I want to share

[SierraLea]

Okay. My entire family except my two littlest sisters thinks anime and manga are strange and frivilous uses of my time. I want to open them up to the possibility that they might like the stuff. So, are there any particular episodes you could recommend? It would be nice if they were as clean as possible, didn't need a lot of back story, and didn't involve a lot of romance. My parents freaked over D.N. Angel, and my older sisters didn't like FMA Brotherhood. Help!

[Neane]

So, are there any particular episodes you could recommend?

Of what?
You mean that you want to introduce anime to your family using only one episode of anime?
I think Denno Coil episode 19 would do the trick.

[SierraLea]

Of what?
You mean that you want to introduce anime to your family using only one episode of anime?
I think Denno Coil episode 19 would do the trick.

What Genre is that? And I can only use one episode because I struck a deal with my older younger sisters. I watch one episode of their chosing, and they watch one of mine. We can only use the ones on Netflix, like OHSHC and FMA, brotherhood and otherwise.

[Atria35]

Time of Eve would work just fine. It's perfectly clean, and deals seriously with the line between humans and machines - you can liken it to Bicentennial Man and some parts of I, Robot. But I'd go with the movie since then it's a clean run through the entire story.

Haibane Renmei is the usual go-to, since it has the strong Christian themes in it (especially at the end), and is very clean and family-friendly. Whatever episode she starts dealing with her blackening wings might work.

Bunny Drop might also work. It's entirely clean and deals so much with family that it's hard to see how they wouldn't like it. First episode.

The issue is that the clean ones are usually pretty frivolous, and the ones that deal with the serious themes are usually not that clean.

EDIT: You kinda need to say outright that you can only use Netflix >.> Honestly, I don't think any of the ones on there would work for proving anything. You'd have to go to Crunchyroll for Bunny Drop, the Funimation site for HR, and Time of Eve is unlicensed.

[Xeno]

Why is it important that your family accept animu and get into it as well? When did it become a bad thing to have interests that others in your family don't share? I must have missed this memo.

[goldenspines]

I echo what Xeno said, it's not really that important for your family to like anime, is it?
Though, if you do feel as if you'd like to get the rest of you family into some anime (or simply to show them it's not all stupid or whatever), you can try. But don't be too upset if you fail. Sometimes anime isn't for everyone.

I have a wonderful older sister who does not like anime, but I got her to sit down and watch a total of two different series with me, Princess Tutu and Giant Robo.

How did I do it? I appealed to her interests. The cool thing about anime is that there are so many different genres and plot types. In the case of my sister, she loves music (enough to study it seriously) as well as ballet and opera, and thus really enjoyed the musical aspects and story telling styles of both Princess Tutu (based on Russian fairy tales and ballets) and Giant Robo (one of the best series period, but its story and music mimic that of a Wagnerian opera).


So, what do your family members like? What kind of TV shows do they watch? What movies do they like? What books do they read? Etc. That will give us and you a better idea of what recommendations to give.

[airichan623]

If you want them to see it's cool, use Summer Wars.

[mechana2015]

Airi might have the right idea. If you're going to show someone that anime isn't frivolous, you might want to use a movie, rather than a TV show episode, since many shows STRONGLY rely on long term story telling to not be frivolous, and therefore won't have the same impact from a single episode as an entire series. Anime and manga tends to be media that use time as a strong element of their narrative techniques, so you might have to figure out something that will show a full story arc to get them to see the appeal...

Also, knowing what show they plan on showing you in return could be helpful to figure out what to show them...

[skreyola]

What the others have said is true, and it might help if we knew what kinds of shows they consider "not frivolous"... but here goes my recommendation:

They might enjoy Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth, but you should preview it, as you know your family's tastes, and I don't. It's the story of a young Japanese girl in the 19th century who goes to Paris to apprentice at a sign wright's shop.

[Maokun]

I think Sierra's problem is not that she want to get her family into anime but rather, that she wants them out of her case for liking it.

I'd use a Satoshi Kon's movie which usually are the kind that could perfectly had been live action. I think that Millennium Actress is a very deep and mature tale that could appeal to your parents and show them that "Japanese cartoons" are not all frivolous and silly stuff.

Goldie's question is very good, though: what kind of TV/movies do your parents watch? There's most likely an anime in the same vein of any show or movie they may like that you can use to support your case.

[steenajack]

Studio Ghibli... almost anything by them, especially if it's by Hayao Miyazaki. :3

[rocklobster]

I'm echoing steenajack's recommendation of Studio Ghibli and Atria35's recommendation of Haibane Renmei.
I'd also suggest you try to figure out your family's interests and accommodate to them.
If they like romance: Romeo X Juliet
Crime Dramas: Baccano and Durarara
Sci-fi: Cowboy Bebop, Eureka 7, Trigun (good Christian themes here)
Comedy: Azumanga Daioh
Horror: Blood+
Fantasy: Now and Then, Here and There (excellent themes here!)

[SierraLea]

Why is it important that your family accept animu and get into it as well? When did it become a bad thing to have interests that others in your family don't share? I must have missed this memo.

I want them to like it because I think they are really missing out on a lot of cool stuff just because they are biased against it. Seriously, Anime is way cooler than a ton of the stuff they watch!
Also, I get super weird looks from them when I talk about it, I want that to stop, so I'd like to give them at least a little of my tastes.

[skreyola]

So, what shows do they like to watch? It might help to hook them if we can recommend some things that are very similar to what they already enjoy.

[Falx]

To be very honest, it sounds like they're biased against it because you're trying too hard to make them like it.

I've met quite a few people who, I later realized, will never like anime... simply because they are unable to. And that is perfectly fine. It's perfectly alright for someone to not like the same things you do. It's like I'm friends with lots of people who LOVE Jazz. And I simply cannot listen to it without feeling bored to tears. And that's ok, and we still get along because found other things that we both are interested in.

My advice is this, stop trying to convince them that anime is the light, because the harder you try the less inclined they're going to be to sway their opinion. Instead, try and find something else that all of you can do together as a family and bond and that you all enjoy.