The Naruto Anime Series

It may seem strange to recommend anime as an example of a good moral guide, but before I begin I'm not recommending all anime or even most examples of the genre that get shown on American television. Even though the series that air on American television have often been watered down from their original Japanese counterparts, they are designed simply to be entertainment. The Naruto series, shown on cartoon network is one example I would recommend for parents concerned about the morals contained in the programs that their children are watching.

This is not to say I'd recommend letting your children watch the Naruto anime series without supervision. There are elements such as the character referred to as the "pervy sage" that probably should be filtered out, but none of them prevent the show from getting a Y7 rating.

The violence scenes may be an issue for some parents, but as the show centers around a young man training to be a ninja so that he can protect his home village, we can at least say the not-at-all realistic combat scenes are essential to the story. Portraying ninjas as good guys when they historically were hired assassins probably falls under some sort of dramatic license, but so far I have not yet explained why Naruto makes a good moral guide for children.

Often the episodes that center around Naruto's training involve some sort of test. Naruto and his companions frequently misunderstand the nature of these tests and think they are tests of their combat prowess, instead of tests showing more important traits like mercy, teamwork, honesty and the ability to get along with others. Not only that, the show does contain deeply spiritual elements that many (although not all) American made cartoons lack.

Many of these themes are the same that run through George Lucas's Star Wars movies, which is not surprising as Taoism and the form of Zen Buddhism that is popular in Japan share many similarities, but it also goes further. Honor, a point historically suited more towards samurai or medieval knights than perspective ninja and duty are recurring themes in the series.