Anime Lectio: Seraph of the End

                                                             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.  

When I was doing the anime club for the students in the school I work in when we were all virtual near the beginning of the current pandemic, one of them wrote a post on my blog about the anime Seraph of the End. I've never seen or even heard of this anime before, so I decided to check it out after reading this post on my blog. Unfortunately, students can't write on blogs anymore, which is why I deleted all of the posts of my students and them as authors on my blog. Of all these posts though, the one about Seraph of the End interested me the most not only because it looked like what I was looking for in a post, but also because it talked about how humanity is seen in the anime, which is what I plan to talk about here as a way to keep thoughts about this anime on this blog. How we see humanity is also an important thing to think about, not just during this time of pandemic and other problems in the world.

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 the anime Seraph of the End, two childhood friends who grow up together as orphans with other friends who they consider family decide to run away one day in order to improve their lives. Unfortunately, they are caught by one of the vampires who keeps these children, and others, as orphans and most of them are killed. The one who escapes ends up being found by people who fight the vampires and ends up joining these people to avenge his friends. However, one of his friends survives by being forced to become a vampire without the one who escapes knowing that until seeing him again years later. This friend also happens to the be the one friend closest to the one who escaped and ended up helping others fight the vampires. Despite this, these friends still end up fighting each other because of the sides that they represent, even though they still try to help each other.

7.  Reflect on the anime

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

Humanity is complicated. It can turn friends into enemies because of differences between them that can arise over time. Despite whatever these differences may be, these friends can still help each other find the similarities that still exist between them. This depends on how they see humanity, which is different for everyone according to their circumstances and thinking, as well as other factors. No matter how you see humanity, we are all part of humanity as people. This may be complicated by the presence of something like vampires in an anime, but think of that as a different way of seeing humanity.

8. Final Prayer

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

Let us pray that despite our differences, we can see the similarities between us and other people, including the fact that we are all people and are all part of humanity.