This is a warning for parents that either watch anime or have kids that watch anime. You have to watch what you allow them to be exposed to. I like anime as well as manga. It’s easy as the two media are sources for each other. One anime and manga I enjoy is Sgt. Frog, or Keroro Gunso. I have some of the fansubs that were done before the series was licensed, and I was watching them. Well, my kids, as they are want to do, came over to see what I was watching. Then, they sat down and started watching it with me. Now, they come and get the discs from me, lock themselves up in their rooms and watch them over and over.
But that wasn’t enough. They’ve also been searching the internet for Sgt. Frog; find episodes they haven’t seen on Youtube, playing videos also from Youtube in a continuous loop. They have found websites that let them make their own frog invaders like paper dolls. My oldest daughter is bringing home school papers with images of Keroro, Giroro and other characters drawn on them. Even her desktop wallpaper is covered with digital drawings she did! My younger daughter has been going around and laughing like on of the characters Sargent Major Kururu. She would have dressed as him for Halloween if there were costumes available! And her school papers are getting the Sgt Frog treatment too. It’s only a matter of time before their video games characters (such as the chao from the Sonic the Hedgehog series) start getting Sgt Frog names.
So please, any parents out there, take heed of my warning! It’s not the shows with lots of violence or mature content that we need to protect our children from. It’s the ones that they will really enjoy that are the real danger! Otherwise, you too will have a son or daughter, walking around with their hand in front of their mouth going “Kuuu-ku-ku-ku-ku”.
