Anime Lectio: Deca-Dence

                                                             1. Why do Anime Lectio? 

Anime Lectio is a time for us to stop and take a breath. Between work, activities, family life, and social media, our minds are always moving. We rarely take time to contemplate and ask, why am I watching this anime? What’s the point of all this? And, how is this making me feel? 

2. Put away all distractions 

(phones, work, etc.)

We are so enslaved to things that stimulate our minds. Let this be a moment for us to free our minds, look inside of ourselves, and be at peace.

3. Deep Breathing

Take several deep breaths. Let your mind relax. If you’ve had any questions, desires, or struggles that you’ve been hiding or stuffing away, let them rise up to the surface. 

4. Open yourself to God’s Presence

Remember God places all our thoughts and desires inside of us, and He uses them to draw us closer to Himself. God gives us a community to help us understand who we are and what He is calling us to do. The faces of other people you know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence.  

5. Think About What’s on Your Mind in Relation to the Anime

Think about what’s been on your mind in relation to the anime.  The following is an example of such thoughts written by me.

I recently watched the first episode of an anime that premiered this season (Fall 2021) called Sakugan. I didn't plan to watch that one, but I noticed that the anime episode reviewer that I follow on youtube talked about it. It looked interesting to me and I had the time to check it out, so I did. The anime looks really interesting. The reviewer also thought of it as a combination of the anime Made in Abyss and the anime Deca-Dence. I have seen the anime Made in Abyss before, but not the anime Deca-Dence, so that coming weekend, I decided to binge the anime Deca-Dence out of curiosity.

6. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, or seeing the anime for yourself since that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

Deca-Dence is an anime where people live inside of a giant mobile fortress called Deca-Dence. While some people live inside of this fortress without having to go outside of it, except maybe to clean or repair the exterior, others go outside to fight monsters outside of this fortress in order to protect themselves, the other people who live and work in Deca-Dence, and Deca-Dence itself. While most people are content with what they do, one girl isn't. She wants to fight despite her disability. Another character who ends up becoming her boss ends up helping her with what she does and wants, at first unwillingly, but grows to like doing it, despite what others tell him to do.

7. Reflect on the anime

Has this brief and written explanation of the anime, or seeing the anime, shed any light on what's been on your mind? The following is an example of a reflection on the anime from me.

The girl who isn't content with just staying inside of Deca-Dence and only going outside to clean and repair it is considered a bug according to who Deca-Dence is controlled by. The other character who becomes the boss of this girl does end up helping this girl fight after not wanting to do it at first since he knows what the fighting is like. He eventually teaches her to fight, even making her disability more useful by weaponizing it. While the system thinks that bugs aren't useful, the boss of this girl thinks that bugs are not only useful, but needed, which turns out to be true. What may be considered useless to some people may not be the case for others. It all depends on how you see the other person, as well as yourself.

8. Final Prayer

Please voice any prayer intentions for friends, family, or people around the world that relate to this anime and close with a prayer relating to the anime. The following is an example written by me.

Let us pray that despite the bugs, or defects, of other people, we can still see their usefulness, as well as for the wisdom to acknowledge defects not only in other people, but also ourselves. We ask for this through the power of the protection in our lives.