Anime Lectio: Dance Dance Danseur

                                                            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.

Others want us to do things for certain reasons sometimes, but this can prevent us from doing what we want to do.  What we want to do usually is clearer for us right away even if it isn't clearer for other people right away.  However, how what we want to do influences other people is something that we and the other people both realize over time.  

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 Dance Dance Danseur, a boy ends up learning the martial art Jeet Kune Do from his uncle in order to learn how to protect his family after his father dies. Even though the boy doesn't dislike Jeet Kune Do, he likes ballet dancing more and wants to learn more about that instead. Learning more about ballet leads him to a ballet school where he meets the instructor, as well as her daughter and a boy that becomes a friend/rival (frenemy?) to the boy who wants to learn more about ballet. The boy that becomes a friend/rival to the boy who wants to learn more about ballet not only already knows a lot about ballet, but is better at it. However, his past holds him back and the boy who wants to learn more about ballet tries to take the daughter of the instructor away from him, which makes things worse. Fortunately, the boy who wants to learn more about ballet realizes what he's doing in time in order to not only help his rival, but also himself by continuing his ballet instruction at a different school that he trained at for a time with his rival.

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.

Besides offering interesting insights into what masculinity is, or rather should be, the anime series Dance Dance Danseur also gives an example of how what you want to do influences others. This influence depends on many things, like on who these others are based on what you need and/or want to do, want you want and/or need to do versus what these others want and/or need to do, and what happens as a result of this interaction. It takes time for these things to happen. How much time it takes depends on what you as well as others want and/or need to do.

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 what we want and/or need to do influences others in a positive way and that what others want and/or need to do influences us in a positive way as well.