The Summer 2023 Anime Preview Guide

Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence

Saint Cecilia is beloved by the townspeople—not only is she elegant and composed, she benevolently shares her wisdom with all who seek it. That is, until the last person has left—at which point she becomes totally hopeless. Only Pastor Lawrence, is keeping the Saint put together enough to do her duties...and though she may test him, it's all in a day's work.

Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence is based on Hazano Kazutake's Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence (Shiro Seijo to Kuro Bokushi) manga. It streams on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

I must confess that I spent most of this premiere distracted and largely laughing for the wrong reasons. For the record, it wasn't a mean laugh, but there is something fundamentally hilarious about trying to set up a fluffy romantic comedy starring a Catholic priest. It's like trying to make a car racing movie set in Amish Country – you're going to run into some pretty serious problems immediately.

That's not to say the show is terrible or condemnable for not sticking to a strictly accurate portrayal of medieval European Catholicism. Lord knows Western media has plenty of off-the-mark portrayals of Japanese religion and traditions. It's more that it's just really amusing to see the famously non-romantic Christian clergy's aesthetics applied to a familiar anime dynamic. There's an entire scene in this episode about Cecelia fawning over a wedding dress on display and imagining marrying Lawrence. In almost any other circumstance, that would be a perfectly valid bit of ship-teasing, but these two have a rather significant obstacle. I'm sorry your holiness, and I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that is one of many things that an ordained priest definitely cannot do. I'm also not sure how the Pope would feel about Cecelia's zettai ryouiki, but who knows, maybe this show takes place during Alexander VI's tenure.

Outside of that unintentional comedy, this premiere is fine. It's cute, fluffy, and goes down easy, but isn't particularly memorable. Ironically, setting up a relationship between a priest and a nun does make some of the more skittish tropes from anime romances work here. In a more typical setup, Cecelia blushing out of her mind when Lawrence holds her hand or touches her shoulder would seem entirely too precious for a teenager, but here there's some actual justification. Otherwise, it's your basic romcom fair, complete with a clueless male lead and a lot of frantic blushing from our smitten heroine. A soft and appealing color palette bolsters it, and while not sporting Doga Kobo's highest production values, everything here looks very nice. Its biggest sin (so to speak) is just leaving little impact on the memory. It might work for a soft, sweet treat, but I can't imagine sticking around for it.

There isn't another way to say this: I found Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence almost unbearably dull. It feels mean to say so, given that it's intended to be a wholesome slice-of-life about a priest and a child of indeterminate age and sainthood in a pastoral wonderland of a town. From the pastel warmth of the colors to the cutesy way Cecilia comports herself under Lawrence's gentle eye, it is aimed at viewers' cynical hearts. And if it was about animals rather than a (the) church, I might have bitten.

As it stands, though, there are too many discordant elements here lurking beneath the frilly surface. To I'm sure no one's surprise, one of those is Cecilia's outfit; the fact that she's wearing a miniskirt and over-the-knee boots when every other lady in the story is covered to the ankles (including the seamstress, who wears pants) is too blatantly fetishy for a purportedly wholesome tale, mainly because there is no conceivable reason why she should dress like that. (Especially since she wears a veil, which typically indicates modesty.) There's also not a lot of indication that Cecilia is a saint or holy. Sure, she can see “angels” of the church, but the way they're drawn is more in line with fairies, and given that that's the only thing she demonstrates as “saintly,” it all feels a little fishy. Lawrence specifically tells her not to respond to requests for a miracle when they go out, which indicates that she can't perform them. Are she and Lawrence engaged in a con? Probably not, but it still doesn't do much to showcase any of her supposed divinity.

The slice-of-life elements are perfectly fine. There's shopping, eating, and a little baking, and Cecilia harbors a major crush on Lawrence. The townsfolk are universally lovely people, the setting is picturesque in the extreme, and I could see someone finding the entire experience very soothing. But for me, the most entertaining thing about the entire (nicely drawn and animated) episode was the newspaper called “News Times,” which is clearly the country version of Moriarty the Patriot's “Dairy Lodner.” I'd rather sit outside to experience pastoral sweetness than keep going with this, but if that's something you enjoy in anime, I think it'll fit the bill.

Don't saints have to be, you know…dead? I'm not Catholic, but even I can tell you that this show did no research. Zero stars. I'm Kidding, of course. I just figured I'd at least toss a second joke into the mix since Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence really only do have one. If you saw last season's Otaku Elf, you pretty much know the bit before Saint Cecelia even starts, too: To nearly everyone around, the titular Lady Saint is the picture of divine grace, but only Pastor Lawrence knows that, once he and Cecelia are alone, she becomes a lazy goofball. That's it. That's the joke. I hope you're amused by the sight gag of Cecilia getting soaked in God's rays whenever normal people see her, because that's, like, half of the premiere. The other half is nothing more than your usual slice-of-life rom-com shenanigans. Cecilia and Lawrence go shopping. Cecilia and Lawrence get caught in the rain. Cecilia gets embarrassed when Lawrence sees her in pajamas. Et cetera. Honestly, I'm not even sure what the Catholic-ish aesthetic brings to the table, other than the costumes. Otherwise, this is about as bog-standard (and boring) as it gets. Ah, well, I suppose it could have been worse. You know, considering some of Doga Kobo's past productions, it could have been a lot worse. As it stands, Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence is another inoffensively forgettable comedy in a season that is already chock full of 'em. That's not a crime, but it's enough to convince me that this is another one for the Summer Waste Basket.

Oddly, of all the shows this season, this is the one I'm finding it hardest to write about. In general, it's easy to write about anime that are good—and even easier to write about terrible ones. Even the “mixed bag” premiere episodes don't pose any difficulty—after all, you're just pointing out the positives and the negatives. But what do you talk about when a show is the anime equivalent of fluff—not bad nor good just something with little in the way of concrete substance? Well, let's start from the top.

Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence is a super-cutesy show about a priest and a female saint living together in a medium-sized medieval town. Everything is based around a will-they-won't-they relationship between Cecilia and Lawrence. While Cecilia is head-over-heels for Lawrence, Lawrence remains completely oblivious. They listen to the problems of the townspeople, go out shopping, and laze a bit around their house. That's it for the plot in this episode.

That said, there are a few hints at something more going on. The episode begins with a scene hinting that Lawrence is somehow special and ends with Cecilia vowing to protect him—but from who or what and why are all a complete mystery.

As for the characters, while Lawrence is largely one-note—overprotective and romantically oblivious—Cecilia is surprisingly well-developed. Each scene teaches us about her and her various eccentricities. She is inherently lazy yet professional in front of others (save Lawrence). She is unable to lie but is capable of dodging the truth. She gets jealous easily and is unable to hide her emotions when it comes to Lawrence. She even has supernatural powers and can see and communicate with angels—even if she shows them little in the way of reverence.

In the end, this episode has no stakes and little in the way of the plot. It lives or dies on how much you enjoy Cecilia and her reactions to the world around her. And while I will admit to finding her endearing, that alone is nowhere near enough to get me to come back for a second episode. It's just too much fluff and too little substance.

Doga Kobo tends to adapt series that have one joke and on paper sound like they would work a lot better as a short. They bring these single-joke mangas to life with lush animation, bright colors, and detailed character acting. Sometimes, through a combination of clever humor, and strong direction, you end up with a series that's way funnier than it has any right to be, like Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle. But sometimes, you can direct the hell out of something but there's just no saving the flat characters and dull jokes. Such is the case with Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence.

Not to be overly harsh, but at this point, I would like to shoot all joke-free“comedies” about ~quirky~ that are more interested in being cute and “soothing” than funny into the sun and put the people who make them into a gulag. Wait, no, that was overly harsh. However, if you are not charmed by the ~shocking mismatch~ between Cecilia's public persona and who she is in private, you are going to find it intensely dull. Perhaps a kinder version of me would find it relatable since the pressure Cecilia faces to act a certain way in front of others is not entirely unlike what I've felt working in the care profession. However, just like Cecilia is lazy when she is not on duty, I am harsh and judgmental when not teaching and I was put off by how childish she acted.

The romance angle did nothing for me either, since Lawrence and Cecilia are only slightly more interesting than the protagonists of My Tiny Senpai, and I found their immature flirtation to be nothing but frustrating. It's the kind of thing that has made me extremely suspect when someone describes a romance as wholesome: puerile, inert, and utterly sexless. This was not helped by Cecilia's voice actress, newcomer Hime Sawada, who plays her as exactly the kind of shrill anime girl that makes people who don't watch anime say, “I don't have a problem with anime, but I just can't deal with the high pitched voices!”

On a more neutral note, I was a bit thrown by the show's usage of Catholic imagery. I don't subscribe to any religious beliefs, let alone the kind where I would be offended by this, but it's strange seeing a character in a supposedly sacred role wearing an absolute-territory-baring miniskirt paired with thigh-high stockings. Lawrence wears what is undeniably a priest's frock, but the “angels” Cecilia communicates with aren't really… what angels are supposed to be. Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, but Catholicism hasn't historically been big on women acting as faith leaders. But like I said, I'm not a believer so it's not like it offended me.

Based on writing alone, this would be a one-star anime, but also? It's beautiful. The animation is fluid, the colors soft, and the character acting is on-point, even if I don't like the characters themselves. Plus, the opening and ending by ClariS and sasanomaly, respectively, are excellent and I'm going to pull them up to listen to without watching the show.

And thus, the preview guide ends the same way it began: so bored by a show that I'm exhausted by the sheer effort of keeping my focus from drifting away.