Can Animes influence your children? Are Animes dangerous for kids? Are Animes things of the devil? In this article, we will clarify all your doubts on the subject.
Now and then, we see on television some generalized report criticizing Japanese animes as a possible culprit for some tragedy. Such reports always speak negatively about the influences of animes, and this also happens with games.
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Do Animes Influence Children?
Not only animes, but games, series, movies, friends, music, and anything else can negatively or positively influence both a child and an adult.
We are shaped by everything we hear and see; just look at people living in different locations. Some end up picking up habits of using inappropriate words, while others have a more formal vocabulary.
In Brazil, we have a huge vocabulary of swear words and slang with sexual connotations used very frequently, and this has become increasingly common, both in daily life and in the media.
On the other side of the world, we have the Japanese who use honorifics (Mr. Mrs) all the time when mentioning someone’s name, and they rarely use swear words, which generally have harmless meanings.
Some animes dubbed or subtitled in Portuguese often replace light-meaning Japanese words with slang like p0rr@ and c@r@lho. In my opinion, such changes influence much more negatively than the original work in question.
We conclude that yes, animes can influence people. In fact, animes have a lot of cultural influence, something that can be very positive.
Understand the Influence of Anime
Now that you know that everything can influence people, stop blaming animes. Just like movies and series, there are types and genres of animes.
Hardly an anime will have more violence and immorality than any movie or series available on Netflix. Unless your child is watching Gore Animes (bloody) or Hent@i Animes (adult).
Famous animes often criticized by television, such as Death Note, which has a dark setting with psychological horror, will teach your child about the consequences of actions and will make them smarter. There is no need to fear them writing your name in a death notebook, or believing in superstitions?
Now an important point, just like movies and series, animes have ratings and age groups. If you believe that a certain anime series is not appropriate for your child, then that’s fine, prevent them from watching it, but do not blame animes, because your movies and soap operas are much worse.
Rarely will an anime show a couple having s&x0 in the first episodes as happens in today’s series and soap operas. Most animes end without even a kiss. Even the animes with spicy scenes full of fanservice usually do not have adult scenes.
Animes Offer Positive Influence
The Japanese have immense creativity with animes; they create works about absolutely any subject. There are animes about people becoming astronauts, sports animes, animes about arts, music, and culture.
In the West, we have a macho culture where young men need to like action, blood, and violence, but animes have turned many grown men into lovers of romances and shoujo animes.
Japan does not need to include violence in its works to attract a male audience; they usually focus on stories and creativity, often set in schools, teaching important lessons that Westerners generally do not learn in school.
If you want a child who does not get involved with wrong things, putting them to watch animes is the best way. They will learn a lot from Japanese culture, which encourages education, respect, and effort.
Prohibiting a child from watching animes deprives them of a good influence. The best thing is to be selective and watch with your children, especially since Japanese animations are made for all ages.
Many people, even those who have nothing against animes, usually have a preconceived notion thinking it is something boring and uninteresting. Today my mother, my wife, and many of my friends have surrendered to animes.
Hardly anyone who makes a good choice and watches the anime in full will not fall in love with the creative and motivating works that the Japanese create. Many fall in love with the culture and even want to learn the Japanese language.
Imagine, your child starts watching animes, becomes an educated person, helps clean the house, starts studying a new language, dedicates themselves to studies and work. Wouldn’t that make you very happy? That is the power of animes!
Are Animes Dangerous for Children?
Basically, talking about the influence of animes has already answered half of this question. Some children are more susceptible to being transported into the story’s setting, which can lead to some rare tragedy that we see on television.
This is not the fault of the animes, but of the parents who do not understand their children, how susceptible they are to influences, or what phase of life they are going through.
A psychoanalyst friend of mine recently told me that parents usually bring their children to the office saying things like: Ah, my child is very rebellious, my child is very immature or restless.
This friend of mine said that this is very normal, and that all normal children need to go through this until they reach adulthood. Parents need to deal better with this.
Would you prefer your child to dress up and play in an imaginary world or to get involved with bad company or even drugs at school? Animes do not pose any risk as long as parents know their children.
As long as you adhere to the age ratings of movies, series, games, and animes, these things will not present any risk to your children. Often such tragedies happen due to a lack of parental attention.
Are Animes Things of the Devil?
Indeed, in Japanese culture, Christianity is almost non-existent. Japanese religions believe in various gods and demons, and many often appear in their works as cultural references or characters in the story.
If you are a religious person who firmly believes that it is wrong to consume any material involving magic or supernatural things, then yes, you will need to be selective with your child’s animes.
But it is worth clarifying that there are types of animes, and the vast majority have absolutely nothing to do with creatures from Japanese folklore. The vast majority involve everyday life, science fiction, and school life.
In this decade, a great wave of Isekai animes that address life in another world has been released frequently. These animes do usually have something like magical powers or demons.
It is worth clarifying that the demons of Japanese culture are not like the demons of the Bible. So, if you let your children watch Disney or Marvel works, you don’t need to worry so much about animes.
I am a Jehovah’s Witness, a religion that strictly follows the principles of the Bible, yet I and many of us love animes. After all, we consider it one of the few appropriate things for Christians to watch compared to today’s series and movies.
If you are a religious person worried about your child watching animes, don’t worry, just keep an eye on them and be selective. In fact, we recommend watching with them; you will enjoy it! Just look for a story that is interesting for both of you.
Animes to Watch with Your Child
To reduce some prejudice against animes, there are some cool works on Netflix for you to watch with your child. Many of them are dubbed and do not have violence or anything that affects your conscience.
Violet Evergarden
This anime is available in Portuguese on Netflix and tells the story of a young girl who was used as a weapon of war, but at the end of the war, she becomes a letter writer.
My Experience with Animes
Animes have been present in my life since I was 13 years old. Perhaps a little earlier with animations that I watched dubbed on TV without knowing they were Japanese animations.
With animes, I discovered a world and a reality that seems like a dream, educated people who do things the right way, people who respect each other, a world of peace and without violence.
The Japanese are the ones who come closest to my lifestyle as a religious person; even though they do not follow any Christian principles, they do better than many Christians.
They are people I would like to have around, so I have always wanted to live in Japan just by seeing their attitudes and lifestyle in animes. This shaped who I am today, in addition to defining my profession as the author of this site.
At 21, I managed to travel to Japan and have one of the best experiences of my life, confirming everything I experienced and dreamed in animes as reality.
Of course, not everything is a dream; however, once again we return to the same issue, there is no need to generalize things based on others’ experiences. Live your own experience!
Like human beings, the Japanese and animes have their problems, but we cannot let that interfere with our good experiences. We can learn a lot from them!
How much better the world would be if everyone followed the education, hospitality, humility, and respect of the Japanese. Of course, they, like any human, have their flaws, but I would feel much safer in a Brazil full of Japanese culture than in the false cultural freedom of Brazil.
I am not saying that we cannot learn from Brazilians; our nation also teaches a lot of good things, just as Japanese can also teach bad things. It is sad to say, but today most people cling to the negative influence of things.
I firmly believe that we are bombarded with negative feelings of hate, anger, and disgust when consuming content from some people. Just navigate on YouTube, Twitter, in comments on websites, or anywhere on the internet to see this hate being propagated. Is there a worse influence than this?
The worst of all is to imagine that some people with hate in their hearts will read this article and will distort some of my words in order to propagate hate and discussion…
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