Fun Friday: Can Christians Watch Anime?

Over the last 30 years, anime has gone from being a small niche known only to the nerdy community, to taking over the modern world with a vengeance. Now, most people in the Western world have seen or at least heard of shows like Dragon Ball Z, One Punch Man, Naruto, and One Piece. As the anime craze is taking over, many believers are wondering, can or should Christians watch anime? This is incredibly prevalent for kids and teens in the Christian home who are being exposed to anime.
First, we have to know what anime is. Oxford dictionary defines it as a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children. To put it plainly, you can think of anime as a Japanese-style cartoon or animation. Just like how American cartoons can be adult animation such as Family Guy or the Simpsons, or designed for children like Sponebob or Avatar: the Last Airbender; anime is the exact same.
I know this may seem rather basic, but I want to debunk the mystery surrounding anime. Oftentimes, especially as Christians, we tend to attack or disregard something that we either don’t know or fully understand. It’s similar to the famous (though exaggerated) situation of Galileo and the Catholic Church when their misunderstanding about the solar system turned into a major disagreement in the church. Therefore, I want to be clear that categorically, anime is simply a japanese-style cartoon. This means that it’s no different than Western shows. Consequently, Christians should use the same discretion with anime as we would with any other shows or movies that we watch.
Now I’m also not going to strawman the Christian concern either. As a Christian pastor and a fan of anime, I completely understand many valid complaints against anime. Typically, concerns fall into three major arguments: pagan religions/mysticism, high fantasy (escapism) and fan service. Let’s dive into each topic.

Pagan Religions/Mysticism: 
Japanese culture is famously steeped in Shintoism and Buddhism. In fact, Japan is one of the least Christian countries in the world! With this in mind, it may be right to rule out all Japanese anime in general. However, consider the verse from Acts 17:28 (CSB), “For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ Paul is quoting Epimenides: the Greek philosopher who said this statement about Zeus, not about the God of the Bible. Paul used what was pagan to give glory to God.
The point is that there is still some truth that can be gleaned from anime. It’s no different than modern Western entertainment. People can draw biblical parallels from movies like the Matrix, Star Wars, and Marvel/DC but none of those movies are Christian. The point is that we shouldn’t be hypocritical. If we don’t watch anime because it has pagan imagery, then we shouldn’t watch Western entertainment because it falls under the same category. However, what we should do is have godly wisdom like Paul to be able to decipher Gospel truth from pagan philosophy. If we understand that we're watching anime to be entertained not to be religiously informed, then there’s no difference from watching Transformers or watching Gundam. (By the way, Gundam came out before Transformers!)


High Fantasy (Escapism): 
This one is a little more serious and rightfully so. We live in a society that is constantly trying to get us to escape reality and distract ourselves into oblivion and Hell. With devices such as the Apple Vision Pro, Oculus, social media, streaming services, video games, etc, almost everything is designed to keep us in escapism (the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities). Since anime is fiction, it’s an easy target for escapism especially since it has content that delves into high fantasy/sci-fi.
However, we must first place the blame on those who use anything as a means for escapism, not on anime or any other product in use. The first problem is always sin which distorts, contorts, and corrupts all of creation. Secondly, there are Christian works that use fantasy to promote good messages such as Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. Finally, there are a lot of good lessons learned in anime that can be useful for the real world. One of my personal favorites is the character you see at the start of the article: Vegeta.
For those who know Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta is a staple character of the franchise. He was originally a prideful villain as we follow his journey from being an antihero, to being a husband, father, friend, and one of the major heroes of the franchise. He is a character that doesn’t make excuses, teaches the value of hardwork, and reminds us that no matter how hard it is, even when you fail, you keep pressing on. Those are values that anybody, even Christians can relate to. High fantasy doesn’t mean that anime doesn’t have great values.

On another note, anime is much more than just high fantasy and science fiction. Anime has drama, comedy, thrillers, horror, mystery, historical, etc. Remember, anime is not a genre, it's a style of animation. Genres vary in anime just as much as Western TV shows so Christians can enjoy it in a similar way.

Fan service: 
This one is the most controversial and problematic. For those who don’t know, fan service is essentially sexual content, either implicitly or explicitly, shown in material. At times, it can even be fully pornographic. This one hits right at home. I have admittedly struggled heavily with pornography in the past and, though I’ve been clean for a few years by the grace of God, like many men, it’s still a constant temptation that we must be on guard against; therefore, we must be wise with what we're exposed to. Based on this, I completely understand the hesitancy and disregard of anime. Philippians 4:8 (CSB) says, “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.”
However, there are three things to consider here. First, we should be mindful of anything that we watch, including anime. Anime is just another show like a live action sitcom or crime thriller, we must exercise wisdom and be mindful of the content we watch. Secondly, this is also very dependent on the individual. Just like Western films, some people are not triggered or tempted by certain scenes that may occur. Though I am in no way advocating that Christians should purposefully watch content with heavy fanservice (such as watching Game of Thrones or other shows with extreme sexual content), Christians should be aware of things that could trigger them to lust so that they can watch anime—or any show for that matter—responsibly. Furthermore, they shouldn’t use any show as an excuse to lust. Just as Christians must be wise on social media, websites, and apps, the same wisdom must be applied to anime.
Lastly, there are plenty of anime that have little to no fanservice at all. For example, one of our favorite animes that my wife and I enjoy is My Happy Marriage. It is a beautiful show that has absolutely no sexual content and is pretty well written. There are many anime that have little to no fanservice that Christians are free to enjoy. Other shows like this are Romantic Killer, the Way of the Househusband, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, or just about any Ghibli Studio film are great clean animes to get started on. There are literally thousands upon thousands of anime to choose from in every genre you could think of, so don’t believe that just because it’s anime, that you can’t find a good clean show to watch.
Ultimately, Christians can watch anime but Christians must be wise and cautious about what anime they consume. Furthermore, if a Christian doesn’t like anime, they don’t have to be afraid of it or think it’s something that’s mythical. They can view it like any other show that may come on in Western TV. On another note, I believe Christians should even consider getting into anime production. As stated earlier, Japan is one of the most secular countries in the world and has a very high suicide and depression rate. Not only that, but most Japanese people believe that Christianity is strictly Western and doesn’t fit into their society. Maybe getting involved in an anime would be a great evangelistic tool. If a Christian can make a compelling anime with a great story, interesting characters and a Christian message, I’m sure it’ll have positive results in the Japanese market. (I'll go into this deeper on another article).

Conclusion
As stated earlier, Christians should use wisdom in watching anime as we should use wisdom in watching any show at all. Overall, anime is merely another avenue of entertainment and should be treated as such. If it’s watched responsibly, anime can be an encouraging and compelling form of entertainment that can be enjoyed not only by the individual but by the whole family.

I pray that this article encouraged you and offered some guidance on this journey!