Anime Lectio: Do It Yourself!!

                                                            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.  

Doing things yourself is always important, whether it be doing things yourself for yourself on your own when you need and/or want to, doing things yourself with other people for a specific purpose, or doing things yourself for the sake of making friends and doing things together. In the case of the anime Do It Yourself!!, this also involves two girls using the activity of do it yourself, or DIY, to restart their friendship.

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.

The anime series Do It Yourself!! starts off with two girls who used to be closer friends going to different middle/high schools. While the more serious one, who doesn't really understand her feelings, prefers a school that relies heavily on technology, the other one who is definitely not as serious, as well as clumsy and accident prone, ends up in a school that doesn't rely on technology as much as the other one. The less technologically advanced school also has a DIY club that the one friend is interested in, despite her clumsiness, accident prone nature, and lack of seriousness. However, with the help of friends, even ones from the school that relies heavily on technology, including the more serious friend of the clumsy girl, they learn about the importance of DIY in not only learning how to use the activity to make the club more popular, but also how to use DIY to help them with their friendships.

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.

Even when technology can get so advanced that it can do things for you, which can usually be seen in the anime when comparing the two schools that the main friends go to, as well as their lifestyles, the idea of doing things yourself is still always important. Personally, I don't like relying on technology too much because I prefer to do things myself when I can instead of having someone, or something, else do it for me. What's interesting about the activity of DIY, besides the idea of doing something yourself with other people, is that it needs to exist even when technology makes it seemingly useless. As great as technology is, it can't, and I don't think it ever can (at least not in the same way), create real friendship itself. Technology can help create friendships, as well as make such opportunities possible, but I think DIY is what people need to really make a connection, whether that be in an actual DIY activity/club or doing it yourself in another 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 that we can understand what it means to do it yourself when it comes to things like friendship, spending time with others, and doing things with others or on your own.