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My 10 year old niece loves watching cartoons, and she has a Netflix kids
account for her with all parental controls. But while I was browsing my
account, she took notice of the Madoka Magica cover and became quite curious
and interested.

Logically for her (and many people who see it for the first time) it shouldn't
be a problem because it's a colorful anime with magical girls with cute
designs.

How do I explain to her that this one is not like the others in a way that
makes sense?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T12:33:19.647
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2022-03-02T22:27:53.333
2017-03-31T20:13:09.983
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madoka-magica
How to explain to my 10 year old niece that Puella Magi Madoka Magica is not a kids show?


You know your niece better than I do, but as I said in my comment, if I were
you, I would consider letting her watch it.

_Madoka_ is a dark and tragic story, but I don't believe the violence is too
much for a ten-year-old. The most brutal scenes are shot in a way that you
understand what's happening without needing excessive gore. There's no sexual
content; the only possible sticking point is the lesbian subtext in Homura's
relationship with Madoka, but it's subtle enough that she probably won't
notice it, and if she does notice it, it could be a good chance to have a talk
with her about same-sex relationships.

I'm recommending this because I think she might actually enjoy _Madoka_ ,
though maybe not for the reasons she thinks right now. These kind of anime
seem to be a good bridge between simpler, more formulaic stories for children
and more ambiguous, sophisticated material for adults, because they deal with
mature themes but still do so from a young person's perspective. They're
spiced up with reality without being wedded to it, and from that they attain a
kind of truth that speaks to older children and teenagers. I first got into
anime beyond Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z when I was eleven, and it was because I
watched _Evangelion_ , which is a very dark show, and was entranced by how it
subverted expected tropes about heroes, villains, and piloting giant robots. I
showed my younger sister the 2003 _Full Metal Alchemist_ when she was about
ten, and the quite dark Shou Tucker storyline from early in the series made
such an impression on her that she mentioned it to me again years later.

I would sit her down beforehand and explain that _Madoka_ is different from
_Pretty Cure_ (Glitter Force? Is that what Netflix is calling it?) and
whatever other magical girl shows she might have seen, and she might not like
it. Explain that it's a dark, sad show where lots of bad things happen to
characters we like and there is no happy ending. Once you've explained, ask
her if she still wants to watch it. If she does, I would let her.

Because it is so different and so shocking, she might want to talk about it.
Take her questions seriously and do your best to answer them in a way she can
understand. This could become a very good opportunity to talk about all sorts
of mature topics. The difference between violence in movies and in reality,
for one, since _Madoka_ derives part of its shock value from how it treats
fantasy battles between girls with magic powers and weird alien creatures,
which in other magical girl shows are trivial or even fun, as serious warfare
that can leave the girls scared witless, traumatized, or dead. Or there's the
parallels between the magical girls and child soldiers forced to fight in real
wars. There's the resemblance of Homura's mental state to PTSD. There's
Kyouko's being a homeless runaway who steals food to live. There's the
presumptuous imperialistic meddling of the Incubators, who've decided for us
that we'd rather they kill off our children to keep their society going so
that we can find them when we develop warp drive and go off into space. Of
course, it's better to wait and see what questions she has about the show,
rather than try to turn the viewing into a film studies class, but these are
all things you could mention if they come up.

If she gets scared or bored and decides that she doesn't want to watch it
anymore, don't judge or say "I told you so"; just leave it alone. Better to
let her find out for herself instead of trying to stop her; forbidding her
will probably just make her more curious.


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2017-03-31T03:42:05.327
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2017-03-31T03:42:05.327
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I'll break this response up into two parts:

  * What you should say to your niece, and
  * Why you should or shouldn't let her watch the show.

Do forgive me for plastering the word "cartoon" here; my gut feeling tells me
that this is the [animation age
ghetto](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimationAgeGhetto) which
Anime just loves to be pigeonholed into.

* * *

Not all cartoons are meant for children. There are some which are meant for a
more mature audience, like teenagers or adults. In this specific show, the
characters deal with harsher and more serious topics than you've ever watched
in a normal show; this is something that I'm not sure you'd be able to handle
at your age.

It's not only important to look at the cover of the show to give you a rough
idea of what it's about, but also its age rating. [The rating says it's
13+](http://www.rightstufanime.com/Puella-Magi-Madoka-Magica-Blu-ray-1-Hyb)
because of the things it discusses: violence, horror, and a lot of
psychological ramifications of being a magical girl.

Even after what I've said, if you're still interested in seeing it, let your
parents watch a few episodes first. Make sure they give you the OK before you
watch it.

Just so you understand, **this isn't the same type of cartoon you're
accustomed to watching,** and you may have a lot of concerns, confusions, or
fears from watching it. If you want to talk about it or ask questions, I'd be
happy to answer them for you.

* * *

So, should you let your niece watch it?

Well, **it isn't your call.** It's her parents' call.

In the response above, I ensured that the responsibility of making that
judgment call was given to her parents and not you, since you don't want to be
on the hook for introducing your niece to something she might not have
permission to see. That said, so long as said permission is obtained, there's
no further objection on that front.

In my opinion, she might actually like the show. She's at an age at which a
deconstruction of a work she's familiar with may give her a new perspective on
the genre as a whole, which could serve to mature her and frame her opinion on
anime and manga altogether in a way that isn't terribly one-dimensional. You
also have to balance this with the possibility that she never trusts a label
that has colorful pictures and magical girls on it ever again.

It's important that you treat this as a recommendation you'd be making to a
friend. It's just that the "friend" you're recommending this to would be your
niece's parents. The niece has to understand that this isn't something you can
simply cosign on and say it's okay to watch, and the parents have to
understand what it is they'd be getting their daughter into.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-31T04:31:20.987
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Perhaps by letting them know that **in Japan, _Puella Magi Madoka Magica_ is a
[late night anime**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_night_anime), not a
[children's
anime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_anime_and_manga)?

Children's anime in Japan is an anime that caters to audience from baby up to
middle schooler. Examples are _Pretty Cure series_ (and most of magical girl
anime), _Doraemon_ , _Hello Kitty_ , and _Pokèmon_. The screening times are
either morning (weekend) or evening, where children are on their free time
(not school time).

Late night anime, on the other hand, tends to cater to audience from teenage
to young adult, usually with more serious & in-depth plot, and even violence
and sexual topic. Other examples are _Cowboy Bebop_ , _Rozen Maiden_ , and
_Attack on Titan_. The screening time may start as early as 10pm, up to 2am,
the time which children should have been sleeping.

* * *

For your 10-year-old niece case... I think I can agree with other answers: let
her watch it with parental guidance (though I wish their parents should have
known about this anime first), then let her judge the anime by herself.

* * *

P.S. _Sailor Moon series_ is also listed as children's anime, and I could
argue with myself that the series sometimes also has dark and adult-oriented
theme that can only be understood by older viewers, so...

Most of the info was taken from Japanese Wikipedia, not its English
counterpart, since it's more descriptive.


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I did a bit of an experiment and watched this show with my 7 year old
daughter. I knew what was coming so I could explain it all as it came. I let
her know ahead of time it’s a sad story and it’s dark. She still wanted to
watch it.

Overall the experience was pretty positive even though episode 12 scared her a
little (and I don’t blame her). She and I talked about what was going on
beyond the surface of the show kinda like a literature class dissects a work
but simple so she could understand. She came up with some of her own logic and
opinions that was just wonderful.

What I love about Madoka and Evangelion (which I saw going in blind as a 14
year old) is the shows are so deep that you can really get those cognitive
juices flowing and get people to think. So part of the enjoyment watching it
was not only talking about it but seeing her actively think critically about
it. Things overall seemed fine.

However, months later she had an outburst where she admitted it scared her. A
solid few months have passed since that outburst and now she told me he
doesn’t like the show. I’m not regretful showing her this show at her age
despite the delayed negative responses. Had I known about it in advance I
might have picked a lighter show to dig in deep, but then again it’s deep
because of how it explores the darker places it goes. I didn’t know there was
going to be an issue (and really it isn’t one) until months after we finished
it.

Ultimately let her parents decide, but if they’re okay with it I’d recommend
watching the entire show so they can explain and talk about it deeper than
just the story. There’s a lot of stuff to talk about and that’s where the
enrichment this modern classic of anime comes from in my opinion.


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2019-02-13T23:26:28.623
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To me, it depends on her parents, and not you.

Ask these questions to yourself, can she handle gore, violence, 1 second shots
of brief nudity, and mild swearing? Let her know this is not what it seems
like, and shots could be disturbing depending on what she can handle.


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