CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I hope this is in the right place. ^^;
I have questions on several anime. The Reviews section of this site has helped alot, but there are series that it does not cover.
First off, I am more conservative than most Christians I've seen. I have explained things in detail in a large thread at AnimeNation (I hope it's ok to post since I read something earlier here about not posting alot of links ^^; ), but if you don't want to read all of that, basically, I am careful about what I let myself watch, not due to fragile faith, but due to the fact that I try to associate myself with more spiritually clean material. The Bible says to meditate on what is good. I don't want to get into something that will have God upset. Not that watching a certain series or movie would make you a bad person and condemned, it's just that I try to not get into what I believe is too out of hand spiritually.
I don't mind a fair amount of violence as long as it isn't too excessive. Samurai X's level is probably about my limit. I couldn't believe what I read in that Ninja Scroll review. That's way over the edge. o_O
I'm not big on fanservice. I don't mind it much at Ai Yori Aoshi's level, but even that's a bit disturbing. It can go much over Ai Yori Aoshi's level.
Nudity I can take a little of, depending on how detailed it is and how much of it there is. I don't like much though, or it's too inappropriate. Alot of it though is how it's presented. Fanservice is different than comedy.
Now here's the part I am most careful about: bad religion. For this reason, many anime are already out of the question for me. Hellsing and Escaflowne sound like the last anime in the world that I would ever try. This has also illiminated other popular stuff like Inu Yasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, RahXephon, Akira, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. It's frustrating to have to pass it up, but I'd much rather put my religion first.
So, there are a few I have questions about.
Fruits Basket: sounds good generally, but just to double check, they don't get too deep in the Chinese Zodiac stuff right?
Full Metal Panic: I didn't see any mention in the review on this site of the "The Whispered" thing (unless I missed it). Is that spiritually bad?
Heat Guy J: Are vampires involved?
Last Exile: I heard something about homosexuality in this series. Could someone explain it?
Ranma: Does this go to far in eastern religion?
Read or Die:Anytihng bad here?
S-Cry-ed: Anything bad here?
Witch Hunter Robin: I heard that the star is supposed to be Christian, yet she uses witchcraft. Still it sounds like it has teachings pretaining to God? Can someone inform about this series?

There may be more, but I have to go to bed now. And if you have any recommendations of your own, let me know please (some I've seen: Pokemon, Ai Yori Aoshi, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X, Comic Party, etc.)

Arigato for all of your help! ^^

Fruits Basket: sounds good generally, but just to double check, they don't get too deep in the Chinese Zodiac stuff right?

I can help you here. I saw the whole series. To be honest, no it doesn't get very far into the whole zodiac thing, IMO. There are a lot of references to the myths of the story (like how the cat got left out, etc.) but it never takes it seriously or as a religion. It's used mostly to give reason to the comedy--I mean, sure a guy turning into a rat or a cat when he gets hugged can be great comedy, but even better with a reason behind it. There's also some "waves" theory, but again that's not taken at all seriously and I would say you could have translated "waves" for "vibe". I would not say anything presented in fruits basket was remotely offensive (ok, except perhaps some slight innuendo by Shigure, Ayame, and Hatsuharu). Nudity wise, there is a little, but it is chest up on guys. Basically if you can handle seeing a guy without his shirt, you'll be fine. I think there was a moment or two with a girl, but they were completely covered up and all you saw was either the tops of the shoulders (and I mean very top, no cleavage) or their back (down to maybe their waist, no butt shots). Language wise though, careful...Kyo is quite the potty mouth and loves the D word.

I hope this has been of some help to you. I think Fruits Basket is one of the best animes out there and it really exemplifies a ton of great values, like accepting people in spite of their faults, unconditional love, sacrificial love, etc. I think if Tohru were real, she would probably be a Christian. Anyway, if you have any more questions or need some more detailed summaries, please PM me and I'll be happy to share.

To answer some of your questions.

Full Metal Panic: I didn't find the whispered that disturbing religiously. It was just kind of weird. I didn't like it for other reasons, but they had nothing to do with religion (except maybe fanservice).

Ranma 1/2: Doesn't have much to do with religion at all. The most you'll ever get is someone doing that buddhist prayer rubbing their hands together. Most of it is present simply as a part of Japanese culture, and not as a significant part of the story.

Stuff like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke I tend to view just as a mythological movie, the same as if I was watching a movie with Greek or Norse Gods in it. I understand if that doesn't float your boat, but I had no problems from that perspective. Other shows that have to do more with the spiritual side of it can be more iffy.

Recommendations: I love Now and Then, Here and There. It's brutal at times, but not graphic, and it has a great message. Other anime I would recommend are Voices of a Distant Star, most anything from the Macross series, and The Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Most of those have reviews here.

I didn't see any homosexuality in Last Exile. There is a boy who is very good friends with another boy but to me its a deep friendship like between Sam and Frodo in Lord of the Rings.

Last Exile: see warrior4jesus' comment
S-Cry-ed: i liked this series, i dont think it has any "bad" things in it
Witch Hunter Robin: witch hunter robin is one of my favorite series, the main character is catholic, and she can use witchcraft, but she is awesome!

i recommend full metal alchemist

I am hardly the definitive source on the subject, but...

Jeikobu wrote:Witch Hunter Robin: I heard that the star is supposed to be Christian, yet she uses witchcraft. Still it sounds like it has teachings pretaining to God? Can someone inform about this series?

As far as I know, Robin is not Christian. Religion plays a very minor role in the show (if any). Most of the characters wear crosses, but I would term these Japanese crosses as opposed to Christian crosses (they are there for stylistic, not religious purposes... and other things).

Meanwhile, it is made fairly obvious that there is no actual witchcraft involved. Characters that are termed witches are more genetic anomalies than normal human being steeped in the occult. The series could have called them mutants (a la X-Men) and it would not have been storyline destroying.

Last exile. . .

Well, there is one character who is somewhat questionable. There are no direct reason for us to think he's gay, but this character's friends tease him several times about setting his sights on Claus.

Finally, there are two very close characters (as others have said-- Sam and Frodo-ish relationship) who are both male. Or, atleast, I think they're both male. . .


And as others have said about Furuba, the zodiac plays a part only as a narrative. It's not used to tell fortunes or anything like that. For that reason, the Zodiac references have never bothered me.

Jeikobu wrote:The Bible says to meditate on what is good. I don't want to get into something that will have God upset.

Hellsing and Escaflowne sound like the last anime in the world that I would ever try.

About the first comment: violence and fanservice are never really a good thing. You say you can watch stuff like Ai Yori Aoshi, but not stuff with bad religion. I would almost stick them on the same level in a sense. What's bad is bad. Of course there's stuff NO ONE should see (hentai).

Hellsing:
never a big vampire and I've only seen Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Meh. It's not really a series I would really watch either. I know pics make it look bad but it's probably not as bad as it looks, but neither would I watch Ai Yori either. I'm not too big on fan servicy anime (never have seen it, but from only thigns I've heard).

Escaflowne:
Yes there are tarot cards involved, but if you by pass that you're missing an AWSOME anime! Once again: tarot cards... sexual themes... violence... still all bad. They were a slight folly with the story, but then again in a sense... the show wouldn't work without them (well, maybe but still). And after watching the show I'm not going to be using the actual cards anytime soon (which would really be worse than simply watching them on a fictional show).

*done my little views* Hope what I said makes a little sense...

I’d like to thank you for taking my advice in making this thread. I’d like to, but you made it before I actually gave you that advise. So instead, I’ll say good job.

Ranma ½: There’s no religious influence. The anime is steeped in Japanese culture, so there are eastern cultural references, but the anime does not endorse any religion and religion really doesn’t play a role. There is occasional nudity, which becomes less frequent as the series goes on, but I believe it falls with in your stated tolerance. The nudity is not usually well defined and it is never in a sexual context.

Full Metal Panic: The Whispered are people with a special ability to understand technology. I didn’t really view them a mystics or spiritually gifted at all. The series really doesn’t explain why they have those abilities. I also did not find the fan service to be over the top. I probably have a higher tolerance than most for this, but there’s no nudity nor is it a big part of any episode. That’s “light fan serviceâ€

Heat Guy J: No it does not have vampires thats just the nick name for the mafia boss (I loved Heat Guy J BTW)

Arigato minna, I'm very excited to hear that many of these I have asked about sound ok for me to watch (Last Exile, Fruits Basket, S-Cry-ed, Ranma 1/2, Heat Guy J, Full Metal Panic (hope the fan service isn't too over the top though)). I'm still not sure about Witch Hunter Robin. If they use witchcraft though or any other occult-related things, I'll have to pass. if not, I'm not certain what to do.

If it's ok, I'd like to ask on a few more:
Chobits
Knight Hunters

And my sister wants to try these so I figured I'd just be safe:
Someday's Dreamers
Nurse Witch Komugi
Fancy Lala
Figure 17

And finally, I want to double check one more time on Inu Yasha. I very much doubt I will have a part of this one (sad too, as it looks like it could've been a great series). It looks very bad spiritually, and I heard from the review on this site that it has alot of eastern religion involved. Granted I was relieved that the half-demon thing was just bad dubbing, but the series itself still doesn't look good. But I wanted to make sure.

Abour Witch Hunter Robin--- the witches don't use "witch craft" in the sense we would think of it (a.k.a deriving power from Satan). They're people with genetic mutations who have these imborn abilities, if I'm not totally mistaken. Just a slight clarification. Continue with all other inqueries.

ok, let me ask you this: why are you even watching anime??? O_o

LoL! Now, Now...xD ^_^;;

Read or Die: Not really anything bad there, religiously wise. Except in the movie where they talk a little abotu Sanzo, the monk who traveled to India...though I don't know if you'd count that...?
There are some nudity in the movie, though from the TV series so far, I don't think there are any...
There are violence (duh) and blood, though they aren't as graphic as some of the other anime out there.
Overall, Read or Die (TV) is a really great anime!

Jeikobu wrote:If it's ok, I'd like to ask on a few more:
Chobits
Knight Hunters

And my sister wants to try these so I figured I'd just be safe:
Someday's Dreamers
Nurse Witch Komugi
Fancy Lala
Figure 17

Chobits has quite a bit of fan service in it. Not to mention that Chii's On/Off switch is in a very embarrassing place.

Of the others I know:
Nurse Witch Komugi has a great deal of fan service.

Fancy Lala is a great title with no unacceptable material. I highly recommend it. Plus you can get the DVDs at some on line distributors for abotu $7.00 a volume now.

Figure 17 is one of my favorites. It is very slice of life. Some find it a bit slow but if you really want a title that is very character driven, tug at your heart and gives you some insights into everyday life in Japan, this is a great one. No objectionable material.

Another I would suggest is Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar. While it looks a bit childish on the outside, I have found adults enjoy it a great deal two. Sadly, there's only about 2 or 3 of us here that have really tried it out. This is another all age series. I'll look through my collection later this morning and give you a list of some of my favorite family friendly titles.

<Fruits Basket: sounds good generally, but just to double check, they don't get too deep in the Chinese Zodiac stuff right?>
I own this whole series and i have to say no. It uses it only as a basis for why the characters turn into animals when hugged and then uses the story of it as a minimal foundation for why the characters are the way they are. I love the series and I think it is very innocent and good.

<Witch Hunter Robin: I heard that the star is supposed to be Christian, yet she uses witchcraft. Still it sounds like it has teachings pretaining to God? Can someone inform about this series?>
I agree with UC on this that the witch thing could be more properly interpretted as a mutant kind of person. They have powers, but not actual magic, and there isn't much Christianity in it besides crosses and then churches. Robin I think was from a convent and such....

Chobits... I would watch out for. It carries a over 16 rating and for good reason. It is full of fan service and sexual innuendos and seems very unnapropriate to me..... Shame that the same people who did Magic Knight Rayearth, very excellent btw, gave birth to this trash.....

Hope this helps!

OK, as promised here are the titles of some series that I have found to be completely family friendly:

TV Shows and OAVs

Seven of Seven (2 volumes out thus far with nothing objectionable)
Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar
Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat
Figure 17 (Box Set coming out 1/12/05)
Angelic Layer
Chance Pop Session
Grrl Power (1 episode but very enjoyable, it's priced lower)
Mao Chan
Sait Tail (Hard to get as it's no longer distributed but can be found on ebay)
Fancy Lala (Box Set coming out 11/09/04 or individual volumes can be purchased from some on line companies for about $7.00 each)
Hamtaro
Kimba The White Lion (Available in a Box Set dubbed only)


Movies

My Neighbor Totoro
Junkers Come Here
Castle In The Sky
Grave Of The Fireflies
Millennium Actress
Voices Of A Distant Star (Short 30 minute feature but again, well worth and is usually priced lower)

Good Series Except For:

Kaleido Star (I like this one except for the use of Tarot cards to predict some of the plot each episode)
Princess Nine (Mild language throughout)
Azumanga Daioh (Mild language throughout and some adult discussions)
Ranma 1/2 (Mild language, Nudity which is undetailed, and occasional occultic themes)
Dual (Mild language)
Fruits Basket (Mild language)
Tenchi Muyo (Mild language and nudity which is undetailed)

I am sure there are many others but these are ones I have personally watched myself.

^The Thing that bugs me about Millenium Actress is (to quote the review on this site):

WHOA! There is this weird magical-spiritual-other lady that uses magical powers to brainwash, or I should say, tell the main character something. This haunts the character and makes her cry. Otherwise, that witch-lady, comes out of walls, etc. She was really a bothersome to me.. Kinda freaked me out. Otherwise that’s it.

One other question about Ranma: in the first movie, I heard something about "Seven Lucky Gods" or whatever it was. Are they literally false gods?

As for Chobits, I still would really like to try the series, but if there's a lot of fanservice I'll just have to really keep my guard up and be careful, and if it gets too far I probably won't go beyond volume 1.

What about the other series I mentioned? BTW, I thought of another I'd like to ask about (gomen nasai... ): Wolf's Rain

Chobits: I haven't seen the anime, but if it's anything like the manga--fanservice! I stopped reading the manga @ book 2--and I only read about a quarter of the 2nd one! It got really...well, gross. ^x^''

Wolf's Rain: Great show. Awesome show. Though in the anime, there is a book called the Book of the Moon, in which says that people derived from wolves and thus humans became thier messangers. There are also violence and blood, though it's all good in the end.

*edit* *adding: Inuyasha*
Inuyasha:
One of the best dog-gone(hehe, get it? Dog? hehe...aahaa...okay...) series ever! There are some eastern religion influence in the anime, though it is to be expected in a japanese animation. Though, I might want to add that the Buddist (or which ever religion it is) does not play an important part int he series.
I think the only connection would be that Kagome's family owns a shrine.
There are demons and such, but once again, that is to be expected in an anime...(There seems to be demons everywhere in anime...that's one of the unique things about anime, that seperate anime from american cartoons...)

Hmm, still not sure what to do about Inu Yasha or Wolf's Rain... :S

Jeikobu wrote:One other question about Ranma: in the first movie, I heard something about "Seven Lucky Gods" or whatever it was. Are they literally false gods?

No, no, no, no. The "Seven Lucky Gods" are just people with exceptional martial arts abilities. They just call themselves that. It may have something to do with Chinese culture. *Shrugs* I don't know, but they're not "gods."

As for Chobits, there's quite a bit of fanservice (Chi likes prancin' around without undies) but there's less of that in the anime (though the part about her on/off switch remains the same).

A fairly clean series I can recommend is Cardcaptor Sakura. Yes, Sakura uses magic, but other than that there's no nudity, no language (that I remember), and no violence (battles, yes, but no blood or anything). There's some controversy about Sakura/Tomoyo, and Li/Yukito, that they have homosexual undertones. I dismiss it, personally. Sakura and Tomoyo are just really good friends, and Li is attracted to Yukito merely because they have like elemental-related magic (you have to see the series to understand).

If you aren't bothered by magic (I know some people are) then it's a very heartwarming series and one of my favorites. But, STAY AWAY from the English dubbed version, named "Cardcaptors." BLEH.

uc pseudonym wrote:I am hardly the definitive source on the subject, but...



As far as I know, Robin is not Christian. Religion plays a very minor role in the show (if any). Most of the characters wear crosses, but I would term these Japanese crosses as opposed to Christian crosses (they are there for stylistic, not religious purposes... and other things).

Meanwhile, it is made fairly obvious that there is no actual witchcraft involved. Characters that are termed witches are more genetic anomalies than normal human being steeped in the occult. The series could have called them mutants (a la X-Men) and it would not have been storyline destroying.

wasn't Robin a nun? and didn't she go to a cathedral and pray?

Jeikobu wrote:One other question about Ranma: in the first movie, I heard something about "Seven Lucky Gods" or whatever it was. Are they literally false gods?

The Seven Lucky Gods is a school of martial arts from China. The name is simply meant to show how good they are at what they do.

kaemmerite wrote:No, no, no, no. The "Seven Lucky Gods" are just people with exceptional martial arts abilities. They just call themselves that. It may have something to do with Chinese culture. *Shrugs* I don't know, but they're not "gods."

Ok, thanks for clearing that up (you too CDLviking)

kaemmerite wrote:As for Chobits, there's quite a bit of fanservice (Chi likes prancin' around without undies) but there's less of that in the anime (though the part about her on/off switch remains the same).

I take it this "on/off switch" is on her chest? Just a guess. And is there nudity? If so, how detailed and excessive?

kaemmerite wrote:A fairly clean series I can recommend is Cardcaptor Sakura. Yes, Sakura uses magic, but other than that there's no nudity, no language (that I remember), and no violence (battles, yes, but no blood or anything). There's some controversy about Sakura/Tomoyo, and Li/Yukito, that they have homosexual undertones. I dismiss it, personally. Sakura and Tomoyo are just really good friends, and Li is attracted to Yukito merely because they have like elemental-related magic (you have to see the series to understand).

If you aren't bothered by magic (I know some people are) then it's a very heartwarming series and one of my favorites. But, STAY AWAY from the English dubbed version, named "Cardcaptors." BLEH.

I'm bothered by sorcery, yes, and I've seen commercials and stuff for Cardcaptor Sakura and I think I'll skip it. I just don't like the amount of magic in it. I can except a little of this type of thing as long as it doen't really play into things and isn't excessive, but for Cardcaptor Sakura is sounds over my limit.

kaemmerite wrote:A fairly clean series I can recommend is Cardcaptor Sakura... There's some controversy about Sakura/Tomoyo, and Li/Yukito, that they have homosexual undertones. I dismiss it, personally. Sakura and Tomoyo are just really good friends, and Li is attracted to Yukito merely because they have like elemental-related magic (you have to see the series to understand).

Umm, the homosexual thing is definitely there. No way to get around it. Sakura's older brother and Yukito state definitely that they are each other's Number One, and it isn't friendship. Cause Sakura and Li admit that they are each other's number one. So it is definitely a romantic thing and not just a friend thing.

^ Well, that sounds too over-the-edge for my taste. ^^;

[quote="Jeikobu"]^ Well, that sounds too over-the-edge for my taste. ^^]

i would agree. However, if you can\do handle Ai Yori Aoshi, then Sakura shouldn't either. Tina was alot more yuri'ish' than anything even hinted at in Sakura.

have to say, Good for you for being so conscientious. I wish more christians were as discriminating as you, or at least would try to live up to the principles set forth in the Scriptures when they decide which anime to watch. Keep it up...

Jeikobu wrote: I take it this "on/off switch" is on her chest? Just a guess. And is there nudity? If so, how detailed and excessive?

Er...its in a...much worse area...
Yes, there is nudity...obviously, since there are sexual content also...*bleh*

Regarding Witch Hunter Robin: as I said, I'm not the definitive source on the subject, so I do not know.

Regarding nudity in Chobits: in the manga, it's fairly frequent and fairly graphic. I cannot speak for the anime.

Ren_sama wrote:Er...its in a...much worse area...
Yes, there is nudity...obviously, since there are sexual content also...*bleh*

I think it's vaguely funny how we're dancing all around this. Normally I'd just tell you, but in the interests of keeping these boards completely family friendly, the switch is "down there," if you know what I mean.

Last Exile:
I'm a bit at sea here as to who everyone is referring to.If you mean Labie and Klaus then I believe that everyone is a bit wrong since Labie happens to be a girl.

Inuyasha:
Aside from the fact that everyone is either Buddhist or Shinotist,and
I believe this occurs prior to the Jesuits arrival so there probably wouldn't be any reference to Christianity and what there might be would probably have been added in the dubbing process,there shouldn't be too much
objection.
Interesting in several eps.Kagome is mentioned as having a strong spirit.
Most notably when Kanna is unable to turn her into a zombie when using her mirror.
If Kagome were real I think she'd be close to being a Christian.
The only other objection people might have is the fact that Miroku,the
Buddhist monk,is a lecher.

Got to go for now but will try to get back on when I return later this afternoon.