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An no fan service/no upskirt/cleavage shots.
And no racist depictions.
I’m sorry sir we don’t make those
So basically Miyazaki movies
Definitely Monogatari or To Love-ru or KissxSis
I was going to say Knights of Sydonia, but in not sure all of those are strictly followed. At least there’s nothing overt. And a fantastic sci-fi to boot.
Edit: started re-watching on a lark and there’s A LOT more overt fan service than I remembered. At least it passes the Bechdel Test.
It’s lemonaid, I swear!
That doesn’t narrow it down as much as you think. What genre are you looking for?
fantasy isekai
Campfire cooking in another world and Welcome to demon school, Iruma-kun! are my main recommendations. There’s also some trash that would fit your criteria, but I wouldn’t recommend watching that (like that one slime tamer anime I can’t recall the title of). Also a dozen or so otome villainess reincarnation anime should fit your criteria, those are getting pretty popular now, though I haven’t watched any of the anime yet. Also some older stuff like Inuyasha might be up your alley, but honestly it’s been too long since I’ve seen them in their entirety, so I can’t really remember. Obviously Isekai is by far the most fan service-y theme in every possible way since most of it leans into power fantasy aspects to flatter the target demographic. In fact, if this was an actual honest question, I would recommend looking at the broader fantasy category, where there is a lot more variety and quality to be found.
I was mostly messing around, but thank you for the in depth write up. since we’re on the subject, what do you recommend for fantasy?
Frieren is the obvious recommendation, with character-driven storytelling focused on philosophical themes. It is genuinely one of the best shows I’ve seen and it’s rare that my expectations for a manga adaptation are blown out of the water so completely. Delicious in Dungeon is also excellent and has more of a focus on little details and creatures (and food, of course) with a very different approach to storytelling and a smaller scope.
I’m a big fan of the comedy and character design in Helck, even if the production quality of the anime can’t quite match up to my other recs. The manga is definitely visually superior. The contrast between the darker aspects of the story and the comedic delivery is pretty unique as well.
Mushishi is an episodic seinen anime focused on mythology and has some of the most beautiful background art, though it has more of a historical setting with supernatural fantasy elements. If virtual fantasy settings are allowed, then I recommend Shangri-La Frontier, which looks like Isekai at first glance, but thankfully is not. It’s also by far the most shonen anime on this list, but very entertaining.
Those are what comes to mind, but I’m sure I’m missing some obvious picks.
I’ve seen most of those (and read all of helck), except for mushishi and shangri la; I’ll add them to my list!
I think most of my list applies
Maybe without
Steins;Gate because of that scene where a guy gropes a girl (though everyone rightfully calls him out for being a creep)
Castlevania because sex scene
Akudama Drive because Doctor is heavily sexualized
Fullmetal Alchemist because Lust is Lust
Cowboy Bebop because Faye is kinda sexualized
Supercrooks because the intro (which is a bop and you should listen to it anyway)
Redline because of one scene with boobs
Ghost In The Shell because boobs
Niea_7 because the very racist Indian stereotype
Bubblegum Crisis because boobs
Read Or Die because cleavage
Cyberpunk Edgerunners because nudity (it’s Cyberpunk lol)
That looks like a lot of exceptions, but it’s only 12 out of 57 shows/movies
To be clear; nudity is fine, just not all-the-time, male-gaze shots put in akin to commercial breaks. Like Gurren Lagan; someone told me to try that one and ye gods the amount of times it was about boobs was ridiiiiiculous.
There’s a lot of terrible anime, but there’s also a lot of fantastic anime. There’s a lot of anime.
Just like with books. Or movies. Or videogames. It’s a medium, not a genre.
Not at all “just like.” You don’t have to wade through 90% of literary fiction or Hollywood films in order to find a handful of titles that don’t sexualize children or are otherwise fucking gross.
You do have to do that to find a handful of titles that aren’t displaying blatant racism, misogyny, homophobia and/or transphobia. So, yeah, 90% of Hollywood films are in fact fucking gross.
How does it feel to intentionally make a dishonest false equivalence that you, I, and everyone reading knows is bullshit? I’d feel weird about it, even if I didn’t have a ton of self-respect.
I don’t know, you tell me how it feels.
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Vast majority of anime have sexualization of minors tho
mainstream amine maybe, but there is A LOT of anime out there.
your comment is like saying that Hollywood only ever made super hero movies.
Nah… Maybe the vast majority of what you watch but there’s so many out there spanning decades.
Astro Boy. Samurai Pizza Cats. Ergo Proxy. Ninja Scroll. Akira. Ghost in the Shell. Cowboy Bebop. Battle Angel Alita. Yowamushi Pedal.
On and on it goes…
Vast majority? Eh, maybe. I watch a crazy amount of anime, and I’ve only had a few of the shows I’m interested in pull that, and typically I just don’t continue watching. The one trope that I really dislike that gets shoehorned into almost any anime is the over-infatuation of a sibling. I’m not talking incest or anything, but for some reason there’s almost always a character who is obsessed with their sister/brother, and it weirds me out. Not enough to stop watching if the anime is otherwise good, but definitely enough to stop watching if the anime is just soso.
Now, oversexualization of adult characters? That’s almost unavoidable. I tend to just ignore it, until I show an anime to someone who hasn’t seen anime before and then I’m hyper aware of it. That’s why when introducing people to anime I usually pick Death Note or Fullmetal Alchemist. These anime have a good dose of the anime goofiness, but very little fanservice, almost none.
If you’ve been keeping count, I’m curious to see your data.
Only if you go explicitly looking for it, yeah.
“Erm acturally shes canonically 100,000,000 years old, she just has the body of a 14 year old” -☝️🤓
I hate this, e.g. the pairing of Buffy with the 400-year-old Angel. Vampire romance stories are full of this shit and it’s so creepy.
Its pedophilia, quite blatantly it should be banned
Honestly the century old vampire entrancing pretty young women is a standard vampire story trope. See just about every vampire story.
The depiction of pedophilia is not against the law as far as I’m aware. Not in Canada at least. I don’t really think Buffy the Vampire Slayer should be banned.
I like the story of afrutera but the female lead is a child like several hundred year old girl. Male lead is a teen schoolboy and they bang… Also added a other female protagonist to the party that’s well endowed because boobs.
I like parts of this show but it is just super generic harem anime a lot of the time and not really that good.
Minor compliant:
Like with
spoiler
Annoint
being
spoiler
a new body for that one healer
I feel like they explained away “And we can reverse it so no harm done”, the protagonists win by miles every time and never have any setbacks.
Major complaint:
One time I literally paused the show, it was when they get this random dude in the desert.
He’s in the backseat of the truck and I paused it thinking “why is this scene wrong”
That’s like the only time I remember a guy ever being in the backseat, it’s like only ever been female love-interests that are part of his (not-a-)harem. They have so many characters (literally the whole class got isekai’d) but no one gets much screen time unless they’re Yue or a girl with a huge bust that gets added to the not-a-harem
Yeah I get you.
What I like is the fact that the protagonist has a underrated skill and ends up using his earth knowledge and creation skills to make fun shit.
Crafting with the combination of magic and tech is uncommon. Also under dog struggled to survive. He’s not OP out of the gate. Lost his arm early on and ate rotten meat to survive. Not sure I’d survive the shit he went through in the beginning.
It gets real generic and fan service-y after the setup. Also the “underage” vampire…
The setup is better than say, Solo Leveling, but once its done it gets a lot blander just like Solo Leveling.
Granted Solo Leveling has way more issues and is 90% carried by good animation.
I also think the protagonist from Arifureta has a really cool niche ability but it really is not used creatively. For all intents and purposes after the first dungeon his power is “gun” (with “gun” being flexible) and sometimes vehicles or a shield, all of which he got from first dungeon iirc.
It’s creative in a sense that he made firearms out of essentially just magic and knowledge but like… it never evolved past that. Hell I’d take a dust explosion every once in a while or something, thermite, acid. But the focus was “aura” and edginess rather than a compelling or clever protagonist.
That said I still plan to finish the newest season and will prob watch whatever comes out next. The aesthetic got me and ig thats the point
Maybe because I got into anime from Toonami and adult swim, but I never been subjected nor had an interest in this kind of anime. It always seems corny. Then again I’m more of a sci fi/space/giant robot kind of guy. The space colonies that are like biodome like cities are the coolest
Reposting from the last time this subject came up
Bolded titles are my top recs. Series listed in chronological order of my seeing them:
Steins;Gate (correction: episode 8 unfortunately has one character grope another one. Everyone rightfully calls him out for being a creepass)
Castlevania (shut up yes it is)
Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song
Violet Evergarden (not the movie)
Hyouka (skip the ova)
Belle
A Silent Voice
Baccano
Deca-dence
Trigun
Akudama Drive
ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Dept.
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Spy Family
Mushishi
5 Centimeters Per Second
Afro Samurai
Your Lie In April
Nichijou
Odd Taxi
Cowboy Bebop
Canaan
Sk8 the Infinity
Supercrooks
Bocchi the Rock
House of Five Leaves
Weathering With You
Haibane Renmei
Samurai Flamenco
BNA
Redline
Planetes
Last Exile
Witch Hunter Robin
Noir
Wolf’s Rain
Boogiepop Phantom
Boogiepop And Others
Ghost In The Shell (all timelines)
Niea_7
Serial Experiments Lain
Megalo Box
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
Samurai Champloo
Bubblegum Crisis
Ergo Proxy
Read Or Die (OVA and The TV)
Madlax
Moribito
Xam’d: Lost Memories
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Kyousougiga
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
Cyberpunk Edgerunners
Sonny Boy
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Sora no Manimani
Apocalypse Hotel
Thus concludes the exhaustive list of animes I’ve watched where I didn’t have to put up with any sexualization of minors
I don’t even know what’s on that one page
Delicious in Dungeon, Frieren, Hands off my Eizouken, and Bocchi the Rock probably
Edited to add Spy x Family, and I suppose Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood depending on if one feels Winry is sexualized.
Medalist
By the grace of gods
Non non biyori
Laid back camp
The ancient magus bride
New game
Himouto Umaru chan
In the land of Leadale
I’ve been killing slimes for 300 years
Kuma kuma kuma bear
Log horizon
Ranking of kings
Shadows house
Spy x family
Spice and Wolf
Ascendance of a bookworm
Girls und panzer
Girls Under Panzer put all the fan service into a separate series of short (under 5 mins) OVAs, so it’s avoidable but does exist …
Prince of tennis I think is clean
I feel like campfire cooking would fall into this as well
My daughter (11) wants to watch more anime than what’s on Netflix. Are these good for girls that age, you’d guess?
Frieren is very violent. Amazing show, but definitely not for kids.
Bocchi has exactly one fanservice gag I can recall, but it’s a fairly tame one. Probably fine, the whole rest of the show has nothing else inappropriate I can think of. It is sub-only though, so I guess it really depends on whether she’s fine with reading subtitles?
Delicious in Dungeon, some violence but nothing gory, compared to Frieren I don’t think it’s too much.
I haven’t seen the other one that was mentioned so I can’t speak for it.
Honestly I’d say it depends on your daughter and what you think she can handle. I’m not a parent, so it’s hard for me to judge. Maybe screen a few episodes for yourself and decide what you think is appropriate?
Edit: Though just to add one more nomination for you, Little Witch Academia immediately comes to mind as a show I think would be absolutely perfect for that age.
Delicious has a bunch of fanservice but it’s all a joke and entirely focused on the dwarf character who is an old man.
Ooo yes Little Witch Academia is perfect
My dad let me rent an anime when I was 11 or 12. He was like “eh get whatever, it’s cartoons.”
I chose Ninja Scroll.
I turned out fine hahaha
For those unititiated, this anime movie includes a woman who is literally toxic to sleep with. Her body poisons any of her partner and they die shortly after.
This is confirmed with a scene where someone sleeps with her against her will. It is very not appropriate for a 12 year old.
It was absolutely not appropriate. Add to that the HORRIFICALLY gratuitous dismemberment, decapitation, and other gruesome acts of torture… the fucking honestly was the LEAST of the issue.
My little brain was like “whoaaaa… anime is bad ass!”
Then I moved on to stuff like Azumanga, Excel Saga, and Cat Soup. Yknow, the hardcore stuff.
My 11 year old sister’s recommendation for 11 year old girls: Sk8 the Infinity
It’s a campy sports anime about an underground skateboarding gang where people skate “to the death” (nobody dies).
It’s on Crunchyroll or wherever you get your anime ;)
As an enjoyer of non-fanservice Animé, but knowing how different people around the world have different attitudes to appropriateness, I’m going to say that you’re going to have to carefully filter any list yourself.
For example, all of Girls Under Panzer is free from fan service / sexualization, (apart from the short OVAs which are nothing but that stuff) … but some people don’t like it’s playful attitude to WW2 history.
SuperCub is another series that features zero sexualisation, but contains themes around depression, isolation, and struggling with interpersonal relationships.
Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, again no sexualization but features fighting against patriarchal systems and a love story of lesbanins.
It’s possible that none of these are appropriate for your daughter, when I was 11 I would have devoured them and come back for more.
Then there’s stuff like Born in Abyss which looks like a cutesy kids adventure but then descends into multiple layers of horror … so, tread carefully.
Eizouken, absolutely
I mentioned it above, but i think you should check out “campfire cooking in a strange world with my unique skill.” There’s some monster violence but no people get hurt, for what that’s worth. Overall, thematically, it’s very light and comedic. There might be a few curse words but nothing crazy i don’t think…
i wasn’t watching it with the lens of how it would be for children so your mileage may vary, but it was very light-hearted and silly.
If she has creative passions, she might love Hands Off My Eizouken. It’s a show about 3 high school girls who start their own anime club, and work on making a short animation for their first project. The girls are all just girls, weird fun gremlins, whacky passionate kids who want to make something cool together. I can’t remember anything problematic, they even managed to avoid sexualizing a bath episode, but you should screen it first obviously.
Bocchi would be great for any kid who has had or does have trouble fitting in due to being quirky or different, and has a similar premise of girls getting together to be creative but a different (but also good) vibe.
Agreeing with the other posters that Frieren wouldn’t be a good choice yet. Delicious in Dungeon might be, but that would be kid dependent and another you would want to screen first to see how you think she’d take it. The tone is mostly light and goofy but there are definitely some scary moments in there.
Missingno mentioned Little Witch Academia and I would absolutely second that, it’s cute and wholesome and definitely appropriate for kids
Maybe Saihate No Paladin, Nichijou, and Azumanga Daioh as well.
I love Azumanga, but Nichijou might be one of my favorites of all time. It’s got Azumanga vibes but cranks everything up to 100.
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This is the first time I see someone other than me mention Eizouken. One of my favorite anime
It’s so good! It’s one of my absolute favorites too. The highschool girls are just all believable and grounded characters with real personalities and quirks. The whole thing is really well done.
Oh no, im almost out of good anime :c
Skullface Bookseller Honda-san is very respectable, though completely bonkers.
Full Metal Alchemist brotherhood, maybe.
Yup it’s only one I can think of in the good animes that doesn’t glorify unhealthy relationships.
Them learning to let go of their mom was good. Very rare.
Winry is kinda sexualised, but only mildly, and not often
Eh, they exist. You’ve got classics like Death Note and more recent stuff like Frieren. It’s definitely a short list though.
All the classics like the Ghibli stuff. Lots of more serious stuff doesnt have those issues either like Vinland Saga or Attack on Titan. Also cute stuff like Yuru Camp.
It’s not that short, you just need to pick a genre different from shounen if you don’t like fanservice. Also many older shounen are good, think about the Digimon, Pokémon and Gundam franchises to name a few famous ones.
Sadly, Frieren justifies genocide against creatures with free will and intelligence.
And so does Lord of the Rings. It’s fantasy, having obviously good people and obviously bad people you kill without remorse is part of the genre.
Yes, and that is exactly the moral dilemma Tolkien had. He believed that killing orcs are wrong unless there is a very good reason, so he would have thought it was wrong to kill demons unless there is a very good reason.
I think the orcs/demons being hell-bent on killing humans is a sufficiently good reason.
Tolkien disagrees with you.
I don’t think he does. The whole point of Sauron trying to enslave Middle Earth is exactly the justification you need for the mass slaughter of the “enemy”. If the orcs were spending the days idly farming and smoking hobbit pipes, you would have a whole other argument against genocide.
Why is that sad? The depiction of demons as creatures that are incapable of empathy and exploit human compassion as an evolutionary strategy is interesting and makes for good drama and moral conflicts in the show. I’m honestly tired of the standard plot about demons just being misunderstood poor little babies that humans bully for seemingly no reason. I understand why that is a popular theme - it resonates with most of our own history after all, but it’s been done to absolute death.
They are shown to have morality and free will, so there are some who can follow and believe our morality. Every time Frieren fires first she is in the wrong.
I would also enjoy that kind of story, but then the author wanted to make demons interesting and gave them free will and morality. This is what ruins the show for me.
They do have free will but where have you seen any depiction of morality as humans understand it? You also need to understand that a characters thoughts and actions are up to your own interpretation and do not necessarily reflect the authors opinions. Even if I were to disagree with Frieren the character as strongly as you seem to, then it still wouldn’t detract from my enjoyment of the show. I don’t need my entertainment to regurgitate my own morals to me.
The morality I speak of is the one of hierarchy and magical power. The fact that they have both a moral system and free will means that they can chose to adopt another moral system. Frieren can’t know if every demon follows the same system.
You either haven’t watched or are making up headcanon to justify your opinion.
What disagreement do you have with what I’ve said? I’ve watched the anime and even read through the manga, up to when they defeat the golden demon.
Other people have already provides detailed examples, while you have not, in this thread AND one 2 weeks ago. I don’t see any point in arguing with you because you’ve clearly decided you don’t like the show and that’s ok, but going on every thread where frieren comes up and insisting it’s glorifying actual human genocide is ridiculous and exhausting.
you dropped this, /s
Sorry to say this, but this a genuine belief I have that makes me unable to enjoy Frieren :(
I hope that the writer solves this conundrum by either making it clear that demons don’t have free will, or make it so that Frieren doesn’t want to commit a genocide.
Frieren’s emotions on the matter are addressed in episode 7.
Episode 7 and 8
The demons acted as peace envoys.
Its turns out that was a lie to get the humans to turn off the magic force field so they could attack with their demon armies.
Frieren’s indifference to killing demons is shown to be a necessity for survival.
It can be a bit hard to wrap our heads around. Humans don’t really face natural predators anymore, so it can be tough for many of us to imagine the kill or get eaten life style.
Imagine if man-eating spiders started to talk to us, transformed to look like us and became our friends only so we’d let our guard down and open the door to the their spider army. Humans squash bugs indifferently all the time. To Frieren, demons are man-eating bugs that need squashing.
As for free will, the demons we see do seem have free will, which they use to kill humans, again its a kill or be killed world. It’s about survival, not a senseless eradication of a group of people.
Qual from ep2 seemed like a nice guy, until you remember he invited the killing spell is being executed for the mass-muder of humans, 80 years in the past.
If I, a known child killer, fails to kill a child, and that child grows up to become Hitler. I am then not justified in the murder I attempted.
As long as the demons have free will Frieren will always be in the wrong for shooting first.
If Frieren doesn’t kill the demons, the demons will kill them. The difference between child Hitler and a demon, is that Frieren knows what the demon will do in the future, just like we know what happens when you release a hungry lion in a room full of antalope.
Frieren might be shooting first in the battle, but the demons shot first in the war.
The demons use human sympathy to gain trust and it works. You feel for them, you want to protect them, may even be attracted to them, and give them a chance and that’s their whole stick. They’re just hungry lions that transformed to look like their prey.
Hitler, and the Nazis, had believed that certain groups of people were inferior and a that only a superior race should exist. So what did the rest of the world do? Those that could fight, fought back to survive and protect those that couldn’t.
If we’re going to compare roles; Demon king is Hitler, demons are the Nazi forces, Frieren and her party are the allied forces. In the show Frieren is defeating the remnants of an active terrorist cell following in the footsteps of the demon king/Hitler.
If you try to put Frieren in the Hitler role, it doesnt make sense. She doesn’t go from town to town murdering anything that’s not an elf. She’s not gaining followers to take over the kingdoms.
You could call Frieren racist towards demons; but if a group murdered your entire village, and you watch them do it to countless others over a thousand years, never meeting a “nice” demon, you’d provably learn to shoot first too.
As someone who hasn’t watched frieren, this seems more like a war than a genocide
Yes, it is a war. Almost all demons they meet (and kill) are soldiers. But Frieren’s philosophy is one of total annihilation. She wants to kill all demons, no matter if they’ve killed or not.
The problem is that the author seems to want to make this philosophy the morally just one in universe while at the same time giving demons the ability to chose if they want to kill or not. I’m more irritated at the author for not thinking things through.
Frieren reminds me of my readings about the 19th century Texas Rangers (see Cult of Glory (2020) by Doug J. Swanson) and how Native Americans were literally seen as vermin to be exterminated, even if they assisted in exterminating other indigenous. In real life, a lack of communication and 15th century epidemics divided indigenous peoples who could have otherwise defended their sovereignty; once indigenous children learned the conquering host people’s language (English) and affirmative action applied to close egregious wealth gaps, indigenous people have proved to be ordinary people with another skin color (evidence: me, a member of the Navajo Nation). Frieren, in contrast, portrays a demon child as being irredeemably evil even though they learn the host language and are given second chances and extra attention (by the Himmel); the author implies there is some cognitive divide due to demons being solitary creatures who raise and teach themselves from a very early age (presumably much earlier than the failed experiment Himmel performed); however, that subtlety isn’t emphasized and demons are more akin to starfish aliens than people.
Overall, I think provoking controversy and discussion around this point is valuable because it invites people to debate the nature of Otherness. In which ways can a person be different enough before they stop being people? What exactly are the differences between “person” and “beast”? Is focusing on those differences the root cause of genocide? Do we hesitate to relax the requirements to be considered a person because we dislike the economic consequences? (e.g. the horror of teaching factory farmed animals to speak)
I personally consider demons in Frieren analogous to indigenous before colonizing powers, albeit sustained by their long life spans and tendency to independently discover powerful technology (magic). I doubt the author is thinking very hard along these lines, and so fear they will fall back on tried and true story patterns in which animalistic heathens are purged to make way for civilization. But I hope to be surprised.
Thank you, that’s a very nice writeup. I agree with you that the author probably isn’t thinking as hard as, for example Tolkien did with his orcs. However, I wouldn’t compare the demons in Frieren to indigenous people in america. It’s clear that many demons are really violent, however, even if a lot, or even a majority, of demons are evil, we can’t condem their entire race.
I do think there are valuable conversations to be had about the concept of a creature that is considered ontologically evil and wholly irredeemable.
But I also think reducing that conversation to “Frieren bad” sucks.
You’ve never seen Spice and Wolf? Chihayafuru? Hibike! Euphonium? Mushishi? Samurai Champloo? Death Note? Inferno Cop?
Okay but Death Note is nothing but unhealthy relationships
I’m going to take a potato chip… AND EAT IT!!1!
Dunno, sounds about right to me.
Cory in the House?
Greatest anime ever
Full metal Alchemist is my bet.
Otherwise I know a lot of good animes but they tend to glorify unhealthy relationships looks at the space cowboy murdering people.
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The entire plot revolves around Guts’ unhealthy relationship with Griffith. And there are 2 underage looking characters that want to steal Guts from him.
I love Berserk but uh Schierke having a weird crush on Guts definitely treads on the sexualizing-young-characters trope
Jojo?
Just gonna forget about the rape ape are we?
The one enemy that appears briefly before getting beaten up into oblivion?
I agree that a lot of dark stuff happens in Jojo (heck, the protagonist of the 5th saga is a mafia boss), maybe it’s best for mature audiences.
I think I blocked that out of my mind. Why did you have to remind me?
Monster was pretty good. 🤷♀️
EDIT Shit someone already did that one.
Uh.
Uh!
Shigurui didn’t have any weird relationship shit I don’t think??
Attack on Titan doesn’t have any of the like underage stuff, though basically the whole show is based around a toxic relationship
I enjoyed Attack on Titan, but halfway through I realized I could literally not root for any of its characters. And by the end, I hated almost all of them.
It was basically “where the hell are they going with that story” more than anything. But it was worth it.
Yeah who by the end you can actually root for? Jean and conney?
Those would be the two I’d choose if I had to, probably.
Monster.
Silent voice, your name, weathering with you and everything from studio ghibli (I personally love porco rosso)
Eden of the East I think fits. There’s definitely unhealthy relationships, but they’re not glorified by any means, quite the opposite in fact.
One of my favs personally, short enough to jump in and finish easily as well for new viewers.
I find that if you want good anime recommendations, the recommendation must come from someone that doesn’t like anime. Anime fans tend to be really out of touch with certain baselines… like not being an open pervert.(I’ve seen that hentai hoodie, don’t lie.) Also people who don’t like anime can distinguish between “good for an anime” and “good”.
So I offer mine: Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Spirited Away.
Delicious in Dungeon! I think!
It’s got plenty of unhealthy relationships but addressing and untangling those relationships is like, the core of the plot so yeah I think it for sure passes.
Edit: Well actually, it does have one kind of contrived sauna scene between two of the women that feels very fan-servicy but is only a minute or so long. And the chest design of the main “monster” is arguably fan service too (There’s even a one-liner gag about it the first time it’s seen). But generally pretty tame and both of those moments are related to a crush one of the characters has.
I agree with the sentiment that loli shit is disgusting, but the problem is that so many of you sexless prudes go in looking for shit to be offended by and start projecting onto shit that’s fine. Like the character Kusano in Sekirei is fully gross, a disgusting pedo-bait character that simply should not exist in the story, period. That shit should absolutely be rallied against.
But then y’all bring up shit like Momo from MHA like it’s the same thing. It’s fucking not, at all. A post or near post-adolescent character wearing titillating attire in much the same way that comparable real life pop stars do is just not even remotely on the same level as actual children being depicted as sexual viable partners, especially in the context of a story like MHA where the protag is a literal high schooler expressing romantic interest in his age-appropriate peers.
And “glorifying unhealthy relationships” is fine enough critique I suppose but one that hardly applies solely, or even primarily, to manga and anime.
Would Friren count? Romance of the two teens are age appropriate for them. And two dudes that are enamoured with older women, but I think that’s it.
Not to mention, those two dudes are both grown-ass adults. Nothing wrong with a grown man that likes milfs.
I’m waiting for the canonical reason why the female elves look like children while the one male elf we’ve met is drawn like a grown man. And I really hope it’s not that their brain outpaces their body because then we’re in the “5000 year old witch in a child’s body” trope.
If this is addressed in the manga, no spoilers plz beyond a simple “Yes, it is.”
I’d assume it’s because the only male elf is older? Idk this feels like looking for inappropriate intentions because you want there to be one.
Yeah I was about to say this he was way older than friren
I’m sorry if my critical exploration of anime I enjoy makes you feel defensive but I literally just explained why I think that would be the worst reason. Don’t worry no one’s canceling Freiren, we’re just having a chat.
“Adult elf bodies reflect their own self-image” would be pretty cool. Especially for the monk.
Serie looks like a child too and he is not older than serie tho.
I mean, we have a sample size of 3 (in the anime anyway), and don’t actually know for certain how old any of them are. The only thing we really know is that Frieren is likely the youngest.
One reason might be that the male elf is a physical fighter who is literally shown doing strength exercises, there isn’t really a good way to make him look like a minor (or rather, like a link/legolas-type male elf or generic anime hot guy character) without making him look a lot weaker. Meanwhile the female elves are both wizards, so their physical shape doesn’t impact their combat ability at all.
And IMO, the main character doesn’t look like a child, she’s just an adult woman who is kind of short and not that curvy.
The issue is we’ve encountered so few elves that it’s impossible to say really anything about them as a whole. Maybe that is just how female elves look, maybe frieren and serie are just weird, or something else. But either way, we’re basically just going on what little we’ve been shown which could change later.
Personally though, I don’t actually mind the 1000 years old but looks like a child trope if it’s not using it as an excuse to sexualuzed the character. Which they really aren’t doing here.
And on the other hand, I also don’t think Frieren looks like a kid. This is pretty common, I’ll see people point out a character who’s a bit short and sometimes flat (though that’s not always the case even) and say that they look like a kid while I don’t see it. So I don’t know if it’s me or what. Serie does look more like a kid to me though.
But we get back to the fact that she’s not being sexualuzed anyway, so again, I don’t personally take issue with it.
It could, but people could also see it as an example of the 3000 year old loli trope. So it may not be a good example.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ReallySevenHundredYearsOld/AnimeAndManga
She’s a 1000 year old adult. At no point is she ever portrayed as anything remotely childlike.
It honestly fucking sucks that just because this trope exists elsewhere, a show like Frieren can’t tell a serious story about what it’s like to outlive everyone around you without being mistaken for this trope.
You could see her as that trope, but I really don’t think she fits the “loli” description. Lord knows I’m not about to google “loli” to check how closely she resembles one, but I’m pretty sure she’s a rare example of an actually short woman
If I wanted to be really nitpicky, they do pay extra attention to Fern’s chest after she grows up. And some of the shots can be a little “male pov.”
This is not a diss to the show. I really, really enjoyed this series and would absolutely recommend it.The loli is not 3000 years old.
Silent voice, your name, weathering with you
and everything from studio ghibli obviously (I personally love porco rosso)
I honestly only look this kind. The rest is just bad and tries to cache it with fanservice.
porco rosso enjoyer 🙌
I love the fan revival that movie has been enjoying recently. Very deserved.
I’m sorry to tell you this but while Weathering with You, Your Name, and Suzume don’t sexualize kids the head producer does
Your Name does in one scene
Both with silent voice and your name i cried so damn much. Absolute masterpieces.
I haven’t seen Weathering with you yet. But i will check it out!
No one’s mentioned Aggretsuko yet.
I’ve been keeping my eye out for anime I can watch with my early teen daughter, and the intersection between good anime and anime that doesn’t require ample amounts of jiggle physics is fairly small.
The list is pretty much:
- Mashle
- Dragon Goes House Hunting
- Cells at Work
Studio ghibli counts?
Of course!
Yeah, it’s definitely hard. A couple I can think of:
- Tri-Gun
- Delicious in Dungeon
- Dr. Stone
- Cowboy Bebop
- Fullmetal Alchemist (I think is mostly safe)
- DBZ (Mostly safe, I think Dragonball has some questionable stuff)
- Komi can’t communicate (relationships seem mostly okay)
- One punchman
- Mon Pyscho
- Steins Gate
- Kinos Journey
The real issue is finding an anime that doesn’t oversexualize anyone and still has lead female characters. If you’re looking for early teen I think the US actually makes better shows:
- Gravity Falls
- Amphibia
- Star vs Forces of evil
- Infinity Train
- Young Justice
There’s more I could recommend, but for a teenager daughter those all probably have better plot, character development, and female leads than most of what I can think of for anime (although being a guy there are probably a number of anime I’m just not aware of).
I just wanna point out that while cowboy bebop is incredible, Fae Valentine’s outfit is skimpy to the point that she’s wandering around with her shorts unbuttoned in basically every scene where she’s not in a disguise (and she’s only staying in that top through the power of double-sided tape). By modern standards it’s really not great towards the women characters (except possibly ed).
Dr Stone also has some questionable aesthetics
Oh yeah, but I guess I was giving it a pass cause it goes both ways. Both the women and men have ridiculous designs.
Also, even though they definitely feel sexual, the actual dialogue doesn’t focus on it too much (at least from what I can recall). It helps that the main character is really only interested in science.
Edit: It also has the issue that pretty much every major character is a guy.
Komi-san is a great show whenever one particular character is not onscreen, but the parts where that character is onscreen mean I don’t think it can go on this list.
Apothecary diaries
There are concubines, brothels, and child sexual abuse in that one. Not the most racy depictions, but still 🤷🏿♀️
Well there was the whole “frog” incident.
If you’re specifically looking for shows to watch with your daughter, I would highly recommend Little Witch Academia for that demographic.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of these, so you should probably look into them before watching with your kid, but hopefully it’s a good starting point
Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song
Hyouka (skip the ova)
Belle
Trigun
ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Dept. (may be a bit boring for a teenager)
Mushishi (also may be boring for a teenager)
Nichijou
Bocchi the Rock
Weathering With You
Haibane Renmei (very heavy emotional themes, bit of violence in the first episode, some references to self harm)
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
Moribito
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
The entirety of Studio Ghibli’s work
Highly recommend sweetness and lightning. It’s my chicken soup.
There’s a number of shoujo anime that would fit your list, but it doesn’t make it overseas because the majority of the foreign fan base doesn’t like it. There’s also a bunch of BL anime and manga that is popular in Japan, but not outside for the same reason. For example, take a look at “Aishiteruze Baby”
Surprisingly most of the anime with " villainess" in the title are both good and more wholesome focused. Many have relationship aspects but they don’t rely on fanservice. snow white with the red hair is also good in that respect
I recommend Flying Witch. I enjoyed it a lot when I was still watching anime.
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Please start on part one)
- Outlaw Star
- Trigun
- Cowboy Bebop
- Space Dandy
- Panty and Stocking with Garderbelt
- Mob Psycho 100
- Samurai Champloo
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
I don’t get it. Is the joke that most anime sexualizes underage characters and glorifies unhealthy relationships? Because that’s decidedly not true. There are all kinds of anime shows, it’s just a bias in what gets imported into western countries.
You’ve either only seen one single anime that so happened to not feature any of that stuff, you’re actually INTO that kind of stuff and don’t want to admit it, or you’re in extreme denial.
“No Game No Life” literally introduces you to its main female character, who I believe is like 11 years old, with a panty shot.
“My Hero Academia” has Momo, who is a high schooler who consistently has to expose herself to use her quirk. (With constant heavy cleavage for her hero suit)
Look, I love anime, and there’s no shame in watching it, but you have to admit that a lot of it is pretty sexualized and moreso with children. (Don’t even get me started on that whole trope of “woman who is a million years old but actually looks like a 4 year old” )
- Barakamon
- Honey and Clover
- Shirobako
- Mushishi
- Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū
- Nodame Cantabile
- Silver Spoon
- March Comes In Like a Lion
I do agree that Japanese culture is less prude than US culture, and the age of consent has been 13 in Japan for a long time (it was raised to 16 a couple of years ago). So that will bleed into mainstream media in a way that sticks out to Americans, but not because it was the intent of the producer to make the show sexualized - it’s just what life in Japan looks like.
In a similar way, while Americans are scared of nudity, they are desensitized to violence and put way too much of it in US shows. IMO, I’d rather let my kids see nudity than someone being shot in the head. But neither is the primary reason that I watch a show.
Ehh… i don’t agree prude has anything to do with actual sexualization of children.
I am the complete opposite of prude. Always have been. I love sex and openly talk and joke about sexual things. But sexualizing children is just wrong. A panty shot of an 11 year old to entertain the viewer is not okay. As long as the character is an adult, show all the tits, ass and dick you want. Hell yeah! But not kids.
Yes, I’m not saying that that’s okay. What I’m saying is that the majority of anime produced in Japan is not like that.
I’d like to point out that shows like My Hero Academia are aimed at highschoolers. I think the sexualization in MHA is not a big deal if you don’t watch is an adult.
Though I agree that panty shots of 11yo are too much even if we assume that the viewers are 11, too.
Living in Germany was eye-opening when I noticed all of the broadcast TV adaptions of US movies would leave in all of the nudity and sex, and cut all of the violence. The exact opposite from the practice in the US.
There were a bunch of German kids at my boarding school. When I asked one if they really had nudity on TV he responded “Yes, you guys actually show people being killed on TV and we think that’s much worse than tits”
Truly is…
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So don’t watch popular animes. Just because most weebs are pedos and watch shows that cater to them doesn’t mean most shows cater to them
The national age of consent was 13 but I don’t believe any prefecture had an age set that low. It’s the same story for most nations that have it set that low
You’ve listed two shows that are popular with western audiences. There is a lot of fan service in shonen anime and for a while now that was the most common genre available outside of Japan. I think the vast majority of what’s currently airing has no fan service at all.
You’ve either only seen one single anime that so happened to not feature any of that stuff
Overall, most anime do not feature “that stuff”, so I’m really wondering if you’re the one that has only seen a couple shows and drew their conclusion from that.
you’re actually INTO that kind of stuff and don’t want to admit it, or you’re in extreme denial
What the fuck is this shit? Are you going to say that to everyone who disagrees with you?
Look, I love anime, and there’s no shame in watching it
I really don’t get that feeling from the rest of your comment. You’re painting a very generalized picture of the medium as a whole.
Even One Punch Man, a pretty benign series that avoids sexual topics, has Tatsumaki who looks like a pre-teen. I know she’s supposed to be older, but when I first saw get I thought she was supposed to be 8 or something.
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8? Where did you get that from?
Okay, I’m usually very bothered with female characters looking ultra-young, but Tatsumaki never registered as that young to me. I might have thought late teens at the earliest.
No game no life is one of the best, fuck off you conservative prude.
Found the PDF file
I know you’re correct about MHA, but it’s odd you chose that one as your example. To my observation, it has been far more popular with young women and teenage girls than men.
Versus something like Black Clover which has episodes clearly designed to entertain tropes of sexual harassment.
Also, rave culture has nothing to do with drugs.
Yeah, if youkl look at the list of longest running anime, it’s things like Sazae-san and Doraemon, which have almost no appeal to westerners
I enjoyed the movie “Your Name”.
Fails the sexualization of a minor test
it’s pretty soft / ironic, not that bad
I get where you’re coming from, but most people who don’t watch anime don’t have an amount of sexualization of a minor that they consider “soft” or “ironic”
I mean sexualization is a big word in this case. It’s not meant to be attracting in any way. To compare this with the actual sexualization that appears often in other animes would be a bit of a stretch imo
That’s fair, I could see it go either way depending on the viewer since it’s played for laughs rather than for attraction. Some people are more prudish on that than others.
