there are all these posts about religion making an anime look cool and much more interesting, so im interested: how does religion make an anime better? I can understand how it can increase sales (maybe religious people buy just to prove they are religious) but not how it makes it more intelligent and more interesting...

I'm not sure what you mean by religious anime, I haven't been around the forum much.

But in my opinion, suppose I'm a christian, as long as the anime don't offend my religion (like don't talk about God at all) then I guess it'll be fine.

If chrno crusade is a religious anime I don't know how to respond though...

>_< you see posts all over this place that religion makes some anime intelligent

Depends on what religion you are I&#39;d have to say. like if you aren&#39;t catholic and they talk about him all the time you&#39;ll start feeling a bit uncomfortable. But I guess it could help in a way that the anume is not just like a story with weird things going on that aren&#39;;t really like this worst and religion gives us the link to them.

but thay&#39;s my own opinion.

Some times reilgion makes the story in some anime. X, for example has a lot of religious meaning. It&#39;s a lot of different religions stuck together. You kind of have to pick it out.

it doesn&#39;t matter what religion you&#39;re in, i gues... but some anime gives a lot lesson and meaning to go on in life...

Well, religion is all about having faith in the unknown/unseen, thus Animes that make use of religion or religious symbolism automatically gain an element of mystery that might otherwise be lacking. It also helps to give the Anime some sort of grounding in real life – If a group of people in reality actually believe in those particular principles/ideas/deities then it can give the Anime a feeling of authenticity.

The same is true of Animes that make use of history. Well-made Animes featuring historical characters or events can be a pleasure to watch, simply because they &#39;feel&#39; genuine. This makes it easier to empathise with the characters. Moreover, an individual&#39;s knowledge of real historical events might provide further insights into the Anime&#39;s plot.

Anything that encourages people to think has to be good. :)

Cheers,

Zeus :)

i think it&#39;s kinda the opposite... when you watch a semi-religious anime like chrno crusade, you learn more about the religion... about how religion would make anime more interesting... well... i have no idea o.O i guess for an example, it might be interesting for some ppl how religion is used in a storyline in order to develop the plot... i&#39;m not sure ^^;;

I think religion has gotta be one of the oldest things that have existed on this earth. It thus posesses exteremely powerful symbolism that many anime artists like to exploit on.

Take for example the famous instance of someone being tired to the cross, a symbol of torture and sufferingin Roman times, accentuating the idea of Jesus&#39; suffering on it when he was crucified. Thus when used in an Anime, it greatly increases your symathy and/or feeling for that character for having to undergo such torment. The idea is taken further for me in the X movie when the girl Kotori is brutally killed in cold blood in Kamui and Fuma&#39;s dreams-not only making you feel more for her but also exacerbating the sense of loss and waste at the sheer amount of tortuous suffering everyone had to go through-the central idea of the movie as a whole.

I havn&#39;t seen any anime with too much religious symbolism/content. Well, I guess I have seen an episode of Ah, My Goddess (don&#39;t laugh...), but I guess that&#39;s different. Any examples?

It makes people feel smart or something.
One thing I admire about the creators of Haibane Renmei, they actually ASK that people not take the anime religiously (It&#39;s on the DVD).

I&#39;d agree that religion gives anime that touch of mysticism to somewhat lackluster stories, but the idea that you can learn "religion" from anime is just wrong.

Chrno Crusade is just about as convoluted a version of Christianity as Evangelion was. And if you&#39;d think that Saiyuki was a good representation of the Buddhist religion, then you&#39;d need to do a bit more reading, I&#39;d say. ;)

As I see it, anime scriptwriters just pop a few terms from some particular religion (usually Catholicism) and toss some imagery to make it seem all cool and weird. Making a derivative of something like, say, a legend would be fine, because hardly anyone would take a legend seriously; on the other hand, some people *do* take their religions seriously, and it&#39;s not something to be made lightly of, or derived for the sake of some pseudo-modern storyline. If anyone would be looking for religion or faith, please, please don&#39;t look in anime.

Now excuse me while I insert random religious symbols in Pokemon fanart.