Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence – Episode 1

What’s it about? Cecilia is a kind and caring saint who’s more than willing to help the townsfolk with their problems.  Her job is so exhausting she doesn’t have the energy to take care of the church, so it’s up to a good-natured pastor named Lawrence to look after things and take care of Cecilia.

The premise of this show amused me.  I grew up watching telenovelas, and if there’s one trope that remains persistent it’s priests or nuns breaking taboos by falling in love.  It was always hilarious seeing how serious and intense those relationships were treated, but that was often undercut by the church’s blatant use of their ideology to justify colonial violence. Even if Christian imagery is often solely used for aesthetic purposes in anime and manga, when I consider the real-world violence actually done by the church there isn’t a lot of goodwill left in me when they’re depicted in any medium.  

Having said all of that, this show is light-hearted.  It might be weird for some folks that aren’t used to seeing Catholic priests as romantic interests (lol), but outside of its religious backdrop, it’s a standard romantic comedy.  Most of the time, Cecilia is blushing her heart out and the mere idea of being in a relationship with Lawrence is enough to melt her into a puddle.  While it’s a bit tame, the one joke that was funny was when her umbrella-sharing plans were ruined when it stopped raining.  The timing and disappointment in her eyes got a genuine chuckle out of me.  Lawrence is the typical oblivious male lead who doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body.  If he’s to be faulted for anything, it’s that he doesn’t allow Cecilia to do any chores because he’s afraid of her getting hurt.  

Thankfully, Cecilia does call him out on his behavior, but it remains to be seen if he’ll change his attitude.  Another problem is the depiction of Cecilia’s outfit in comparison to the other townswomen.  While her saint’s clothing isn’t revealing, it’s noticeable that her design is very “anime” compared to the more grounded costumes of the townfolk.  If this series was in the hands of an incompetent writer, Cecilia could’ve easily been fetishized or put into more “compromising positions.”  Granted, there’ll probably be some moral dilemma on Lawrence’s part on if he should break his vows to be with Cecilia or not, but honestly, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that a serious plotline will burst their happy bubble. 

Lastly, I’m not sure if this is an age-gap romance since the show is never clear on how old Cecilia is.  She could very well be a teenager or a short adult woman; either way, I’m just glad she doesn’t look like a literal child since there’s so much anime that depict adult women in childlike bodies.  

I don’t think this has enough staying power for me, but if readers are okay with the religious set dressing then this slice-of-life romantic comedy might be for you.  Considering how bad Classroom for Heroes was, this feels like a decent wrap up for the summer premieres.