dadwatchesanime

This is my new experiment. I decided I will see how it goes to watch Steins Gate with my 11 year old son.

I tried to remember how much violence, blood, nudity or adult themes it had and came to the conclusion (perhaps wrongly) that he could handle it. Yes, it does have several deaths (or a death several times), a few off color jokes, and some high concepts. Nevertheless, I decided to go forward with the experiment.

He hung out with me before bed and we watched the first episode on my kindle  laying in bed. He was pretty excited to do this knowing that Steins Gate is a favorite of mine and that I am planning on cosplaying as Yuugo Tennouji (aka Mr. Braun) later this month for Anime Central (albeit a much more ginger bearded Mr Braun). So this was quality father/ son bonding time.

Overall, episode 1 went well. There is what is probably the bloodiest scene of the series with the dead body of Makise Kurisu.

And then there is the floppy banana scene….

Now this scene isn’t inherently horrible for him to see, it’s just I know what will follow. So I say to him: “be cool about this and don’t go repeating this all over the place”. He didn’t do that, but he did go down the hall after the episode to his older brother saying: “What that guy said in episode 1 was just wrong! Remember? It was so wrong!” *facepalm*

A couple things that struck me in the re-watch. How Okabe’s bravado  and conspiracy delusions masks his general social awkwardness was one thing. The other was  his caring nature, especially towards Mayuri. He even gave her the metal oopa (he didn’t know how much it was worth however).

So, first episode: Not bad. Blood. Questionable banana phrase. Not too much harm done.

I am in the middle of a move, so I’ll see when I can watch with him again.

Have a good week.