dadwatchesanime

As I’ve stated in postings past I often screen various animes to see whether my younger (now 12 year old) son can watch them. Some I’m watching because I wanted to watch the show and others are just a brief screening for to red or green light a show for him to see. I often don’t get around to every request he has since I don’t have all the time in the world to screen eveerything he comes across.

Sometimes it’s just a: “Nope.”

First episode. First 5 minutes. First impression. All screaming: “This is not appropriate for him” or “If I let him watch this his mother will kill me”.

This season had a few “nopes”.

Gangsta

A gritty, bloody, crime ridden show. It’s got killing, blood, abuse, prostitution, and all other manners of organized crime. I like the show (even though the plot seems a bit convoluted at times). The animation is good. The main characters are interesting and likable in their own ways. There is an interesting story going on (although it does seem a bit muddled in it’s presentation). But given all that I stated in the first two sentences it is not appropriate for my 12 year old. Hell, I could tell it was a “no go” from the OP sequence.

A good song though….

Monster Masume

AKA: Everyday Life With Monster Girls. I was pretty suspicious about this one when I clicked on it to watch it. Aaand within the first 5 minutes: “Nope!!!”

It is basically about a guy who has various “Monster Girls” foisted upon him to live in his home as part of a Inter-species Cultural Exchange Program of which he never volunteered for. It is a harem show, except they are monster girls instead of just girls.

It is ridiculously ecchi and, admittedly, it made me crack up a few times at is juvenile sense of humor. That being said: it’s all body part and sex related jokes (and some of the resulting embarrassment along with it). It’s not a bad show I guess. I haven’t felt compelled to keep up with it though. So, it a “Nooo…you can’t watch that…just no.”

My Wife Is The Student Council President

Okay. I only found out about this show the other day. I didn’t know about Crunchyroll’s Mature settings. I was talking to a coworker and he told me about this show (he likes more ecchi comedies than I do). I told him I hadn’t seen it available and he mentioned the Mature content filter. It comes defaulted to being “on”, so I switched it off and there this show was.

So, I know ahead of time that my son cannot watch this. But curiosity gets the better of me and I watch the first episode. It’s about two high school students who have just found out that their parents arranged for them to be married when they were younger. The girl (the student council president), is taking this arrangement to heart and has shown up at her betrothed’s door step ready to live with him. He tries to scare her off the idea by acting like a “pervert”, but she doesn’t back down from her commitment. And by the end of the episode there is exposed nipples being licked.

Nope. Can’t give the go ahead with that one either.

It’s funny. There is nothing inherently wrong with these shows. Ecchi humor is just that: humor. As a parent, however, I have to decide not what is necessarily “wrong”, but what I will advocate for him to watch. I think my hesitance comes in not with the jokes themselves, but with his maturity to understand the jokes and to take that information into his brain (and out into the world) in a mature fashion. So that is why I will censor these things out. Not because they are bad, but more because I want him to be able to process mature subject matter in a better way than he is able to now. This is not the same for all kids, some can handle it earlier, some later. Just food for thought…