Not really, she really is just an old elf lady who looks like a young adult human. There’s nothing sexualised about her, and she’s not childlike. For example here she is next to a human child who becomes her apprentice:
And here she is talking to a human priest she was adventuring with 50 years ago, he’s grown old, she hasn’t changed:
And here she is head patting him, to give him reassurance that he did well after he confides that he never felt like he figured out how to be “a grown up” and just kept faking it while growing old:
The human child is Fern, and the old Priest Heiter picked her up after she was orphaned by a demon attack. Heiter asks Frieren to keep taking care of Fern after his death, and mentor her in magic.
It’s a really nice relationship driven story with an interesting storyline and magic system.
That trope bothers me too, but basically any anime female is going to look the same anywhere from 12 to 40 due to the way the features are stylized. So, looking for context clues is how you find the age of a character if it’s not explicitly said. Frieren is absolutely treated like, dresses like, and acts like an adult. She’s smaller than a human man, larger than a dwarf or human child, and while she’s infantalized a little by Fern it’s very much in the “how are you this old and still not taking responsibility for x” way.
As everyone else has said, she’s not a child-but-actually-ancient. The show is not about sex. It’s about mortality. I started watching it, and I want to continue, but it’s really depressing. I wasn’t in the right mood to keep going.
As far as I’m aware, there are absolutely no sexual undertones in the show. It’s sometimes funny, but it’s also pretty serious.
As much as I fuckin love Frieren they totally sexualize Fern when she’s under 18, though tbh it does feel less gross than usual considering how clothed she is & the weird relationship she has with her master
Frieren is suuuuuper jealous of Fern once she starts developing (with the show repeatedly using camera angles to show it) and Fern’s 18th birthday is in the later half of the first season. It was funny and rather realistic having been around girls that behaved like that, but as an adult man it was obvious the camera had a serious liking of staring at Fern’s chest whenever it could
Frieren is very violent. Amazing show, but definitely not for kids.
Bocchi has exactly one fanservice gag I can recall, but it’s a fairly tame one. Probably fine, the whole rest of the show has nothing else inappropriate I can think of. It is sub-only though, so I guess it really depends on whether she’s fine with reading subtitles?
Delicious in Dungeon, some violence but nothing gory, compared to Frieren I don’t think it’s too much.
I haven’t seen the other one that was mentioned so I can’t speak for it.
Honestly I’d say it depends on your daughter and what you think she can handle. I’m not a parent, so it’s hard for me to judge. Maybe screen a few episodes for yourself and decide what you think is appropriate?
Edit: Though just to add one more nomination for you, Little Witch Academia immediately comes to mind as a show I think would be absolutely perfect for that age.
For those unititiated, this anime movie includes a woman who is literally toxic to sleep with. Her body poisons any of her partner and they die shortly after.
This is confirmed with a scene where someone sleeps with her against her will. It is very not appropriate for a 12 year old.
It was absolutely not appropriate. Add to that the HORRIFICALLY gratuitous dismemberment, decapitation, and other gruesome acts of torture… the fucking honestly was the LEAST of the issue.
My little brain was like “whoaaaa… anime is bad ass!”
Then I moved on to stuff like Azumanga, Excel Saga, and Cat Soup. Yknow, the hardcore stuff.
It’s a great show but Winry does wear unnecessarily revealing clothes. I guess a big deal isn’t made out of it. The one that’s a major omission is Spy X Family actually
She was specifically drawn that way, it’s not like it was an accident. I acknowledge in her case it’s subjective though because I can’t remember any gratuitous angles and they don’t really focus on it.
You … DO realize that kind of judgement is merely a slightly more benign version of the same misogyny as the, “look what she was wearing! She was asking for it” type of thinking, right…? You realize at least some women choose to look pretty without wanting to be oggled or abused, right?
Women with large breasts and slim frames just exist as human beings in reality, but when it’s drawn in anime it’s a choice. Having the “camera” focus on upskirt shots or side boob is a choice. Animating boob bounce is a choice. So a 15 year old depicted in micro skirts and a bandeau, that has a bath scene and a scene where she takes her top off is a choice. This is in the context of a thread talking about anime sexualizing minors. If Winry was a living, breathing girl, she could make those choices herself, in the privacy of her own life, but this is an anime character where she was specifically drawn that way in an industry that is overwhelmingly male dominated. FMA:B IS a very good show, and Winry is a real character with actual traits and a personality, but pretending that all of these design and story decisions weren’t made on purpose by people who almost certainly were adult men is naive.
You do realize that kind of jaded opinion on art is akin to the prudish teachings of religion, right?
A pretty lady choosing to show some cleavage doesn’t magically make it OK to SA them simply because they made a choice you disagree with… They CHOSE to go in to public like that, not unlike how an artist CHOOSES to present their art.
Yes, it is not exactly the same, but ideological associations do not have to be literally equivalent to never the less have strong similar tendencies.
If you’re against even fantasy being sexy, I’d hate to hear what you’d think of a sexy reality…
Delicious in Dungeon, Frieren, Hands off my Eizouken, and Bocchi the Rock probably
Edited to add Spy x Family, and I suppose Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood depending on if one feels Winry is sexualized.
I feel like campfire cooking would fall into this as well
Don’t worry, the number of people saying Frieren is a child is astounding
Oh, that old chestnut.
Not really, she really is just an old elf lady who looks like a young adult human. There’s nothing sexualised about her, and she’s not childlike. For example here she is next to a human child who becomes her apprentice:
And here she is talking to a human priest she was adventuring with 50 years ago, he’s grown old, she hasn’t changed:
And here she is head patting him, to give him reassurance that he did well after he confides that he never felt like he figured out how to be “a grown up” and just kept faking it while growing old:
The human child is Fern, and the old Priest Heiter picked her up after she was orphaned by a demon attack. Heiter asks Frieren to keep taking care of Fern after his death, and mentor her in magic.
It’s a really nice relationship driven story with an interesting storyline and magic system.
That’s a nice change of pace.
That trope bothers me too, but basically any anime female is going to look the same anywhere from 12 to 40 due to the way the features are stylized. So, looking for context clues is how you find the age of a character if it’s not explicitly said. Frieren is absolutely treated like, dresses like, and acts like an adult. She’s smaller than a human man, larger than a dwarf or human child, and while she’s infantalized a little by Fern it’s very much in the “how are you this old and still not taking responsibility for x” way.
It’s not the 1000-year-old-who-looks-8 trope, it’s the 1000-year-old-who-looks-25 trope. She’s never portrayed as anything close to childlike.
As everyone else has said, she’s not a child-but-actually-ancient. The show is not about sex. It’s about mortality. I started watching it, and I want to continue, but it’s really depressing. I wasn’t in the right mood to keep going.
As far as I’m aware, there are absolutely no sexual undertones in the show. It’s sometimes funny, but it’s also pretty serious.
As much as I fuckin love Frieren they totally sexualize Fern when she’s under 18, though tbh it does feel less gross than usual considering how clothed she is & the weird relationship she has with her master
Frieren is suuuuuper jealous of Fern once she starts developing (with the show repeatedly using camera angles to show it) and Fern’s 18th birthday is in the later half of the first season. It was funny and rather realistic having been around girls that behaved like that, but as an adult man it was obvious the camera had a serious liking of staring at Fern’s chest whenever it could
Maybe Saihate No Paladin, Nichijou, and Azumanga Daioh as well.
I love Azumanga, but Nichijou might be one of my favorites of all time. It’s got Azumanga vibes but cranks everything up to 100.
Medalist
By the grace of gods
Non non biyori
Laid back camp
The ancient magus bride
New game
Himouto Umaru chan
In the land of Leadale
I’ve been killing slimes for 300 years
Kuma kuma kuma bear
Log horizon
Ranking of kings
Shadows house
Spy x family
Spice and Wolf
Ascendance of a bookworm
Girls und panzer
Girls Under Panzer put all the fan service into a separate series of short (under 5 mins) OVAs, so it’s avoidable but does exist …
My daughter (11) wants to watch more anime than what’s on Netflix. Are these good for girls that age, you’d guess?
Frieren is very violent. Amazing show, but definitely not for kids.
Bocchi has exactly one fanservice gag I can recall, but it’s a fairly tame one. Probably fine, the whole rest of the show has nothing else inappropriate I can think of. It is sub-only though, so I guess it really depends on whether she’s fine with reading subtitles?
Delicious in Dungeon, some violence but nothing gory, compared to Frieren I don’t think it’s too much.
I haven’t seen the other one that was mentioned so I can’t speak for it.
Honestly I’d say it depends on your daughter and what you think she can handle. I’m not a parent, so it’s hard for me to judge. Maybe screen a few episodes for yourself and decide what you think is appropriate?
Edit: Though just to add one more nomination for you, Little Witch Academia immediately comes to mind as a show I think would be absolutely perfect for that age.
My dad let me rent an anime when I was 11 or 12. He was like “eh get whatever, it’s cartoons.”
I chose Ninja Scroll.
I turned out fine hahaha
For those unititiated, this anime movie includes a woman who is literally toxic to sleep with. Her body poisons any of her partner and they die shortly after.
This is confirmed with a scene where someone sleeps with her against her will. It is very not appropriate for a 12 year old.
It was absolutely not appropriate. Add to that the HORRIFICALLY gratuitous dismemberment, decapitation, and other gruesome acts of torture… the fucking honestly was the LEAST of the issue.
My little brain was like “whoaaaa… anime is bad ass!”
Then I moved on to stuff like Azumanga, Excel Saga, and Cat Soup. Yknow, the hardcore stuff.
Ooo yes Little Witch Academia is perfect
How you gonna leave out Full Metal Alchemist?
It’s a great show but Winry does wear unnecessarily revealing clothes. I guess a big deal isn’t made out of it. The one that’s a major omission is Spy X Family actually
She’s not sexualized but she wears a crop top thing. “Oh, the audacity”
She was specifically drawn that way, it’s not like it was an accident. I acknowledge in her case it’s subjective though because I can’t remember any gratuitous angles and they don’t really focus on it.
You … DO realize that kind of judgement is merely a slightly more benign version of the same misogyny as the, “look what she was wearing! She was asking for it” type of thinking, right…? You realize at least some women choose to look pretty without wanting to be oggled or abused, right?
Women with large breasts and slim frames just exist as human beings in reality, but when it’s drawn in anime it’s a choice. Having the “camera” focus on upskirt shots or side boob is a choice. Animating boob bounce is a choice. So a 15 year old depicted in micro skirts and a bandeau, that has a bath scene and a scene where she takes her top off is a choice. This is in the context of a thread talking about anime sexualizing minors. If Winry was a living, breathing girl, she could make those choices herself, in the privacy of her own life, but this is an anime character where she was specifically drawn that way in an industry that is overwhelmingly male dominated. FMA:B IS a very good show, and Winry is a real character with actual traits and a personality, but pretending that all of these design and story decisions weren’t made on purpose by people who almost certainly were adult men is naive.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aAOegc0ezGk&pp=ygUQd2lucnkgYmF0aCBzY2VuZdIHCQmNCQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D
You do realize that kind of jaded opinion on art is akin to the prudish teachings of religion, right?
A pretty lady choosing to show some cleavage doesn’t magically make it OK to SA them simply because they made a choice you disagree with… They CHOSE to go in to public like that, not unlike how an artist CHOOSES to present their art.
Yes, it is not exactly the same, but ideological associations do not have to be literally equivalent to never the less have strong similar tendencies.
If you’re against even fantasy being sexy, I’d hate to hear what you’d think of a sexy reality…
I’m against 15 year olds being depicted as sexy in media developed by adult men, yes.