Anime Lectio: Oshi No Ko 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. 

What would you be willing to do for revenge?  Anime usually provides interesting answers to this question as it's common for an anime's story to have something about revenge, either in a major way or in a minor one, even when you don't expect that to be the case.  An interesting example of this can be seen in the first two seasons of the anime series Oshi No Ko.

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 Oshi No Ko starts off in a rural hospital with a doctor treating a patient who is a little girl. Even though this little girl is sickly and weak, she dreams to someday be an idol like the one she watches a lot, which leads to the doctor also becoming a fan of this idol. After the little girl dies, the doctor ends up becoming the doctor for this idol who comes to his hospital since she is pregnant with twins and doesn't want the pregnancy to go public. Before the doctor can perform the delivery, he is killed by someone who doesn't want the pregnancy to happen, but the doctor is reincarnated as the idol's newborn son with the doctor's deceased patient reincarnated as the idol's newborn daughter. They get to spend time with their favorite idol as infants, without them knowing who the other was, until this idol is murdered by a crazy fan, who also killed the doctor who didn't want the idol's pregnancy to happen. While the idol's daughter is still determined to become an idol, which she eventually does with the help of two other friends, the idol's son is determined to figure out why his mother, and favorite idol, was murdered while still helping her sister by doing whatever he can and wants to do.

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 anime series Oshi No Ko wasn't what I expected when I started it, but I still liked. Going into it, I only knew it would be about an idol struggling to figure out what loving others really meant since she would say she loves people a lot without understanding what that meant. I figured her having kids would make sense since that would help her with this understanding, but I didn't get why their past lives were important until their idol and mother was gone. While it did become a revenge story because of that, it's also complicated by the fact that the two reincarnated siblings don't know who each other was in their past lives (yet?) and that that their reaction to what happened to their mother, and favorite idol, could be influenced by that. In other words, Oshi No Ko became a different kind of revenge story since the son seeking revenge for his mother also knew her as his favorite idol, so there's more than one reason for seeking revenge, which is helpful in terms of motivation for seeking it. Having a reason for what you seek is important. Having more than one reason not only makes it more important, but also more helpful as to understanding what you are seeking and why you are seeking it.

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 have at least one reason, and to think of more than one reason if we can, for seeking what we seek, whether that be revenge or anything else.