My wife and I began watching a very unique, very different anime a few days ago. It’s not the usual item we pick from the menu—there’s almost no fighting, no magic, and certainly no elves. I think you get the picture. That said, it might be the best anime I’ve seen in a very long time—and that’s saying something quasi-scandalous around these parts.
A tradition of ours, if I can call it that, is to wind down our nights with a good show. An hour or two when we leave work aside, open a bottle of wine, and disconnect from the worries of our day. Anime seems to fit these plans perfectly: short episodes full of excitement, usually about fantastic worlds filled with magical creatures—a recipe for mental escapism, I sure think.
Our new anime obsession, however, is having the opposite effect. The more episodes we watch, the more it unpacks the opposing forces of religious dogma and science, the more I admire those who risked it all in the name of the truth.
The anime is fiction, in the sense that none of the characters are historically accurate. But—and this is key—it might as well have been. When the church controlled everything, including kings, their monopoly on knowledge was unrivaled. Challenging the church’s dogma meant, in most cases, death. Heretics were forced to recant or face fire.
The characters in the anime feel disposable to me. It jumps in time, back and forth, and of course, they serve their purpose. But unlike many of the animes we usually prefer, there is no main character per se—unless you consider the truth a character, in which case what I just said is only partially correct.
This might be the first time I recommend an anime on this little blog of mine. I’ve always found this activity of ours to be a guilty pleasure of sorts. It’s not that I’m ashamed of enjoying anime, but more so that I know most people don’t. However, I feel like even if you’re not the usual anime fan, this show might resonate with you still.
Imagine risking it all—your life itself—in the name of truth.
MenO