Anime Lectio: Tokyo 24th Ward

                                                            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. 

Making decisions can be difficult. When making decisions for whatever reason, from being tested in life, as opposed to tested in school, to deciding something for yourself, you usually only have two options to choose from. Making a choice, and therefore a decision, is difficult if you don't like the choices. If several people are also involved in the decision-making, then making a choice is even more difficult since more people are involved, are impacted by the choice, and may even also be involved in the decision-making process directly and have their own ideas as to what to do based on their own interests. Coming up with another choice based on what you're presented with and think about what you're presented with is also possible. 

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 series Tokyo 24th Ward, people in positions of authority try to get their man-made island to be part of Tokyo. The main way they try to do this is to create a security system to effectively monitor criminal activity or any other problems. This monitoring involves using the body of a dead girl and her consciousness (and/or unconsciousness), who died in an accident and happens to be the daughter of the guy who leads the creation of a new security system. The dead girl contacts her three friends (one is her brother) via cellphone whenever she needs help solving a problem. The three friends eventually find a way to get to the dead girl contacting them when they have to make a decision that involves making future decisions. Instead of going with one of the two options they are presented with, they all decide to go with a third option, which is what usually happens with these decisions. In this situation, they decide that everyone in Tokyo's 24th Ward, not just a few people in it, should be involved in making decisions since the decisions influence the entire ward anyway.

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.

The main thing that I like about this anime is its application of what's known as the trolley dilemma. The trolley dilemma is the idea that there are only two options in every situation, like if a trolley were to run over one person or five and you could only save the one person or five people, then who would you save. Saving everyone wouldn't be possible unless you can think of a way to do that. One of the friends that gets contacted by his dead friends tends to think about saving everyone or do what's best for everyone with every decision. However, the two other friends have their own ideas as to what to do depending on the decision they have to make. The three of them don't always agree with each other, but their dead friend believes in them and after a series of decision-making on their own, they realize having more people involved (in this case everyone) will lead to making better decisions for what they all want and need. Making decisions is better and easier when more people are involved.

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 we can make our own decisions in our lives and know when we need others to help us in the decisions that we make for ourselves and others.