Isnt Anime for kids? How do you respond?

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by furuno

What make me angry is something like this :
Daily Mirror's Kevin O'Sullivan claiming the film a failure, as "cartoons should be funny and this isn't - what's the point?" » his reviews for Tales from Earthsea...

I'd like to ask him if he even knows about anime...

He doesn't seem to be familiar with Western works like Watership Down or the Velveteen Rabbit either. Then again, anything printed in the Daily Mirror is sort of automatically suspect.

Originally Posted by KholdStare

Anime isn't just for kids. Take Pokémon. I'm not sure who here battles competitively, but the average 8 years old isn't going to understand the mechanics and strategies involved. Most anime has two different levels of understanding. Cardcaptor Sakura is an excellent example of this. From just watching casually, you explore the life of a 10 year old magical girl who tries to captures all the cards to fulfill her contract. From another view...well you'll have to watch it yourself to see if you can see it in another way. I certainly did, and that's why it's on my top 10.

The nice thing about anime is that they generally don't talk down to their intended audience, so it's quite possible for adults to enjoy children's shows for what they are. I much prefer this approach to the modern Western trend of putting adult humor in cartoons that children aren't supposed to understand.

[Darkman.exe213]

Originally Posted by furuno

What make me angry is something like this :
Daily Mirror's Kevin O'Sullivan claiming the film a failure, as "cartoons should be funny and this isn't - what's the point?" » his reviews for Tales from Earthsea...

I'd like to ask him if he even knows about anime...

XD That's pure genius. Oh wait...he was serious?! When was the last time he actually took a look at cartoons out there? There are some serious ones out there.(Spawn and Batman pop into mind)

Anyway, back on topic, I'd tell them to:

1) Watch Elfen Lied.

or...

2) Watch Adult Swim's anime.

They'll get the point.

[Archideas]

I completely agree with the general opinion of anime at some point that anime is for kids, like these lolita girls. Creeps me out to think that 20+ guys are watching things like that.

But then animes like Naruto, Bleach, Claymore, Full Metal Alchemist is a little more serious, containing violance and that is more acceptable in my opinion.

[anselfir]

Originally Posted by Archideas

I completely agree with the general opinion of anime at some point that anime is for kids, like these lolita girls. Creeps me out to think that 20+ guys are watching things like that.

But then animes like Naruto, Bleach, Claymore, Full Metal Alchemist is a little more serious, containing violance and that is more acceptable in my opinion.

rofl. the truth is completely opposite. shonen animu is generally targeted at kids whose attention is held by these power level, fantasy stuff, while shows like lucky star target older people.

[Demongod86]

To those that say anime is for kids...sit them down, tie down their hands and legs, tape their eyelids open, and show them hentai. Teh solved.

But between Pokemon and Bible Black (I have never seen the latter!), yes, 99.5% of anime is for kids/teens. Go to forums.dota-allstars.com and read up onthe anime rules. They apply for 99.5% of the anime. It' the other 0.5% of anime that are forever immortalized. Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun, Ah My Goddess (the main character is actually a 2nd-3rd year college student!), and maybe even Fate/Stay Night...no, the best anime is not for kids. Just the 99.5% that's easily forgotten.

[KholdStare]

Originally Posted by Demongod86

To those that say anime is for kids...sit them down, tie down their hands and legs, tape their eyelids open, and show them hentai. Teh solved.

But between Pokemon and Bible Black (I have never seen the latter!), yes, 99.5% of anime is for kids/teens. Go to forums.dota-allstars.com and read up onthe anime rules. They apply for 99.5% of the anime. It' the other 0.5% of anime that are forever immortalized. Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun, Ah My Goddess (the main character is actually a 2nd-3rd year college student!), and maybe even Fate/Stay Night...no, the best anime is not for kids. Just the 99.5% that's easily forgotten.

That is a good point, but I don't think that it's 99.5%. Many anime has ecchi and gore, even the ones that are not popular. While browsing ANN's anime list, I encounter lots of "Adults Only!" ones too, so hentai is plenty to go around. Overall I'd say that at least 30% of anime are not targetted to children.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

I've thought of showing people something like the first minute of Lain, but I usually decide that it would cause more trouble than it's worth. I've thought of showing the first bit of elfen lied too, but that's most certainly not the view of anime I'd want to present.

Then I point out that animation doesn't mean it's for children, and cite examples of American animation targeted at older audiences. That usually works, for a while anyway.

Animes like those even I had to force myself to watch. There just some anime you have to do that for to, just cause the story progress so slowly or the lack of interest you have in that anime.

[Zenemis]

Anime is for all age groups.

Mainly children though.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Zenemis

Anime is for all age groups.

Mainly children though.

How did you arrive to that conclusion? Yes, there are shows that are suitable for children, but even these contain subtle themes that older audiences can appreciate, while not detracting anything from the show.

Anime companies need money too you know. Who are the potentially paying customers? Certainly not little kids. Many of the shows would be considered too boring by kids (romance/slice of life), or too violent or with otherwise inappropriate content for children viewing. Take the current season - how many of the ongoing shows would you classify as kid shows ?

[Reno]

Hmm.... yeah my friend said that to me once. And, yes, I responded by telling him about Elfen Lied. The HE responded by saying why don't they just make it in to... well, not an anime. With real people. I didn't know what to say to that. >_>

[Skyfall]

That he has ran out of actual arguments to use ?

[Diaboso]

I usually don't even bother giving a response became they usually realy don't want to hear it. but to the few actually curious ones I tell them about all the animes with a bit of punch to them blood and violence wise and they either become interested or just move on.

[Archideas]

Originally Posted by anselfir

rofl. the truth is completely opposite. shonen animu is generally targeted at kids whose attention is held by these power level, fantasy stuff, while shows like lucky star target older people.

I never spoke of anything being true or false. I just gave my personal opinion.

[Zenemis]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

How did you arrive to that conclusion? Yes, there are shows that are suitable for children, but even these contain subtle themes that older audiences can appreciate, while not detracting anything from the show.

Anime companies need money too you know. Who are the potentially paying customers? Certainly not little kids. Many of the shows would be considered too boring by kids (romance/slice of life), or too violent or with otherwise inappropriate content for children viewing. Take the current season - how many of the ongoing shows would you classify as kid shows ?

Perhaps I worded that badly.

I should've said - "Most Anime are targeted towards children."

There's many which are most certainly targeted towards adults, but I believe that the majority of anime are targeted towards children.

Children add in the "nag" factor. They persuade their parents/guardians to purchase the merchandise for them.

I see many anime being targeted towards adolescents, currently, but the majority are still targeted towards children - I think.

Perhaps the target demographic has considerably shifted towards adult-orientated shows, making me quite wrong.

@ anselfir - I could also make scathing remarks towards Lucky Star, but that'd be ignorant, much like your comment towards shounen-anime. The quality of the shows remains most important, not the label.

[arcadeplayer987]

Anime is for anyone who love them

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Archideas

But then animes like Naruto, Bleach, Claymore, Full Metal Alchemist is a little more serious, containing violance and that is more acceptable in my opinion.

It's interesting to note, that every single title you mentioned there are running in magazines for young boys, not adults.
They may seem mature to you, a teenager, but the fact is majority of the content of those titles you mentioned are obviously geared for kids.

Originally Posted by Skyfall

How did you arrive to that conclusion? Yes, there are shows that are suitable for children, but even these contain subtle themes that older audiences can appreciate, while not detracting anything from the show.

Anime companies need money too you know. Who are the potentially paying customers? Certainly not little kids. Many of the shows would be considered too boring by kids (romance/slice of life), or too violent or with otherwise inappropriate content for children viewing. Take the current season - how many of the ongoing shows would you classify as kid shows ?

Well, the truth is, majority of anime market is infact children's market.
There are tons of "otaku aimed late night anime shows" for mature audience, but they don't make up the majority of the market.

Also, you totally underestimate the consuming power of children. You do realize, that there are much, much, MUCH more kids in Japan than there are otakus right? Franchise such as Doraemon, Crayon-Shinchan, PreCure, Gundam, DBZ.... brings in a heck of a lot more cash than otaku market does.
So WHAT if an otaku spends 10 times more money than a child, when there's 20 times more kids out there?
And just like how it is in your country, parents are a huge factor in children's consumer market. When I was a kid, I spent most of my allowances in Bikkuriman choco stickers and manga, while I let my parents buy me the more expensive stuff such as Famicon games and Zoids.

He's right that anime is for everyone, but main target is for kids. Even the Japanese feels that way.
It's just that anime otaku market has grown to support its own target audience separately.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Zenemis

I should've said - "Most Anime are targeted towards children."

There's many which are most certainly targeted towards adults, but I believe that the majority of anime are targeted towards children.
<SNIP>

Perhaps the target demographic has considerably shifted towards adult-orientated shows, making me quite wrong.

Most anime used to be targetted towards children in the past, but the marketplace changed dramatically in the last few years. Currently, most anime airs in late-night hours, therefore confining themselves to an older audience. The amount of primetime and children's hour anime has stayed more or less steady, but it's now a minority compared since the explosive growth in the sheer amount of anime produced recently (I believe that there are currently around 60+ anime TV shows airing per week).

Originally Posted by Zenemis

@ anselfir - I could also make scathing remarks towards Lucky Star, but that'd be ignorant, much like your comment towards shounen-anime. The quality of the shows remains most important, not the label.

anselfir is largely correct; shounen action anime (especially those that originated in Shounen Jump) are primarily targetted towards children (heck, that part's even in the name of the genre), while shows like Lucky Star are targetted towards a seinen audience. However, we're quite free to enjoy them, whether or not we fit the target demographic (this is actually quite common among shounen action shows).

Originally Posted by aohige

He's right that anime is for everyone, but main target is for kids. Even the Japanese feels that way.
It's just that anime otaku market has grown to support its own target audience separately.

True. Although it should be pointed out that there are a lot more otaku shows out there than kids' shows.

[Chiibi]

Another thing to consider is, Japanese children (and sadly from what I've seen) children from other foreign countries, seem to be a lot more MATURE than American kids....and they are probably smarter too. I'm sorry if anyone's offended by that but I really think it's true.

I live in America, I've visited other countries and I know what I'm talking about. It all depends on how children are raised and the cultural differences. You can't deny that if an American child saw a naked character taking a bath, they'd scream, laugh, and make a huge deal over it, whereas a Japanese child of the same age, wouldn't bat an eye because they see this every day.

So........how to put this......most uncut anime is absolutely not for kids under twelve in America but Japan is a different story.

Oh, and I want to know if shows like Trinity Blood and Full Metal Panic are targetted at children because....for me, both of these were incredibly hard to follow so in that case, I'd feel awfully stupid....

He doesn't seem to be familiar with Western works like Watership Down or the Velveteen Rabbit either

Or The Secret of Nimh. Excellent movie...that balances light and dark, childishness and maturity. And most scenes were definitely NOT funny in any way. My parents told me I hated it when I was younger. More than likely because it scared me half-to-death at five years old....

[Zenemis]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

anselfir is largely correct; shounen action anime (especially those that originated in Shounen Jump) are primarily targetted towards children (heck, that part's even in the name of the genre), while shows like Lucky Star are targetted towards a seinen audience. However, we're quite free to enjoy them, whether or not we fit the target demographic (this is actually quite common among shounen action shows)..

My point was actually against the insulting nature of his post. I enjoy the odd shounen series, because it's easier for the casual viewer, in my opinion, although I'm well above the age of its targeted age bracket.

I haven't seen Lucky Star, nor will I, because I have my own prejudices against it, but I will refrain from mentioning them. Modern shounen seems largely targeted towards the adolescent bracket now; I assume you're classifying them as children though (which is correct, but I label them differently).

Although it should be pointed out that there are a lot more otaku shows out there than kids' shows.

Do you have a link for this one?

[Zennifa]

Grr...I hate when someone says "Isn't anime for kids" or "oh watching stupid cartoons" cartoons aren't the same, they don't have cool story lines, or perverted stuff like anime does. Anime is for adults! (most of the time)