Settling The Dispute: Is Anime Really For Kids?

Bernadette Negron-Taylor, OwlFeed Journalist

        Is anime really for kids? Upon first glance, some may say anime is meant for children, but others have many reasons why anime is not appropriate for kids to view. 

        “While there are quite a few shows aimed towards children, most anime is aimed towards teenagers and young adults. This can be seen from the ratings given to the shows,” according to Quora.com.

      There’s a huge population of animes that have a common theme of being too graphic for children, such as Elfen Lied, Attack on Titan, Parasyte and many more.

       Elfen Lied, one of many things children should not watch, warns viewers that violence, blood and certain private areas of bodies will be shown.

       Attack on Titan demonstrates young people being taught how to kill and there is a lot of blood and people dying shown in this particular anime.

 Photo Credit: Anabeatrize Jurado

     Parasyte — the name itself kind of sounds un-kid friendly — show demonstrates many examples of people being killed and harmed. 

      Anime is called a cartoon because it is animated like cartoons are, but not all animated shows are considered kid friendly, so why should anime be an exclusion from that?  

       “Addiction. You’ll get addicted to anime a lot and start watching it whenever you get time,” according to Quora.Com. “You’ll easily get emotional, so yes, anime does, in fact, alter your mentality. Whether it’s in a positive or negative way depends on you. Anime can affect our mentality in many different ways depending on which genres you are referring to.” 

Anime is not the same thing as cartoons, despite what many people say. Anime is considered a form of art put into action, meaning most animes have a lot more work put into their art, for things like detail and character. The plots given in many anime shows are obviously made for more mature audiences. 

“These series were also heavily censored in the dubbing process, making these already kid-oriented anime seem even more childish. Animation in Japan isn’t all Digimon and DBZ,” according to Quora.com.

Anime is one of the reasons why so many parents have certain apps off-limits for their kids. The population of people watching anime is people of the ages 14 to 43 — that should be a huge sign as to how anime is not made directly for children.