Anime Lectio: Dragonball Z (DBZ)

                                                            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. 

Dragonball Z, or DBZ, is one of the most popular series out there, especially since it involves a lot of fighting, which tends to be the anime that kids, like the students in the school I work in, like the most.  When I used to offer anime classes in the school, which I'm still thinking of doing somehow (we have 4 different semesters), students would usually talk about anime with a lot of fighting in it when it came time for their presentations of an anime (usually anime from the fighting/battle, or shonen, genre).  DBZ, or some part of the series that isn't DBZ (I guess franchise would be a better word here), would usually come up in these presentations and students would focus on certain fights without really saying much about them (I was still trying to figure out how these classes would work at the time - I have a better idea of how I would like to do them now).  While the series does have impressive fights, it would be wrong to think you can't get anything out of them or anything else in the series since it's not always about the fighting.  The main thing that I get out of this series is the importance of pride and power.

5. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, as well as seeing the anime for yourself since I think that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

Note: The description I use here of DBZ is based on DBZ Kai since it starts with a brief description of Dragonball, the series that started it all, as well as what led to it that's also important for DBZ, which is really the main difference between DBZ and DBZ Kai (in terms of this description).

When the main character is born on his home planet, he ends up being sent to Earth and while he's being sent to Earth, a battle to save his home planet is underway.  The warrior leading the others against their enemy is the main character's father and despite his efforts, the enemy not only easily kills him, as well as everyone else, with a giant blast from one of his fingers, but also destroys their planet with this giant blast too.  As the main character's father is dying from this giant blast, he has a vision of his son fighting this enemy himself when he is older, which he does, and believes that his son must defeat this enemy (also does this) to not only succeed where he has failed, but also to redeem the pride of his race. 

When the main character lands on Earth, he's found by an old man who looks after him and the main character ends up going on adventures with a girl to find the mystical dragonballs in order to have a wish granted (gathering seven summons a wish granting dragon), which involves making new friends, most of whom started out as enemies.  This also involves enemies who are also looking for these dragonballs for their own reasons.  After doing all of this for a while, as well as the main character showing his power in other ways, like in a martial arts tournament, the main character ends up marrying a girl he met and everyone lives in peace until the events of DBZ start and the main character's power is needed once again in order to protect the Earth from the enemies seeking revenge or for other reasons.

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.

Even though I admittedly haven't watched all of Dragonball, or DB, I still think talking about it before getting into DBZ a little is important because that's how DBZ can be understood in terms of how it really started. Everything in the DB franchise started somewhere and DB is where it all started. People tend to focus on DBZ, as well as what comes after it, mainly Dragonball Super, or DBS, because it focuses more on fighting and not so much why, which I think is especially true of DBS (this is why I don't like it - GT is mainly good for it's story: I have a post about each one on my blog already). There's also a lot of versions of each part, as well as other parts, within this franchise and is important to a lot of different people for various reasons, but I'm going to focus on what I get out of it (although I highly recommend reading the chapter about this franchise in the book Anime Impact).

Anyway, what I think DBZ focuses on a lot is the importance of pride and power. While this isn't really seen a lot in the description here, which is why seeing it for yourself is important, what I'm most interested in is the use of pride in it. When pride comes up there, it's when the main character's father wants his son to redeem the pride of his race. The main character doesn't hear his father say this and even though he does defeat this enemy eventually, which he just happens to end up doing without fully knowing what this enemy did before the fight, he does it on his own terms and with his own pride, which isn't like the pride of the race he didn't even know, as well as with his own power. Power and pride are only meaningful if you make them your own and need, not want, them.

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.

Let us pray that we can make our own power and pride meaningful by understanding why we need these things and not just want them.