

[devilmaykickass]

Christianity was even in Sailor Moon...atleast three episodes I can think of off the top of my head had christianity as the main focus, and I even remember her saying "In the name of God, I shall punish you!" once, believe it or not.

I remember in Sociology we spent alot of time learning about Japan's trend of adopting foreign cultural aspects into their own, especially that of America (or atleast, their ideal outlook of America). A popular thing to do is have christian weddings, or shinto/christian mixed weddings. They were talking to a couple who was about to be married, and they were going to have a christian wedding (in a video we were watching), and they said "Oh, we just like it and think it's neat...we aren't Christian...we don't have a religion".

So basically if you want to know "why" it is that Christianity pops up in Anime as it does when it's an uncommon religion in Japan, it's the same reason they print stuff in english and have random things said in english in anime and have random lines of songs in english: because it's flashy and trendy and people think it's cool and it helps it sell.

[OtakuMan22]

That's actually closer to the truth than you may think.

My research from different perspectives on religion in Japan is that it breaks down like this:

Christianity makes up 1% of the Japanese population. Christian missionaries that landed in Japan (before Japan was sealed off to foreigners in fact) started a grassroots campaign to spread the word of God, and while it didn't really take in Japan, there were still some that decided to convert to Christianity. There are still missionaries in Japan, and there are still Christians in Japan. Just not that many!

Now for Shinto and Buddhism, those two vie for the top religion in Japan. The big differences that set the two religions apart from Christianity is:

1) They are older than Christianity by a couple thousand years
2) There is no definitive text that defines the religion (there are scriptures for Buddhism, but I am not sure that there is one specific set of 100% definitive scriptures)
3) Most of the religions are based on legends and myths (Saiyuki for example)
4) Devinity does not equal perfection (Even Buddha got mad at Son Goku when he pissed on Buddha's hand)
5) Purgatory is not permanent (in Shinto, the max sentence for staying in hell is 500 years)
6) There is no one definitive "God" (Buddha was once human according to traditional Buddhism)

To the Christians, Japanese is very different, and vice versa to the Japanese. The Japanese see Christianity as something mythical and occult. That's why symbols of Christianity are more prevalent than actual theology. Crucifixes, Nuns, Priests, the Bible, Holy Water, and more are what the Japanese think of when it comes to Christianity. To them, Christianity is like "Castlevania", where the holy powers are often balanced out by and lead to evil monsters such as vampires, werewolves, and more!

Don't believe me?

Judge
Vampire Hunter D
Ghost Sweeper Mikami
Phantom Quest Corp.
Haunted Junction
Hellsing
Blood: The Last Vampire
Witch Hunter Robin
Chrono Cross

...and I'm sure there are more that I haven't figured out yet. The important point is that these shows feature Christianity in one form of significant mystic power or another. It is the "White Magic" kind of religion that can dispel evil and purify.

None of this, of course, has to do with the actual religion, but it's still pretty cool none the less!

The only anime/manga that I can think of that treats Christianity as a religion and not as a mystical magic is One Pound Gospel, where a constantly hungry boxer in the making has the hots for a nun at a local covenant who tries to cheer him on (while maintaining her distance). Funny thing is that it's from Rumiko Takahashi who is quite familiar with Japanese and foreign religion. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to poke constant fun at it, as can be seen in Urusei Yatsura, and Inu-Yasha as well.

Now I can't remember who said it, but I disagree with you that religion and politics should stay out of anime to avid controversy. If it did, we wouldn't have nearly HALF of the good anime we have!

Good anime with Politics:
Roujin-Z
Akira
Memories (Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder in particular)
Ghost in The Shell (Heck, almost anything from Masamune Shirow)
Patlabor (Another good example is Mamoru Oshii and his movies)
Barefoot Gen
Grave of the Fireflies

and lots lots more!

Good anime with Religion:
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT (loosely based on the Monkey King legend)
Read or Die OAV (One of the baddies is based off of the sage in the Monkey King legend)
Buddha (Osamu Tezuka's classic manga biography! Now in English!)
Tenchi Muyo (Tenchi's grandfather runs a shinto shrine!)
Urusei Yatsura (Lum is based off of the Oni in Shinto legend)
Inu-Yasha (So Shinto, it's not even funny!)
Barefoot Gen (Gen's bald head gives him good cause to practice saying Buddhist chants and prayers to send people off to their final resting place)
Yu-Yu Hakusho (Enma is the mythical deity that determines if you go to heaven or hell. Yusuke runs into Enma Jr. (Koenma) when dear ole Dad is on vacation or taking care of business elsewhere.)
Ge Ge Ge No Kitarou (the only manga/anime where the characters become actual shinto deities themselves IN REAL LIFE!)

The above is true! Classic manga and anime series, Ge Ge Ge No Kitarou features many classic shinto monsters and deities in its stories. Including Kasa-obake (Umbrella ghost) and Nurikabe (A giant stone slab that turns invisible to keep people from moving down paths).

These characters became so popular, that on the author's street, 60 bronze statues were made in the likeness of Kitarou and his spirit friends. These were supposed to house the "spirits" of the characters that are in the hearts and minds of all the people who know the show. It was as if the author had made them real! These statues also have offerings and traditional shinto garb wrapped around them as they are honored as REAL SHINTO SPIRITS!

It's true! If I can find the webpage with pictures again, I'll link them!


Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's a teaser for you:

How many anime and manga out there have JUDAISM in them?! Are there any Jewish anime characters or manga characters?

I can think of only one: the characters in the manga "Tale of Three Hitlers" which revolves around two best friends, one Christian and one Jewish, in World War 2 era Germany. Oddly enough, they both share the name "Hitler"! It chronicles how one of the boys is sent to Hitler's Youth Camp, while another must tread carefully and endure the persecutions of being Jewish. And during all this, we also get a look at THE Hitler's rise to power.

It was released by Viz Manga a long time ago, and if I can secure myself a copy, I would definitly not let it go.

After all, it was made by "God of Manga" himself, Osamu Tezuka!

~Otaku-Man

[Knowname]

I'd better leave before I blow up with my Ninja Scroll issues...

[OtakuMan22]

I remember seeing an AMV to Ninja Resurrection (that was supposedly the "sequel" to Ninja Scroll wasn't it?), that was set to "Let the Bodies hit the floor".

I remember seeing some freaky ass stuff in there that made me go, "Dude, what up with that"? Now I've never seen the anime, but if the AMV is any indication, I bet they took all sensitivity to any religion and just THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW!

I bet if anyone who was devouted to Christianity and had deep faith and beliefs would scream bloody murder to the people who made Ninja Resurrection.

Ninja Scroll I saw... gorey... some sex... but not much in the ways of religion as there was in kick-assery! Wasn't that bad, although I was miffed that there were ninjas but no "Ninja Scroll"s!

Ninja Resurrection... well if the AMV is any indication... damn!

~Otaku-Man

[staces]

*twitch* I didn't mean that they should keep politics and religion out of anime to avoid controversy, I meant that they should keep them out because:

A- We get enough of that garbage in real life
B- They so often just get it plain wrong and people get misconstrued on what religions are all about.

But hey I can avoid it in animes if I want and more power to those who like it. But, for the record, I didn't like any of the animes you listed ;P And that's not for a lack of seeing them.