Anime Lectio: The Eminence in Shadow Seasons One and Two

                                                              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.  

My favorite definition of humility is that it's not about thinking less about yourself, but about thinking about yourself less. Besides St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, devoting an entire chapter to humility in his Rule for Benedictine monks, which I am, there are other ways in which humility can be seen and explained. An interesting take on humility can be seen in the first two seasons of the anime series The Eminence in Shadow.

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 The Eminence in Shadow starts off with a boy not being noticed by one of his female classmates until he rescues her from people who try to kidnap her. The boy is actually the main character of this series, but he's obsessed with being the most powerful background character, which he is able to focus more on by being sent to a fantasy world. In this fantasy world, he becomes an average student with average friends and an average life, but whenever he can/wants to, he's known as Shadow when he wants to show off his abilities as the most powerful background character, known as The Eminence in Shadow.

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 character of this anime doesn't exactly think less about himself, but does go out of his way to think about himself less. An interesting take on humility, according to my favorite definition of humility that I have used here, is what I got out of this anime and it was interesting for me to see how humility can be applied in the quest for power and using it how you need and/or want to use it. In the case of the main character in this anime, power is something that he wanted in order to use it for his own interests. In this process, an interesting take on humility is seen and I think it can ask us how humility is seen in our own lives.

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 see how humility is seen in our own lives based on how we understand humility, either with the definition given in the reflection and/or in other ways, like how it can be seen in this anime.