Anime Lectio: OKITSURA

                                                            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. 

Is your love for other people inclusive or exclusive, meaning do you love other people no matter who they are or do you only love other people depending on who they are?  What helps with loving other people no matter who they are is taking time to learn about them, especially if their culture, or way of living, is different from your own.  An example of this can be seen in the series OKITSURA (there's more to the title of this series, but it's pretty much part of the following description of it).

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 boy from urban Japan ends up moving to Okinawa, he ends up falling in love with an Okinawan girl, but he doesn't know what she's saying a lot due to her use of her Okinawan dialect.  The best friend of this girl ends up being the translator for the boy, which causes her to have romantic feelings for the boy.  By learning more about the Okinawan dialect from his translator, he also learns more about Okinawan culture with the help of family and friends of the two girls who initially help him and also like spending time with him.

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.

Besides learning about Okinawan culture and the dialect, or at least starting to/getting a taste of it, the series OKITSURA is also important because it offers an example of how loving everyone is possible, as well as the ways in which loving everyone is possible. When you don't understand someone, trying to understand them by learning more about them and getting other people to help you with that, especially if you want to understand them, is important in order to really know them instead of just judging them without really knowing them based on something like where they're from. Getting other people to help you with this is important since the other people who help you with this are ones you can love in different ways by appreciating the help, being thankful for the help, and for them, and using the help to not only help yourself, but others too. Doing this isn't easy, but it's worth it. While praying about it is important, it's also important to do more than just pray about 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 be inclusive, and not exclusive, when interacting with others.