For a lot of Christians, the kinds of media they choose to engage with or not is a big area of interest. It’s important that we act intentionally and with discernment on this topic. At least as far back as the 1980s, many types of TV shows, movies, books, and games came under scrutiny. Believers started seeing the work of the devil everywhere they looked. To protect the flock, especially children and youth, many church leaders advised their parishioners to avoid things like Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, and Pokémon. So, should Christians watch anime?

These types of religious restrictions on the media believers consume aren’t something I’ve personally experienced, though I had friends who did. After comparing my experience with the experiences of people I know who couldn’t watch, read, or play certain things based on religious reasons, I’ve developed some thoughts.

1. God convicts different people about different things. We all have distinct personalities, temperaments, life experiences, and learning styles. That also means, to a certain extent, our spiritual needs will vary as well. We all have different thresholds for what our souls can tolerate, and we all can see light in different places. One of the beautiful things about our faith is Jesus wants a personal relationship with each of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves and He wants us to get to know Him.

He’s willing to meet us where we are, but He loves us way too much to let us stay there in our sin, fears, insecurities, bad habits. He wants to free us from all of it. That means that if something is hurting us, He may tell us through our conscience that we need to leave it behind. This, I have experienced. There’s a book series that I read in high school, part of the post-Twilight vampire craze of the early 2010s. At the time, I really enjoyed them. Last year, I was bored and looking for some nostalgia, so I reread them. I couldn’t bring myself to finish book one, too much of the occult and too much negativity toward Christianity. I was convicted that this was something, which for me, was inappropriate.

Why Church Wide Restrictions Don’t Work

• These restrictions need to be self-imposed at the individual or household level. Obviously, parents have authority over their children and have a responsibility to guide them. Proverbs 22:6 tells us: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” However, I would encourage parents to be aware of the media that is out there for their child to be exposed to, and when I say aware, I mean have a decent grasp of what these films, books, TV shows, and games are about, so that they can set boundaries for their household themselves instead of letting their church do it for them; and do so in an informed way.

If a parent or a church leader bans something, or says to a child or a youth “this is bad don’t watch it” but doesn’t offer an explanation that is grounded in the facts of what that media is and what its themes are, 1 that child/youth is likely to lose respect for them because they just destroyed their credibility, and 2 it becomes forbidden fruit and they’re going to seek it out anyway to see for themselves what it’s really about.   

Judge an Anime, Show, Movie On Its Individual Merits

• Anime is not a monolith, as discussed in last week’s post “What Exactly is Anime?”, anime is an artistic movement that runs the gamut in terms of content and ideas. As we move forward, we will discuss several anime containing worthwhile themes and even reflections of the gospel.

To conclude, while many Christians want to tread carefully when it comes to the media they engage with, it’s important to do so with our eyes and ears open. Make sure that our judgements are based on facts, and listen to God’s voice in all things. Remember the words of St. Paul in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Read more about what anime is here