Anime, Religion and Spirituality

The mutual imbrication of the profane and sacred worlds in anime, along with the profound reciprocal relationship between ‘Eastern’ (Japanese) and ‘Western’ (chiefly American) culture in the development of the anime artistic form, form the twin narrative arcs of the book. One of the most significant contributions of this book is the analysis of the employment of spiritual and religious motifs by directors. The reception of this content by fans is also examined. The appeal of anime to aficionados is, broadly speaking, the appeal of the spiritual in a post-religious world, in which personal identity and meaning in life may be crafted from popular cultural texts which offer an immersive and enchanting experience that, for many in the modern world, is more thrilling and authentic than ‘real life’.

Barely a century has passed since anime (Japanese animation) was first screened to a Western audience. Over time the number of anime genres and generic hybrids have significantly grown. These have been influenced and inspired by various historical and cultural phenomena, one of which – Japanese native religion and spirituality – this book argues is important and dominant. There have always been anime lovers in the West, but today that number is growing exponentially. This is intriguing as many Japanese anime directors and studios initially created works that were not aimed at a Western audience at all. The mutual imbrication of the profane and sacred worlds in anime, along with the profound reciprocal relationship between ‘Eastern’ (Japanese) and ‘Western’ (chiefly American) culture in the development of the anime artistic form, form the twin narrative arcs of the book. One of the most significant contributions of this book is the analysis of the employment of spiritual and religious motifs by directors. The reception of this content by fans is also examined. The appeal of anime to aficionados is, broadly speaking, the appeal of the spiritual in a post-religious world, in which personal identity and meaning in life may be crafted from popular cultural texts which offer an immersive and enchanting experience that, for many in the modern world, is more thrilling and authentic than ‘real life’. In the past, religions posited that after human existence on earth had ceased, the individual soul would be reincarnated again, or perhaps reside in heaven. In the early twenty-first century, spiritual seekers still desire a life beyond that of everyday reality, and just as passionately believe in the existence of other worlds and the afterlife. However, the other worlds are the fantasy landscapes and outer space settings of anime (and other popular cultural forms), and the afterlife the digital circuitry and electronic impulses of the Internet. These important new understandings of religion and the spiritual underpin anime’s status as a major site of new religious and spiritual inspiration in the West, and indeed, the world.

• By (author) Katharine Buljan
• By (author) Carole M Cusack

"[This] is a very good book that explores an enormous number of anime and provides a useful overview of how anime's fun-filled fantasy format appeals to modern sensibilities." --Mark MacWilliams, St. Lawrence University, Religious Studies Review Vol. 43(1) "Anime, Religion, and Spirituality opens the door for scholars interested in the connections between religion and anime, and helps to define the field of religion and popular culture to consider elements of popular culture once dismissed." --Vivian Asimos, University of Durham, BASR Bulletin 127, Nov. 2015, pp.33-34 "[The] book is a good concise survey of anime in Japan and beyond, and it definitely encourages us to take such popular culture works seriously and to question the supposed barrier between serious 'otherworldly' culture like 'religion' and everyday, even superficially frivolous productions like still and animated cartoons." --Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database 16 May 2015 "...Buljan and Cusack's book is an insightful piece of research that addresses the complexity of the proposed topic from a useful historical and transcultural perspective. And as a consequence, this is recommended reading for those interested in both Japanese animation and a heterodox approach to religious studies." --Marcos Centeno, Reading Religion, June 25, 2016
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"[This] is a very good book that explores an enormous number of anime and provides a useful overview of how anime's fun-filled fantasy format appeals to modern sensibilities." --Mark MacWilliams, St. Lawrence University, Religious Studies Review Vol. 43(1) "Anime, Religion, and Spirituality opens the door for scholars interested in the connections between religion and anime, and helps to define the field of religion and popular culture to consider elements of popular culture once dismissed." --Vivian Asimos, University of Durham, BASR Bulletin 127, Nov. 2015, pp.33-34 "[The] book is a good concise survey of anime in Japan and beyond, and it definitely encourages us to take such popular culture works seriously and to question the supposed barrier between serious 'otherworldly' culture like 'religion' and everyday, even superficially frivolous productions like still and animated cartoons." --Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database 16 May 2015 "...Buljan and Cusack's book is an insightful piece of research that addresses the complexity of the proposed topic from a useful historical and transcultural perspective. And as a consequence, this is recommended reading for those interested in both Japanese animation and a heterodox approach to religious studies." --Marcos Centeno, Reading Religion, June 25, 2016
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