Holy Anime!

Japan's View of Christianity

By: Patrick Drazen

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Paperback | 31 July 2017

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Paperback
204 Pages

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22.8 x 15.1 x 1.7

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Christianity has been in Japan for five centuries, but embraced by less than one percent of the population. It's a complicated relationship, given the sudden appearance in Japan of Renaissance Catholicism which was utterly unlike the historic faiths of Shinto and Buddhism; Japan had to invent a word for "religion" since Japan did not share the west's reliance on faith in a personal God. Japan's views of this "outsider" religion resemble America's view of the "outsider" Islamic faith. Understanding this through the book Orientalism by Edward Said, Patrick Drazen samples depictions of Christianity in the popular Japanese media of comics and cartoons. The book begins with the work of postwar comics master Tezuka Osamu, with results that range from the comic to the revisionist to the blasphemous and obscene.

Industry Reviews

Given that only about one percent of Japanese are said to be Christian, the idea of an entire book on Christianity in Japan's popular culture is not only novel, but provocative. Yet in exploring pop culture perceptions of what is to Japanese a very minority and sometimes mysterious religion, Patrick Drazen sheds new light on much larger issues of cultural adoption, adaptation, and coexistence. Kudos for a fascinating book! -- Frederik Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! and The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution
For a writer from a nominally Christian country to evaluate the influence of religion in an alien country is fraught with complexities to the extent where oversimplifying is not simply a temptation, but for some a survival tactic. Thank goodness Patrick Drazen is immune to this temptation. Basing his method on Edward Said's 1978 text Orientalism, Drazen works with meticulous care to avoid unjustified assumptions and explain honestly and clearly how, and why, religion and religious symbology are used in anime. That he also makes the explanation so enjoyable is a bonus. -- Helen McCarthy, author of Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation and co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917

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