Diabolita23

My niece is 8 and into the anime stuff they have on TV. Anyone know any good kid-safe shows? She likes the Japanese ones.

wildcatlh

Hm.

"Magical Doremi" on 4Kids TV (FOX Saturday mornings). From a japanese anime called Ojamajo Doremi. Targeted at girls your niece's age. Very cute show, and one of the few shows 4Kids hasn't butchered. Tokyo Mew Mew is I believe also a part of that lineup as a recommendation.

Can't think of more offhand, although I'll respond later if I do.

Morf

Just turn on the TV on Saturday morning. Isn't just about everything anime now? It sure seems like it. Fox and the WB are your best bets.

littlefuzzy

Buy a DVD of Panda, Go Panda! right now... This is only two episodes, and they are from the seventies, but she will eat it up. It is from Hayao Miyazaki (Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, etc.,) and is a wonderful little show.

Diabolita23

Cool, I actually love Miyazaki, I should get that DVD for when she visits. I've been getting all of his stuff on netflix.

Has anyone heard anything about Zatch Bell? I saw it last week and thought of Nicole (my niece). It looked cute, not your average trainer game anime. I hear there is manga, too, to start her off on the good foot.

RyoHazuki

Totally spies

Diabolita23

I found out there is a Zatch Bell card game too, I tried out the tutorial over at http://www.zatchbellccg.com and it seems really cool. The “spellbook” concept is cool. It’s like you’re almost stacking your deck and your book is your hit points. You get “MP” when you turn your spellbook, but when you run out of pages to turn, you lose. I can’t wait to actually play it. Go check out the tutorial on the website – it’s a link that says “Online Demo.”

I watched Totally Spies, I loved it.

joeblow69

I would think little girls would like that cartoon Winx Club or something like that. It's about cute happy little fairies vs. mean witches.

I also kind of dig Hi Hi Puffy Ami Uni on cartoon network. One of the voices is done by the girl from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (which is another cool show).

mikehunt

go old school and get her the Robotech dvds
or if you're a purist get Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada and make her read subtitles

Charlie Goose

I have never even heard of any of these shows.

Diabolita23

Well, it turns out her favorite show to watch is Naruto (www.naruto.com). She's not your average little girl, I guess. Doesn't like any of that girly stuff. She isn't into the straight-out battle type of anime, either. I watched it with her, I think it's pretty well done, I love ninjas and the idea of an inept ninja is pretty amusing.

fnordboy

I have seen a few episodes of this, well not the US version of it. I saw it as Konjiki no Gash Bell. For obvious reasons they changed the word "Gash" in the title I liked it, but I wouldn't think most people would thing it was suitable for young children. I would guess they changed a number of things for the US release. Seems to be getting very popular now.

fujishig

Both Naruto and Zatch Bell are pretty violent, though. Not sure if that's a factor. Naruto especially gets pretty bloody later on, though it's still too early to say how it's going to be "adapted" for tv. If she likes stuff like Dragonball, though, these are from the same genre (as is One Piece).

Also these are a tad violent, and not really anime, but I think Avatar: the last Airbender (Nickelodeon) and The Life and Times Of Juniper Lee (Cartoon Network) are pretty good, as is CN's Teen Titans.

Depends what "anime" stuff she likes. Pokemon? Dragonball? Miyazaki? Sailor Moon?

milo bloom

Know what's interesting? Scratch just below the surface of "Juniper Lee" and you've got the Buffy animated series we never got.

Diabolita23

Have you heard anything about the movie? I know that they're making one, I'm wondering if it will be released in the US. I'm ashamed to admit that I think I'm starting to like this show better than my niece.

Diabolita23

Naruto gets bloody? Hm. I guess they will edit it out. I heard that so far it hasn't been edited all that much, but I'm not familiar with the original so I guess I wouldn't know. It's a good thing I found that out though because I was thinking about getting her the original show as a present. How about the manga? Do you know if that's kid-safe? I saw you can get it on the website. She's definitely old for her age, I think of her more as a 11-yr-old than an 8-yr-old.

fnordboy

IIRC the manga is rated at 13+, but from what I have read of the series it's not bad. I wouldn't see a problem with someone who is more of an 11yo than an 8yo reading it. Of course, YMMV.

Go to your local Borders and look through it before you buy.
I think there are two Gash Bell movies.

http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/movie/2004_GB/
http://www.gashbell-movie.com/

Diabolita23

Wow! Thank you so much. I'm gonna look at the movies and the manga. I didn't realize it was mainstream enough that they would carry it at Borders. Oh, and by the way.... I've seen the fnords.

fnordboy

Borders, atleast the one by me has a HUGE manga section. Manga in the last couple of years has gotten huge in the states. Which is great, because the manga I tend to like most are the titles that most likely never would have came over here before.



If you don't see the fnord it can't eat you... don't see the fnords!

Diabolita23

So, I went to Borders and they did have a huge manga section. I'd already ordered all the Zatch Bell stuff off the website, but they also had the CCG, which I couldn't resist, and I'm really impressed with. The depth of the strategy is amazing. I got a spellbook for myself and one for my niece... she kicked my ass...