I am trying to get an early start on helping Santa... I have an 11 year old daughter who just loves anime. I have read a few reviews but really can't find a rating for this... what do you think? Is this age appropriate for an 11 year old girl? Thank you for your help!
shareI'd say it's appropriate for a 11 year old,but the latter part of the series is heavy with adult themes.So if she can handle,say,subtle homosexual and intest related topics,then it'd be okay for her to watch it.
"If you're strong you live,if you're weak you die!"
~Sojiro Seta from "Rurouni Kenshin"~
The first thirteen episodes are pretty innocuous, but after that the series gets very dark very quickly - there's a lot of sexual subtext, incest, and nudity, as well as some heavy symbolism. I don't think it's an appropriate series for anyone under, say, mid to late teens.
The DVDs themselves have a rating of age 13 and up.
~ I wonder if there's beer on the sun? ~
Probably not an appropriate show to watch with a typical 11 year old. Like other users have said, the first 13 episodes are fairly innocent (and in fact were intended for children around your daughter's age in Japan), but after that this series is rife with adult themes. Also, if your daughter goes for more lighthearted comedies then this might not be the series for her.
However, Utena is definitely a rewarding, engaging experience, and considering how old it is (it came out almost 10 years ago) it still has a surprisingly large and active fanbase. If you're willing to sit down and watch this series with her and communicate about it, then I'd say go for it.
Every episode is currently on YouTube, and you can start watching it here if you'd like to see for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4za_6-3b7LE