Fool Night and Reconciling Forgiveness
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I’ve been pondering on the lovely, painful, and deeply spiritual act of forgiveness lately. We know that Jesus instructs us to forgive (Matthew 6:14-15) and that it’s through Jesus’ blood that we’re forgiven, but what happens if the person you’re forgiving chooses to remain in his or her sin? What if reconciliation with the person isn’t possible? Where does that leave us?
Being in the position where the person you’re forgiving won’t or can’t receive it is a difficult one. And it’s precisely where Hourai finds herself during the events of Fool Night volume four.
Fool Night is a creative, apocalyptic work set in a world where oxygen is in short supply. Many people have become deeply impoverished, and to survive for a few more years, they agree (or are forced) to be transflorated, a process by which they progressively transform into plant-like creatures called spiriflora that help provide the world with oxygen. Eventually, the patients lose their humanity completely.
Hourai is part of a police force that supports this process. Translforation is of course an ethical nightmare, made even worse by indicious profiteers who imprison children and turn them into spiriflora for the eventual purpose of making them into pricey furniture. In the panel above (spoilers ahead), a spiriflora has become a serial killer, bent on revenge after a sibling was victimized in this way. Hourai didn’t cause the incident, but she knew about it and looked the other way.
Hourai isn’t able to communicate with that spiriflora who nearly killed her. But if she could, I think she would plead for forgiveness and also forgive the spiriflora for its crimes. For many of us, the forgiving isn’t necessarily the hard part since we understand very well our positions as sinful beings and desire to obey Jesus, who instructs us to forgive. The more challenging part is what happens afterwards when—just as with the murdering spiriflora—the one we’re forgiving is unrepentant.
It’s natural for us to wonder if forgiving really is the right thing to do in such an instance when the person being forgiven continues to hurt you or others. Doesn’t that set a bad example? And how can I reconcile with someone who doesn’t think they did anything wrong?
The answer to the former is no, it’s not a bad example—quite the opposite, actually. It’s imitating Christ. When we forgive those who have inflicted deep pains on us or others, we’re following the model of our Savior, who endured the cross to ensure we, who inflicted his wounds, are forgiven. We might not feel good about the act in the moment, but we’re likely to grow in our faith in the long term. We’re also being good witnesses and maybe even shining Christ’s light on the perpetrator by offering that forgiveness.
As for the latter question, reconciliation isn’t required. It may not even be suggested, especially if the other person is a danger to you. But what’s amazing is that regardless of the other person’s state, reconciliation always plays a part in the forgiveness process, though it’s centered on a vertical relationship, not a horizontal one. We forgive because Jesus forgave, and not only that—he hung on the cross so that God would reconcile us to him. I often reflect on Jesus’ death when praying about forgiveness; the Father’s love helps strengthen me when faced with the prospect of forgiving one whom I really don’t want to forgive.
I don’t know if Hourai will ever get the chance to grant kindness to the spiriflora who harmed her or achieve a healing anything like the one we as Christians know—she lives in a bleak world full of darkness and pain. My hope, though, is that if you have a relationship that is in a similarly bleak place, you’ll ask God for the strength to forgive (or to begin forgiving, since it may take weeks, months, or even years to do so). Ultimately, it’s only by his grace that we can move forward and love like him in a broken world.
BtT in Review
It’s sometimes hard to comprehend that God would love us for who we are. The manhwa The Villainess’s Bestie, though, points toward this truth: He finds delight in our unique selves.
This week, we also threw it back, wayyyy back, to Gundam 0079, which illustrates the idea that God is fighting for and with us.
AniMarch Madness ends in just a couple of hours! Voting on the final match (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End vs. Spy x Family) started yesterday and concludes this morning. Thank you, friends, for joining in by voting on the play-in matches several weeks ago and for all those who have participated by voting in the tourney. Visit the site later today to see who won!
As the winter season comes to an end, we’ve posted our usual video featuring our picks for the top OPs of the season. Did we miss any? What was your favorite?
Speaking of seasonal anime, the spring anime season is about to start! Actually, a couple of series have gotten a head start, including I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!, which we wrote a first impression piece for. But they start hitting hard in a few days—make sure to check out our master post of spring 2025 anime first impressions in the coming weeks to see which new anime you should check out!
On Reader’s Corner this week, we cover the latest volumes of Issak and Love is Dark; the single-volume light novel, Kaiju No. 8: Exclusive on the Third Division; and more!
Finally, Fanart Friday posts last week featured the family currently competing for our AniMarch Madness crown as well as the women of Chainsaw Man.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and God bless!