My daughter is 13, and is getting in to anime, I guess. She’s been binge watching Attack on Titan this week. I know exactly nothing about it because I’m not interested in it, but I’d like to find her some good anime to watch, that isn’t full of the typical borderline porno stuff it seems is popular with G*mers.
Can anyone suggest a couple to get her going? I’d like to do something for her and get a jellyfin server going but dunno what to put on it. What would you suggest for someone getting into anime? Are there services worth paying for? Should I just be sailing the seas?
Asking her she says she likes
No Hero Academia,
Naruto,
Dan Da Dan,
Jojo,
Thanks yall.
ETA - I just gave her the list of stuff suggested so far and she squealed. She says thanks. I appreciate yall. Kiddo is happy then daddo is happy too.
eta2 - I have to go to bed, I was supposed to be asleep an hour or two ago but everyone has given me such a big list to start on that I didn’t want to not tell anyone thanks. Thank yall. I have a chance to give my daughter some media she will like, so I score some points with her for being a good dad, and I have a cheap excuse to sit and do something with her, even if it’s just television entertainment. At some point mom and dad aren’t priorities anymore and I have a chance to bond some more. I appreciate that the most I think.
I’ll try to avoid duplicating others’ excellent suggestions. Unless otherwise specified, none of these titles will have gore or excessive violence or inappropriate sexual content. I usually watch the weirder philosophical ones so I don’t know if she’d actually enjoy them, they’re pretty niche. So I’ll just list some that I’d feel comfortable with one of my younger relatives about the same age watching unsupervised.
Eve no Jikan / Time of Eve: a calm and introspective tale about the ethics and impact of AI, told in the form of casual conversations in a laid-back coffee shop.
Serial Experiments Lain: this is deeply high-concept sci-fi. There’s some difficult topics, such as a suicide in the first minute of the first episode and repeated references back to it, and some murders. But it’s never really gory. It’s about a teenage girl who’s extremely neurodivergent-coded exploring her world’s equivalent of the internet, the Wired, and how the Wired is starting to bleed out into the real world. It was made in the mid-1990s but it’s eerily prescient on what humanity really did with 24/7 internet-connected pocket computers. It’s like the 1976 movie Network in that it just keeps getting more relevant with each passing year.
Angel’s Egg: This is a short film that’s more art-for-art’s-sake than a coherent story. But it’s beautiful to watch and listen to.
Arashi no Yoru ni: a movie about a wolf and a sheep becoming friends, and how that friendship earns them the ire of both their peoples. Stock up on tissues. Not just for her, but for anyone in the household who watches it. The cutesy art style hides a deeply serious and sober look at bigotry.
Dirty Pair: an older 1980s franchise, but one that aged pretty well. The adventures of two space cops as they cause a lot more problems than they solve. This is firmly in comedy territory. Don’t let the main characters’ costumes fool you if you google it. Our two leading ladies have agency, personalities, and are never damsels-in-distress or SA victims.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: a movie about a high school girl who discovers that she can manipulate time. Slow paced and introspective and melancholic.
Grave of the Fireflies: this is one of the best anti-war movies ever made. It’s the story of a teen boy and his toddler sister trying to survive in WW2 Japan without much help from anyone. It’s not remotely a nationalistic movie, it is scathing of Imperial Japan. It is harrowing. Bring lots and lots of tissues. But I think everyone ought to see it once. Once is probably all you’ll need. You’ll never forget it. Go in blind, be prepared to answer questions on Japan’s actions in WW2.
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: the first ten minutes fools you into thinking you’re watching yet another generic “teenage super-pilot of a giant super-robot” war story. Then it reveals what it really is, the story of a child soldier being welcomed by a peaceful community and learning to be a regular human being after they took him in. There’s some PG-13 level violence at times, but for the most part it’s just about a traumatized teen getting the chance to live a normal life with found-family.
My daughter loves to draw, she’s very artistic. I think some of the more artsy stuff she would still like.
You’ve given some good suggestions, and I will get them on the list for her. She’s in bed for school tomorrow so it’ll be after she is off school and I’m finished w work but I really appreciate you taking the time to suggest these.
As a side note, I had to explain hexbear to my 13yo tonite as she asked me where I was getting all these suggestions as she knows I’m not an anime type of guy.
‘Is it like Reddit?’
‘No honey, it’s not like Reddit’
‘Oh what is it then’
‘I don’t know I can’t really explain it’
‘What do yall talk about on there?’
thinking of my post history
‘It’s called shitposting honey’
‘Oh ok’.
I didn’t give her the URL. Lol
Land of the Lustrous is absurdly good art, depicts a literal a commune of characters who are all different gems, and is absolutely fantastic. It’s manga and art books are absolutely gorgeous.
It is probably my #1 show. If you want something that will inspire her art put her on the show first, then get her the manga and art books if she likes it.
She would absolutely love that I think. That might be a Christmas present for her. Thank You
It is also historically significant for anime. It was the first anime to really do 3d cg and do it GOOD. There have been a few shows since that now incorporate 3d in great ways none of the good uses of 3d we now see would exist if this show hadn’t shown how it should be done correctly. Prior to Land of the Lustrous/Houseki no Kuni 3d in anime was always a running joke, and always very bad.
only good 3d CG show
To be Hero X was very good
Girl who leapt thru time 10/10