Anime oftentimes gets a bad rap for being lewd, violent, strange, and just overall people not in the know assuming that all anime is for various brands of weirdo. Sure, there are some shows and films that are not meant for children, despite people on the opposite end of the spectrum assuming that all cartoons are for kids, but with anime, like any piece of media, there’s a wide range of target demographics that anime shows and films can be geared towards.
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As such, there are also plenty of family-friendly anime. Shows like Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, or Hamtaro live on as nostalgic childhood favorites for many. Many regard the films of Studio Ghibli as absolute masterpieces that have deep themes of introspection and worldview. So, if you’re looking to cozy up with some anime with the fam for movie night, here are some family-oriented picks that focus on familial bonding that are sure to bring the family together!
1) Mirai
In their quaint, modern home in the city, Kun Oota has gotten used to being doted upon as the only child of his family, consisting of him, his mother, his father, and the family dog, Yukko. When his parents bring home his new baby sister Mirai, four-year-old Kun finds difficulty in adjusting to this new way of life, living with a new member of the family. With Mirai now the center of his parents’ attention, Kun lashes out with tantrums in order to try to be heard, his nagging landing on his parents’ seemingly deaf ears. But as Kun experiences a myriad of adventures meeting his family’s past, present, and future selves, he comes to realize what it means to be a big brother and be part of a family.
Along with Kun’s hardworking breadwinner mom, work-from-home architect domestic dad, and needy baby sister, Kun also learns a lot about his extended family, past and future. Although Kun has a difficult time understanding his growing family dynamics, which often lead to explosive tantrums, Kun eventually learns what it means to be a caring older brother.
Mirai can be streamed on Tubi where available.
2) Spy x Family
As the neighboring countries Ostania and Westalis quietly plot against each other, spy Twilight takes on the alias of psychiatrist Loid Forger in the Ostanian city of Berlint to conduct intel. His target: the politician Donovan Desmond. The problem is that Donovan only rarely appears at his son’s school, Eden Academy. In order to get closer to his target, Loid enlists Yor Briar, an unmarried city hall clerk, and Anya, his newly adopted daughter, whom he enrolls at Eden Academy, to act as a normal, happy family. Unbeknownst to the spy, Loid’s new family hides their own secrets — Yor is actually an assassin known as “Thorn Princess” and Anya is a telepath secretly able to read others’ minds.
Even though the family starts out as a façade, their love for each other grows to be true. With an assassin mother, spy father, and daughter with supernatural abilities, Spy x Family depicts a super cute and wholesome triad family who grow to truly cherish their forged relationships.
Spy x Family can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
3) Wolf Children
When college student Hana notices a mysterious man without a textbook in one of her classes, although he isn’t really a student, she becomes curious. Though the two end up really hitting it off and falling in love, the man reveals his secret: he’s a wolf! Not only does this revelation not deter Hana, but the lovers decide to start a family and have two half-wolf children, Ame and Yuki. But having a half-wolf family isn’t easy in the city, especially when Hana’s left to fend for her wild children as a single mother when her love and the father of her children suddenly passes away. Deciding to move to the countryside, the family faces a new set of struggles as Ame and Yuki grow up: to decide whether to live as humans or wolves.
Motherhood is hard enough. Becoming a widow and single mother is even more difficult, especially when your kids aren’t entirely human. But although she feels alone throughout her unique struggles rearing her growing half-wolf children, Hana’s boundless determination and abundant love for her family overcome any and all obstacles they face.
4) Sweetness And Lightning
Kouhei Inuzaka is a widowed father who works hard as a teacher to provide for his daughter Tsumugi, but relies heavily on ready-made meals from convenience stores as he lacks many culinary skills. When Kouhei discovers that his student Kotori Iida often eats alone due to her mother being away for work, Kotori offers for him and his daughter to come cook and eat dinner with her at her family’s often-closed restaurant. Thus begins a story not just about these characters learning to cook but about blossoming culinary camaraderie.
Kouhei may not be the best cook at first, but it becomes immediately apparent how deeply he adores his daughter and how much he just wants to put a smile on her face. This series warms the heart just as much as the warm homemade meals the trio cooks together, highlighting simple pleasures we often take for granted, like taking time to not just appreciate comfort food, but the comfort of family.
5) My Neighbor Totoro
Tatsuo Kusakabe and his daughters, Satsuki and Mei, are on their way to move to a house in the countryside to live closer to the hospital where their mother receives treatment for her chronic illness. As they settle into their new home, an elderly lady takes it upon herself to help her new neighbors, telling the girls of the possibility of spirits living in the rural area, like soot sprites: small, black, fuzzy soot creatures that live in the cracks and crevasses of their home. One day, while out exploring in the yard, Mei finds a small, rabbit-like creature and chases it into the forest, where she meets and befriends the giant, fluffy forest spirit, Totoro. Although she doesn’t believe Mei at first, Satsuki also eventually meets Totoro. With their new forest friend, the two girls find adventure as they settle into their new home.
Moving to the boonies with his two daughters to be closer to his sick, hospitalized wife and making the whole process fun and fantastical — Tatsuo Kusakabe is an absolute Chad of a dad. Sure, having soot sprites living in your old house in the country and having a forest troll as a neighbor is a nice touch, but what really makes this film is the family’s love for each other.
My Neighbor Totoro can be streamed on Netflix or Max where available.
6) Ponyo
When a curious goldfish sneaks away from home, five-year-old Sousuke finds her trapped in a bottle near the shore and frees her, cutting his finger in the process. The small fish licks his wound and heals it. Realizing she’s special, Sousuke puts her in his bucket and names her Ponyo, taking his new friend home to his mom, Lisa. Frantic that she’s missing, the sorcerer Fujimoto searches for and recaptures his daughter, Brunhilde. The goldfish insists she prefers the name Sousuke gave her, rejects living as a fish, and is determined to return to her friend. Sousuke’s blood, having given her the power to transform to look like a human girl, she rushes back to him, creating an imbalance in nature in her wake. As the two grow close in their friendship, Sousuke and his mother embrace Ponyo with open arms as not just a human, but one of the family.
Like father, like daughter. Just as Fujimoto had once rejected his mortal, landlocked origin in favor of living with his beloved in a new home under the sea, so too had Ponyo, rejecting her seafaring origins in favor of being adopted into her newfound family with her bestie Sosuke and his cool mom Lisa.
Ponyo can be streamed on Netflix or Max where available.
7) Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
The mystical race of the Iorph, known for their longevity, live isolated from the tumultuous outside world of mankind. But when the power-hungry kingdom of Mezarte, in their endeavor to add the immortality of the Iorph to the king’s bloodline, invades their homeland, ravaging their home with what is left of the dragons, the Renato, at the invaders’ disposal, Maquia is carried off by one of the rogue Renato and left deserted in a forest far from her homeland. Finding the baby in a nearby destroyed village, she decides to raise him as her own, naming him Ariel. Knowing nothing of the world of mankind nor how to raise one of its children that ages much faster than her, she’s determined not to let Ariel feel the loneliness she’s had to endure.
With more serious themes, his film may be geared a bit more towards older, more mature adolescents rather than very young children, but is still worth the watch. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms follows the lives of Maquia and Ariel as they struggle to find their place in a fantastical world, overcoming adversities such as political strife and personal struggles like their mother-son dynamic between Iorph and human.
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms can be streamed on Crunchyroll, Prime Video, Pluto TV, and Tubi TV.
8) Tokyo Godfathers
On a cold Christmas Eve night, Hana, Gin, and Miyuki, a ragtag trio living on the streets, find an abandoned baby whilst rummaging through the trash. Naming the baby Kiyoko and upon Hana’s insistence, they begin their search for the baby’s mother to demand an explanation. With nothing but a mysterious key and a single note, the little ramshackle found family begins their search for more clues, getting caught up in a series of strange events along the way.
Tokyo Godfathers is another film that may not be the best choice for really young children, but is not only a masterful animated work by Madhouse, but is arguably one of the best Christmas films of all time. If you haven’t heard of nor seen this fantastic film, it’s definitely worth adding to your family Christmas movie watchlist for the holidays!
Tokyo Godfathers can be streamed on Tubi where available.
9) Summer Wars
OZ is a globally popular internet platform where most people gather with custom avatars for just about any and all functions for daily life. Of course, it’s also protected with highly effective security measures to ensure both the platform and its users are safe. Not only is Kenji Koiso a part-time OZ moderator, but is also a whiz at math. But when his crush, Natsuki Shinohara, invites him on a summer trip to her family’s house in the country out of the blue, unbeknownst to him, she had planned on him acting as her fiancé in preparation for her great-grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. When he receives a strange, coded message on his cell phone from an unknown sender, he cracks the code as a mere minor challenge, unwittingly spelling doom for OZ.
Family vacations, reunions, and events can be filled with as much conflict as there is fun to be had, and Natsuki’s large family is no different. And as much as families may nag their members to get off their phones in order to spend time bonding together, ironically, this particular family ends up banding together in the virtual world.
10) My Neighbors the Yamadas
My Neighbors the Yamadas follows the typical Japanese family, the Yamadas, on their many misadventures of the inanely mundane. With their daily shenanigans full of relatable squabbles about directions, groceries, and cleaning, their routines also tend to include ample bonding time, whether it’s watching TV together, playing catch, or going on outings. As much as this typical household full of prickly characters may often get on each other’s nerves, but they just as often show how much they genuinely care for one another.
Written and directed by Isao Takahata, this Studio Ghibli film takes a much more unusual approach to storytelling and art style as compared to the other films this studio has created. As a sort of slice-of-life about a typical family, this film is a great little passive watch for families wanting something with leisurely vibes and relatable tidbits.
My Neighbors The Yamadas can be streamed on Netflix or Max where available.
What film or show would you suggest for family movie night? Let us know in the comments if there’s any we should add to our watchlist!
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
