I have a 6 year old nephew and want to get him into good anime before the short attention span shows gets ahold of him.
What older/newer series would you recommend for a 6 year old who's the best reader in his class. (he's one of only two students at his school that tested high enough to be placed into a special reading program.)
He reads well enough to read his Final Fantasy games by himself, but I don't think he's up to subtitle speeds yet.
Maybe something like 'My Neighbor Totoro'. I think he might be too young for even something like 'Spirited Away' or 'Kiki's Delivery Service'. Can't think of an anime series though.
While he may not completely understand it, anything Studio Ghibli works. Shows such as Naruto, One Piece and Bleach are marketed towards kids around his age. I'm no parent or mentor, so I'd have a hard time saying if he should watch them or not, but hey, that's what they say.
There's stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. Are we talking abotu things only on DVD in the USA? If that's so, then One Piece and Bleach are out of question.
It's hard for me to think of what is "good" anime for someone his age. I know of many good anime, most of them would be incomprehensible to children, even if the values taught are good (Mushishi, Kamichu!, and so on). Come to think of it, Kamichu! may be a good one. It's coming out soon, and is about a young girl who one day became God (not the Christian God kind, but God of Water, God of Trees, God of Sun, and so on type) but she's not sure what she's the god of.
All she knows is that her "keyword is Ka-mi-chu! and it brings forth her wishes. It teaches some very valuable things, but I don't know how much a child would take from this. It's not shown through words, but actions. When she became god, and told her friends about it, there was no drama, calling each other liars, etc. They just simply accepted it.
When they discovered all the spirits around them, they accepted all of them for what makes them unique. It's a really sweet and heartwarming show. I think it shows some good values.
While not deep or anything, other good shows would be (I don't know if your nephew is a boy or girl) Kaleido Star, a story about a young girl who aspires to become a circus performer. I don't know if s/he would be turned off by having a female lead (Kamichu has one too, but this one sticks out as a little more "girly") but the visuals are amazing, and the "never give up" motto of Sora is wonderful to watch.
If you told me a little about his/her personality, or what you mean by "good" anime, what level of "complexity" you are looking for, etc, I should be able to give better recommendations.
My 5 year old has gotten bored with Totoro. I don't know if that's cause she's grown out of it, or just seen it too many times.
Spirited away and Kiki are both fine for that age, IMHO. Spirited away could be a little intense for very sensitive kids, but in general I think it's OK.
______________________________________
The original gnomosexualizer
100% socializer 53% explorer 33% achiever 13% killer and 100% lover.
The little guy keeps up to date on the CN showing of Naruto and some of One Piece.
He also caught all of the 'Month of Miyazaki' showings on CN and most of the MoM on TCM as well.
Ruccus said:
Maybe something like 'My Neighbor Totoro'. I think he might be too young for even something like 'Spirited Away' or 'Kiki's Delivery Service'. Can't think of an anime series though.
He's seen Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service several times since we have the DVDs.
---
I'm also hoping to find him some good reading material since he says most of the books at school are 'easy' .
I was thinking he might be too young just for the attention span purposes; when things slow down I know my nephew will start to get bored and go play with his train set (though he's not 6).
