I used to watch anime but haven’t watched anything new in a while now. Have a 6 year old kid and thought it would be a good excuse to start watching some together with her. We just completed little witch academy and we have seen the ghibli movies. I’m seeking more series and movies that would be appropriate for kids and also not to boring for an adult to watch.
Cardcaptor Sakura is wonderful, I also recommend Sailor Moon. I’ve seen recommendations for Nichijou and I agree with that one, it’s primarily comedy without a ton as far as plot goes.
Came here to give my 2 cents, but it seems all the anime I had in mind have already been recomended. Y’all have good taste.
Except… Why has nobody mentioned Pretty Cure!? It should be the obvious choice!
Except… Why has nobody mentioned Pretty Cure!? It should be the obvious choice!
Good question! I briefly considered it, but I haven’t seen it so I have no idea whether an adult would enjoy it too. Would you say it appeals to both age groups? It’s honestly tough since the span between “6-year old child” and “6-year old child’s parent” is so wide!
I watch it regularly and I love it. Heartcatch, Star Twinkle, Hirogaru Sky, Tropical Rouge and Mahotsukai are the best seasons.
Children anime are often the eternal ones, get some pretty cute and case closed for stories, Shin-chan for comedy.
Hi. Chiming in as a parent myself, with some suggestions that I would have let my kids watch at that age:
- Mitsuboshi Colors - Good, clean fun childhood adventures of 3 young girls.
- Strawberry Marshmallow - Same as above, but heavier on the comedy side.
- Cells at Work! - Educational about how the body works, though there is some fighting and battle shounen tropes.
- Flying Witch - magical slice of life that instills a sense of wonder.
- Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! - 3 creative high-schoolers are fighting to keep their animation club. This is the one to watch if your kid has even the slightest interest in art.
- Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle - a heartwarming comedy that humanizes monsters as super friendly. Might be a good watch if she’s afraid of monsters. Even a good watch if she’s not.
I personally rate each one of them very highly, but I’m not sure whether they have dubbed versions or how good they are.
Lastly, there is Dr. Stone. I have never seen it due to my aversion to battle shounen, but I’ve read that it is very educational about how stuff works. As I said, I haven’t seen it, so I’m not sure how light or dark it is, but it might be worth looking into. I’m also trying to remember how kid-friendly Silver Spoon was. All I remember is that I learned a lot about farming. That’s why I’ll list it for the educational aspect, but everything else about the show is wiped from my memory. I don’t think there was anything in it that would disturb a kid, but I’m also not sure how entertaining it would be for one.
Shin-Chan
6 year old is too young for most anine, i would stick to Doraemon or similar, very light and innocent anime. Be ware of age ratings.
I feel like I watch a good amount that I’d think might be super kid friendly. It’s been a little bit since I’ve watched some of them, so I’d recommend double checking their age ratings. Here’s some ones that are bubbling into my head that now:
- Do It Yourself!
- YuriYuri
- My Clueless First Friend
- Laid-back Camp
- Non Non Biyori
- Ruri Rocks
CITY The Animation
I really think most of the jokes here will fly over a 6-year-old child’s head. It may not have anything inappropriate in it, but the target audience is still adults.
How many jokes in Animaniacs fly over the heads of kids? If a kid can watch and enjoy it, even if they don’t get all the jokes, that’s fine.
If a kid can watch and enjoy it
That’s the problem, I don’t think a 6-year-old child would enjoy it. There’s a difference between not getting all the jokes and not even getting half of them. The primary target audience of Animaniacs is children, with some effort put in to allow adults to also enjoy it. The primary target audience of CITY The Animation is adults.
Media targetted towards children is generally garbage. Are you afraid of children asking parents to explain things?
I think Nichijou and K-on are pretty kid friendly.
I thought about Nichijou, but I’m not certain a 6-year-old would be able to understand some of the jokes.
Jokes in Disney movies go over children’s heads, as do entire plots, settings, character motivations. Same for the Wiggles, Fraggle-Rock, and most others that have stood the test of time.
I’m struggling to name a show that a six-year-old could entirely wrap their mind around, or doesn’t have problematic elements requiring explanation, and isn’t Caillou/Coco-melon -level garbage. Even Veggie Tales invokes stories that are horrendous behind the scenes.
True but there are lots of shows I loved at that age where some of the jokes went over my head.
Spy X Family might be good. A lighthearted tone, a solid family dynamic, spy action and a “six” year old girl trying to make friends at school. Do be warned about some gory scenes (it doesn’t focus on the details, at least) and some darker themes (it’s a spy story, so there’s war stuff going on). But it has a solid dub and good comedy.
I would recommend Heaven’s Design Team (a workplace comedy about adding animals to the garden of eden, complete with fun animal facts), but I don’t think it has an English dub.
spy family has some moments and expresssions certainly not suited for a 6 year old, its about two nation on the brink of war, there are terrorists who say they want to kill people, etc , its rating on netflix is 16+, certainly not recommended for a 6 year old.
I already mentioned the war themes, and I think actual violence is more notable than threats of violence. And we get both in episode one.
Despite that, I do think kids would enjoy it, and there’s nothing to warrant a 16+ rating over a PG rating. I think OP should watch the first ep, then decide whether to watch the rest with the kiddo.
Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess, is very friendly and can be fun.
+1 for the Pokemon and Digimon recommendations
For Pokemon, the specific series I can recommend is Pokemon: Horizons. It has a new protagonist but I think I enjoy this story more. (Haven’t watched enough of the original to make a fair comparison)
For Digimon, the one I have the strongest impression of - from the time I watched them as a kid - is Digimon Frontier.
One more recommendation is Cells at Work!. I know of a parent who watched this anime with their kids, and praised it. Besides being entertaining, it is educational too.
Mushi shi is pretty great.
Cardcaptor Sakura might be good. Note that there’s a really inappropriate relationship between a student and teacher but they removed that relationship when they made the English dub so I’m guessing that’s the version you’d want to go with here. I imagine you’d want something with a dub anyways for someone that age.
Wasn’t that relationship mostly nixed in the anime in general? I realize the manga heavily implied a relationship (well, implied a physical relationship, the emotional “relationship” was obvious pretty early on) but I thought they mostly just implied an awkward crush in the anime?
In the manga they straight-up got engaged. He gave her a ring and everything. In the anime the relationship was downplayed a bit, but it was still there. In the English dub of the anime they rewrote it so the relationship was non-existent and if she was blushing while talking to him it would be because she forgot her homework or something, rather than romantic reasons.
6 year old is a bit of a tough territory here for anime recommendations, stuff like Rumiko Takahashi works (Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha) almost seem like they’d be fine but they probably tackle slightly too mature subject matter and would be better in early teens age.
This is a bit of an old school recommendation, but you might enjoy checking out the original Astroboy, old Tatsunoko shows and stuff like that. The older anime tends to skew a little less “mature”. However, sensibilities of what is ok for kids in America vs Japan always makes this difficult. For example, Detective Conan is a great kids anime by Japanese standards, but talking about murders and kidnappings might be a little much by American standards. So YMMV.
Obviously Pokemon is a good suggestion here. The original Digimon Movies are also pretty good and are done by a great director (Mamoru Hosoda) so you might like to check it out.
