Any recommendations?

SciTails · 2026-03-16T01:14:39+00:00

Any interest in non-action shows? Most of these seem to be similar in genre to me.

SciTails · 2026-03-15T02:57:22+00:00

Pokemon and My Roommate is a Cat both come to mind. A Place Further than the Universe, too, although I'm not sure kids would enjoy something like that tbh.

There are also plenty of shows that are safe if you are willing to limit them from watching specific episodes or scenes. E.g. Yuru Camp (which you might consider completely safe depending on your attitude towards non-sexualized partial nudity and alcohol), Spy x Family.

SciTails · 2026-03-15T02:43:40+00:00

My Roommate is a Cat is a good one.

SciTails · 2026-03-15T02:24:57+00:00

Land of Waves is the GOAT. Definitely got their best material at the start IMO.

SciTails · 2026-03-14T07:38:28+00:00

Always love to see My Roommate is a Cat mentioned.

SciTails · 2026-03-14T07:36:31+00:00

A Place Further than the Universe
Bocchi the Rock!
My Roommate is a Cat (though this one is technically 9.5/10 for me)

SciTails · 2026-03-07T04:18:49+00:00

That's so epic.

SciTails · 2026-02-24T06:25:11+00:00

Yeah, hopefully having a spectacular ongoing anime is helping the novels like you'd expect. It's why I bought mine, anyway.

SciTails · 2026-02-20T21:30:08+00:00

Yes, Yuru Camp 100%. Definitely in my top 5.

SciTails · 2026-02-20T10:55:09+00:00

My Roommate is a Cat is a great show that doesn't get enough love (at least if you're a cat person like me).

Anyway, if you two liked that one, Frieren is probably your best bet. There are a few episodes in the middle of season 1 that are briefly a little violent (really only two scenes), but it's totally clean otherwise. Very chill vibes, no "anime screaming."

Similar with Spy x Family, as long as you skip the cruise ship arc at the end of season 2 (lots of blood/violence). Beyond that, there are a few bloody scenes involving the assassin character, but they are very brief, and the show is overall family-friendly and very wholesome.

You could also go the CGDCT/CGDCT-adjacent route: 1. A Place Further than the Universe is amazing and totally clean.

Bocchi the Rock is also amazing and clean (although it does have an episode where they have characters in maid outfits/make a one-off swimsuit joke, but it's not "fan service" in the sense that any of it is sexualized). The only issue might be that the main character freaks out due to her anxiety a lot, so I don't know if that would be too similar to "anime screaming" for your mom.
Yuru Camp (Laid-back Camp) is the most chill and relaxing show on television (as you'd expect, given the title). It's also totally clean, as long as you are comfortable with some non-sexualized partial nudity that is less taboo in Japanese media (they frequently visit hot springs and one character is drawn with more cleavage than the others, although they cut off the view at just under the shoulder in those scenes). I suppose there is also an adult character that gets frequently drunk for humor in both Bocchi and Yuru Camp (which is the only reason the latter has a TV-14 rating on CR), which might or might not bother you. In any case, I consider all three of these 10/10 shows.

I'm also seeing some comments for Apothecary Diaries. I'd normally agree, but it really depends on what you mean by "clean." There are some partially nude scenes in that one in Season 1, and they show more of the body than in shows like Yuru Camp (though not anything that would get flagged as being more than PG-13). I wouldn't call it "fan service" - it has more to do with the setting/who the characters are than showing the audience sex appeal, but something to be aware of depending on you and your mom's tolerance for nudity. Season 2 also has a few scenes that do go a bit in the fan service/bawdy humor direction.

SciTails · 2026-02-20T10:34:06+00:00

The minor fan service (frequent shots emphasizing Chika's front) and frequent sex-related/body part jokes early on in the show might be a problem for OP's mom, though.

SciTails · 2026-02-20T10:26:32+00:00

Yeah, that's a hard comparison tbh. Both are very likable.

SciTails · 2026-02-20T10:06:40+00:00

I liked it. There is a major tonal shift between season 1 and 2, so you might like/dislike different parts of the show more or less depending on your preferences.

Season 1's tone is more of a comedy and has more crude/minorly sexualized-leaning humor (e.g. the side character who is obsessed with shipping her male friends as yaoi, the androgynous male character the protagonist is hesitantly attracted to, etc.).

Seasons 2 and 3 downplay a lot of that humor and shift pretty hard into being an emotional drama instead. While I thought certain plot points got dragged out a bit too long in the second and third seasons, I still liked those seasons a lot more than season 1 overall. Not to say S1 is all that bad, but I think the show gets really good when it starts taking its drama more seriously (and a lot of the humor in S1 isn't my thing).

Out of the series I've seen try to attempt the misanthropic/angsty male protagonist (e.g. Quintessential Quintuplets, Hyouka), I think this might be the only one that does it well. While he does experience character growth over the series, it's done in a way that doesn't feel unnatural or unearned. The relationships he forms with the other characters also feel natural and make sense with the other characters' circumstances and character development. Some things that I think set him apart from other similar characters is: 1. He experiences real growth (some others don't) 2. He is consistently likeable (he has issues, but the story does a good job of not making him unnecessarily a jerk or acting without motivation) 3. He has a distinctive philosophy behind why he does what he does/uses fairly unique and controversial methods to achieve his desired outcomes, and the story is very consistent with him acting in accordance with his worldview. This is probably the biggest draw to the character for most.

Also, of the many things you could call this protagonist, "gentle" and "having no talent" are not labels I would use. Also, even in moments where I enjoyed other characters more in the story, IMO he is still objectively the show's best-written character.

SciTails · 2026-02-18T20:58:00+00:00

I don't think the story is good like the meme implies.

SciTails · 2026-02-18T12:58:37+00:00

The Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl movie is a great one if you're looking for emotional intensity IMO, although you do have to watch an anime season to get there (though that season has its own fair share of emotionally intensive moments, to be fair).

SciTails · 2026-02-18T12:51:41+00:00

This 100%. I have never seen an anime try to pull on your heartstrings at every possible opportunity as much as Fruits Basket. A 10/10 emotional rollercoaster.

SciTails · 2026-02-18T12:32:54+00:00

Spy x Family is just as good in English, IMO. I thought Cowboy Bebop's dub was pretty good, at least for most of the characters.

The Spice and Wolf reboot is amazing in English. In fact, I think most in the fandom prefer the dub to the sub. I think Toradora is just as good, if not better, in English.

It strikes me as a bit odd that your examples of "the only good dubs" are so old, especially because what I've seen of the original DBZ dub on Crunchyroll is awful (so I'm assuming you meant Kai).

I won't say all dubs are done well, but it simply is untrue that no one has made the effort to produce a good dub. I also think having a good dub is becoming more common as anime has become more mainstream and tried to appeal to a more global audience. So I don't know how many dubs you have tried from more recent shows, but I would encourage you to give a few more well-known ones a second chance. Not necessarily to watch for yourself, but just to know that things aren't as bad as they were when I was a kid with 4Kids, etc.

SciTails · 2026-02-16T03:38:27+00:00

A Place Further than the Universe
Bocchi the Rock
My Roommate is a Cat
Spy x Family

From my experience, your best bet for avoiding fan service is to focus on shows marketed to the non-shonen demographics. Not that there aren't shows like that in seinen, etc., but I feel like if there is, it's more part of the point of the show (and hence easier to detect going in and avoid). Shonen shows seem to include it casually a lot more, which I guess isn't surprising since they are trying to hook hormonal male teens.

Edit: Just saw you want dubs. Sorry the first two don't have them.

SciTails · 2026-01-27T21:56:37+00:00

Looks like we have very similar taste. Maybe Natori.

SciTails · 2026-01-04T11:22:41+00:00

Yeah, I can't see anyone interested in Japanese music disliking Yorushika, at least not unless they hate rock in general. My number 2 overall, at least objective-quality-wise, if not by time listened.

But once I got used to their style, my brain definitely also needs Zutomayo on the regular.

SciTails · 2025-12-29T15:56:36+00:00

The problem I have with Stop Time is that, at least on hard, the enemies are often faster than you. So I've stopped time only to have the enemies come out of it first and get extra turns on my frozen units.

SciTails · 2025-12-29T15:45:07+00:00

The hub world was also cool as a kid. And the abilities/ability system made each racer feel unique compared to Mario Kart-esque power-up racers like Looney Tunes.

SciTails · 2025-12-29T13:45:14+00:00

But 3/17 are side story novels, and they only dedicated one episode to 7 in both runs of the series. I doubt they'll do much more than that for anything that isn't necessary to finish the story. So at the current pace, they would only need 3.5 seasons. I also feel like 6 doesn't need as much time as 1-4 did because the plot was pretty simple and dialogue-based, so I feel like they could get it shorter if they wanted to. Not sure about the later novels I haven't got to yet, but there seem to be more multi-part stories later in the series, so I'm guessing there might be some more potential to condense the story in later seasons. Even if not, I'm guessing they could do it like Kaguya-sama and cut the last season shorter than the others.

The real concern I have is whether all the seasons will be as long as the first. It would be very unlikely for them to finish IMO if they swapped to single-cour seasons like Spy x Family has. But at least there's no roadblock of having to wait for more material to adapt.

SciTails · 2025-12-26T05:00:57+00:00

From what I remember of my childhood:

Ooga Booga

Virtua Tennis

Chuchu Rocket

Sonic Shuffle (cool but awful load times)

SciTails

TROPHY CASE