Beneath the Tangles

[KazeShiki]

As some of you may already know, Beneath the Tangles is a Christian anime blog which analyzes the intersection of Christian ideas and themes and Japanese media, such as anime, manga, visual novels, and even video games. This was originally started by the wonderful Charles, or TWWK, who managed to gather numerous talented writers who shared the same passion for Japanese media and God. Beneath the Tangles has come a long way over the last 5 years, growing from a simple one-man blog, to one with regular columns, podcasts, and a supportive community made up of both believers and non-believers, sharing mutual respect for each other through our common interests.

At the end of 2015, Charles publicly announced his decision to leave Beneath the Tangles. While saddening to us all, it is also with mutual excitement as both Charles and our new administrator Japesland have plans to continue the ministry work where God has led each of them. With this change in administration, I’ve decided to remake the old anime blog with this one. I know we did a pretty bad job keeping the old one up to date anyway, but I hope to do a better job this time around.

We have a lot of plans for this coming year, perhaps more so than any year ever before, so we hope you look forward to some of the things we will be announcing later on. For starters, we’ve begun this year by completing our transition to a new web hosting service, which will allow us more freedom in site design. There have been some minor issues that we’ve been trying to address as best as possible, so if you notice anything wrong, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our old wordpress.com link should auto-redirect you to our new site, but otherwise, you can access our blog via the link below. We also have plans to be more interactive with our social media platforms, which you can also find below, so we hope you join us as you feel comfortable!

http://www.beneaththetangles.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beneaththetangles/
https://twitter.com/AnimeTangles

[KazeShiki]

So we finally got around to upgrading our site to a brand new theme! There may still be some minor problems to fix up as we try to get everything neat and organized again. You can check out the new site while reading some of our posts this past month:

One of our new writers Matthew Newman introduces himself
Annalyn relates Rakugo Shinjuu to having a broad perspective
Lynna explains her outreach work in Thailand

[neighborhoodotaku]

What a nice surprise! I'm Micah Marshall, neighborhoodotaku on Wordpress. I have been active on Beneath The Tangles, and love the work that you and the other writer do there! Kind of cool to see the BTT crew here on CAA (I didn't think that you guys actually were on here). It seems like this website is somewhat dead, so I hope that we can spur some spiritual conversations here!

[KazeShiki]

A few updates

Check out the meaning behind our new logo
Annalyn relates an episode of Pokemon to Christians living in a bubble
An exclusive and in-depth interview with Vic Mignogna about his faith
Casey analyzes the newest work of the popular duo behind Death Note and Bakuman

[KazeShiki]

It's almost Easter which means it's time for our Holy Week posts! Our theme this year is Christ Figures in Anime, where we'll be discussing anime characters who parallel Christ.

Some other posts this past month
Lynna concludes her DTS in Japan
[Mature Topic] Newman discusses the way Christians should view sex
Annalyn analyzes the problem of traditionalists vs progressives in Rakugo
Kaze parallels Akemi Homura to a person of faith
Casey highlights salvation in Trigun

[ClaecElric4God]

Thank you for all of these, and please keep them up. Big encouragement. Thank you so much, to everyone involved.

[Sheenar]

The Trigun piece was very, very good. Those things mentioned really stood out for me when I read the manga a few months back (and the anime has, of course, been a favorite for a long time).

[KazeShiki]

Thanks for your support We have some exciting news this update!

First is we have started a Discord server. For those who are not familiar with Discord, it's basically a chatroom service with voice support as well. Come check it out and chat with us in a more casual setting!
Additionally, as of today, we have finally started up our revised podcast! This format is much shorter than before but will also be weekly.

Also here're some of our posts since the last update I made:
James writes a series of guest posts on Steins;Gate and playing god
Samuru finishes his analysis of Tales of Xillia 2
Kaze compares Nana's social stigma to that of Christians'
Stardf29 digs into what makes Silver Spoon worth watching
Medieval Otaku addresses modesty in Space Adventure Cobra

[KazeShiki]

Monthly update of some of our articles:

See what Lynna thinks of Kiznaiver in her episodic posts
[Mature Topic] Japesland discusses dealing with visual novels and their sexual content
Kaze looks at hurting your own heart in Narcissu's A Little Iris
Newman finds sacrificial love in Yokai Watch
Annalyn dives into pretending someone you're not in Tanaka-kun