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Christianity in anime

Alrighty, I'm doing a research paper on Christianity in Japan, starting with the earliest stuff, on up to Christian influences on modern Japan (like Christmas and Valentine's Day).

I also want a section on anime and manga that has Christian imagery and whatnot. And that's why I'm here. I'm having trouble thinking up more than a couple, but I know for a fact that there's more.

So aside from Evangelion (whoo-boy!) and Chrno Crusade, what other anime/manga have bveen heavy on the Christian themes?

If you want Christianity in anime, you can't go wrong with Maria-Sama ga miteru...The most catholic anime I know of.

By the way, I heard that Christmas, in Japan, more than being something to celebrate, it's more like a consuming explosion, and a great excuse for the teenagers to go out at the 24th of December, especially at night

Sarki-Kun wrote:

By the way, I heard that Christmas, in Japan, more than being something to celebrate, it's more like a consuming explosion, and a great excuse for the teenagers to go out at the 24th of December, especially at night

Well yeah, that is true, but hey, I like it. Besides, that adds a whole other dimension to my paper, with the Japanese modifying things. Look at the number of anime/manga characters wearing crosses. Doubt any of them are supposed to be Christians, but hey, it's cool apparently.

Please allow me to first say hello to everyone here. I have been perusing these boards for about a year, and just recently joined.

In response to your question: Magic Users Club includes the son of a Christian missionary as a main charecter, although there is not much reference to Christianity in it from what I recall.

XXXholic has a good explaination of Valentines and Whites Day in Japan in the liner notes., I believe it was volume 3, but please don't hold me to that.

In addition to Eva, Rah Xephon also has some strong Biblical elements to it, i.e., the sacrifice of the choosen one to save the world, and like the Protical Son analogy.


I neglected to mention Big O. There is a lot of religious and Biblical commentary in this one. Also an episode that is a really good commentary about Christmas.

Last edited by TheAlmightyMe on Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

Chistianity is as much a minority religion in Japan as Buddhism or Hinduism is in the States; IIRC the number of Japanese citizens who consider themselves Christians is less than 1%. Because of that, Christmas is a 100% secular holiday in Japan; it's just an excuse for gift-giving and commercialism. I don't think they even recognize Easter.

Though there are a handful of anime titles which use Christian imagery and other elements, this is usually done because it looks cool/stylish rather than because it has any deeper religious meaning. (This is particularly true of Evangelion.) Another title which falls into this category is Hellsing, which prominently uses a Christian blessing, crosses, holy items, and priests and has Protestant/Catholic conflicts as a significant story element. Tsukihime, another vampire-related tale, also has a few references to "the Church" but these are far less prominent.

Oh, and I can't forget Witch Hunter Robin. The title character in that one is devoutly Christian, is frequently depicted in prayer, and must deal with a crisis of faith over the course of the series. It also deals with very European Christian-based views on witches. It's the only anime series I can think of which deals with Christianity in a serious, nonexploitive manner.

Hellsing also incorporates alot of Protestant elements into it seeing as the Hellsing organization is a protestant run organization (being subject to the church of England. note, this is not reformed, aka Calvanism, but Protestantism: i.e. not Catholic or Eastern Orthodox).

Eva uses images that are also seen in Christianity, but you don't see Christian ideas in Eva, really, except for some Gnosticism, which was the earliest of the Christian heretical sects.

Well on a more historical side, you could also talk about how Christianity was depicited during the Edo Period, specifically the Shimabara Rebellion.

I know I've seen depictions of it in anime (most recently in Samurai Champloo for about 2 or 3 episodes) where Japanese Christians were persecuted, though my memory on other anime titles containing this material is a bit fuzzy right now.

I don't think I've seen too many other anime do this, but from time to time, a few series talk about it. And as much as I hate to suggest it (), the Christian arc in Rurouni Kenshin addresses that whole persecution thing as well (to a degree), so you might want to check out those episodes too.

Eva's use of Judeo-Christian symbolism suggests quite a bit about Japanese attitudes toward the West... explosions in the shape of crosses, for example, make a logical connection between western faith and western actions.

I'm not sure you could call Robin devout.. she was raised in a monestary but she says herself that she only prays out of habit.

The Ask John column on animenation.com had a really good article about this a few years back, so if you want to read about it, go dig through the archives there.

I agree with Shiroi Hane on the line that Robin isn't exactly devout.

Saint Tail, as I can recall, has a lot of Christian/Catholic stuff in it (man character's best friend is a nun-in-training, they all go to a Catholic school), but doesn't go very deep into any matters of religion. The show is more of a magical girl version of Robin Hood.

Crosses and the like are, in my opinion, thrown into anime just because they're exotic and interesting. In the same sense that I have a fascination about Shintoism and Onmyoji and the mythologies and folklore of China and Japan. I think it's neat to learn about, makes interesting fantasy stories, but I don't actually believe in such things.

Angel Sanctuary by Kaori Yuki is heavily influenced by Christian motifs, and it's chockfull of allusions to the Bible (mostly Genesis and Revelations) and other religious texts. The story itself is the most obvious connection to Christianity; it centers around a "Messiah" who encounters various angels and demons during the last war between Heaven and Hell. Yet there are many other subtle references as well, alluding to the stories of Cain and Abel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the crucifiction of Christ, and others. Many of the names are derived from the Bible and from Judaic mysticism. (Incidentally, I'm referring to the Angel Sanctuary manga, because even though there is an anime, it doesn't go as nearly in-depth.)

Of course, Angel Sanctuary deals with Christianity on more of a mythological level in a fashion that some might even deem offensive (though I beg to differ). In that case, I would second the suggestion of Maria-sama ga Miteru (both the manga and the anime), which is set at a Catholic school and has a very accurate atmosphere of the Church. It's a very nicely executed story which I imagine would be very useful for your research.

Those are the two that I feel are the most strongly influenced by Christianity, but there are various smaller references in anime and manga that are very easy to overlook, I'm sure. The one that comes to mind is Sailor Moon, for some reason (I believe Rei went to a Catholic school, but perhaps my memory deceives me).

Jifty wrote:

I also want a section on anime and manga that has Christian imagery and whatnot. And that's why I'm here. I'm having trouble thinking up more than a couple, but I know for a fact that there's more.

Hmmm... Angel's Egg would qualify.The stranger the little girl meets in the movie bears a crucifix, and quotes from the bible. The movie is largely up for interpretation, but I think its mainly about faith.

The History of Religious Imagery in Eva:

1: Respected animator Hideaki Anno gets over a nervous breakdown; he credits the writings of Carl Jung, a psychologist whose work focused in large part on religious symbols and imagery, and how these symbols can resonate even for non-believers.

2: Anno set out to make an anime which would communicate his thoughts, including his thoughts on Jung's writings.

3: He made Eva, which contains religious symbols and imagery.

So I'm frustrated by this recuirring idea that the symbolism didn't mean anything and was only there for show. On the other hand there are a lot of other ways to misunderstand symbolism, ways that I think stem from english lit classes. Unless a story is a strict allegory it can use symbolism without being in thrall to the symbolism. That is, the symbols aren't usually the point of the story; they're just part of it. In stuff like Eva the symbols are more like grace notes than major chords.

Anyway, Gainax probably wasn't looking at judeo-christian symbols the way Jews and Christians do, which is why I suggest considering japanese cultural associations when looking at anime's use of religious symbolism.

Haru to Ashura wrote:

The Ask John column on animenation.com had a really good article about this a few years back, so if you want to read about it, go dig through the archives there.

I don't know if this was the article you were referring to, but here it is if you want to read it.

Sorry to bring this back around to Eva (I know the thread creator wanted to avoid it, as the series is so often commented on anyhow), but there is one element to the use of Chirstian imagery that's rarely touched on.

If any sort of meaning may be seen in the use of Judeo/Christian symbolism in Evangelion, I would assert that it is in fact commentary on not necessarily Western religion, but Existential commentary on religion itself (what better way to make a statement about such an institution than to project such questions on a "safe" religion that is unlikely to often large groups of people?)

After all, what are the Evas if not creations projected into the world? What is the message behind Eva if not that Shinji is, come what may, responsible for his own actions to define his life? In Jean-Paul Sartre's words "Existence Precedes Essence".

Further more, what do the cross shaped explosion really mean? What does Misato's cross really say about her? In the end, nothing comes of these things. In the End of Evangelion spoiler[Do the crosses and other symbolism not melt away, leaving only Asuka and Shinji to determine they're own destiny?]

Finally, the fact that so much of Eva's overtones and undertones spin from Sigmund Freud and Sartre (at least, apparently in Sartre's case), and given that both of these men identified themselves as Atheists, I would once again assert that Eva is meant to imply, at least on some level, that religion itself nothing more than a subjective and transient human creatation.