Okay, this was just kind of awesome. I think I should be friends with this person.
"A Comic-Con Recap from a 'Pastor of the Nerds'"
Tony Kim tries to build bridges between fandom and the kingdom.
Basically, he's a Christian who's a comics fan, and he doesn't see any need to separate the two. My kind of person. :)
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Why I love Shaman King
Where else will I ever have the pleasure of reading fantastic lines like, "Hah! Taste my perfected asceticism!"?
Shaman King has been impressing me as a great Buddhist manga series, something I never thought I would say about any manga. I've been feeling this strongly in the last handful of volumes as not only are we hearing Budhist ideas but actually seeing them applied clearly and devastatingly in action (lots and lots of action).
I'm not a Buddhist, but I am a Christian, and as a Christian who loves to read and write, I am always interested in the way people integrate their faith with their art, especially when it's smoothly well done, as it is in Shaman King. Hiroyuki Takei is probably not trying to make converts. He may not even be devoutly Buddhist, though I know his previous series Butsu Zone also delved into Buddhism, so I suspect he might be somewhat interested in the religion, at least as it potentially relates to stories he can tell with it.
Shaman King feels very integrated (pun not exactly intended), a story possessing a sort of organic integrity as the principles underlying it are played out on the page and in characters' lives (and deaths). Yoh has always been a slightly enigmatic character, a laid-back slacker who fights on even when we aren't exactly sure why. The last several volumes have shown him off quite brilliantly, in all his contradictory, dedicated-shirker glory.
I can't really explain it in a clearly summarized, reduced way, but I think if you've been following things closely, you probably sense this integrity, as well. I hope you do and that I'm not just doing my reading-too-deeply-and-actively-into-a-kids-comic thing that I do so well.
Have you read any comics that subtly and beautifully weave a religious/faith tradition into the storyline, so it feels like it organically arises from the story rather than is shoe-horned in?
Shaman King has been impressing me as a great Buddhist manga series, something I never thought I would say about any manga. I've been feeling this strongly in the last handful of volumes as not only are we hearing Budhist ideas but actually seeing them applied clearly and devastatingly in action (lots and lots of action).
I'm not a Buddhist, but I am a Christian, and as a Christian who loves to read and write, I am always interested in the way people integrate their faith with their art, especially when it's smoothly well done, as it is in Shaman King. Hiroyuki Takei is probably not trying to make converts. He may not even be devoutly Buddhist, though I know his previous series Butsu Zone also delved into Buddhism, so I suspect he might be somewhat interested in the religion, at least as it potentially relates to stories he can tell with it.
Shaman King feels very integrated (pun not exactly intended), a story possessing a sort of organic integrity as the principles underlying it are played out on the page and in characters' lives (and deaths). Yoh has always been a slightly enigmatic character, a laid-back slacker who fights on even when we aren't exactly sure why. The last several volumes have shown him off quite brilliantly, in all his contradictory, dedicated-shirker glory.
"This is hell? Did I get killed?" Yoh asks.
"You don't seem very distressed," Amidamaru says.
I can't really explain it in a clearly summarized, reduced way, but I think if you've been following things closely, you probably sense this integrity, as well. I hope you do and that I'm not just doing my reading-too-deeply-and-actively-into-a-kids-comic thing that I do so well.
Have you read any comics that subtly and beautifully weave a religious/faith tradition into the storyline, so it feels like it organically arises from the story rather than is shoe-horned in?
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