Love Live

It’s Not Always No…

madreceiverLeave a comment

I was thinking the other day that it may seem like I am always vetting every single thing my younger son watches and he is always asking to watch things that aren’t appropriate for his age (in my view).

That really isn’t the whole story.

Yes, I do pre-screen many things to see if they are okay for him to watch.

And yes, he does ask to watch things that aren’t appropriate for him at times.

But there is much more that he watches.

maxresdefault

One Piece

Among his favorites is the sprawling epic of Monkey D Luffy and crew. I have barely watched this show. I’ve seen it when it is on and have watched one of the movies, but never have dedicated any time to the show myself. Now I know it is a bit fan-service-y  and there is some cursing, but over all this is a title that I never felt like I had to restrict (or just never did).

download (9)

Fairy Tail

Lucy joins the magical guild Fairy Tail and encounters Natsu who is on his quest to find the dragon, Igneel. Much like One Piece, it is a long form anime with many characters and long story arcs (not as long as One Piece mind you). It has many of the same qualities as One Piece, but probably less cursing that I’ve noticed (although I could be completely wrong on this). My son loves it. Watches it. A dedicated fan.

1603

Naruto

To me it was the show where the kid (Naruto) is always yelling for some reason. I didn’t watch it. My younger son, however, dedicated a lot of time to catching up to the entire show this year (in all of it’s incarnations). I never felt like he needed to be steered away from this title.

And now for the “cute” stuff…

My younger son likes “cute” shows. He really does. and this makes some viewing even easier since there are rarely things that I find objectionable in these shows.

deaf323b7654b1e9d6a63b9dfb1ae8cc1356541779_full

Love Live!

A show about school idols (singing group). I never watched it, and never felt like I should have to. His older brother had already watched some of it and would have said if it was bad in any way. He really loves his idol shows.

123312321231-620x

AKB0048

Idols fighting for freedom in space and singing. What’s not a 12 year old to like? This is a favorite of his and he owns both seasons, thank you very much. I actually was the one who introduced him to this show and I was surprised at how much he took to it. The only thing that bugs me about this show (and many anime with teen girls) is how they sit around and have them talk about their breasts. This is such weird fan pandering that is so consistent that it is an accepted part of the landscape of these kinds of shows, but I find it annoying nonetheless.

15635

The Everyday Tales of a Cat God

A goofy comedy about a lazy cat god that gets kicked out of the god’s realm for being too much of a slacker and has to spend time here on earth without many of the special privileges they enjoyed before. It is a silly, cute show. Admittedly, I have not watched much of it. But it seems largely harmless.

place-to-place-dvd

Place To Place

A cute,slice of life, school comedy. It’s clever. Well written. Amusing. And very cute. He loves this show. It is his favorite comedy net to Sgt Frog. I have watched a bunch of this show and it is largely good, harmless fun.

 

So there you have it. Shows I never really said no on or screened too in depth. Sometimes you do need to throw caution to the wind and not assume everything out there is harmful to your child. There is a great amount that is very accessible to younger viewers. These are among his favorites.

Soon I’ll be back to more regular writing I hope.

Thanks for reading.

*I do not own any of the images contained in this post*

 

 

 

How My Younger Son Watches Anime

madreceiver13 Comments

AKA: What my son has been watching this summer.

My 11 (12 tomorrow) year old watches a lot of anime. And a lot that I watch, I am “vetting” to make sure that it doesn’t have any content that I deem inappropriate (or that I think his mother will object to).

That being said: he is always after me to check out shows to see if he can watch them, but I don’t have all the time in the world. I work. I socialize. I even watch non-anime related shows.

Luckily he does find titles he can watch. And watch he does….He’s a binge watcher. He can sit and watch a show all day. And then re-watch it again. I cannot do this. I rarely binge watch. A few episodes, yes. Watching for 4 hours, no.

But he found some things to keep him entertained that are good for his age with not much objectionable content. I have not watched many of these except seeing some of them while I was in the room.

eb8084f8230108f487402956e9984f1c1384463925_full

Toriko

A gourmet hunter on the search for more food to complete his ultimate meal. Fighting impossible beasts and eating the most absurd things. This is very much a Shonen anime in the vein of One Piece (there are a couple of crossover episodes in fact). I had started to watch this and set it aside and my son has now finished the series of his summer break. Much of it I didn’t watch, but I did see the Durian Bomb episode which was hilarious.

Toriko_zps733bf1b9

love-live-school-idol-project-1

Love Live! School Idol Project

My son started watching this one because of his older brother. As some readers will know his older brother is a Utaite (or You-Taite) who does English covers anime theme songs. Well, my older son was covering a song from this show and thus his younger brother liked the song and started watching the show. I have not seen any of it, but know it has a loyal following. It wasn’t surprising to me that he got into it as he was a huge fan of AKB0048. I think he has completed all seasons of this anime.

15050

Stella Women’s Academy High School Division Class C3

Another in the vein of “cute girls doing cute things”. This time it’s survival games where girls at an all girls rich school are hunting each other with pellet guns in simulated war games. He had bugged me about this show and I think I watched one episode and figured it was harmless enough. Being that he was a huge fan of Girls Und Panzer, I guessed this would be up his alley. And it was. I, however, have no idea if it’s any good (it looks mostly harmless at any rate).

14422

Waganaria!! (Working!!)

Now I have actually seen most of the first season of this. It is a funny show, absolutely hilarious at times. One could argue at times that some parts may be inappropriate. There are drunken sisters, a lazy boss that has a girl in love with her, and the main character could be seen as potentially creepy with his obsession with young, cute things and/or people. However, it’s mostly harmless and he loves the show.

Luckily he can find shows that he can find shows that are okay to watch and then binge-watch because I can’t keep up with his anime consumption….maybe I should’ve sent him to camp.