Anime Lectio: Takopi's Original Sin

                                                           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. 

Original Sin is the concept that the first humans created by God sinned by disobeying the only rule that God established for them.  This rule that they broke was eating a fruit from a tree that they weren't supposed to eat from, which resulted in them knowing everything, including the fact that they were naked and is how God found out what they did.  As a result of what they did, the first humans were banished from Paradise and started to experience suffering, which continues to this day and is how Original Sin also influences us, including what happens because of it, like our redemption in order to make our lives a little better due to the willing sacrifice of someone else like Jesus.  An example of this can also be seen in the series Takopi's Original Sin.

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.

Takopi is an alien sent from the Planet Happia in order to spread happiness and ends up meeting a girl on Earth who desperately needs happiness.  Unfortunately, Takopi (named by the girl because he looks like an octopus, or tako in Japanese, and ends everything he says with the word "pi") initially doesn't understand what this girl is going through.  This includes family neglect, bullying from another girl for ruining her family life, which involves abuse for this other girl from her mom, and the loss of her beloved dog that is her only source of happiness due to the bullying of this other girl.  As a result of everything that she goes through, the girl that Takopi initially meets decides to kill herself, which Takopi unintentionally helps with by giving her one of his Happy Gadgets, a ribbon that can be used to reconcile with the girl bullying her.  However, it can also be used as a rope to hang herself, which is what she uses it for and even though Takopi isn't supposed to let someone else use a Happy Gadget without him, he decides to break this one rule because he trusts this girl.  Unfortunately, Takopi is too late to save this girl, but due to one of his other Happy Gadgets, he can go back in time to prevent this from happening.  After going back in time, they try to talk to the girl that's been bullying the other girl, but Takopi somehow ends up killing the girl who has been doing the bullying with the time travel Happy Gadget, which breaks in the process, so they can't undo what they did.  While the suicidal girl is happy because of this, a boy who happens to see the dead body tries helping them hide what they did, which ultimately doesn't work and ruins the boy's life without the suicidal girl caring about anything else but finding her dog.  Takopi decides to go back to his home planet to get another Happy Gadget to make everything better, but is banished instead for what he tries to do.  Not knowing what else to do, and ultimately realizing what he did by not taking the time to understand what the girl he met was going through, he sacrifices himself, or willingly gives up his own life/dying, in order to make the lives of the girls, and the boy, he meets a little better, which results in the two girls becoming friends and the boy being able to move on with his life as if nothing happened.

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 got me into this anime series was part of the title of Original Sin, but what kept me watching it was what was happening in the series, which clearly is something that I "liked" seeing due to my brief and written explanation of it being longer than usual (and this is only 6 episodes, each one starting off with a suicide warning, so you know you're in for something different). What I also find interesting about this series, which is what I mean by "liked," is that the Original Sin of an alien like Takopi is similar to the Original Sin of humanity. What also interests me about this series is what's eventually done about this Original Sin, which is someone sacrificing themselves, or willingly giving up their own life/dying, to save others from it, and/or because of it, in order to make things a little better for everyone else (yes, I'm comparing Jesus with Takopi since there's a comparison there, as well as to the first humans mentioned earlier, which makes things complicated, but interesting).

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 what other people are going through without having to sacrifice ourselves, at least not in the way of willingly giving up our lives/dying.