to ban DD from watching Anime?

[SmellsLikeTeenBedroom]

My 11yo DD has just told me her group of friends (Y7) are into Anime. She has watched a couple of things they suggested and said she likes it.

This rings alarm bells for me. I've read bad things about anime: misoginistic, hyper-sexualised, pornograpgic, unhealthy body image, confusing messages about gender, furries.

However, I dont know nearly enough about this. I'm sure there must be good and bad anime (Pokemon etc) but is there a way of distinguishing (without watching every bloody video with her)? I'm inclined to just keep dd away from all of it, but maybe that's an overreaction.

I am not afraid to ban my dd from something all her friends are allowed, but feel like I need to be able to explain why, and at the moment I can't.

(Just to pre-empt any "just tell her its because I said so"/"you'rethe parent" responses: yes, obviously I know that, but if I'm creating a division between dd and the rest of her friendship group at a time when transition to secondary school and making friends has already been so disrupted, I need to know it's worth it)

It is important to acknowledge that some of these Anime are not for 12 year olds

Well yes but that's the same for any kind of animation style (eg. Rick and Morty, South Park, Archer, Family Guy)

It really depends on what anime she's watching. There are SO many different types, and yes some are inappropriate for kids and young teens, but there are many, many that are great.

Many animes also have very positive recurring themes such as sticking by your friends, resilience and determination, redemption of bad characters and giving people a second chance.

I've been to comic cons and seen young people form really lovely friendship groups through their shared interest in anime and cosplay too. Just talk to her about which ones she likes and check them out, banning it would be an over reaction and she'd probably end up watching them round a friend's house anyway.

There is a huge difference between say Spirited Away (Ghibli, truly wonderful with a great female lead character) and Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend (let's just say tentacles and leave it there).

I would say that the attitude as to what can be shown to kids in Japan is extremely variable (just compare "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" (Japan 1970s) with it's levels of violence and the hermaphrodite/trans villain to the American version "Battle of the Planets" (early 80's) which had to be massively edited for Western consumption) but there is so much variation lumped under the anime banner. It's like lumping Hatchet 3 and Driving Miss Daisy under the "Hollywood" banner.

Although there is a lot of suitable stuff, I would say though that an anime with an 18 rating tends to be massively deserving of it as the Japanese will push the sexual violence/gore to the extreme.

I'm aware of the crunchyroll app which has anime series. It's suitable at 12 and up, but some shows on there might have adult themes so parental supervision seems appropriate (as you would with other streaming apps)

Do you know the titles of the animes she's watching OP?

I've been watching anime and reading manga since I was that age. There are some really lovely animes. There are also some very explicit ones. It's like every other type of book of tv style. Some lovely, some extreme.

Just check the content of what she is getting into.

Anime is like any other media. Some is appropriate for kids, some is not. There's nothing inherently wrong about it.

Really? My son loves Anime and has watched it for years, he’s 11 next week abs loves all things Japanese, he’s taught himself how to write and is learning how to speak Japanese. Anyway I have controls over what he can see and it’s all age appropriate he can’t access stuff with anything inappropriate on his iPad. And I check his history as you do with kids just in case anything slips through. Surely you just research this and you’d discover it wasn’t all based on your preconceived ideas?... rather than a knee jerk ban?

Sailor Moon is an age appropriate series if you’re looking for something. Avatar is American but in the style of anime and it’s amazing. Pokemon is also great. Naruto is a good one. Any studio Ghibli is age appropriate, you could start off with one a week to keep her going? I think with manga you could just flip through to make sure the themes aren’t sexual or overly violent.If she wants to watch any particular series tell her to come to you and google them individually.

I do understand your concern as it can be hard to tell from the outside, but lots of anime is 100% age appropriate and really fun to watch! It will probably be a fun thing for her to get into, it just needs monitoring.

Just check the age ratings. All films have them. TV programmes the information is usually on line (that may just be recommended age so you use your judgement).
Manga books (Manga = books, Anime = films/telly) usually have age ratings printed on the cover. Something other book genres rarely have.

You want to ban something you know nothing about?

Surely the logical approach would be to find out about it and then you'll know which parameters to set?

My 16 year old DD and 12 year old DS are into anime.
Some of it is very dark and the number of 12 year olds with big boobs Is pretty disturbing
However, some of it is appropriate so do your research and steer her accordingly (and don’t accidentally buy her a Hentai Tshirt because those faces ARENT like that because they are laughing )

With regards to the films - BBFC website are the place to go if you want more info about the content.youd be best off researching some potential titles on blogs/Amazon and then digging in deeper from there

I am.not a huge anime expert bit there's some great Pg/12 ones if Studio Ghibli pitches too young - Your Name is fantastic. Ditto A Silent Voice, Mary and the with flower and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Grave of the Fireflies is amazing but a very tough watch for even adults and o would personally look at the themes around this one before suggesting it

@therocinante

Loads of anime is fine. Attack on Titan for example - very popular series, has won awards, nothing to be concerned about.

Some of AOT is a bit scary Try My Hero Academia or the basketball one I forget the name of

Also if you have an HMV near you when they reopen - have a look there. They tend to have an anime section where you can have a good physical look and are competitively priced with Amazon. if I remember correctly they tend to put together boxsets of similar level anime films

Have you ever watched the stuff she watches or are you just making assumptions based on alarmist things you have read?

There are many different types of anime, as pp have said.

Some anime will be on www.commonsensemedia.org

As a child I watched “hikaru no go” which lead to a lifelong love of the board game Go. It’s very wholesome!

Get the names of the specific anime that her friends are into and research them.
I can fairly well guarantee you that her peers are not going gaga for 30 year old Studio Ghibli films. More likely to be about series fandoms.
Try and read up on yaoi. It's extremely popular with young girls.

Fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood is my favourite anime

Attack on Titan is fab and the theme song will burn its way into your brain. Tokyo ghoul is amazing too. But a bit gory.

Some of the studio ghibli films are on Netflix so would be easy to start watching those with her.

That depends
If it’s ghost in the shell, Blood the last vampire l, she the ultimate weapon or ghibli - YABU

If it’s Akira, dragon knight, The testament of sister new devil or High school or anything even mildly hentai - YANBU

Anime just means animated, there are hundreds of genres of it. Some of it is spectacular.

I think rather than an outright ban, you need to do some research. Anime is incredibly broad, as pp have mentioned. My DD2 is very into it, but has zero interest in the hentai or violent ones. She particularly likes Haikyu (which is about volleyball) and watches Ghibli movies regularly. I've really enjoyed sharing them with her - Ponyo is probably my favourite.

I like some anime but the messaging around gender roles vary from wholesome and progressive, to super sexist. Common Sense Media isn't a bad place to read up on different series.

I would really keep her away from fan sites on the internet and Tumblr. It's fine just chatting with her friends about age-appropriate series. My kids love Avatar: the last airbender which I know isn't "proper" anime but is in an anime style.