Anime Lectio: Baan the Boundary of Adulthood

                                                           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. 

Finding your place in this world isn't always easy.  It involves finding the right people to be with, where you want to be with them (if that matters), and what you want.  What also makes this difficult is that what finding your place in this world involves changes over time and that what you want isn't necessarily what you need.  An example of all of this can be seen in the short anime film Baan the Boundary of Adulthood. 

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 man tired of his job and life in the real world decides to quit his job and spend time roughing it in the wilderness.  While he's roughing it in the wilderness, he encounters a magical girl, or something like that, fleeing from her village that's under attack.  While they start a new life together in this village as father and daughter, with others too in this village, the daughter decides to try living and working on her own out in the world until she realizes that isn't what she wants and needs and goes back to her village to be with her dad.

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 impresses me the most about this short anime film, besides the fact that it's made by a Youtuber (with help) and can be found on his channel (Gigguk - this is how other channels should do this too instead of trying to create a multiple episode series), is that it manages to tell an interesting and important story in a short amount of time (16 minutes). Even though this film does involve magic, it's still relatable as it involves finding your place in this world, which is something that I already reflected on and is something that we all need to do. And as this film shows, we don't always need to be doing something, even though we tend to think that way. Being yourself, as well as being yourself with someone else, is enough. It usually takes time to realize that.

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 find our place in this world, which involves who we are, or our being, and not just what we do.