Anime Lectio: A Galaxy Next Door

                                                            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. 

An interest in the same thing can help bring two people together in order to live and/or work together.  Communication about this interest, as well as about things related to this interest, also makes living and/or working together easier to handle when you know what you are working with.  An interesting example of this can be seen in the anime series A Galaxy Next Door.

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 A Galaxy Next Door starts off with a young man working as a manga creator while also raising his younger siblings in a house that other people also live in. While on a walk one day, he meets a young woman who is new in town, so he decides to help her by showing her around. The young woman also happens to have an interest in manga and has some skills in helping to create it, so she ends up helping the young man with his work, as well as living with him in the house where he lives with others. On one occasion, after pulling an all-nighter together to get their work done, the young man thinks a pen is jabbing the young woman in her back, but when he tries to remove it, he enters into a marriage pact with her. This pact also influences what happens to them and they try to figure out a way to get themselves out of the pact. Before that happens, they spend time together, as well as with the younger man's siblings and other friends, and even after that happens, they still spend time together. The difference is that their feelings for each other aren't based on, and controlled by, a pact.

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.

Living and/or working with other people is how you can understand them. A key word in the previous sentence is the word 'can.' It can happen, but at the same time, it doesn't have to. An important part of this understanding is communication and listening to the other person, especially if they have something they want to talk with you about or about something you've seen them do, is important for actual communication to happen. This means two, or multiple, people talking with and listening to each other instead of one person talking and the other person, or persons, just listening. In the case of the anime series A Galaxy Next Door, the younger man has to listen to the younger woman when explaining the pact they are in, as well as what the younger woman's parents have to say about it, which involves listening to her daughter and boyfriend/fiancée (boyfriend already before pact and still after). When living and/or working with other people, it's important to understand each other and listening to each other is important in this understanding.

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 listen to, and thus really understand, the people we live and/or work with.