Animated Does NOT Mean 'Childish'

[Nahla]

I can't be the only least slightly annoyed by this..

I was watching Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin (amazing anime by the way) and my brother comes and comments "why you watching baby stuff?"

Baby stuff? So Characters getting gored, heads cut off, swearing is for babies now?

It seems to me some people have the idea that animated=for children, I find that stupid myself. There are lots of animated movies that are in no way suitable for children.

*cough cough* Felidae *cough cough*

Those who have seen or heard about Felidae will know exactly what I mean.

And even if I am watching a kids movie, so what. Last time I checked things like The Land Before Time or The Lion King didn't have a 'you must be under this age to watch this movie' requirement.

It really does irk me when if something is animated it is automatically thought to be for children even when the movie has more adult themes then some non-animated films out there targeted for adults.

I personally prefer animation or live action, animation takes much more time and work to get the whole movie together, but according to some people that makes me 'childish'. Ugh, whatever I'll just roll with and go with the flow I guess.

Does this bother anyone else or am I just nit picking at things that don't matter? Well..that latter one does happen..an awful lot but lets pretend it doesn't.

[DarkHououmon]

Well have you ever shown your brother any animated violence from the anime, like say, show him Akakabuto's decapitation, or that part in Felidae where Francis watches those graphic experiment done on cats? I am quite curious to know what kind of retort he would make and if he honestly thinks that gruesome violence like that is made for little kids.

Animation does have a stigma of "being just for kids". When it first came about, it wasn't; old animation was for kids and adults. Then it started to be aimed at kids and if I remember right, it was because kids related more to the exaggeration that animation had to offer.

However, not all animation even today is just for kids to enjoy and some isn't meant for them. Anime is a great place to turn to when it comes to anime for all kinds of ages.

Even if something is for kids doesn't mean that it is flat or dumbed down. There are kids shows that touch upon topics that you might not expect for a kids sow. Nostalgia Critic actually did a video about this, and he mentions how kids shows today have improved and gotten deeper than they ever were before.

Here's a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXpWAO0F7ck

Anyway, I wouldn't really be too concerned about what your brother says. It just sounds like he is speaking out of ignorance and is so used to "animation being for kids", as is so prominent in the mindset of many americans that when he saw you watching an anime, he automatically thought that it had to be kids stuff. And if he continues to believe it's for kids even after seeing the graphic violence, oh well. That's his problem. You don't have to waste your time trying to convince him or anyone that animation is not just for kids if they refuse to listen. So just enjoy watching Ginga Nagareboshi Gin and ignore what others say.

[Kor]

That is the stigma that animation has in the us, is that it's for kids.  Though there are some animated, like Fritz the cat, an old 70's animated film that  is NOT for kids since the characters in it have sex, and at least 1 smokes pot.   This doesn't count the adult anime, which there are a lot.

[bestariana1girl]

I completely agree! Oh my gosh! I love TLK and LBT so much, but they both (all animated movies too) have some material for all ages. Some people just want to act like their so grown up when actually they are the child.

[Ducky123]

Rant approved!  

This "animation is for kids" way of thinking also exists in other corners of the world. It's sad that people tend to have prejudices about animated movies/series. True, a lot of series are really aimed at childn only but what about animated movies like, say, How To Train Your Dragon, Finding Nemo, Lion King or Ice Age just to name a few? Are these movies made for children to watch? Well, while there are some elements which people may call "childish", there's definitely something in these movies that make it also appealing to teens and adults (like the humorous scenes in Ice Age or the breathtaking action scenes in HTTYD)

In case of series like MLP:FIM, I'm not really sure if they were originally meant to be for adults too, but a lot of people tend to enjoy watching that so your brother should think over this twice before making such a statement  

Anime is another good argument against your brother's statement. I only watch Naruto which is one of the animes that are aimed at young people (not little kids though) but it also has a lot of things that make it appealing to older people. Many go crazy over these characters and ship them with just anyone (though I go with the official pairing - that is if the spoilers I've heard are true   ). It also has a lot of violence (not gorey stuff but blood and other horrible creatures, pain, torture, death, war etc...). However, it's nothing compared to some other animes out there which are 18+ and therefore absolutely NOT aimed at children  

[DarkHououmon]

On the anime topic, there's one anime I watched about two years ago called Madoka Magica, and it certainly isn't for kids. It starts of cute at first, but it quickly derails and has a lot of deep psychological questions, moments of depression and violence, etc. It's not something that a little kid could grasp easily. I think this anime was aimed at teens and young adults, though I could be wrong. I would say more of what I like about it, but it's one of those shows that's really hard to talk about without getting into spoiler territory.

[Serris]

Animation is an art medium.

It can be used for adult or all ages animation.

[Zimba]

I never get why people say that, or why some people think it's weird to watch cartoons that are for children when you're an adult.

With this My Little Pony, that show is for little girls yet grown adult men watch it and it's considered 'cool', but if a little boy wants to watch it he gets bullied, called a girl, sissy etc. I never watched the new MLP, last MLP I ever watched was the old Swedish version of 'Gen3' when I was 10 years old. I personally have no interest in watching this new one, but if guys want to watch it, let them not hurting anyone.

Just because you're an adult by law does not mean you have to suddenly drop everything and be all mature and serious...well you can if you want but sounds like an awfully boring life never just doing something for enjoyment.


Never saw this Felidae you speak of, but looked up and yeah..characters being murdered and having sex does not seem like a childs film to me, even if it is about animated kitty cats. I would imagine many kids would want to see the 'cat movie' and end up highly disturbed.

I know a 8 year old who thinks she is too grown up for 'cartoons', she is my next door neighbour and I tried lending her some of the old animated Disney film DVDS when she was stuck at home sick, she told me to get that 'baby junk' away.

I'm 20 and love Disney and Animation...so why is it suddenly too babyish for 8 year olds? Hehe..wait until these kids really are adults, then they'll realize how much childhood they missed out on trying to be one back then.

Meanwhile I'm gonna check out the shows people mentioned here.