The Rebirth of Buddha, Religious Anime Film

I love religious cults: they have the wackiest ideas about the order of things, god(s) and flying spaghetti monsters. And then they go commit mass suicide, or take over the world... More often the former. Still, none comes to mind with such an amusing and contradictory name as "Happy Science" (Koufuku no Kagaku), one of Japan's controversial religious organizations.



Happy Science has been spreading love and peace for more than two decades, while infiltrating the political scene and even the anime industry. Soon enough, another anime film sponsored by them will follow. It's called Buddha Satan Buddha Saitan, or The Rebirth of Buddha, and according to its official website it should premiere on October 17, 2009.

ANN has further production details, and gia deciphered this here story outline.

"Set 2500 years after Buddha's death, i.e. in the modern day, Buddha is resurrected to save society from the destruction it has wrought. In more detail: a high school girl named Sayoko is in love with a reporter and wants to be one herself, until he kills himself by throwing himself in front of a train. The shock dumps Sayoko into a heavy depression, where she nearly kills herself too, only to be saved by a university student. The student, Yuuki, is on his way to meet someone who, on TV, pronounced himself to be Buddha... insert appearance of some kind of demon here."

Oh, and don't confuse it with the other upcoming anime film Buddha. That one is expected to descend upon us sinners in 2010, from Tezuka Productions - the studio carrying over the name of the late "god of manga" Osamu Tezuka, whose homonymous manga is being reincarnated for the big screen.