Anime Lectio: Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?

                                                          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. 

Even though the school on the property of the monastery where I live and work is co-institutional now, there are still opportunities for boys and girls to spend time together as friends.  I believe such friendships can survive and should even be encouraged.  For example, some activities after school are co-ed, even though classes during school aren't, so such friendships are necessary in order for the activities to succeed, even though controlling this, as well as knowing how to do that, is important (I am in charge of one of these activities now).  Anime tends to think that such friendships can't survive.  A more obvious example of this is the series where the title is literally the question Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?

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.

A boy with an interest in making flower accessories ends up becoming friends with a girl who is interested in what the boy does.  Another girl that the boy meets when he is younger and helps ends up meeting the boy again when they end up going to the same high school when they are older.  With the help of the two girls, the boy continues to work on his flower accessories while also figuring out how he really feels about the girls who help him, which a friend of these three and siblings of the three as well (one from each of them) get themselves involved in to make things more interesting.  

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 other part of the title of the series Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? is the answer No, it Can't, which isn't seen a lot (the op of the episodes) and can lead to people not bothering to watch this series. As I ended the brief and written explanation of the anime given here with, people get involved in what the boy and girl are doing in order to make things more interesting. What's also interesting about this is that there really is no definitive answer to the question, at least not from my perspective, which is why I don't say what ultimately happens and end the brief and written explanation I give here the way I end it. A series shouldn't be dismissed if it gives an answer to a question it asks (also if it does something that other anime do) since getting your own answers is important based on what happens in the series and what could happen because of 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 answer questions for ourselves, even if answers are already given, and know when to control, as well as how to do that, friendships between boys and girls.