My children are nine and seven years old. I’ve always intended to show them anime – and they’ve seen Totoro and a couple other pieces – but it was never a great priority for me. In fact, I’ve been more concerned with sharing geek culture and 80’s/90’s pop culture with them than anime. But something unexpected happened this summer. Under my wife’s guidance (and through some of my suggestions), they ended up watching a lot of anime.
Here’s their summer watch list:
TV Series
- Squid Girl (finishing up from spring)
- Acchi Kocchi
- Himouto! Umaru-chan
- A couple episodes of Fairy Tail and One Week Friends
Movies
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- My Neighbors the Yamadas
- Whisper of the Heart
- Spirited Away
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Ponyo
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
- Summer Wars
- The Boy and the Beast
Whew. For a family that doesn’t watch that much TV, that’s a ton. Although I wish I had approached this watchathon more methodically (and our own MRNewman has provided excellent strategies on how to do just that) – there were some uncomfortable moments that I could have avoided – it was generally a really good thing. I was able to enjoy a few series that I had either never seen or hadn’t finished, and was able to share a bunch of my favorite movies with the family and see them react and laugh and cry at all the right moments.
You’ve likely noticed that many of the posts these past few months have focused on some of these series. Besides a couple of currently airing series, this is what I was watching. And you’ll see a few more posts about some of them in the coming week or two.
What about you? Do you watch anime with family? How has that experience been?