Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Anime Sunday School
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I was amused and taken out of the story when I first noticed the transliterated Kabbalah Tree on Ed's gate door in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. The Kabbalah Tree was something I had learned about in a girl's Yeshivah high school, so yeah, seeing it in anime (sans Hebrew script) was weird.
But then I learned that the particular design used in the show was based off Robert Fludd's, who was a sixteenth century *Christian* Kabbalistic Alchemist. Who knew? There aren't a lot of Jewish things in anime or manga, so the things I notice usually surprise me and stick out in my mind. -In Le Chevalier D'Eon, the letters "NQM" are used in relation to the bad guys. NQM=Naqama (Hebrew)=Revenge -I once found a reference to Hebrew numerology (Gematria) in a manga, which was really impressive -Osamu Tezuka's Adolf (or Letters to Adolf) manga has a great plot related to the real life story of Japan giving refuge to European Jews during WWII. That's how my maternal grandfather survived the war, and seeing it depicted in manga is pretty awesome. However, while Tezuka's heart is in the right place, the finer details of Jewish life, such as prayer, are way off. It doesn't bother me, but it is amusing. |
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StudioToledo
 Posts: 847 Location: Toledo, U.S.A. |
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Given the circumstances, we outta be grateful they haven't tackled Islam at all, that's one can of worms we don't need (lest we forget the lessons of The JoJo Debacle). |
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The Mask
 Posts: 90 Location: Philippines |
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I've seen Superbook and the Flying House in most DVD shops here in my country. But I'm really interested in watching In The Beginning. Thanks for introducing me to that, and I'll try to see if I can find a way to watch it.
How about Manga Messiah and its related prequels and sequels? I thought that Messiah and Metamorphosis were quite good, but I've also heard some claims that it's anti-Semitic. (I'm not sure about the anti-Semitism part, though, since I didn't notice it.) I'm actually cool with Christian anime and manga, as long as it's done properly. Admittedly, I was able to understand my faith a bit more with through it. But like I said, it has to be depicted properly for it to be appreciated. |
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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There's a connection between Superstorybook and the early anime localization (re: dubbing) industry in the US.
Two of the best-known early voice actors in 1960s US anime telecasts were involved with the dubbing of Superstorybook: Billie Lou Watt (Astro Boy) and Peter Fernandez (Speed Racer). When I read Superstorybook was a Tatsunoko Production that jogged my memory. Read more about Peter Fernandez and you find his name popping up all over the place in TV shows and movies (the original "Night of the Living Dead," two of the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood Spaghetti westerns) you wouldn't expect the original Speed Racer to be... |
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LSP3000
Posts: 3 |
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I've never been a fan of Christian media in general; although there are some rare exceptions, Christian produced media is usually somewhat didactic and derivative in my opinion.
One of my favorite representations of a Christian in anime was Trigun's Wolfwood. He was a Christian portrayed as a fully-developed person, struggling with his faith in the context of his environment. It was a very naturalistic and moving portrayal as opposed to a more flat character with some religious signifiers. Anime rarely shows the internal conflict a Christian would be facing in the usually ambiguous moral environments the characters inhabit. Also, it allowed me to reflect on the relative ease of being Christian in our society as opposed to one where God seemed absent. Oshii's Angel's Egg stands in direct opposition to the average Christian approach to faith-based media. It was an Symbolist instead of a literal approach to Christianity that is rare even in the West (where I think Christianity is either revered so as to be untouchable and closed to interpretation, or flat-out attacked). I appreciated what was a seemingly intensely personal take on faith, or the loss of faith, depending on your interpretation. |
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GVman
 Posts: 730 |
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It depends. The academic theological fields are much more open to analyzing and discussing the Bible, which has been common for Christianity for all of history; the fundamentalist every-word-of-the-Bible-is-literal thing picked up in the 60s(?) when churches began targeting young people more. They tried to simplify stuff immensely, and it wound up bleeding into to the adult portion of the church. Now, it seems to mainly revolve around making you feel good and scaring you occasionally. I wish the academic side would make a comeback. It's why you see the "flat-out attacks" that you mention; they're a reaction to a much more fundamentalized variant of Christianity. At least, that's what I think. |
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StudioToledo
Posts: 847 Location: Toledo, U.S.A. |
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Well people like Mr. Fernandez had careers, I don't expect most people today to understand what that was like in the mid 20th Century but you took whatever you can get. And if that means dubbing R-rated Eurotrash cinema, he's there! |
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LSP3000
Posts: 3 |
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Yes, I totally agree. I didn't specify, but I meant in our current media environment. I would also love to see a more academic approach to Christianity back in the forefront. |
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Hitokiri Kenshin
Posts: 293 |
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Superbook is how I learned bible stories as a kid. Parents rented a few eps when I was little and borrowed tapes from my auntie. Remember it was the only time I saw Eve with her hair only covering one of her bosoms instead of both.
Would like to see that "In the Beginning" the article mentioned. |
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StudioToledo
Posts: 847 Location: Toledo, U.S.A. |
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Being off-topic, I do recall one episode of Hanna-Barbera's "Greatest Adventure Stories From The Bible" tackled the creation story featuring an Eve whose crotch was barely covered at all. The closest we ever got to fan service in our toons. |
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EricJ
 Posts: 876 |
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"Barely" and "Closest" only count in horseshoes. 
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