Confused About Your Child's Anime Interests?

Don't be. 

You've probably watched anime at some point in your life, and you didn't realize it.  If you remember watching shows like "Speed Racer," "Gigantor," and "Battle of the Planets," you've watched anime.  Although you didn't know it by that name -- up until the mid 1980s, we called it "Japanimation."

Increasingly, more and more Western works are borrowing elements from this artform, although Japanese animators did this first when they borrowed a lot of elements from Disney and other Western animation. The trope of the anime girls with the big eyes? They were borrowing from Disney, in particular "Bambi."

But in more recent years, anime in the United States has taken off.  In more recent years the availability of anime in stores and online has increased than in past years.  The form has had it's resurgence on television thanks to the afternoon Toonami block that was on Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2008, then revived as a late night block in 2012 on Saturday nights.  Some of their more popular shows have included "Dragon Ball Z," "Naruto," "Sailor Moon," and "Gundam Wing." Among these, "Dragon Ball Z" is probably the most popular, with fans still cosplaying characters from this show at conventions.

But as a parent, you might be confused about some of the other elements of anime that you hear about.  If you've ever gone with your child to a convention, you've probably asked yourself, "What is yaoi? Why is my daughter calling that thing 'kawaii?' Why is my son laughing so hard at these jokes?"

Well, you've come to the right place.

To start off, this is not a site to tell you how "bad" anime is.  I'm not into moral panics, and they don't do anyone any good.  I'm from the generation that had parents believe that "Dungeons and Dragons" was dangerous because of a few stories out there about kids taking it too far that turned out not to be true.  But being a parent myself -- I have a five year old and two teen stepchildren who are into the anime scene -- I want information out there so that parents can make informed choices.  And being an anime fan myself, I have a hard time speaking bad about the medium itself (although I'm not above criticizing particular shows).

What I will have here are three types of articles -- terms that you might hear your child use and an explanation of what they mean, tips on congoing for parents, and reviews of shows that are available that includes a parental guide on content.  With this combination, you'll be ready for the next time that your child says, "That show has a lot of bishounen men in it! Kawaii!"