Anime Lectio: Akebi's Sailor Uniform

                                                           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.

Being different can be a good thing if you do it the right way. Being different the right way, which is a good thing, can involve how you act, how you learn, and what you do with what you learn. Doing something to make you stand out also helps with this, like looking different from everyone else around you in terms of physical appearance, or what you wear.  

 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.

Akebi's Sailor Uniform is an anime series that focuses on a young girl going to a school with other girls her age after being home-schooled/going to a school as the only student growing up. She also wants to go to a certain school with other girls because she likes the sailor outfit that's the school uniform when her mom attended the school. Even though the uniform is different now, she's still allowed to wear the sailor outfit she likes since it used to be the school's uniform. The outgoing and extroverted personality of this girl, not just the fact that she's the only one wearing a different outfit, makes her stand out among her peers. This also helps her in her quest to be friends with everybody by helping them out/supporting when they need it or when she wants to help/support them, which not only happens in the end of the anime, but her friends in turn help/support her when she needs it.

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.

At this time of year, I help teach a class about the history of martial arts and anime (it's mostly about the history of martial arts). Even though Akebi's Sailor Uniform is definitely not a martial arts anime, I still think it's important in understanding martial arts. Like I said before, being different can be a good thing if you do it the right way. What we (the other teacher is a karate blackbelt) try to teach in the martial arts class I help with is that martial arts isn't just about fighting, which is what the students are interested in doing, or to see martial arts differently. Using martial arts to defend yourself when you need to do that, and not just to fight people because you can, isn't just a better use of martial arts, but it's also a different way of using and seeing martial arts. Seeing something, or in the case of Akebi's Sailor Uniform someone, differently isn't bad as long as what this something, or someone, seen differently is, or does.

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 cannot only see the differences between other people, and things, but also understand these differences, as well as understand how people, and things, can be seen.