Anime Lectio: SHY 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 does it mean to be a hero?  I guess an easy answer to this question is to look up a definition of the word 'hero' in a dictionary and base the meaning on that.  But that would be more like an explanation of what a hero is and not the meaning of what a hero is.  A definition of what a hero is can explain what a hero is, but from this explanation comes meaning.  The explanation isn't the meaning itself.  Seeing heroes in action, whether that be certain people or anyone who does what is good, which is also like defining the word 'hero,' can also help with this understanding of explanation versus meaning, like in the first and second seasons of the anime series SHY.

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 SHY starts off with a girl letting people know that she is the hero of Japan in an amusement park since there are specific heroes in each country in order to preserve world peace. While she's there, one of the rides malfunctions, which requires her to save the people on the ride, which she manages to do, despite one of them getting seriously injured. The one who gets seriously injured ends up being friends with the hero girl and helps her with her work that she does with heroes from other countries. This work involves stopping villains who try to control the darkness, or true feelings, in the hearts of others, which is how they think they can achieve true peace. However, controlling your emotions can, as well as should, be done in other ways, which is what the heroes try to do and show the villains.

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.

Another way of understanding the differences between explanation and meaning is through a concept known as the Time-Space Box (TSB).  The TSB is not a literal box, but a box can be used to explain it, where explanation is found inside of the box, while meaning can only be found outside of it.  When explanations are given as the solution/answer to a problem/question, people think that's the best answer, as well as the only one.  Other answers can be seen/given, but only if you look for the meaning behind the explanation given as the solution/answer to a problem/question.  In other words, you can only find other answers when you think outside the box (I guess this can refer to the TSB), which is what heroes do, like the ones in the anime series SHY do in order to stop the villains in this anime series.

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 the differences between explanation and meaning, seen in things like the TSB and in what heroes do (and what they are because of what they do).