Naruto, anime and kids: I don’t get it
I guess I have finally become old.
Now, I don’t think I am completely out of touch with today’s yoots (nod to Joe Pesci). In fact, I think I am pretty hip when it comes to my kids and their culture (they tend to come to me when they have questions about modern music, for example). I still appreciate the Potter Puppet Pals (naked time!), Homestar Runner (I’m going this way!), and even Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (great animation).
And, does anyone remember the Thundercats? (“Thundercats, HO!”)
Back when Penny and I were high-school juniors (1984-1985) we would religiously watch the Thundercats at my house after school. The animation style was completely different from anything that was on at the time and it was wrapped in (at that time) contemporary-sounding music (can you say big-hair glam-rock?) But despite those attractions, we still weren’t serious about it. It was just something that was fun to do because we were on the cusp of becoming adults and Thundercats was a way of staying young. It hearkened back to our elementary school days: enjoying afternoon cartoons after school.
Penny and I would laugh at ourselves (Look at us, watching cartoons!) as we enjoyed the silliness of it all.
But it seems a bit different today. My kids are totally obsessed with anime and, in particular, Naruto. My kids just love it — and I do mean L-O-V-E it. They could watch it 24-7 (and have tried to, at times!) They draw it, talk about it, listen to its music, litter their Xangas with its artwork, and mimic its “moves.” They go out and buy Oriental bowls and chop sticks. (They are really cool looking!) They find recipes for Oriental foods and make them (quite well, actually. I loved the pot stickers!)
And it’s not just my kids. Most of my kids friends are just as into Naruto. I am talking about kids that range in age from nine to nearly 20. I’ve even seen some college kids talking about how much they love specific characters.
But I still don’t get the attraction. I have tried to watch Naruto several times. But every time I do, I just cringe at the story lines. It simply takes itself soooo seriously:
— “I challenge you with my moves!”
— “I will crush you with my move!”
— “Oh, yeah? My moves are so important! I will beat you!”
— “His moves are so fast! I cannot match him!”
— “Now I will defeat you with my secret move!”
And some of the story lines are quite serious for animation. They drink sake, sometimes too much. It’s my understanding that some characters are lovers (There aren’t any graphic scenes, though.)
And the all-too-serious nature of it seems to be reinforced by the interspersion of curse words. Now, I realize that Naruto is written in Japanese (which I do not speak) and the English subtitles are the product of a translator. I don’t know what kind of rating Naruto would have in its native tongue, but the translations make them PG-13 (with several occurrences of damn and even a few of the s-word). Any cartoon that uses that kind of language is, in my opinion, trying too hard to be serious and grown-up.
It just doesn’t seem fun.
Perhaps more on this later …
Thundercats, Voltron, Transformers. I was raised on that and sugar cereal. It’s still great but in a nostalgic sort of way. Yeah, some anime is way out of control. Have you seen Cowboy Bebop? That’s pretty dang good.
US version of Advent Children with English voice overs comes out in April.
That’s because you’re watching anime the same way you watch a cartoon. That for a start is a mistake if you really want to enjoy and understand it. From the Japanese perspective, you’re supposed to take it seriously, and empathize with the characters, like with live action film for instance. Kids do this automatically, which is why they’re not put off by the “cartoonishness” of the dub.
If you want to find the story in Naruto, you’ll need to pay attention to the characters more than their ninja moves. They’re deeper than you think.
Well, if it’s the kiddified English dub you’re watching, I understand how hard that can be. The original, however, has made me laugh and cry, and inspired me countless times.
Just out of curiousity does anyone have concerns with the different Anime conventions? Are they appropriate for teens? My soon to be daughter is very much into this and is always wanting to go to the conventions. We don’t mind as long as they are age appropriate which I doubt that they are. The Anime club at their high school is allowed to meet at the school but there is not an adult advisor.
I’m just concerned, knowing that there is a lot of adult themed anime plus some questionable happenings within her group.
I would be careful about the conventions, simply because they would be the perfect location for predators (yes, I know it is the latest Internet fear-thing, but they are real.)
I would simply say that if you (or some adult you trust) could supervise the event, it would probably be acceptible. If not, I’d steer clear, but that’s just me.
The conventions are usually run by both adults and teens, and they’re not objectionable, they’re a lot of fun. And they’ve been pretty safe from what I’ve seen. There are plenty of more dangerous places kids could be going to instead of a convention.
well naruto came from japan but tomami deleats the bad sceans for they can be appropiate for kids like the kiss sceen in one of the episodes they deleated that sceen. But if you go to youtube.com they will have it in japaniese and in english on that episode and you will see some changes between the english version and the japanise version
I think they are taking over our kids mines.You may think that’s is crazy but my daughter lives and breaths it.It’gets in the way of school work.She doesn’t want friends that don’t like anime.She draws it sangs it and whiches it. And if you ask her about it she gets mad. she’s16. Just a MoM , !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!help
dont worry im 15 and i ove naruto too. its just a phase. it does get adicting at times but in the long run it will give her new oportunities altho i think she should be more open with pple and have more friends.
PS reas a japanese comic (manga) they rock and you will begin to understand anime better than you do now.
i kinda agree. but id replace love with obsession. kids hate the real world. its boring and they’re limited. theres no drama, so they find all this in these shows. the same goes for adults that lacked a good fulfilling childhood. what makes matters worse is that kids try to make it so their lives are exactly like the show. this leads to phoniness, and extreme anger when the reality of… well, reality, i guess, hits them. ive seen kids lash out at their parents for turning off the tv at an emotional moment. its horrible, but these producers make so much money out of knowing how to exploit their easily susceptible minds…
The main reason why it’s so popular, it’s because the real world is so boring in comparison to the anime world. In the anime world, the school’s outcast is become a lonely guy/girl that doesn’t talk to anyone and become the world’s super heroe by night.
I highly disagree. You would lash out if someone cut off the t.v at an important moment of your soaps. Yet when a child watches anime you think its exploiting their minds. If you actually sit and watch an anime w/ your child you would see the drama . It’s a phase. Like i’m sure you went through phases when you were a child. Children become phony, with emotional problems when you raise them that way. A show cannot raise a child, parents do.