For those who haven’t seen this post I wrote for the Superversive website, here’s a link to an article I did on Evangelizing Fandom:
Evangelizing Fandom: Faith on Zi
by Caroline Furlong
I have written many times about how the anime Zoids: Chaotic Century influenced my storytelling. This anime series, which follows a boy in a semi-Western setting on the alien planet of Zi, had giant mechanical animals that humans could pilot. These magnificent creatures still hold a place in my imagination, and I would not be the writer I am today without the inspiration this show gave me.
But there is a part of the series which affected me almost as much as the giant zoids prowling across the screen. It is a small item, but in the context of the times – present and past – it is important. This is the myriad small allusions made to Christianity throughout the series.
During the time period when Zoids aired, there were Christian shows and some Christian-leaning series on the air. The most well-known would be Touched by An Angel, but Mysterious Ways and Early Edition did not shy away from portraying Christianity positively as well. The fantastic and/or sci-fi fare I prefered, however, was pickier. For all their excellence, the later Star Trek spin-offs and similar series were rather thin on allusions to the Faith. When they did bring it up, it was largely to mischaracterize it in some way.