Anime Lectio: Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

                                                           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. 

While doing what you like to do on your own is possible based on how you can do that, as well as other things like when you can do it, doing more of what you like to do can be done with other people that can help you with what you do based on what they can/like to do.  When/if criticisms come up based on what you can/like to do, these criticisms should be seen as critiques in order to improve not only what you can/like to do, but also to improve yourself for not only yourself, but also for others.  An interesting example of all of this can be seen in the anime series Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night. 

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.

When a girl who was passionate about her art decides to stop drawing since no one around her liked it when she was growing up, this passion is reignited when another girl, who likes to sing, meets her and finds out she's the artist she really likes.  The girl who likes to sing was also kicked out of an idol group managed by her mom due to hitting one of the other members, which is revealed in a later episode as justifiable, so in order to use their passions, they create a new idol group by planning on creating online videos.  They eventually get help from other friends to do this in order to have someone come up with lyrics for the singing (a girl who's an obsessed fan of the singer) and help them edit/produce the videos (a childhood friend of the artist who is a shut-in VTuber based on a change in her personality growing up).  The group becomes really popular based on what they do, despite criticisms about the art, which the artist really worries about, but tries to improve herself in various ways, even though the rest of the group doesn't think she needs to do that.  One of these various ways ends up in a collaboration with the idol group that the singer in the new group was kicked out of, which boosts the singer's, and therefore, the group's confidence since they are accepted for who they want to be, not who others want them to be.   

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.

What matters about what you like to do is that you like it. Even if you do what you like to do for other people, and/or with other people, it's important to remember that you are also doing that for yourself. Besides the example of this anime series (the title of it refers to how people can't do everything on their own - jellyfish happens to be the theme of the art and group), another example is what I started doing recently. Recently, I decided to write about the new anime I'm watching this season on my Facebook account (the plan is to do that on the days the new episodes come out or the days when I have time for the new episodes) instead of waiting to write about them on this blog when they (or at least one season) are complete. It hasn't gotten much recognition from other people so far, but doing it makes me feel better. Doing what you like to do is also important for yourself because it makes you feel better (that should make you feel better anyway), even if you feel like you need to improve doing what you like to do, which is why other people are important. Other people are also important because they can see things that you might not be able to see, like whether you really need to improve or not, not just help you with what they like to do, even if that's just reacting to what you like to do.

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 remember that when we do what we like to do for others, we are also doing that for ourselves.