Anime Lectio: Akane-Banashi Season One

                                                          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. 

Why do you pursue something that you are interested in?  Does it matter if no one believes you can do much of anything useful with this interest until they see you use it?  Is this interest also a talent or is it just an interest?  All of these questions, as well as others, can be answered in the first season of the series Akane-Banashi.

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.

A young girl looks up to her father who practices hard to be a master of the art of rakugo, a Japanese form of storytelling.  After seeing her father being expelled from the art as a result of a certain judge's decision after seeing one of his public performances, the young girl asks his father's master to train under him so she can learn more about her interest in rakugo.  Even though she isn't old enough for the proper training, this master is still willing to teach her, with the help of his other apprentices, more about the art in order to not only increase her interest in performing rakugo, but also her talent with these performances.  She also proves that this talent isn't just an interest to one of her high school teachers when the girl manages to convince this teacher to see one of her performances.  This one performance, however, isn't just a regular competition, but one where one of the judges happens to be the one who expelled the girl's father with the winner getting a chance to speak with him.  When the girl eventually wins the competition due to her talent, which this judge acknowledges, she asks him why he expelled her dad.  His response is that he didn't think he was good enough, which the girl realizes was actually true when she thought about it, but uses this as motivation to continue her training under the same master (by the end of the first season, she's old enough to start the proper training). 

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.

Pursuing something that you are interested in can be done based on being interested in seeing someone else doing what looks interesting to you. It also helps if this someone is someone that you know since being interested in what this person does would also be based on being interested in who this person is. This interest can also be a talent if you are naturally good at it, like doing it, and work hard at doing it. An interest doesn't have to be something that you are naturally good at, but liking it and working hard at doing it are important in order for it to be an interest. What others think helps since they can see things about your interest and/or talent that you can't, but how you use your interests and/or talents, as well as understanding the differences between them, should be up to you.

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 understand our interests and talents, including the differences between them, as well as how to use them.