Between the Panels

It’s hard for anyone to deny the impact that the groundbreaking series,   Attack on Titan , has had on the anime fandom. And rightly so! It’s easily one of the most compelling shows on television. For over a decade it kept fans rabidly theorizing and desperately waiting for the next episode to drop. The show doesn’t shy away from lofty questions and challenging ideas, to the point that a lot of it would be impossible to cover in a quick little nerdy blog post. So instead, I’m going to think a little broader. A little bigger. I’m talking about giants . The premise of the show is that the last remnants of humanity try to survive behind huge walls keeping out the hoards of giant man-eating beings (“ titans ”) until one day when they break through. Reflecting about facing down giants, any church kid’s brain is likely to go one to place in particular: David and Goliath .  There’s some debate as to just how big Goliath was, but it is traditionally held that he was “six cubits and a ...

Lately there have been a large number of animes that have been featuring their main characters reincarnating into new and strange things.  A couple that have caught my eye and my time have been Black Summoner and A Faraway Paladin, but let's focus on Black Summoner . Our main character has no memory of his past life (typical), but has chosen previously that he is going to be a mage with certain skill sets. As you can imagine he maxed out some of his skills that pertain to magic or special knowledge, while along the way has to retrain his other skills in life. What's really cool is seeing this character make lots of progress and the joy that he gets out of this chosen path that he laid out before himself.  This character even has a spiritual companion that helps guide him along his journey and discuss next step strategies for personal growth.  He seems very refreshed and has more of a drive about him in whatever missions he takes along his journey to get stronger . Imagine...

Raging tempers, explosive yelling, a prideful mindset, and violent reactions to people around him.  If I just left it right there, this really describes two people. (at least from my vantage point). I see the character of Bakugo from the anime My Hero Academia (MHA).  Bakugo is the kind of guy who needs no introduction as he typically lets his ego lead the charge for most of that.  A naturally gifted teen who is able to secrets a nitro glycerin substance that explodes when he wants, is seen to be one of the most power heroes in training throughout the series.  Our young hero has a lot of capacity to fight off bad guys and often demonstrates that he is a strategist in the midst of a fight. Yet, his biggest flaw is that he has a short fuse with people around him, pun intended. Particularly, he has major angst for his classmate Deku who seems weak at first, but still out paces the natural hero at different points in the anime. Eventually, Deku and Bakugo do get to se...

Back a few years ago I got into fantastic anime series:  The Rising of the Shield Hero .  What made this show amazing and also frustrating was the treatment of the main character Naofumi . I say that it was frustrating because this guy is teleported from his world to a fantasy world, asked to save a kingdom from destruction, but is treated like trash because he is the "weakest" hero of the four noble heroes. Not only that, they frame him for some pretty awful stuff and run him out of the kingdom to fend for himself. Naofumi of course doesn't like how he is treated and at first is very vocal about it, but over time he resigns himself to just push through it and live with integrity. This guy legitimately looks to help the kingdom and serve the common folk, he is the best hero amongst them. Over time you find out that Naofumi was actually being oppressed in more nefarious ways by certain members of the monarchy, yet he still stands/fights for them and the country.  You reall...

Video gaming can and is in some ways an escape into another world.  This escape is not always a bad thing if you can regulate it or don't find your sense of value in it.  But what if you were so immersed into that you take some of that gaming world with you into the real world?  Confused yet? Kirito (main character from the anime series Sword Art Online ) was so immersed in this gaming world and was even locked in it (not of his own will), but helped other gamers work out some real world stuff while gaming with them.  Kirito acts like a bridge connecting the game world to the real world in helping fellow gamers face real threats in their life.  He is able to step between these two worlds and bring the aid that is need for the people who are calling for help. Peter was also a bridge to this world and what God was doing in the early church movement.  Acts 10 is all about Peter needing to adapt to something new that God was doing (ministry to the Gentiles)...

I am ten billion percent sure that you are going to love this anime recommendation! Why ten billion percent you might ask? Because I can! No in all seriousness, you are going to want to check out the anime " Dr. Stone ".  Essentially, humanity has been turned to stone for almost 4,000 years and Senku (Dr. Stone) is the only one trying to restart civilization.  However, the cool part is that he is doing this by taking modern day science and applying it to a Stone Age world.  Throughout the show he has this wonderful catchphrase of " ten billion percent " that he attaches to everything that he is absolutely sure of. I love that he is absolutely sure in his knowledge of science that he is even willing to defy logic by saying he is ten billion percent sure of what he is doing. You may remember an old hymn " Blessed Assurance " that you may have heard in your grandparents church services or records playing in the background.  This song has a wonderful connect...

Ever had an amazing teacher that moved you to tears? I have found one in nerd culture and his name is Koro Sensei . This yellow, octopus-shaped fellow is not just strange for his appearance, but also for the fact that he is a master assassin who is teaching a junior high class (the lowest in academic standing).  Did I mention that his class is tasked with assassinating him within a year or the world will be destroyed? You may ask, why I would recommend watching this extremely unorthodox anime? Two words; Koro Sensei .  Koro Sensei takes any and every opportunity to invest in his students. His attention to his students' growth is not just for academics or assassination skills, but in their personal lives, often speaking into who they are and what they can become. During this series, I had a lot of misty eyed moments (it was soooooo good), just from the times of direct investment Koro Sensei had with his students. So how do we go from yellow, octo-teacher to Jesus? Well Jesus ...

Got this recommendation from one of our youth to talk about Giyu Tomioka (Demon Slayer character) and to be honest I had to do a bit of research on this guy. In short, he is a background character who pushes the main character (Tanjiro) to be a demon slayer.  Tomioka went through a lot of loss (death of sister and friend) and is driven with loyalty to support those around him even if it goes against the Slayer Corp. However, this young man thinks nothing of himself, despite being one of the high ranking slayers (hashiras), and is always looking to push either himself or others to grow. Tomioka reminds me of a mix of Gideon and Samuel.  Gideon because he was from a small tribe of Israel and was called to be a warrior for God, even though he thought of himself as nothing special, let alone a soldier. The part that reminds me of Samuel is the resolve to loyalty for what really matters.  Samuel was raised by Eli who was not the best at leading his own kids or a being a spirit...

Lets face it, at times we can feel like the world is out to get us and we are the underdog of our own story.  It can be pretty hard to get motivated to push/do something when it is already an uphill battle.  Personally, I like to think about characters as a motivation (both fictional and real). Look at Asta from Black Clover; this guy had no ounce of magic in him and yet he has one of the most powerful magic items in the series with the drive to be the best mage in the world! Or Class 3E from Assassination Classroom, who are the runts of the school both socially and educationally, but are tasked with saving the world in under a year. Or look at Red Hood (Jason Todd) who was a street kid taking the wheels off of Batman's batmobile and is now a major member of Batman's allies in fighting crime.  Finally Captain America, going from this scrawny kid who just wanted to serve his country to becoming one of the   most iconic heroes of our time! However, there are not just ...

Rengoku is such an inspiration for keeping a great mindset about life! This character, from the anime series Demon Slayer (a must watch), is one the most powerful demon slayers, but that's not what makes him awesome in my books.  Rengoku, is always positive and uplifting to the people he is around; taking every opportunity to be kind and supportive.  The guy is so encouraging that at the end of every bite from his food, he exclaims with great enthusiasms "TASTY!!!" (yes, the all-caps were necessary) Immediately after watching this kind of character in action the phrase "Taste and see that the Lord is good." popped into my head (Psalm 34:8).  However, I wanted to dive into it a little further than just one verse and let me tell you, we all need to spend sometime in Psalm 34. It is brimming with the perspective we need to have have in life, both in good and bad, the need to be focused on God (the constant through it all).  God is our defender, our refuge, our inst...

Sword Art Online is amazing and here is why! This anime demonstrates how we should be looking at life through the lens of eternity.  Confused? Allow me to clarify if you have not seen it yet.  A new game, Sword Art Online (SAO), that is a fully immersive Role Playing Game (RPG) has just been released and gamers are checking it out.  However, they are not able to exit the game.  As it turns out they are locked in and the only way to escape is to beat the game to get back to the real world. Oh and if they die in the game, they die in the real world... (bum bum BUUUUUUUMMMM!!!!!) So the goal is clear: to beat all the levels and make it to the end of the game. How does this relate to our life/faith you may ask? If you look in the Bible there is the constant struggle of being too focused on what is happening around you in life that you can forget what I like to call The Eternal Reality . Jesus gave a reminder that it is God that can destroy not just the body, but the soul...