Anime Lectio: Kaiju No. 8 Season 1

                                                            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. 

In addition to needing people to help you be the best at what you want to do, which is seen in the post for last week, it also helps to create a goal for yourself with someone else that you can achieve it with.  Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out this way due to some kind of setbacks that prevent this from happening, like not being as strong as the person you plan to achieve the goal with.  An interesting example of this can be seen in the first season of the series Kaiju No. 8.   

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.

Two childhood friends promise one another that they will someday fight the monsters known as kaiju that destroyed their livelihood growing up.  While one of these friends ends up as the captain of a team that helps eliminate kaiju, the other friend ends up working on a team that helps get rid of the remains of kaiju after fights to eliminate kaiju.  During this work one day of getting rid of kaiju remains, this one friend ends up in the hospital as a result of a sudden kaiju attack.  While being treated in the hospital for his injuries, a kaiju parasite enters his body, which gives him the ability to transform into a kaiju while also being able to transform back into a human (for most of season 1).  He also gets a another chance to try out for a position to fight kaiju again and despite his new strength, as well as the fact that this is his final chance to try out for this position, he gets by without transforming most of the time with the knowledge he gained from his work of helping get rid of kaiju remains.  However, he does transform into a kaiju when he needs to and doing so at one point causes all his new friends to find out his secret, which is a secret that might be useful in fighting other kaiju if it can be controlled.

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.

Achieving a goal by yourself can be difficult. Doing that with other people, even if it's just one other person, can be more difficult, especially if the other people, or person, you attempt to achieve the goal with has different ideas and ways of achieving the goal than you do. Shortcuts to achieving this goal can be useful, but only if you know how to use these shortcuts and not rely on them instead of on what you can do yourself. While shortcuts can be helpful in achieving your goal, they aren't what achieves your goal. Your goal belongs to you. Not to your shortcuts.

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 our own goal, or goals, that we strive to achieve, either on our own or with other people.