Is naruto good for kids

[Dead_Ninja_111]

Originally Posted by William C. Maune

While I welcome you to the Toonami Forum, that kind of attitude isn't going to fly here. I would highly suggest you read through the Forum FAQ before you end up getting yourself warned. Basically, coming into a thread and bashing, whether it be bashing an enitre realm of animation or anything else, is not considered polite discussion around these parts.

That was bashing? sounded like a joke to me.

[Raidon Makoto]

Originally Posted by British Geezer

To answer the original question: Naruto is not good for kids. Naruto is anime. Anime is not good for anyone.


Question answered.

That is the most close-minded statement I've heard in my life, and I've heard some pretty close minded statements.

Care to explain why anime isn't good so I can royally own you Intarwebz Debate Style?

[William C. Maune]

Originally Posted by rust

That is the most close-minded statement I've heard in my life, and I've heard some pretty close minded statements.

Care to explain why anime isn't good so I can royally own you Intarwebz Debate Style?

Let's not ask him to continue. I already stepped in and asked him to refrain from making those kinds of posts. Instead, this thread should get back on topic.

[Marinite]

Originally Posted by HellCat

It's a story about a 12 year old trying to show the world his own identity and ability...it may not be for toddlers but yes, it is a kids show. How many times do we have to go through this with Shonen Jump titles?

Some people have a problem with admitting they're watching a kids shows. It makes them think they can't enjoy it.

[Dead_Ninja_111]

Originally Posted by Galentone

Some people have a problem with admitting they're watching a kids shows. It makes them think they can't enjoy it.

The only people that I can see having a problem with that are the guys who are well into their adult years.

[The Wolverine]

Originally Posted by Galentone

Some people have a problem with admitting they're watching a kids shows. It makes them think they can't enjoy it.

I can't understand why.

I have no problem admitting I watch shows meant for 5 year olds. I just watch what I like and don't care what people think about it.

[Speedy Boris]

Originally Posted by Galentone

Some people have a problem with admitting they're watching a kids shows. It makes them think they can't enjoy it.

I don't think people would have a problem admitting they're watching a kids show if the term "kids show" didn't carry a negative, pejorative feel to it, except in the nostalgia context.

[Beat]

Explain college students and adults watching Spongebob.

Kids show will always be negative. It means stupid, immature, etc.

[Rolling Cloud]

Originally Posted by Beatdigga

Kids show will always be negative. It means stupid, immature, etc.

Yeah, my friend considers anything animated to be a kids show. That includes Elfen Lied, Evangelion, etc.

It pisses me off so much.

[bigdeath]

WOW, and to think I started this thread just to have something to do while suffering from a bout of insomnia

[RomanMack]

Originally Posted by Beatdigga

Explain college students and adults watching Spongebob.

Kids show will always be negative. It means stupid, immature, etc.

Or rather, that's what people transformed the term to be. But it only should mean that it's a show aimed at kids, and Naruto fits that discription. As does One Piece, DBZ, etc.

[SS5goku]

I would agree that it's safe for kids to watch Naruto if it wasn't for people like Jiraya. I mean it's rated PG and we seen pervs like Jiraya watching women taking bath, even if they don't so a women chest or anything like that. But it does so them half-naked if ytou know what I mean. Plus just like this upcom ing episode we see hoes and their pimp, from what it looks like. So no I really don't think it's for kids even if an Adult watch it with them, its bad for kids to watch these characters like Jiraya runnin around watchin women takeing bath and so on. I mean come'on we see that Jiraya career is to write porn. How could that be for a kid? Even if an adult watches it with them. I personaly think it should be rated at least a PG-13. Not just for them perverted stuff that goes on in Naruto but for the action and characters, includeing: Itachi, Jiraya, Sasuke, Orchimarau, Tsuande, and sometimes Naruto. Plus we got gambleing goin on now, and God knows what else can somethin go on in Naruto thats not for kids.

[Beat]

I found the article. It's from a website/forum called Sociocide, a division of another website called Bullshido.

21st September 06, 11:09 AM
Why Your Kid Should Watch Naruto

Let’s face it folks, kid’s television shows today are a festering cesspool of mind-rotting garbage. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to flip over to the Disney Channel and catch “That’s So Raven”, or “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”, for example, you know what I’m talking about. The plots regularly feature unrealistic kids getting into all kinds of trouble, with minimal if any consequences for their zany hijinks, while their parents are clueless idiots who can be easily manipulated.

Now I realize that when entertaining a child, you probably don’t want to club them over the head with the realities of how rough life really is, and a good amount of fantasy is healthy. Heck sometimes showing a kid-hero getting away with something harmless can be empowering for kids. But the idea that the world is a great big playground, free of painful consequences, is a dangerous one to teach our children; especially in an age where the children of our enemies are being indoctrinated with a desire to kill us while they’re barely out of their diapers.

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] brings us to a cartoon called Naruto, based on a manga (Japanese comic book) by Masashi Kishimoto. Now I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Anime. I don’t own a collection of Katanas, nor do I have a burning desire to run off to Japan and marry a Japanese woman who still wears a school girl outfit. I’ve watched Akira twice, Ninja Scroll three times, and most of the Dragonball Z show when it was on Cartoon Network a few years back. But about a year ago I started noticing posts on the Bullshido forums about this anime/manga and recently I decided to see what all the talk was about.

The story

13 years ago, a massive, nine-tailed demon fox of legend attacked the hidden leaf ninja village of Konoha, one of several “hidden” ninja villages around the world of Naruto. The village’s ninja fought valiantly against the monster but to no avail until the Fourth Hokage (head ninja) showed up and sacrificed himself, sealing the demon in the body of an infant.

That boy was Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto grew up alone and unwanted. The Fourth Hokage had ordered that no one in the village was to speak about the demon fox, but that did not prevent them from shunning the boy. In his desperation for attention, Naruto had become the class clown at the ninja academy, and was generally a poor student.

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] is where the story begins. I’ll admit that I had to force myself to watch the first few episodes of the show. I found them to be annoying, almost as if this were a version of Harry Potter, but with Ninjas. But as Naruto learns the secret of why everyone in the village seems to hate him, the story opens up and you get introduced to the amazing depth with which Kishimoto has developed not just the main character, but almost all of the supporting characters as well.

However, well fleshed-out characters aren’t the main reason why your kids should watch this show. As the story progresses, Naruto’s squad of four including his instructor, Kakashi, his rival, Sasuke, and the target of his affection, Sakura, go on their first “real mission” and the author takes this opportunity to introduce them to the realities of their chosen life as ninjas. These realities of life, presented in the context of fantasy, are what make the show perfect for children who are just starting to grasp the nature of how the world works.

Through the course of the story, Naruto and the other characters come to understand what it is to pursue a dream, to come to terms with the realities of death, and perhaps the foremost lesson or theme taught by the show: true strength is gained when you fight for your dreams or to defend those who are important to you.

In Naruto, even the “bad guys” have their own dreams to pursue, and people they care about. Instead of being stereotypical children’s show villains, the foes in Naruto come into conflict with the heroes through pursuing their own goals, which though contrary, are not always portrayed as “evil”. The rejection of a simplistic duality of good and evil enriches this show and provides an excellent opportunity for parents to discuss morality and conscience with their children. In one scene, a rival ninja fights not to kill, but to disable Naruto and his friends in order to protect his master. And when it becomes apparent that he cannot fulfill his purpose of protecting his master, he sacrifices his life for him. In another scene, Naruto struggles against a near-perfect ninja with a fatalist view on life, to prove that you do not have to be born with great talent to do great things.

As a parent, I am always thinking about what my child is learning about the world on a daily basis. I try my best to answer questions about things in a way that promotes independent thinking and allows her to come to her own conclusions based on facts and reason. If I do not let her watch a particular show, I make sure she understands why and give her the opportunity to provide justifications for why she should watch it, if there are any.

Life is complicated, and it doesn’t get any less complicated as a child approaches adulthood. Some parents, in a selfish desire to relive their childhood, seek to keep their kids innocent (ignorant) of the world around them. Instead of creating another generation of man-children, I believe in spoon-feeding small doses of reality to a child based on a well-intentioned assessment of how much that child can process and understand.

Childhood is not a magical time in and of itself. The very reason childhood is magical is because a child’s senses are on fire to take in everything about the world around them. But the magic is not meant to last forever and those who seek to selfishly prolong this state by keeping their children ignorant of the realities of life, are negligent and undeserving of the right to be called parents.

The best thing you can do for your child is to send them into the world ready to be an adult; a rational, thinking being with a broad understanding of the complexity of life and their role in it. And a show like Naruto, where things are not black and white, where dreams are pursued through effort, and where conflict is not avoided for the sake of preserving peace, is one of the best things you can expose your child to in this age where we seem to have lost the fortitude of our own identity.

[Kurokawa41]

Originally Posted by Beatdigga

I found the article. It's from a website/forum called Sociocide, a division of another website called Bullshido.

I think that article pretty much sums everything up.

[Master Moron]

Originally Posted by HellCat

It's a story about a 12 year old trying to show the world his own identity and ability...it may not be for toddlers but yes, it is a kids show. How many times do we have to go through this with Shonen Jump titles?

Until American kids' shows start putting in blood and nudity and swears and stuff.

Originally Posted by Beatdigga

Explain college students and adults watching Spongebob.

Marijuana.

[Kyuss]

Is Naruto good for kids?

It has to be better than Harry Potter or some other god forsaken piece of crud they toss on TV. That and it's better than letting me eat their brains.

Beat,

I still can't explain why people watch American Idol, let alone Spongebob.

[90'sCartoonMan]

Huh, ya know, I'm not a parent, but the only thing that really concerned me was the part of the chunin exam where they had to cheat to get the answers. I know it's a ninja test and they're being tested on their sneakiness, but I don't know how well kids watching it would be able to tell the difference. Cheating is still cheating whether you get caught or not.

This week's episode made me wonder about some other values. Like Naruto, kids probably wouldn't have to worry about alcohol or the opposite sex right away, but there's still the money thing and the gambling thing. Tsunade doesn't seem to be glorified for her gambling, though.

[Marinite]

The plots regularly feature unrealistic kids getting into all kinds of trouble, with minimal if any consequences for their zany hijinks, while their parents are clueless idiots who can be easily manipulated.

Wait, are they talking about Naruto or That's So Raven? Sounds more like Naruto based on that description.

[Beat]

Originally Posted by Galentone

Wait, are they talking about Naruto or That's So Raven? Sounds more like Naruto based on that description.

Not really. I know you don't like Naruto or stuff not made in the US in general, but that description doesn't even come close to describing Naruto as much as it does the legions of wacky kid sitcoms. That was old when Keenan and Kel was on, probably much older..

[Marinite]

Originally Posted by Beatdigga

Not really. I know you don't like Naruto or stuff not made in the US in general, but that description doesn't even come close to describing Naruto as much as it does the legions of wacky kid sitcoms. That was old when Keenan and Kel was on, probably much older..

I don't see how That's so Raven's is an older concept than Naruto's is. I mean, almost every shonen series nowadays draws inspiration from Dragonball for starters. I'm not really sure if there is a general sitcom that is the main inspiration for shows like That's So Raven or Suite Life. If you don't like the shows, that's fine, but you honestly can't deny the way they worded that statement is pretty ironic considering what they're comparing.

The plots regularly feature unrealistic kids

Which is more unrealistic? Twelve year old ninjas shooting out fireballs, dopplegangers, and other various energy projectiles and swinging giant swords, talking fish-people, dogs, frogs, and gigantic demons.... or ordinary twins living in a hotel? Not the best choice of words they could have used.

getting into all kinds of trouble, with minimal if any consequences for their zany hijinks

Both sides get into crazy situations fairly often, but the fact the Naruto kids are still alive after everything they do makes me wonder just what kind of consequences the writer of the article is talking about. The Naruto kids fight a bunch of crazy higher-tier ninja that should be able to kill them in one hit, but they often find a way too beat them and save the day. Zack and Cody often get grounded for their antics or have to help fix the stuff they break, so that seems pretty consequential.

while their parents are clueless idiots who can be easily manipulated.

That doesn't sound like either side, to be honest. Zack and Cody's mom is pretty strict and often grounds/punishes them for trying to trick her. The Naruto's kids parents, well... they don't really get any face time. Naruto and his friends are taking down elite ninja like Gaara and his crew and the Sound Four while their parents and other Chunin/Jounin just sit around and let the kids handle everything. I don't think that counts, though.