Anime Lectio: Ghost in the Shell

  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.

In the book Anime Impact, the anime movie Ghost in the Shell, in addition to having its own chapter, is also mentioned in the chapter about the anime movie Angel's Egg. Both movies were directed by the same person and both have references to the Bible in it (Patlabor: The Movie is another example that I recently did Anime Lectio with). These references are more obvious in Angel's Egg, but I have also been thinking a lot lately about what the one in Ghost in the Shell could mean and why that matters.

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.

In a futuristic setting, advances in technology, specifically in cybernetics, allow people to lead better lives by replacing body parts and organs with robotics. Such advances can also lead to problems, like using other people to commit, or help you commit, crimes for you by hacking into their body. A group of people made up of AI, cyborgs, and unmodified humans investigate these problems.

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 main problem that the group of people made up of AI, cyborgs, and unmodified humans (I think some are slightly modified too) investigate involves an AI known as the Puppet Master. After the main character and her partners investigate this AI, including what this AI has done, it leads to the main character figuring out what to do with herself when the movie ends. The Bible reference that I picked up on (I didn't notice others) comes near the end of the movie when the main character mentions what she and one of the other characters she's talking to heard earlier from the Puppet Master. What they heard was a reference from the Bible, specifically 1 Corinthians 13:11, which is as follows:

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

After the main character says this, and before the movie ends, she then leaves, but stops to think about what she's going to do next. The Bible verse she said earlier continues with the following:

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Perhaps these verses are what the main character needs to think about in order to figure out what she's going to do next. In her earlier conversations and experiences, especially the conversation when she heard 1 Corinthians 13:11 from the Puppet Master, as well as her other experiences with the Puppet Master, she has talked about, and dealt with, ideas and experiences of knowing herself and of hope. Perhaps what she needs to do moving forward is to think more about faith and love. Perhaps this is what the Puppet Master wants her to do. Perhaps we all have something like a Puppet Master helping us with this.

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 we can all figure out what to do next after leaving one experience and moving on to another. We ask our Puppet Master, whatever that may be, to help us with this.