CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

This is probably the best place to post this question.

Obviously, no church will be putting anime series into their lending library without a lot of thought and pondering.

The reqason that I'm asking this is that I recently made a dash into the library to get unto the list for a DVD movie called "The Last Sin Eater" (Fox films, directed by Michael Landon's son).

on being handed the DVD, I asked how long I'd have it for and was told "one week". At this point, one of the elders in the church piped up from behind me "and it's a $50 late-return fee." Knowing who it was, I immediately chimed back with "or would that be $50 in anime to replace it". "Only if its Christian" came the even more tongue-in-cheek response.

DUH! However, that did get me thinking and that's when I found this happy community, but I haven't seen anything related to the question that I'm asking.

Obviously, most of the popular anime series and even many of the squeaky-clean ones won't be found in a church library.

So, what currently-available series deal with Christian themes and would be suitable for being found in a church library?

I joke that the initials for our demonination mean "Conservative, really conservative, no alternates" and do think that their first foray into animation other than Veggietales will be a tough sale.

Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated.

Does your library have only intentionally Christian movies like The Last Sin Eater, or does it have secular movies as well? If it only has Christian movies I can only think of two anime titles that are Christian in that way, and I wouldn't check either of them out of a library. If your library has secular movies it should be easy to find anime titles with uplifting themes and comparable levels of objectionable content.

My church library does have anime-- Superbook.

Any at all woud be quite impressive. However, there aren't a whole lot with the sort of G-rated content that just about anyone in a church could get down with. What little there is, just isn't any good. Anyway, it'd have to be a fairly progressive church to dig that idea in the first place.

Just filling in a bit more on the church library. Definitely only religious-oriented materials.

Having said that, they do have a fairly massive fiction library, and the DVD section is always expanding. However, the main emphasis is on Chritianity.

I keep saying that I should contribute a complete set of the BBC production of "The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe." but never seem to be down to the main Christian bookstore in the area (MItchell's Family Books) when they have "church library" night -- purchases made are totalled and a percentage is available to the library for their own purchases.

Hmmmmm..... think that it may be time to wander over to Mitchell's anyways and check what they have. I might get surprised.

Even if there was an anime that was based off the bible, the rating would be probably be pg-13 because of all the graphic parts in the bible. Perhaps you could form an anime club at church that watches and discusses anime and how it relates to the Bible or has strong morals.

My church library only has McGee and Me and documentaries.

wildpurplechild wrote:Even if there was an anime that was based off the bible, the rating would be probably be pg-13 because of all the graphic parts in the bible.

It would have to be, to make any sort of impression on anyone more than eight years old. The problem, as you say, is that the Bible has some mature content. Quite a lot of it, in fact. Your average anime could handle that or something like it, yet there aren't any Biblical anime, only kiddie cartoons. And children's religious programming can make the crucifixion look like sunshine and bunnies. What we want here is something to reach out to those who've graduated 5th grade.

If we are resigned to the fact that there are no Biblical anime series, we could at least come up with a few good titles whose content is fairly agreeable if not exactly squeaky clean. We could also present a case for why these titles should be in the church library, as well as propose some method of screening, say a list of possibly objectionable content, suggested age limit, even a parental consent rule if it makes them feel more comfortable.

Haibane Renmei.

Beyond that, though, nothing much comes to mind. If the church library has a "world religions" section, then perhaps a "Shinto 101" series such as Kamichu! might be appropriate.

There's a very old series called Superbook which is essentially an animated (not anime, per se) bunch of episodes where kids explore the stories of the Bible.

It might fit a church library's criteria for being kid-friendly & simple to understand. But from what I've heard, it was made with Western audiences in mind, so it might not exactly be what we consider anime.

My church library has the usual McGee & Me, & a huge lot of devotional DVDs. But before everything went digital, there were a few Mandarin-titled animation videos with an evangelism theme dating back to the early 1980s for non-English speakers. Unfortunately, the videos are probably not in circulation anymore.

I have read about a series that's suppose to be based around the Bible. I don't exactly know what it is, but if you like, I can try to do some research.

Well, they could probably put Goofyfoot Gurl and Peach Fuzz into the library, maybe Kingdom Hearts or Sailor Moon.

Moved to anime.

And Kenshin would be a good one for its themes of not killing and repentance.

[SIZE="1"]I have no idea what's in our Church Library... but considering what current chaos it's in, no one would notice if I slipped in a couple volumes of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time.

Hmm... as for one's I think would make it:

Kingdom Hearts (any) - Squeaky clean, as far as I remember.
Beast Master (when it comes to the US later this year) - It has light blood... but no mention of other Religions. -and it's my favorite Manga in exsistence, so there!
Serenity - Obviously. IMO, the first couple of volumes were more enjoyable then the second wind. They actually had Scripture passages where they referenced to things.
Hikaru no Go - Mentions gods a couple of times... Of course, they might be put off by the fact Sai's a ghost.[/SIZE]