Anime Lectio: To Me, The One Who Loved You and To Every You I've Loved Before

                                                            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. The only device you need is the one you use for this blog.

3. Deep Breathing - Open yourself to God’s Presence

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. 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 people you

know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence. 

4. 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. 

All of the choices we make in life are important.  Whether they be minor choices like deciding to live with your mom or your dad after your parents get divorced or major choices like what to do with your future, which is influenced by choices you made (major and minor ones) doesn't make a difference.  What makes a difference, both for you and for others, are the choices that you make since that's what influences your happiness, as well as the happiness of others.  An interesting example of this can be seen in the 2 different, yet similar, movies To Me, The One Who Loved You and To Every You I've Loved Before. 

5. 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.

Starting with To Me, The One Who Loved You, a boy ends up having to make the choice of living with his mom or dad after his parents get divorced.  The boy chooses to live with his dad and as a result of this choice, ends up spending a lot of his time where his dad works, which is an institute of a field of study called imaginary science that focuses on studying parallel worlds.  While he's there one day, his dad gets a call from his wife telling him that the dog that lives with her has died, which makes the boy sad and think about the dog, which a girl there sees and tells him that he can see the dog again by going to a parallel world.  After actually figuring out how to do that, the boy ends up in a world where the dog is still alive, but his grandpa on his mom's side isn't.  After spending some time in this other world for a while, the boy somehow gets back to his original world and since it worked for the boy, it's the girls turn to try going to another world where her parents aren't divorced.  That doesn't work out since the girl's mom stops this, but the boy and girl still get closer and after learning that the boy's dad and the girl's mom plan to get married, they decide to run away together since they want to get married too, but think they couldn't as siblings (not by blood, but still).  They eventually realize that they can do that by going to another world, specifically a world where their birthparents never get divorced, but that doesn't work out either as the girl ends up getting killed in an accident and becomes a ghost as a result.  The boy then decides to devote the rest of his life to the study of imaginary science to figure out a way to save this girl, which he eventually does with the help of another girl he meets in high school who he ends up marrying, but this involves the boy and the girl who becomes a ghost never meeting.  However, they do meet again when they're much older without knowing it at the end of the movie To Every You I've Loved Before, which focuses on what happened when the boy chose to live with his mom and the girl he meets in high school, since they promised each other they would when they knew each other when they were younger and knew each other in a parallel world.

6.  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 movies To Me, The One Who Loved You and To Every You I've Loved Before can be confusing, especially if you don't watch them in the right order, which I initially did, but focusing on the choices that you make, as well as what you could've done instead, as what these movies talk about is a better way to understand it. All the talk about imaginary science, parallel worlds, and the other terms used to explain what goes on are just that - explanations. They don't really mean anything, but are another way of explaining the choices that you make, could make, and why certain things happen in a certain way. What ultimately matters is love and happiness, which can both be found with anyone anywhere at anytime and interestingly enough, is in the form of a prayer that the boy says at the end of the second movie To Every You I've Loved Before as a way of ending this story.

7. 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.

"And finally, to the [people] that loved a different me: I pray that you and the [people] you love find happiness somewhere out in the world."