Forum - View topicVatican City in Anime
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MaritLage
 Posts: 140 |
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I·m a nun and i think this anime thing is just great .
I know there are a lot of anime that focus on the Alchemists , Religion , and the Catholic Church . Does anybody here know of any good animes that take place in Vatican City , or that revolve around the Catholic Church in general ? BlessUP!+ |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I can think of a few, though not all of them present the Church in a favorable light.
My first experience seeing Catholics in anime happened while watching https://myanimelist.net/anime/12531/Sakamichi_no_Apollon. Two of the main characters are depicted as Catholics although the rituals shown in the anime were a bit surprising to someone raised as an American Catholic. (See my comments at https://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=4117702#post4117702 and https://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=4125257#post4125257) Encounters with Catholic missionaries from Portugal appear from time to time in https://myanimelist.net/anime/9996/Hyouge_Mono. Not all of these encounters are portrayed positively, though the main character's brother converts to Christianity. Then there's the depiction of the Church in https://myanimelist.net/anime/26441/Junketsu_no_Maria. The heroine is a young witch who is devoted to trying to end battles during the Hundred Years' War with her powers. She is branded as a heretic by the Church, and it's clear which side the story is rooting for. Warning: this show has some ecchi content. Finally, I can list, but not endorse, https://myanimelist.net/anime/34368/Vatican_Kiseki_Chousakan. I dropped this show after a couple of episodes because it was just too stupid. Catholic and more generally Christian symbols appear in many shows. The famous https://myanimelist.net/anime/30/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion has a trinitarian computer. https://myanimelist.net/anime/21843/Shingeki_no_Bahamut__Genesis has God, angels, Satan, demons, and Jeanne d'Arc among its many borrowed symbols. Jeanne, in particular, plays an important role in the sequel https://myanimelist.net/anime/30736/Shingeki_no_Bahamut__Virgin_Soul. Hope that gives you a place to start! |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6525 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Koichi Mashimo, the director of Hyouge Mono that yuna49 mentioned, is reportedly a Catholic himself. (He's listed in Wikipedia as such). Some of his series are built around Catholic / Christian themes. The two most notable examples are Noir which looks at original sin, forgiveness and redemption, and the first season of Eat Man which is based on the New Testament and where a Christ-like main character meets one of the twelve apostles each episode - portrayed as a woman in each case - until he is ultimately betrayed by Judas followed by his "resurrection" and "ascension" to "heaven". Another series, Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom uses Catholic symbols and narratives in a more facile manner.
Many people find Mashimo's pacing lethargic, but I love the way he uses visuals and music to explores the characters' states of mind. Having had a Catholic upbringing helps me recognise the themes at play. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4575 |
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Trinity Blood featured Catholic clergy and was at least partially set in the Vatican, but it was mediocre at best. In contrast, Hellsing Ultimate was fantastic but portrayed most of its Catholic characters in a...shall we say unfavorable light. (Well, except for Alexander Anderson. He's awesome no matter who you are.
 ) Chrono Crusade featured your usual handwavey anime versions of the Church and nuns, though it was a fun ride regardless. I'll second Kids on the Slope as being a great show that featured Catholic characters played straight, a relative rarity in anime.
One extremely good series that doesn't seem at first glance to have any ties to Catholicism but winds up there is Samurai Champloo. I'll put the connection in spoilers, since it's critical to the finale of the series. spoiler[Fuu, one of the main characters, spends most of the series looking for her father, a "samurai who smells of sunflowers." Her search leads her to Nagasaki, the port where the missionary St. Francis Xavier landed, and she meets up with a group of hidden Christians following a fake descendant of Xavier. Fuu eventually learns that her father participated in the Shimabara Rebellion, and the series ends on Ikitsuki Island, which was a real enclave for hidden Christians for centuries.] Champloo plays fast-and-loose with a lot of its history and is chock-full of fun anachronisms, but there are also many allusions to actual historical events. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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Ghost Hunt had a Catholic priest who specialized in exorcism as one of the hunters. It also featured a Buddhist monk and a Shinto priestess. A Certain Magical Index features warring "sort of" Christian groups and the main character Index is a nun.
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MaritLage
Posts: 140 |
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Vatican Kiseki Chousakan was pretty decent . 12/12 Se
Trinity Blood is a bit stale , tho the depictions of high technology in church robe are inspiring . 4/24 Ha Sa i·m looking forward to studying more of them Nh |
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MaritLage
Posts: 140 |
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Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (12 / 12 Se)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (26 / 26 Se) Trinity Blood (7 / 24) Blue Exorcist (3 / 25) A Certain Magical Index (1 / 24) Knights of Sidonia (12 / 12 (Sub) Se, 11 / 12 (Dub)) (for some reason , even though it never explicitly states it anywhere , i feel like Knights of Sidonia thematically fits this list) whew that·s a lot of anime . i·ll be busy from now til Armageddon at this rate ! if u think of any more , let me know ! (also , this doesn·t need to be said yet i want to . i go to a lot of forums , with results ranging from disinterested isolationism to overt hostility . weirdly enough , the people from the loli board and the people from the anime board have all been super nice while everybody else has been really hostile . thank u everyone here for being cool .) EDIT: oh also i·m at Psalms 42:1 (that information is for my handlers) |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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You really need to give Sakamichi no Apollon a try unless you don't like jazz. Here's an excellent moment from that show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRHJntLYMh0 |
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KarateCowboy
Posts: 35 |
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Welcome, Sister.
Have you found any of those to your liking? |
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