CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Well, I never really was much into anime, played the pokemon games for a year back in 3rd grade but quickly lost interest, but a little over a month ago, on my birthday matter of fact, a friend, dispite my constant wise-cracks about anime was able to get me to download the first episode of the Bleach anime, after that i watched all 46 of the released episodes, and then while browsing the manga for pictures to use in photoshopping ended up reading all 192 of the currently released chapters at the time. So here is my question, today i was in the car with my mom, and she made some comments about "that poster, and that backround on your computer", saying that she gets a dark feeling whenever she sees them, and wants me to stop using them, as for myself, i never really had any bad feelings about bleach after watching it, and still dont, but perhaps because of her comment in the car, plus the fact that i like my bleach posters, and the fact that i did spent around 30 hours working on the wallpaper on my computer if you want to include the thrown away bases and so on, but back to the topic, it had been bugging me all day, i tried to pass it off with just working on a new wallpaper in photoshop, but finaly curiousity got the better of me and i googled for christian views on bleach, after no luck i tried for just anime, and found a article on the plugged in website, and in that article a link to this forum. So if your still reading, what is your perspective as a christian on bleach?

Sorry, I don't know much about Bleach, but I have another friend from my Church that I know watched it, and he didn't mention anything negative about it.

What I do have to say about it is this. Even if there is nothing at all wrong with it, it may be better to just take the poster down and change your wallpaper. For one thing, you have to respect and obey your parents. Secondly, St. Paul tells us that even though there may not be anything inherently wrong with something, St. Paul uses the example of certain kinds of meat, it may be a stumbling block for others with weaker consciences. If you really want to keep it, try explaining why it's not bad to your mother. If she still doesn't like it, my suggestion would be to simply respect her wishes.

I think i will try and explain to her why it isnt bad, or at least in my views, bad, first, there is even one very positive points about bleach i can think of that would apply directly to me that i can think of right off the top of my head... and as for the wallpaper, does anyone think there may be something on this wallpaper that would give her that feeling that i can just remove and ask her about, other then the main image.

http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/5113/kuchikirukia2wg.jpg

As a fellow Bleach fan i can't honestly think of much that she may not like about the wall, maybe its a hollow or one of the shots with alot of blood or something, there are somepeople out the re who overreact slightly to stuff like that, i mean i had one guy tell me that i wasn't being very Christian-like for wearing a band t-shirt with a skull & crossbones on it.

ahhh bleach, I can obviously see WHY a lot of Christians would be against it (demons, death Gods, etc)

i personally love the show, if your parents want the poster down... then ya oughta ^^

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:ahhh bleach, I can obviously see WHY a lot of Christians would be against it (demons, death Gods, etc)

i personally love the show, if your parents want the poster down... then ya oughta ^^

That pretty much sums up what I was going to say.

Oh and one more thing... I have had slightly similar experiences with my own Mom, usually because she gets in this "I need to clean up my child's life phase." So not to put your Mom down or something, but this is probably just a phase she is going through, and she feels like pruning you/ being parent-like and the Bleach series is an easy target. My sister and I don't talk about anime or manga around the rest of my family because of this. Maybe you could talk with here though and prove that you are mature to understand the difference between reality and an anime?

Sakka wrote:and a very 'open' homosexual character in the series (Chizuru).

Umm... yeah but she only shows up once every... 15 episodes? She's not a main character and all the other characters make fun of her. I can think of lots of animes that have more frequent homosexual references.

My bedroom wall looks so.... empty now, i took down all my posters, even the ones i had just gotten the night before that my mom did not know about yet, (she had only seen the big one in the middle) so just imagine this picture without any posters on the wall or anywere. And then i was finaly able to make something take shape yesterday in photoshop, and nearly finished it so this is my new wallpaper. Ans then i think i will ask my mom for some specifics on why she thinks she didnt like the posters/wallpaper. Maybe try and figure out were she is getting this feeling from looking at them, and maybe explain some of the series to her to see if that changes her opinion at all.

In all honesty, Bleach shouldn't offend Christians that much (on a philisophical level, in any case). Yes, it provides a worldview that is at odds with the ones presented in the Bible. So does a large amount of Christian fiction... but I shouldn't go there.

But if you can accept the fact that the series wasn't intended to be Christian, there isn't that much there that is offensive. The "Shinigami" are in no way diefied, and are more like spiritual custodians than anything else. Hollows are really nothing like demons; they're a moderately original aspect of this world's cosmology. There is an appearance of "Hell" but it is essentially ignored after that and it certainly isn't something you won't see elsewhere (again, there are many misconceptions about Hell in Christian fiction).

You have some sweet bleach posters there, its a shame ya had to get rid of em.

Well not really get rid of, more or less put away for a little while until i guess i talk to my mom about bleach, and i guess at best words, let her get use the idea of me liking bleach in general.

Chizuru? Who the heck is Chizuru? DX
She must not be a main character, if I cannot remember her...

But if you can accept the fact that the series wasn't intended to be Christian, there isn't that much there that is offensive. The "Shinigami" are in no way diefied, and are more like spiritual custodians than anything else. Hollows are really nothing like demons; they're a moderately original aspect of this world's cosmology. There is an appearance of "Hell" but it is essentially ignored after that and it certainly isn't something you won't see elsewhere (again, there are many misconceptions about Hell in Christian fiction).

Agreed.
Also, the Hallows aren't really demons, but rather souls that have been taken over by the evil, against their own will.

I've watched up to episode 48, I think. Haven't had time for the rest. I really like the series, but I can understand why it would bother some people, and that's fine. I does have a worldview that is nowhere near what we would call biblical. But as mentioned before, most fiction, though not always offensive, seldom has a biblical view of things.

The thing that bothered me the most was the fact that they are called "death-gods", though they aren't really portrayed as gods at all. I have seen an episode where one of the fansubs translates it "soulreaper", but I can't remember where I saw it. And yeah, the dad really bugs me, but that is another story entirely.

If there are some of you who are watching it and it unsettles you, my advice is: drop it and find something else to watch. I enjoyed it, and I think it is a great series, but I wouldn't go against conscience for it.

i read somewere that deathgod and soulreaper arent actualy very good translations, but actualy used because it is something that made sense being that in regular western or english culture really doesnt have any type of figure that really takes care of death related things exept for the grim reaper, of which made the translation either just death-god or with some places, soul reaper.

from the english manga that i've seen of it soulreaper is the official translation, whit death-god (shinigami) being the most common fansub term for them

I personally just stick to "shinigami." Translating, in this case, isn't that helpful nor is it particularly necessary.

Ren-sama wrote:Chizuru? Who the heck is Chizuru? DX
She must not be a main character, if I cannot remember her...

Chizuru is one of Inoue's friends, probably the least important one. She appears a few times at the beginning when they're in school, not at all during the Soul Society arc, then very briefly following it. Her homosexuality is barely touched upon, but it's also pretty much her only personality trait.

Thanks for the info on her, uc. I recongize her when I google imaged up her name, though I cannot even remember how she acted or spoke.
^_^; Short term memory on my part, perhaps?

Hm. I always refer to then ad Shinigami as well.
I figure there are so many says of translating the term, it would be better to just stick with the Japanese term. ^^;

i read the manga, tried to get into it, but couldnt. i got a bad feeling when i read it. maybe it was just me though.

Good work! Almost a 5 year grave-dig.

Hi, Kaihong! Yah, this is a pretty old gravedig, but don't worry you're new, why don't you go and introduce yourself in the Who's Who area! ^_^

As for the topic at hand, well I generally feel that this is a personal thing between the individual and God. If you are strong enough in your faith and can watch this kind of stuff and know the difference between this and reality, then it's probably okay.

The dangerous part is when you start to question your beliefs in Jesus because of it.

But yeah...that's my two cents on this old topic. :3

Also Phillipian 4:8 is a pretty good indicator if something you are watching should be something that is okay for your spiritual growth.


Again, Welcome to CAA Kaihong! ^^

Just tell your mom that in a way, the shinigami are protecting souls from things that would destroy them. That's one way to interpret it.

I love Bleach, and haven't been troubled by the series as a Christian; if I had a complaint, it'd be that Bleach's afterlife is a bit incoherent and sloppily portrayed. One thing that continually puzzles me is, why do the soul reapers pray at the graves of their fallen comrades in the Soul Society? They're the death gods who move souls around with konsō and whatnot; who else're they going to intercede to?

I don't know if anyone is still even looking at this post but its one of the only, almost, satisfying search result I found on google to see if Bleach had Christian themes in it. I think it does. I've read most the posts on this thread and it seems Bleach makes some people/parents uncomfortable and I guess I can see how that is if you take it at face value. I don't know how, after watching it, anyone could deny its Christian themes though. When Ichigo first fights Kenpachi Zaraki he needs to "fight with/alongside" Zangetsu. They all wield swords with which they can tear down enemy strongholds and fight against "principalities (hollows) and rulers of darkness (Aizen, Hollows, Bounts, etc...). To me the Zanpakuto sounds an awful lot like the Sword of the Spirit from Ephesians. I'm not saying I believe that's what it is lol, but I think it's a great metaphor. I just watched the most recent episode today (having to do with Fullbringers) and one of the characters got mad at Orihime because she was giving a small "testimony" and smiling despite all her hardships. The character asks "How can you smile when saying all that?!" and Orihime replies "Because I've been saved." Ichigo is a pretty good, but definitely not perfect, metaphor for a savior/Christ figure. He's died and come back to life multiple times, he fights hollows aka demons for others' sake, he even went to Hueco Mundo (you could argue that's a version of hell in this series seeing as that's where the Hollows come from) and came back just to save everyone. Sounds pretty familiar huh? all in all Bleach is a pretty good allegory for Spiritual Warfare that's talked about a lot in the New Testament. God makes ALL things work together for our good and He can make Bleach work into that plan to prosper you, too.

Well, everything can be interpreted as a metaphor of almost everything. However, I think that pretending than a show based in shintoist beliefs and japanese mythology can really be construed as an allegory for Christian beliefs is a bit of a stretch.

That being said, I believe Bleach is mostly harmless and there's no reason for a Christian not to see it (besides the dubious storytelling quality.)

I have been watching Bleach since it started on CN. It is now up to episode 239 and will take a break for a Star Wars night Feb 4. CN has also shown Bleach movies.
The one thing I have wondered lately why they stopped in the middle of a major story about the battle in Hueco Mundo and Karkura Town, had three short stories and now into a story about the Soul Reapers doing battle with the human like spirts of their zanpakutos after a mysterious man comes to the Soul Reaper Society and the head captain has disappered, The Soul Reapers have to battle the spirts of their zanpakutos to get them to return to their use as their zanpakutos.

ashfire (post: 1530179) wrote:I have been watching Bleach since it started on CN. It is now up to episode 239 and will take a break for a Star Wars night Feb 4. CN has also shown Bleach movies.
The one thing I have wondered lately why they stopped in the middle of a major story about the battle in Hueco Mundo and Karkura Town, had three short stories and now into a story about the Soul Reapers doing battle with the human like spirts of their zanpakutos after a mysterious man comes to the Soul Reaper Society and the head captain has disappered, The Soul Reapers have to battle the spirts of their zanpakutos to get them to return to their use as their zanpakutos.

OK maybe I wanted to bring the story up to date to where Bleach has gotten to but I would think the one thing about the series is that you have friends working together to help or protect one another, a family member or someone else form evil forces of the underworld.
Would not a Christian want to protect another from serious harm or worse.

ashfire (post: 1530273) wrote: Would not a Christian want to protect another from serious harm or worse.

I think most people, Christian or not, would want to protect others from serious harm or worse. But this is a really, -really- old thread and is probably going to be locked because of this gravedig.