Anime Lectio: Romantic Killer

                                                            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.

I was recently made the new socius, or formation companion, of my monastic community after several meetings talking with my abbot, or monastic community leader, about it when we learned that we needed a new one.  I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do since I haven't talked with our formation director about it yet, but I've seen what he's been doing with our men in formation recently and he's also the same formation director I had for my formation too.  Besides, helping with formation in any way, even as a companion for people in formation, is something that I want to do.  Relationships that help people are important and don't need to be romantic, which can also be seen in the Netflix anime series Romantic Killer.

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 Netflix anime series Romantic Killer, a young girl who prefers playing video games about romantic relationships instead of having them herself is one day forced into situations where romantic relationships can really happen for her when she buys a new video game. The game contains a wizard who tries to make the girl fall in love with guys that she ends up living with due to the wizard's intervention. The wizard also takes away her other desires besides her video games of chocolate and her cat in order for her to focus on a romantic relationship with one of the guys she ends up living with. One of these guys is an attractive guy that is popular with the ladies, but he rejects most of them since he's not actually interested in a romantic relationship due to an experience with a stalker. The other is a childhood friend of the girl that looks different over time and also hasn't seen the girl that he has a crush on in years. Other potential love interests include a spoiled rich boy who ends up working with the girl, another childhood friend who admits his feelings for her when a group of these childhood friends reunite, and even the wizard himself since the wizard can transform into a boy (girl too). Despite all that happens, the girl is only interested in helping all of these guys as friends like her female friends.

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.

Does a relationship have to be romantic in order to help people? In a certain sense, yes since it helps with the low birth rate in Japan, which is why the wizard wants the girl to focus on a romantic relationship instead of her other desires. But what about the girl's desire to help others while focusing on her other desires, even the wizard in the end? Not everyone needs to be in a romantic relationship in order to fix the problem of a low birth rate. You can help others by being in a romantic relationship with someone else without contributing to any birth rate by adopting children who need to be adopted. Even if you don't go with the adoption option, there's also caring for children who aren't your own without legally making them your own by caring for them as a teacher, coach, and/or by being there for them some other way as a role model. Relationships are important since they should all be transpersonal, or transformative, not just romantic, whatever that means (transformative in a certain way?)

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 for an understanding of what romantic relationships mean and how they can be transpersonal, or transformative, as other kinds of helping relationships.