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It was a Japanese show for a Japanese audience and Christian symbolism means something very different to them than it does to us. He might not have used the sym

It was a Japanese show for a Japanese audience and Christian symbolism means something very different to them than it does to us. He might not have used the symbolism in the way that a western audience would have, but the connection between Christian symbolism and the West and in particular America would not have been lost on a country which had within living memory had a couple of atomic bombs dropped on them by a foreign army bringing Christian symbolism with them. It’s almost impossible to understand any 80s or 90s anime without the context of Hiroshima and the occupation.

voxic11 7y ago
The creator of the series definitely thinks a lot about Hiroshima and the occupation. Its extremely evident in the live action movie Shin Godzilla that he also directed (its a great movie, check it out if you can, very unlike any Godzilla movie I've seen before). Not to spoil too much but the postwar relationship between the US and Japan is a major theme and the film includes a 10 second silent cutaway where photographs of the destruction of Hiroshima/Nagasaki are shown.
krapp 7y ago
>but the connection between Christian symbolism and the West and in particular America would not have been lost on a country which had within living memory had a couple of atomic bombs dropped on them by a foreign army bringing Christian symbolism with them. Japan was aware of Christianity and Christian symbolism long before the Americans dropped the atomic bombs, with missionary attempts going as far back as the 15th century, or thereabouts[0], so America really didn't "bring Christian symbolism with them" as a foreign army at that time. Arguably, it was fear of the growing influence of Christians and their possible allegiance to the Pope threatening the Shogunate's power base (ironically, a similar fear that Americans would have of electing JFK, that he would be a puppet of the Vatican) which led to the Sakoku period and Japan committing genocide against its Christian population[1], forcing the religion underground. I'm not disputing the analysis you're presenting - there is obviously a lot of symbolism in anime relating to the atomic bombings and occupation, but I wouldn't go so far as to imply that Japan sees Christian symbolism generally as being emblematic of that. Oftentimes it's just a visual metaphor for "the West" in general, or an attempt at "foreign" mystique[2] particularly when supernatural or magical elements are presented, where A lot of anime characters will recite spells or special moves in English because it sounds cool. [0]https://www.tofugu.com/japan/history-of-christianity/ https://www.tofugu.com/japan/history-of-christianity/ [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku#Rationale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku#Rationale [2]https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism

voxic11 7y ago

The creator of the series definitely thinks a lot about Hiroshima and the occupation. Its extremely evident in the live action movie Shin Godzilla that he also directed (its a great movie, check it out if you can, very unlike any Godzilla movie I've seen before). Not to spoil too much but the postwar relationship between the US and Japan is a major theme and the film includes a 10 second silent cutaway where photographs of the destruction of Hiroshima/Nagasaki are shown.

krapp 7y ago

>but the connection between Christian symbolism and the West and in particular America would not have been lost on a country which had within living memory had a couple of atomic bombs dropped on them by a foreign army bringing Christian symbolism with them. Japan was aware of Christianity and Christian symbolism long before the Americans dropped the atomic bombs, with missionary attempts going as far back as the 15th century, or thereabouts[0], so America really didn't "bring Christian symbolism with them" as a foreign army at that time. Arguably, it was fear of the growing influence of Christians and their possible allegiance to the Pope threatening the Shogunate's power base (ironically, a similar fear that Americans would have of electing JFK, that he would be a puppet of the Vatican) which led to the Sakoku period and Japan committing genocide against its Christian population[1], forcing the religion underground. I'm not disputing the analysis you're presenting - there is obviously a lot of symbolism in anime relating to the atomic bombings and occupation, but I wouldn't go so far as to imply that Japan sees Christian symbolism generally as being emblematic of that. Oftentimes it's just a visual metaphor for "the West" in general, or an attempt at "foreign" mystique[2] particularly when supernatural or magical elements are presented, where A lot of anime characters will recite spells or special moves in English because it sounds cool. [0]https://www.tofugu.com/japan/history-of-christianity/ https://www.tofugu.com/japan/history-of-christianity/ [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku#Rationale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku#Rationale [2]https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism