Is anime only for children ?

[Potapota]

Well, we'd be living in a utopia alright, unfortunately, people thrive off of drama, especially lately with Social Media, and Celebrity Grifters (YouTubers and Streamers being the biggest example of this.)

Seriously too, seems like nobody wants anyone to enjoy shit anymore. I've seen like 7 different internet personalities dogging on the newest Doom game because "it's slow" "the music sucks because Mick is gone"

Like come on the game is good, and it definitely isn't slow. Sorry to derail, this shit has been bugging me heavily.

They don't HAVE to like it but there is a difference in simply disagreeing or presenting your views about it and just stirring drama and riling up people aboard the hate train for clicks and views. I mean I don't think the doom game looks like I would like it either but I also genuinely do not care if other people do. I don't have to agree with everyone on everything and that is okay. Imho.
I'm thinking the sentiment of "agree to disagree" would also be a core part of my fun-based utopia.

 

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

"Why are you watching children cartoons!?" is what my friends say when they're feeling very troll-ish
I know, they know, hell even my parents know that this stuff comes in many flavors!

Whenever I don't like something, my dad also likes to say "Well, sooooorry it doesn't have high school girls in uniforms!!" lol.

 

[Skeetos]

They don't HAVE to like it but there is a difference in simply disagreeing or presenting your views about it and just stirring drama and riling up people aboard the hate train for clicks and views. I mean I don't think the doom game looks like I would like it either but I also genuinely do not care if other people do. I don't have to agree with everyone on everything and that is okay. Imho.
I'm thinking the sentiment of "agree to disagree" would also be a core part of my fun-based utopia.

That's kinda what I mean, these specific types of personalities, like Asmongold for example, so you know its bad, just pick up whatever anyone says, whether it be negative or positive, and repeat it on stream.

It gets to a point where people aren't enjoying shit, not because they actually gave it a shot and didn't like it, but because their favorite celebrity said they didn't like it. Shit's crazy man.

 

[NobodyHere]

"Well, sooooorry it doesn't have high school girls in uniforms!!"

If ‘Breaking Bad’ looked like this, then I’d watch it

 

[Clippy]

I had a strange discussion with some colleagues at work yesterday who think that anime is only for children.

It's actually not that surprising if you think about it. People who don't know much about anime assume it's for kids since most cartoons are aimed at children. They grew up with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney and Pixar so to them anything that's animated is for young tykes by default. There is animated stuff for more mature audiences but I'm not sure how many people remember Fire and Ice or Heavy Metal. Also, people who aren't into anime might be exposed to it via their kids watching Boruto or My Hero Academia which only drives their point home further.

"Why are you watching children cartoons!?" is what my friends say when they're feeling very troll-ish

Troll them back by forcibly exposing them to Bible Black or Boku no Pico.

As others have said, anime comes in all sorts of flavors. Some of it is for kids, some of it is for teenagers and some of it is for adults.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

No.

 

[PlainnameWTF]

It depends on what type of anime you watch. Kids do watch Dragonball but the scenes are violent, when DBZ Kai was aired on Nicktoons, the studio forced the editors to censor and redub almost every scene, the censorship is more worse in 4 Kids Toonzai since nothing made sense there and you only watch the uncensored version from the DVD. With that aside, some anime were targeted for older audiences, For example: some anime shows that has cute girls and friendship stuffs, etc. do have some dirty jokes and some dark moments that real family-friendly animes avoids doing.

 

[DrunkGecko]

id say anime is for teens and adults tbh

 

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

Troll them back by forcibly exposing them to Bible Black or Boku no Pico.

It's just a running gag between us haha. But lol, solid advice Clippy, Bible Black for everybody!

But in actual seriousness, a lot of people joke about the cliches (the highschool stuff, shonen stuff, tentacles etc) so I think the average person knows that anime can indeed come in various forms. Anime being for kids is something I have not heard in a loooong long time oddly enough.

 

[UmbrellAssassin]

As much as this thread seems like low tier bait, some good came out of it.
Got reminded about some animes I need to re-watch and some new ones.
I need to resub to Crunchyroll.

 

[Segadude113]

Hellsing, Berserk, Ghost in The Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon, Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai, oh yeah. TOTALLY for kids! lol

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I find it interesting how for some times we accepted that western animation was for all public, not just children yet when it came to Japanese ones they assumed that people were too old for that.


Paradoxically anime was also accused of being too violent/suggestive for the kids despite that some are clearly not meant for them.

Seriously too, seems like nobody wants anyone to enjoy shit anymore. I've seen like 7 different internet personalities dogging on the newest Doom game because "it's slow" "the music sucks because Mick is gone"

It's stupid to say that the music sucks because it's not the same composer. Mick Gordon isn't even the composer of the original Doom games.

 

[Goblin Slayer]

Well, as stated throughout, no. Anime, just like anything else has something for every age. Yes you have anime like say Pokémon, that is very obviously aimed at young to mid-teen kids. There's no denying it. Actually, it's aimed more at the parents' wallets, but that's not the point.

You also have the more 15-18 year old targeted anime, like Dragon Ball, Death Note, FMA. Yeah, they have heavy themes, but nothing really a teenager can't handle. Then you have the more adult-oriented anime, and no, I don't mean hentai and ecchi. As mentioned, titles like Ghost in the Shell, Your Lie in April, and A Silent Voice are more thought provoking and adult-oriented animations.

If you really want to get someone out of the mindset that anime is just for kids, sit them down and have them watch something like Monster.

The themes in that are well above child and teen levels. You really need life experience and to have watched a lot of the nightly news and seen a lot of real-world violence on said news, to truly understand what Monster is trying to convey. Not saying you have to be a philosophy major, but most teens won't understand Monster. Hell a lot of adults won't either.

...goblins...

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

On the other hand showing animes with blood, gore and sex sounds a bit trying too hard to convince it's not for kids and could even appear more immature in the eyes of the person.

I think that something that looks childish could still tackle more mature themes than ""adult"" animated sitcoms relying on gratuitous violence and making bathroom level humour.

 

[Goblin Slayer]

On the other hand showing animes with blood, gore and sex sounds a bit trying too hard to convince it's not for kids and could even appear more immature in the eyes of the person.

I think that something that looks childish could still tackle more mature themes than ""adult"" animated sitcoms relying on gratuitous violence and making bathroom level humour.

I wholeheartedly agree. That's why I said that something like Your Lie in April or Monster would be the perfect examples to show that adult animation can, in fact, be adult without being raunchy or perverted.

...goblins...

 

[Clippy]

It's stupid to say that the music sucks because it's not the same composer. Mick Gordon isn't even the composer of the original Doom games.

It would be amazing if they brought back Bobby Prince to do some MIDIs for new Doom games.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

It would be amazing if they brought back Bobby Prince to do some MIDIs for new Doom games.

Agreed but because of how borderline plagiarism the OST was I fear we won't get to see classic metal riffs... Mike did a good job as weird some of the sound in his OST was and Hulshult did a good job.

I shouldn't digress too much though.

I wholeheartedly agree. That's why I said that something like Your Lie in April or Monster would be the perfect examples to show that adult animation can, in fact, be adult without being raunchy or perverted.

Thanks for the recommendation.



I also feel that in the west we don't like suggestive stuff so it's more frowned to be present in anime since some think that "animated = aimed at younger folks".

 

[Mopeybloke]

If your co-worker is including teenagers when they say children, then it's closer to reality. It seems like the target audience does skew younger than say, live action films. Still, the "only for children" part is just wrong. When you become an adult, you level up, but life isn't shitty like the pokémon games, so you gain new possibilities, but you don't have to lose the old moves. You can still watch things that aren't [strictly] made for adults.

Do they know you can aim something at different demographics at once? Stuff like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was famous for that.

 

[Goblin Slayer]

Agreed but because of how borderline plagiarism the OST was I fear we won't get to see classic metal riffs... Mike did a good job as weird some of the sound in his OST was and Hulshult did a good job.

I shouldn't digress too much though.


Thanks for the recommendation.



I also feel that in the west we don't like suggestive stuff so it's more frowned to be present in anime since some think that "animated = aimed at younger folks".

Yeah, I really don't care if someone likes it or not. You ask me for a recommendation for something if I know a TV show or movie, I'll suggest it. That includes anime, And if they wince or look at me odd, I tell them, "Look give it a shot. If you don't like it you have lost nothing by trying, but you may like it"

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

If your co-worker is including teenagers when they say children, then it's very close to reality. It seems like the target audience does skew younger than say, live action films. Still, the "only for children" part is just wrong. When you become an adult, you level up, but life isn't shitty like the pokémon games, so you gain new possibilities, but you don't have to lose the old moves. You can still watch things that aren't [strictly] made for adults.

And then again it's more about shonens which are probably aimed at 8 - 12~ years old.

Yeah, teens are also children but that's why there are different age ranges even for things aimed at a younger audience.

Yes, age rating means the minimal age requirement, not that you're no longer allowed to see lower levels.

Do they know you can aim something at different demographics at once? Stuff like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was famous for that.

I thought it was collateral from Hasbro's target audience.

 

[GardeniaSky's icon GardeniaSky GardeniaSky]

 

[JackNoir413]

THIS precisely.

 

[miles]

NO! There's lots of anime made just for adults

 

[Pjira]

Absolutely, every child needs to watch Urotsukidoji

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

NO! There's lots of anime made just for adults.

While you may be talking about Seinens most people assume that "for adults = X rated/has sexually explicit content" because that was an euphemism that became the new semantic for it.

Yet again, paradoxically people hating on animes will say that you're too old for that stuff while also saying that you're just lusting over fictional characters when you tell and show that these aren't always for kids (or even say that it's mindless violence that has no depth if it's not suggestive whereas a western series can make raunchy jokes and show violence without much issues).


I feel that double standard can always happen and even if you show an actual seinen manga's anime adaption that doesn't do suggestive nor violence they could even straight up tell that it's boring and useless.