Finding God in Anime – Book Tour

One of the most challenging things about writing Devotions for Geek Devotions is moving on from a theme you really love. For example, every April, we do an entire month where all of our Devotions and content are based on Anime. This is a month in which I love deeply because I have so much love for Anime and Otaku Culture. So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered an entire devotional based on Anime was being released at the tail end of Anime April. Now imagine how much more excited I was to have the opportunity to preview and review said book. So, my dear friends, please allow me to introduce you to “Finding God in Anime vol 2.”

What is Finding God in Anime?

(per the press kit)

About Finding God in Anime

Have you ever wanted a season two of your favorite Anime but found out it is unlikely for the company to produce one?

Stinks, doesn’t it? Well, Finding God in Animedefinitely isn’t like that. After all, you’re looking at volume two right now!

Welcome to the second installment of the acclaimed devotional: Finding God in Anime! Each bite-size piece comes straight from the passionate otaku souls in our collective of Christian authors. You will find anime-inspired pieces from across tons of beloved genres within this devotional, and each one presents a unique and Biblical outlook on your favorite shows!

• Find God’s fatherly love in Daddy’s Girl, inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist
• Go down to your atoms to discover God’s purpose for us in Jobs, inspired by Cells at Work
• Huddle up to hear God’s game plan for living like Him in Get Your Head in the Game, inspired by Kuroko’s Basketball

…and so many others! So grab your shuriken or computerized make-up compact and join us on the exciting adventure of finding God’s teachings in Anime!

The Writing

One of my favorite parts of this devotional is that it was community-written. No singular individual wrote every devotional in this book. While this shows that those behind this project are pulling from a vibrant and healthy community, it poses difficulties in maintaining tone and quality of writing. While I can’t speak for the original drafts of these devotionals, I can say that be it divine province or a quality editor; each book does a great job of maintaining the voice of the individual authors while keeping each segment at a certain standard of writing.

At no point did I feel like authors were talking down to me as a reader, nor did I feel like they required a reader to lower their intellectual standards to partake in the devotional. Instead, each author did a great job of bringing the reader to the core anime subject and then carrying the reader to the spiritual application. So often, in these styles of devotionals, there are “weak connections” that feel ham-fisted or cheesy. “Finding God in Anime vol 2.” did none of these things. Instead, each author’s connection to the scriptures was clear and well written.

These devotionals take maybe 2 to 3 minutes to digest. This is perfect for the person who’s on the go. However, each one also leaves room for the reader to take things further should they choose. I enjoy it when a devotional does this type of writing. It makes the book useful to everyone who picks it up.

The Content

I was excited to see the range of the content, both with the anime themes and the spiritual application. As far as the Anime, this book pulls from sources like Full Metal Alchemist, Digimon Trainers, Cells at Work, the heart-wrenching Violet Evergarden, and so much more. I’m thankful for the range of this source material because it continues to bring value to the majority of Weebs and Otakus out there. The devotionals are not focused on one genre, such as Shonen or Shojo. Nor does it placate specifically to a particular era of Anime. This gives it an evergreen quality while challenging the reader to expand their interest in Anime.

The writers covered many topics from Salvation to forgiveness, understanding God as our Father, and spiritual warfare on the spiritual side of the content. The range tells me that the team really wanted to create content for people at many different points in their walks with Christ. I can see “mature” believers picking this up and enjoying it, those young in their faith, and even those who are interested in Christianity but aren’t sure just yet. Each devotional was very “spiritual” in conversation and left the reader with a very practical application.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this is an excellent devotional. My preview copy was digital, but I am left with a desire to pick up a physical copy. You can tell that the team who worked on this book had a passion for this project. Their writing indeed affirmed the dedication at the front of the book.

“To all the Otaku who felt alone in their Love for Anime. You’re not alone.”

Here at Geek Devotions, we give Finding God in Anime vol 2, 10 Rice balls out of 10! If you’d like to learn more about Finding God in Anime and pick up your copy, check out the link below.

https://www.lauraagrace.com/blog/finding-god-in-anime-vol-2-blog-tour-kick-off