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Christian Group Makes Manga to Curb Post-Quake Suicides
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese arm of the Christian organization Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) is releasing the manga Risk Ride as part of its campaign to prevent suicides among Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster survivors near the one-year anniversary. The work credits Andy Meeko (Miko) as the writer and Kelly Kozumi Shinozawa (Gin no Sato, Manga Messiah).
Although the manga targets survivors of last year's March 11 disaster, it includes no mention of earthquakes or tsunami. The story follows two friends as they journey across Japan's coastal Shōnan region on motorcycles. A young man tries to change his suicidal friend's views on life as they travel.
50,000 copies of the full-color manga have been printed, and Meeko is training 1,100 workers to use Risk Ride as a suicide prevention tool with its included discussion questions. Christian leaders will also distribute the manga in the areas of Japan hardest hit by the 2011 disaster. In an interview with The Christian Post newspaper, Meeko said that the manga's goal is to "help bring connection, a place to process suffering, and an opportunity for a spiritual birth."
The Jesus Film Project, a CCC ministry originally based on the movie of the same name, described the manga as "actually higher quality art than the mainstream secular manga." The last page of Risk Ride invites readers to view the group's nine-minute anime-influenced film "My Last Day," which tells the story of Jesus' death from the viewpoint of the thief who was crucified beside him.
Source: The Christian Post
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