Which anime Characters are Christian?

[CAAOutkast]

Which anime Characters are Christian ...or atleast Appear to be{y'know the way they act and stuff}? I know It's a stupid question,but I couldn't help but to ask it. I know Wolfwood of Trigun is one,but are there any more?

[mitsuki lover]

Catholics:
Robin Senna(Witch Hunter Robin)
Father Abel Nightroad(Trinity Blood)
that's all I know for sure.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

If you mean by if they fit the stereotype of a "Christian" by using crosses as weapons and saying prayers while killing zombies. Then yes I guess there are some.

[MorwenLaicoriel]

...Well, the characters in Superbook? XD

There really isn't any in anime....there's a lot of characters who practice Christianity in name, but...generally the theology is a little skewed. Although there are some characters with redeeming qualities and ideas similar to Christianity, and normally these characters that are called Christian are, at least, not villians, and generally good characters, so..

I suppose it's understandable, though...Christianity in Japan is so rare, it'd be like...an american trying to create a Hindu character. it's too bad, though x.x;

[Oh Serenity]

I've noticed that when ever religion is mentioned in Anime, it generally gets skewered unless it's a show partaining to that religion. Therefor, the beleifs of some of the characters match the skewered version of the faith, or their left completely confused by the end of the series (due to various happenings, etc)

Asmaria from Chrono Crusade; I would think.

I would mention some more characters from CC, but by the end of that show I'm not sure where many of the other characters 'stand'.

^^ I'm sure there are more.

[Animus Seed]

Integra from Hellsing is nominally "Christian."

[Rev. Doc]

Akari Mizushima in Chance! Pop Sessions. She even sings in the church choir.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I'm suprised nobody mentioned Tohru Honda from Fruits Baskets!

She seems like a good christian to me. Even though she doesn't mention God directly (She does say that if she asks for more than is given to her, she'll "Get it" or "really be asking for it"--one might assume that "It" is a rebuke), she does have certain traits and characteristics that are very Christian-like.

[Tenshi no Ai]

Well there is the group from Kenshin during the Christian arc, although as far as Japan's concerned their idea on Christian is... well, kinda different^^ More Eastern influences in their teaching it looks like, and they just plain went about lots of actual Christian values/beliefs in the wrong way^^

[GhostontheNet]

Robin Senna(Witch Hunter Robin)

This is very true, although it appears that Robin starts as someone who sticks to the rituals of Roman Catholic Christianity out of habit, but in the course of her journey and its sufferings and trials comes to real faith, made evident in her confession torwards the end, wrapping together neatly the themes of God throughout the series. Kind of interesting how a series so decked out in occult trappings has so many features palpable to the Christian.

[rocklobster]

Samurai Champloo had Christians in it. I think Fuu's dad was Christian.

[CAAOutkast]

Cammy White From Street Fighter 2V is Catholic,eventhough she's an Assasain for Hire in that series. But she always asks God for Forgiveness each time she attacks.

[mitsuki lover]

The main reason Fuu's father had to leave his family was because he was Christian and it was a period when Christians were still being persecuted.

[JasonPratt]

It seems likely that either Chief Chujo or Dr. Shizuma, in the Giant Robo miniseries, is a Christian--maybe both--because the Chief buries him in a specifically Christian coffin and can be heard giving him a very GosJohn-like eulogy in the background (sadly obscured by more-or-less redundant internal musings by Johnny Sokko... er, Daisaku Kusama. {g})


The Kenshin reference deserves a MUCH deeper follow-up--which will be forthcoming. {g} {popping fingerknuckles} There is some evidence that Kenshin's family, and Sejuro Hiko (his adopted mentor) were hidden Christians.

[Destroyer2000]

Kenshin's family and Hiko, hiddne Christians? How so?

[JasonPratt]

Okay: the thesis (which is probably familiar to most people here already, but since someone has asked the general question of Christian characters in anime), is that Kenshin Himura's family and adopted mentor (Sejuro Hiko) were hidden Christians.


First, some qualifiers. It must be admitted that Watsuki-sensei (the canonical story's creator) seems to have done some things simply because it seemed a cool thing to do--he himself has claimed that the cross-shaped scar on the cheek has no meaning (originally anyway) other than something he thought would look cool, for instance. At the same time, I have suspected he has some connection to a Christian prep school in the past--I noticed his new series (something to do with a high school alchemist, no relation to FMA) is set in a nominally Christian prep school, for instance. He might be picking up ideas from something in his own strong experience, and importing them into the story, either consciously or unconsciously. Or then again, the convergences in the story may only be accidental. I mention this, though, to affirm that my idea of a story's meaning has to begin with the author's intention.

Now, story logic may end up running a tally apart from the author's strict intention; and I'm quite open to that, too. But if the author flatly says 'no', even though the logic says 'yes', then at best there's a conflict of meanings. I don't know that Watsuki has flatly said 'no', but he _has_ said some things that don't lend themselves to anything better than logical speculation on our part.


Second, part of the speculation for the thesis can be _illustrated_ more easily by reference to that 3rd Season arc mentioned earlier by Tenshi. The arc has to be used carefully as a reference point, though, because we (or anyway _I_) don't know how canonical we should take it to be: does the story's creator consider it to be a valid part of his intended story? I suspect not, but I can't be sure.


That being said, whatever the status of the 3rd Season Heretic arc, it does help illustrate some of the factors involved in the setting in which the first two seasons (and other certainly canonical story portions, like the Jinchuu arc in the manga) take place.


In this setting, it is important to grasp that Christians were persecuted under the Tokugawa regime, _and were still being persecuted by the Meiji regime_ at the time of the main series.

As a consequence of being forced so far underground (figuratively and sometimes literally), with so very little contact to outside authority/reference sources, and in the middle of a culture that tended to be highly syncretistic anyway, Christians _did_ evolve into various heretical shapes. The 3rd Season arc (there is more than one arc in the 3rd Season, but this was the first main one) itself was written to be, in effect, a loose sequel to a real-life insurgency attempt late in the Tokugawa Era, by a man who thought himself to be the reincarnation of Christ. (If I recall correctly, those events were presented in a highly mythological way in the anime movie Ninja Resurrection. Also a very affrontive way... {wry s} Its reputation is even worse than for Ninja Scroll, so I don't recommend running out to find it.)

In this 3rd Series arc, then--for those who haven't seen it--another man is trying to do the same thing with a different sect of cut-off, hiding, persecuted Christians; and by 'persecuted' I mean the Meiji government is crucifying them when it finds them. (He honestly believes he's correct and doing the right thing, by the way, but is being manipulated by a sort of proto-anti-pope character who intends to make a martyr of the leader--kind of a combination Judas/Peter fellow. It's been a few years since I've seen it, and I'm not good with names, so bear with my vaguries please... {g})

This illustrates the most important factor in the contention about the _main_ series: if Kenshin is Christian by family tradition and training, it may not look a lot like the Christianity we know, and may include beliefs we wouldn't accept as true, yet still be Christian in one real (if only sociological) sense. (So the debate would be more like, is Kenshin a Mormon? Except not actually Mormon, of course. {g})


Having brought up the 3rd Season arc for illustrating this concept of Christians having to hide in _BOTH_ eras, and (due to this, in various ways) therefore not necessarily looking (or even being) especially orthodox, I will also now mention a set of details in that arc which I stress should _NOT_ be taken as canonical information (in regard to the intentions of the story's creator--unless he has said so, anyway). But to the extent they are accepted, they _would_ (almost) decisively link Kenshin with Christianity.

First, it is clear that the anime creators _thematically_ link Kenshin with Christianity, even before the specifically Christian arc kicks into gear, because the opening animation begins drawing _VERY_ explicit cross-connections (pun quite intended) between Kenshin and the Church.

Second, and far more importantly, the fellow who thinks he is Christ reincarnated, is very explicitly and overtly an offshoot heir to the Hiten Mitsurugi style. This is presented as being linked to his Christianity, especially in flashbacks where the man who taught him Hiten Mitsurugi--who seems to have authoritative connections to a Catholic Christian congregation (I mean in the sense that _we_ would recognize the trappings to be orthodox)--is rebuking him as being, in essence, a heretic, both in regard to the Church and to the Hiten style.

This wouldn't make much sense, by the way, if the writers of this storyline (not to say the animators of the new intro) hadn't themselves believed that there were implications in the main storyline, linking Hiten Mitsurugi to Christianity. (More on that in the next, and hopefully briefer, post. {s})


The story plays out, then, as an explicit confrontation testing the question of who is the true heir of the Hiten Mitsurugi style (Kenshin is literally blinded by it, and somewhat shaken to find it exists)--who can do it better, and who is putting it to its _proper_ use in the world of Meiji Japan? The almost-as-explicit link between the character's (heretic) Christianity and his status as offshoot heir to the Hiten style, however, invites a strong _implicit_ meaning of confrontation between two types of Christianity: the kind that involves trying to save other people, even one's enemies (represented by Kenshin), and the kind that seeks to destroy its enemies (represented by the heretic).


To the extent that the original (and 'canonical') series material hints at Kenshin being a secret Christian of some kind, the links being forged explicitly and (by story logic) implicitly in the 3rd Season 'heretic' arc, become far more understandable, and less like some kind of bizarre imposition invited purely by what amounts to a fortuitous accident (i.e. the scar on Kenshin's cheek looks like a cross).

This, however, will be covered in a future comment tomorrow.

[Radical Dreamer]

Wow. XD So while that may or may not be true (it may just be a case of over-analyzation XD), I can say that, throughout most of the series, Kenshin is pushed by a works-based philosophy. However, I did find it interesting, at the end of the manga, how...

[SPOILER=Volume 28 of the Rurouni Kenshin Manga]...it is mentioned that Kenshin cannot find forgiveness through the things he does, but he must be forgiven. I don't recall anymore being said after that (and my copy of #28 is being lent to a friend at the moment, so I can't look it up), but I did find that interesting, and refreshing.[/SPOILER]

[oro!]

I'm suprised nobody mentioned Tohru Honda from Fruits Baskets!

She seems like a good christian to me. Even though she doesn't mention God directly (She does say that if she asks for more than is given to her, she'll "Get it" or "really be asking for it"--one might assume that "It" is a rebuke), she does have certain traits and characteristics that are very Christian-like.

Tohru was very much like a Christian to me, too.

Even though this asks about anime...
I thought the same thing when I read Imadoki, and saw Tanpopo Yamazaki. How she took the abuse of her fellow-classmates, and was always having a sense of joy reminded me of one of my sisters. It is interesting that someone like Watase would write such a character. Some of the things she said I did not agree with, but overall, she seemed like a struggling follower of Christ.

[MorwenLaicoriel]

I would agree that Tohru has some admirable qualities that are supported by Christianity. ^^ There's some things in the series that makes me think "but, well, it's still anime" though (like the line in the opening theme that states 'you cannot be born again, but...")

But, yeah, Tohru's a good example of a character who isn't a Christian, but has Christian values/morals in her character.

[Animus Seed]

To the extent that the original (and 'canonical') series material hints at Kenshin being a secret Christian of some kind,...

You probably should have started with that, I think.

And yes, Tohru is a good model of Christianity.

[dyzzispell]

The kind of love and forgiveness Tohru Honda showed to every character, even the meanest of them, is something we as Christians should all aspire to. Maybe she wasn't outwardly written as a Christian, but she sure is a good role model. At least, in my opinion.

[CAAOutkast]

The kind of love and forgiveness Tohru Honda showed to every character, even the meanest of them, is something we as Christians should all aspire to. Maybe she wasn't outwardly written as a Christian, but she sure is a good role model. At least, in my opinion.

Vash the Stampede Also Acted like a Christian as well. I Love Trigun

[ShadowCat]

How could you all forget Vash and Wolfwood? ToT

[MorwenLaicoriel]

How could you all forget Vash and Wolfwood? ToT

Wolfwood was mentioned in the first post! ^^; But, yeah, I did forget to mention Vash, in terms of the "not Christian, but a good role model".

...I've only seen the first four episodes of that anime, though. XD *attacked by fangirls* I've read the manga! really! Aggh! *runs*

[dyzzispell]

I have yet to see Trigun.

[JasonPratt]

RD: {{it may just be a case of over-analyzation XD)}}

True--although in good overanalyzation style, I think I qualified myself on that as well! {gg!}

(Note: I have yet to figure out how to do backquoting code on this system, so I'm using an older style. I need to go poke around the general forum, I think. {apologetic g!})

Without mentioning your spoiler in detail, yes it's one of the better points to the manga--given by Tomoe, not by Kenshin, in the "Reflections" OVA, iirc, and asked as a question of some hopelessness rather than as something Kenshin can legitimately hope for someday. (But of course it _has to be_ a hopeless question in the final OVA, or his angst at trying to work out his own salvation would not be so strong. Yet another reason for the manga version's superiority. {g!})

It is also true that Kenshin is driven by a works-based philosophy throughout most of the story (manga and anime alike). This probably shouldn't be surprising (though not acceptable to us), since it is more difficult than most Christians realize to get away from that--even when we're quite orthodox (or so we think. St. Paul is continually admonishing his congregations on it, and yet somehow is commonly interpreted, including by authorities who ought to know better, as advocating only a _little_ works-based salvation instead. {wry s}) And if the thesis is correct, Kenshin's tradition has been cut off from apostolic guidance for a long time, which would naturally make things more difficult.

That being said, neither should we deny the necessity of active repentence and cooperation with God, on our own part. We cannot save ourselves by doing something to _require_ God to save us (as though we are appealing to some standard by which He is obliged to follow whether He happens to want to or not); but if we do not co-operate with Him in seeking atonement with those against whom we have sinned (both God and man), then our faithfulness to Him is empty and only words.

(But I don't want to get too far into theology in an anime discussion thread. {g} Hopefully what I have said so far will not go beyond limits recognized by the vast majority of Christian groups, at least--and if I have done so, which isn't impossible, I apologize in advance.)


AS: {{You probably should have started with [the certainly 'canonical' Kenshin material], I think.}}

I seriously debated doing so; but realized that once I brought up the notion of Christians being hidden due to persecution in both the Tokugawa _and_ Meiji Eras, along with the importance of the _variances_ in their beliefs and practices which we could expect from this, then the 3rd Season Heretic Arc looked to be the obvious way to clearly illustrate the principles. (Plus it has some value, though admittedly less, as evidence that _some_ people connected with producing the series thought there was some kind of implicit but positive connection between Kenshin and Christianity in the main 'canonical' material.) And the 3rd Season Heretic arc is obviously more overt. So, even though it can only carry partial weight in favor of the thesis, for various reasons, I eventually decided it should be discussed first.

Besides, there are plenty of people who know the main material but perhaps not as many who know the 3rd Season, having been warned off for various reasons; so I thought it might be more interesting as an introduction to a topic I expect has already been discussed to death. {g} (Aside from cautions about the plodding and sometimes superficial quality of the 3rd Season material, the show's creators later go on to build what is practically a pilot spin-off for another series, based on an extremely powerful version of feng shui.)

I'll post a (hopefully somewhat shorter) report on indications from the 'canonical' material later. There are very obvious tensions between Christian-like and actually-Christian (even if only in their own understanding), in trying to evaluate anime characters; but Kenshin's case is more unusual, in that (somewhat like Wolfwood from Trigun) there are circumstances _in the story_ which may be reckoned to account for the variance.

[CAAOutkast]

This is very true, although it appears that Robin starts as someone who sticks to the rituals of Roman Catholic Christianity out of habit, but in the course of her journey and its sufferings and trials comes to real faith, made evident in her confession torwards the end, wrapping together neatly the themes of God throughout the series. Kind of interesting how a series so decked out in occult trappings has so many features palpable to the Christian.

Yeah,Awsome isn't it?

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I've only seen the first four episodes of that anime, though. XD *attacked by fangirls* I've read the manga! really! Aggh! *runs*

::Winces as Morwen is beat down by fangirls:: Ouch! Oooh! Eeee! Whoa! Oh, that's gonna hurt tomorrow morning...

Ah well, anyway...I'm kicking myself in the tukus for not thinking about Wolfwood! He's a really good example of a real-life christian in anime. He's had to do things that he wasn't proud of, but when all is said and done, he kept the faith and repented for his sins just as we all do.

[Heart of Sword]

Uh.....hmmm. Vash is very likely a Christian...he said something that made me think that towards the end of the series, but I forget...

[CAAOutkast]

Uh.....hmmm. Vash is very likely a Christian...he said something that made me think that towards the end of the series, but I forget...

I missed it as well I have the Whole Trigun series on tape,except for the 2nd half of the final episode.