I'm very cautious about showing anything to my daughter, regardless of the ratings. I believe in screening everything your children come into contact with: tv shows, video games, movies and toys. Even if it's been rated "E" for everyone or "G" for General Audiences, it may contain content that you're not comfortable with your child(ren) seeing.

I would not allow my children to watch just any anime. Afterall, South Park is animated and I don't watch it anymore because they've gone so far.

I absolutely LOVE anime! There are certainly a HUGE range of ratings, from G to XXX. I love Japanimation (sp?), especially Inyuasha, I find nothing wrong with most forms of anime. But, if you watch most disney shows closely, there are perverted things in there that children won't understand, and they are usually so subtle that kids won't even catch them. In fact, cartoons were initially made for adults, like Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, etc.

I've been a Dragon Ball fan for a long time, but my parents once warned me that such animations (especially spatial and combat anime) often had flashy scenes that could lead to epilepsy and such.

Also I believe some anime are just TOO WEIRD! I think it can mess up some basic sense of logic of young children. Maybe you know, the anime where they are all with happy smiles like this ^_^ and being all quick and doing very weird actions like hyperkinetic politicians on crack.

I prefered Dragon Ball because it had an actual storyline with humans and aliens, and that was different enough from reality to not try to fight a building... at least, to me.

"Afterall, South Park is animated and I don't watch it anymore because they've gone so far. "

South Park is extreme. 99% of animation (even hentai!) aren't even a quarter as bad as that.

I didn't say all anime is as bad as South Park. I was simply using South Park as an example to show that being animated does not necessarily make a show appropriated for children.

Sorry for my misunderstanding. You're perfectly right although animation is far from realistic (except for Gundam shows and Death Note) and so if people do take it seriously where the conditions are insufficient to do so (e.g in Death Note many people are killed BUT nobody can prove WHO did the murders until years later due to lack of evidence. On the other hand, a very young man of only 22 is the world's greatest detective and dosen't need supernatural power which proves that detective work is not age-specific, a positive message which should be taken seriously.) then taking all of ANY animation seriously is not very wise. In other words, animation can be a positive or negative influence but it all depends on how you look at it.

I agree, Niisu.

completely agree with you too Niisu!

Looks like some cartoons are entirely for adults even though their graphics look more child-ish (I'm thinking of Family Guy).
South Park is pure madness, but sometimes they make very good (grown up) jokes I do remember at about 13yrs of age I couldn't understand much about them, I only laughed when Kenny got killed and that's about it.

The Simpsons are inbetween, works well for kids and has some more mature (but hidden) jokes for adults ; I think that's well balanced.

My kids LOVE the Hayao Miyazaki features. His features are mostly ages 5 and up friendly, with the exception of Princess Mononoke, Porco Russo and possibly Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which have some frightening scenes that may give younger children nightmares or make them cry. Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Sherlock Hound are all creations of Hayao Miyazaki. He actually won an Academy award for Best Animated Film for Kiki's Delivery Service. Another good anime for children is The Cat Returns, by Hiroyuki Morita. Most, if not all, of these films are Studio Ghibli productions. They do play on imagination more than reality, but they are no worse than Tom and Jerry or Transformers. Read more about Hayao Miyzaki and what influences his art on wikipedia, it is actually very interesting. My children were introduced to anime by me and my husband, who are both fans. We both have a TON of anime, but some (Ruroni Kenshen, Ranma 1/2, Inyuasha, Trigun, and others) are definitely inappropriate for children. I don't mind my two little ones watching SOME episodes of Cowboy Bebop, especially the ones with good ol' (rather, young) Edward, as they adore Edward and Ein, and most of the episodes featuring Edward are more goofy, less serious, etc. I make it my mission to watch ANY show my child wants to watch first, then I can "critique" the show to my child, letting them know WHY it is not appropriate, or even sometimes deeming it appropriate but letting my kids both know beforehand that there are some sad scenes (such as a doggie dying, or a girl losing her kitty, etc). I made the mistake of letting my children watch Marley and Me and they were pretty much bored and inattentive throughout the movie, but when Marley passed, they both BURST into tears. They haven't done that yet with any anime that I allow them to watch.

I LOVE Miyazaki's works almost as much as Tomino's. I've seen Spirited Away and The Cat Returns*. Now Gundams, they are confusing more than anything else except for the 08th MS Team, a very naughty one indeed.
* Sometimes BBC NI show anime films at midday, anime hasn't been shown here in the Republic for years. Not even Gundam 00 where one of the main charachters is Irish!(Pilots an orange Gundam, wears a green suit and is pale and all). He isn't the one with the drink problem in the show though.

I would like to add that Spongebob Squarepants is JUST as bad as far as innuendos go as say, Family Guy. But it is still a good cartoon for kids to watch. They just don't see it the way adults do because their minds have not yet been tainted like ours have. However, my son HAS asked why Squidward's penis was on his face and asked me why he does not wear pants...oooh it took A TON of restraint to keep from laughing at that. But I was able to recover, at least about the penis-nose. I told him I had no clue why Squidward did not wear pants, because, indeed I do not know why...he is the only character in that show, aside from Gary, that does not wear them. I made up an explanation simple enough though: possibly Bikini Bottom does not sell four-legged pants. It does not taint the mind and in my opinion, it is a rather good explanation.