History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / AnimeandManga

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the anime series is aimed at younger teenagers and is shown on a family-friendly time slot in Japan, but it still has a rather dark tone, and tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, relationships, slavery, mass murder, suicide, etc, which a lot of kids won't understand or might get frightened by. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut versions, both English and Japanese), a lot of rather crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, a few character designs, Kakashi's books, Drunken Rock Lee, Jiraiya's antics, breast jokes and the Thousand Years of Death), a massive amount of violence, some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, Sasuke, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Hidan, Pain, Obito and Kisame), a large amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody, cruel and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching at all. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in North America, the show was noticeably toned down (for example, words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", deaths being shown off-screen, backstories being changed, blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series, as some scenes, such as several violent fights, the Sexy Jutsu, Jiraiya's perverted nature and several deaths (most notably, the Uchiha clan massacre) were left uncensored. Viz Media and ShoPro later averted this trope when they released the uncut version of the anime, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating on a late-night weekday time slot on Adult Swim.

* ''Anime/ADogOfFlanders1975:'' [[spoiler: The DownerEnding of the [[Literature/ADogOfFlanders original book]] being well-known across the world (and WMT not changing it, even outright confirming it with the presence of angels and an afterlife)]] has led to the anime getting this reputation. ''World Masterpiece Theater'' is mostly known for heartwarming children's shows like ''Anime/AkageNoAnne'' and ''Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps'', and this anime is considered the darkest thing they've ever produced.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the anime series is aimed at younger teenagers and is shown on a family-friendly time slot in Japan, but it still has a rather dark tone, and tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, relationships, slavery, mass murder, suicide, etc, which a lot of kids won't understand or might get frightened by. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut versions, both English and Japanese), a lot of rather crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, a few character designs, Kakashi's books, Drunken Rock Lee, Jiraiya's antics, breast jokes and the Thousand Years of Death), a massive amount of violence, some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, Sasuke, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Hidan, Pain, Obito and Kisame), a large amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody, cruel and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching at all. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in North America, the show was noticeably toned down (for example, words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", deaths being shown off-screen, backstories being changed, blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series, as some scenes, such as several fights, some deaths, the Sexy Jutsu, Jiraiya's perverted nature and several deaths were left uncensored. Viz Media and ShoPro later averted this trope when they released the uncut version of the anime, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating on a late-night weekday time slot on Adult Swim.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' is a Shonen manga in the vein of ''Manga/DragonBall'' (Creator/EiichiroOda's main inspiration for the series) that's supposed to be meant for all ages, but it surprisingly features a huge amount of adult content that seems to push every single boundary of the Shonen genre to the extreme, what with insane amounts of extreme violence (including all sorts of extremely bloody and messy fights), some sexual material, foul language befitting of a sailor, [[NightmareFuel frightening imagery]], a gigantic plethora of [[TearJerker surprisingly incredibly heart-wrenching moments]], racism, slavery, torture, and genocide that would make ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' look like a picnic, [[CompleteMonster some truly vile and heinous villains]], one of the most horrific and utterly evil totalitarian governments in all of fiction being largely responsible for [[CrapsaccharineWorld all the suffering in the series' otherwise optimistic setting]], and so much more. It's telling that the U.S. version of the anime adaptation tried to make it kid-friendly by reducing most of the violence and language for any kids channel, including Cartoon Network, but after 4Kids dropped the license, Like what Viz Media and ShoPro did with Naruto, Funimation averted this trope when they released the anime in its uncensored form, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating.

** Apparently, even Cartoon Network was unsure what to make of it. It was allegedly picked up to air on the more kid-friendly Toonami, but ultimately ended up on Adult Swim. This didn't stop TV listings from counting it as a kid's show at the time. It also should be noted that Adult Swim used it as a lead-in show, which is often used for the lighter, more transitional shows in case kids are still watching. A famous ''Robot Chicken'' sketch also notably showed a teenage girl watching it, and played it for laughs when her adult father started watching it, [[spoiler; though it was a gambit to get his TV time back.]]

* The manga series ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20200219150413/https://animecorner.me/2018/02/a-new-shonen-manga-series-drawn-by-hentai-manga-artist-began/ Destiny Lovers]]'' (''Desu Raba'') is [[BleachedUnderpants drawn by hentai artist Kai Tomohiro]], and involves a high school boy who hates girls being kidnapped and waking up to a girl trying to rape him, in a prison where women keep men in cages. It was serialized on Magapoke, the app for Kodansha's ''Shonen Magazine'', alongside series like ''Manga/FairyTail'' spin-offs.

** The uncensored edition of ''Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu'' is a ''Pokémon'' shonen manga but [[BleachedUnderpants the artwork was done by a hentai artist]], turning something that is a TY-Y show at first straight into a full on {{Ecchi}}. [[WorldOfBuxom All the characters have huge busts]] which are shown off frequently, most female characters show off lots of cleavage or {{Underboobs}}. There's also a bath scene where Misty is shown to start playing with her breasts such as groping herself so [[ACupAngst she could get them larger]] and this was just a scheme made by Ash so Ash could perv on her. Ash is also a LovableSexManiac. It also doesn't mind [[BloodierAndGorier hiding the brutality of Pokémon battles]] with a couple of fights sporting [[{{Gorn}} high amounts of blood]] including [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown the last battle]]. Needless to say, this uncensored version is very adult despite it being a ''Pokémon'' manga.

** Willis' Story: you used to have two little friends. One is corrupted. Kill it and live with the other happily forever. It is basically VisualNovel/FullMetalDaemonMuramasa for kids. Also, the evil one has BlackFace on.

** ''Anime/DigimonTamers''. Especially notable since [[Anime/DigimonAdventure its]] [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 predecessors]] had their share of darkness, but nowhere ''near'' its level. Case in point that ''The first episode'' had two separate Digimon killing ''and eating'' another one, and to make matters worse, Digimon who die that way are never reborn. Other [[SarcasmMode highlights]] include some of the most [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown horrifying]] and [[CurbStompBattle brutal]] battles in the series' history, one of the hero's Digimon being eaten and thus permanently killed (by a former friend, no less), someone trying to commit ''suicide'', at least two HeroicSacrifices, a good chunk of the Digital World and its residents being deleted, one of the Digimon getting stabbed nearly to death and thrown into a sea of deletion ''while his/her Tamer/s can do nothing but watch'', a heart-breakingly BittersweetEnding, and [[BarbieDollAnatomy naked children with no genitals]]. The absolute worse offender, however, is a sweet little 10-year-old girl getting [[MindRape mind fucked]] by an EldritchAbomination for at ''least'' a week. If the title didn't have "Digimon" attached to it, you'd think it was intended for high school students, but ''no'', it's (theoretically) aimed at kids around that girl's age.

ValuesDissonance plays a huge part in this category, as Japan obviously has different metrics than American culture on what's not acceptable for younger audiences. As such, considering the userbase of this website, almost any {{shonen}} or {{shojo}} {{anime}} and manga falls under this category.

* The manga adaptation of ''Anime/AngelsOfDeath'' is filled with gore, on-screen murder and has a suicidal protagonist. It runs in a ''{{Shojo|Genre}}'' magazine.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is widely believed to be a {{seinen}} series, but it's actually {{shonen}}, since the manga was serialized in the shonen magazine ''Dengeki Daioh''. In some countries it's lumped in with 18+ manga because of the perverted Mr. Kimura, but perverted teachers creeping on teenage girls in Japanese children's shows is just one of those things anime fans have to accept. The anime received an [[http://www.madman.com.au/images/slicks/very-large/mmb938.png MA15+]] rating in Australia ''purely'' because of the aforementioned teacher (according to licensee Creator/MadmanEntertainment).

* ''Manga/BlackButler''. It has {{Seinen}} written all over it, but is published in a {{Shonen}} magazine. It contains violence and gore, murder, child abuse, sex ranging from abusive in some manner to flat-out rape, pedophilia, and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything questionable dialogue]]. To top it all off, its protagonists are manipulative, black-hearted {{Villain Protagonist}}s who shamelessly stoop down to unbelievable lows during their missions, kill ''anyone'' who gets in the way of their goals and, if one looks past Sebastian's charms and Ciel's backstory, only appear decent in comparison to their major enemies because said enemies tend to be ''even worse''. On the other hand, cooking competitions, dance lessons, boys put in fluffy dresses, a CastFullOfPrettyBoys, and a huge female fanbase might cause it to be mistaken for {{Shoujo}}.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' has all the makings of a {{Seinen}} series, but it originally ran in ''Weekly Shonen Jump''. This was acknowledged by the creators, who mention in their [[Manga/{{Bakuman}} manga about manga]] the idea of writing otherwise {{seinen}} stories for {{shonen}} magazines. Author Tsugumi Ohba does mention in ''Death Note: How to Read'', however, that the story would have taken a different path if it ran in a seinen magazine, exploring the morality involved in using a Death Note and how society responds to it rather than putting the cat-and-mouse chase between Light and L at the forefront.
* The [[{{Gorn}} gory]], [[{{Fanservice}} sexually-charged]], [[ClusterFBomb profanity-laden]] anime series ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'' was used as the flagship title for the revival of Creator/{{Toonami}} as part of Creator/AdultSwim. All signs point to this being a {{Seinen}} series. But in reality, it's a {{Shonen}} series whose original manga version was serialized in the same anthology magazine that housed significantly tamer series such as ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' (which is actually aimed at '''children''' in the United States), ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' and ''Anime/KaitouTenshiTwinAngel''.

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' is textbook {{Gorn}} with blood and guts flying around and torture and sick villains... and it's also the TropeMaker for {{Shonen}} FightingSeries. It's also from the late Showa era; you probably couldn't get away with a lot of that in a modern {{shonen}} series. Its modern iterations only do get away because of the GrandfatherClause. Japan had a few scares with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Miyazaki an otaku serial killer]] and teen murders in the intervening 22 years, prompting more scrutiny from MoralGuardians.

* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' is often thought to be a {{Seinen}} series due to its violence and dark themes, but the manga was published in the same {{Shonen}} magazine as ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland''.

** Quite a few of the [[Manga/{{Pokemon}} other manga]] too, either due to violence or {{Fanservice}}. ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure'' can be as violent as ''Adventures'' at times, and features dark themes like it, but can't be above {{Shonen}}.

* ''Anime/ReadOrDie Rehabilitation'' is more risque than its {{Seinen}} counterparts ''Anime/ReadOrDie'' and ''Read or Dream'', yet is serialized on a {{Shonen}} magazine.

* It can be argued that this trope, combined with ValuesDissonance, is why ''Manga/CaseClosed'' failed when it was broadcast on Creator/CartoonNetwork in the United States: it was too childish for '''Creator/AdultSwim''', yet too violent for Creator/{{Toonami}}.[[note]]A revamp of CN's action lineup in April 2004 that resulted in the dissolution of the Creator/SaturdayVideoEntertainmentSystem block (which served as a middle ground between Toonami and Adult Swim's anime lineup) along with the two blocks gaining Saturday slots and the creation of Creator/{{Miguzi}} didn't help matters, either.[[/note]] The aged animation style was the final nail in the coffin. In fact, this anime was aired during family hours in Japan. Complete with brutal murders (albeit with BlackBlood); complex plots involving suicide, drugs and business dealings; and of course copious amounts of sexual tension. And apparently that's why it worked in the German language broadcast. Not only has the German dubbed run more than twice the episodes compared to the English, but those extra episodes run uncut in a children's block.
* The anime film ''Anime/{{Catnapped}}'' is a fantasy adventure about two children getting whisked off to a colorful world of [[FunnyAnimal anthropomorphic cats]] in AnotherDimension. It might look cute on the surface, but the movie contains ''numerous'' scenes of DerangedAnimation [[NightmareFuel likely to scare small children]], [[EldritchAbomination a giant dog]] (actually the children's pet dog turned into a monster) [[PersonOfMassDestruction who chomps down on buildings to abduct villagers]] and a downright ''creepy'' antagonist in [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen a princess]] with a curse that literally enables her to [[InflatingBodyGag turn living things into balloons]] [[TheMagicTouch by touch]] and isn't above ''popping'' anyone [[DisproportionateRetribution if angered sufficiently]] (she's only shown doing this with [[ThatPoorPlant a potted flower]] and an insect) and even [[WouldHurtAChild tries to kill the main character and his sister]] with this ability ([[spoiler:[[NoSell which fortunately doesn't work because the two are human]]]]). And that's without getting into said princess' EvilPlan of using abducted prisoners turned into balloons to fill out a giant mouse balloon and awaken the Sleeping Cat on which the feline world rests, explicitly stated to cause ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destruction]]'', if [[LaResistance the good guys' resistance movement]] doesn't surrender. And yet Pioneer rated this suitable "for 3 and up".

** ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' does advertise itself as [[SpookyKidsMedia kids-friendly horror]] and wouldn't had been that bad if it stayed that way. Of course, it doesn't. There are all sorts of brutal ColdBloodedTorture, AndIMustScream situations, grossly detailed murders of Digimon (and sometimes humans), and {{Jump Scare}}s. There's an episode where a group of Chamblemon literally use young brides as living mushroom plantations in a heinously gruesome manner, and there's another where the corpse of an actual dead person is being controlled to walk around the victim of the week's house (not even by a normal Digimon, by a ''[[EldritchAbomination MoonMillenniumon]]''). Yet, it's still broadcasted on a 9 a.m. Sunday morning despite the content would be easily overboard for even adults.

* The original ''Manga/GetterRobo'' manga wasn't just aimed at kids, but a MerchandiseDriven series meant to sell action figures. The ''second chapter'' features Ryoma, the main lead, kicking an attack dog's head clean off, and Hayato, the deuteragonist, ripping a high-school boy's face off and slicing off another's ears. In general, it's hard to find a chapter of the original run that doesn't feature at least one moment of insanely brutal violence, not to mention two of the three leads being {{Unscrupulous Hero}}es at best initially. The anime is a different story, though, featuring [[LighterAndSofter far less violence relative to the manga and much cleaner depictions of the heroes.]]
* ''Anime/GhostStories'' (a.k.a. ''Gakkou no Kaidan'') is an anime about a group of prepubescent children who chase ghosts, which is targeted at kids. Notable ghosts they encounter are an incredibly scary and unstoppable GrimReaper lookalike, a grotesque HumanoidAbomination with a giant eye for mouth and a [[Literature/TheRing Sadako]] relative (who even comes out of a TV) who almost strangles the female lead to death. Not to mention the ending theme is very blatantly IntercourseWithYou. All of the ghosts are played seriously, albeit the English GagDub makes the series quite silly. However, said English gag dub is [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids definitely]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice NOT]] this trope.

* Related to the above, ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAge Gundam AGE]]'' is targeted to a younger audience than ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed SEED]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 00]]''. Yet, despite its [[ArtStyleDissonance children's cartoon art-style]], ''AGE'' has a really dark story and it doesn't hold any punches when it comes to killing off characters and showing their death scenes. And that's before you get into [[spoiler:having a main protagonist become a genocidal, [[WellIntentionedExtremist if well-intentioned,]] maniac, [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression the whole back-story for Vagan (also known as the Unknown Enemy),]] or even [[EnfantTerrible Desil Galette.]]]]

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', a series where almost Main/AnyoneCanDie and contains among other things a heart being torn out, beheadings, fights to the death and a floor being covered in fresh blood, and the series in general being rather graphic at times, the series is serialized on ''Weekly Shonen Jump''. Goes double for the Chimera Ant arc, which features BlackAndGrayMorality, bordering on EvilVersusEvil, along with much of the graphic violence described above, plus significant dismemberments, plots of genocide [[spoiler:(though neither side succeeds in this aim)]], disturbing imagery and themes left, right, and center, and even [[spoiler:nuclear apocalypse]] is depicted, though the last one isn't part of the arc's main focus. The 2011 series officially switched to a late-night timeslot in the middle of the Chimera Ant arc; however, some affilates in Japan had already moved it to that slot beforehand based on the violent content.

* ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'' originally started out as a parody of ''Ultraman'' complete with action and comedy being somewhat expected of a Shonen manga. Then, the series shifted from being just a parody of superheroes to a series about ProfessionalWrestling. Despite the comedy remaining in the series, there was notably a lot more violence in the show. For one, the wrestling matches couldn't really be called matches anymore, as whenever someone won, it usually meant that they won via killing the other person, complete with FamilyUnfriendlyDeath for the defeated (One person actually got ''eaten alive'' by their opponent). Keep in mind that it was still considered a Shonen manga after the shift. The anime tried to tone down the violence, but a lot of it was still kept in.
* The same can be said for the anime of its sequel ''Kinnikuman Nisei'' (known in the US as ''Anime/UltimateMuscle''). Despite being aimed at kids, it still follows in the footsteps of its predecessor with violence and loads of innuendo in both the original ''and'' the dub. The manga averts this trope, as it's marketed for adults.

* In regards to the new four part movie remake being made based on it, Hideaki Anno mentioned, briefly, that ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' was intended for youths and even kids and how the message of the series was important for their ears more so than anyone else. You know, that show where a naked teenage girl grows to the size of a planet and then falls apart, [[MindRape another character has her mind horrifically invaded and essentially violated]], and ended up squarely defining pessimism in the Super Robot genre. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids In the States, it was once the victim of the opposite trope;]] nowadays ''Evangelion'' is pretty much put on par with ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'', ''Legend of the Overfiend'' and violent anime/hentai in general. In spite of this, all of the movies in the series (both based on the original series and the ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' quadrilogy) are rated G for General Audiences under Japan's equivalent of the MPAA.

** Quite a few of the [[Manga/{{Pokemon}} other manga]] too, either due to violence or {{Fanservice}}. ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure'' can be as violent as ''Adventures'' at times, and features dark themes like it, but can't be above {{Shonen}}. Of course, the main reason WHY it's classified as ''kodomo'' is because the manga are based off of a MerchandiseDriven children's video game.
** Creator/TakeshiShudo [[note]]The head writer for the anime from Kanto until Johto[[/note]] had originally wanted [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries the show]] to be [[MultipleDemographicAppeal enjoyed by anyone]], not just kids, and it shows in most of the episodes written by him which noticeably clash in tone with a lot of the show's other, more lighthearted episodes. For example, ''[[Recap/PokemonS1E1PokemonIChooseYou the very first episode]]'' was a {{deconstruction}} of being a Pokémon trainer, and the Japanese version of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' features a complex backstory for Mewtwo involving the ethics of cloning, among other things. ExecutiveMeddling prevented Shudo from using a lot of the bonuses he'd intended to, and he ended up leaving because the show became overly kid-focused. Nonetheless, the anime still does get pretty dark at times, such as in the Hunter J arc of the ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl Diamond and Pearl]]'' saga.

* ''Anime/PopeeThePerformer'' is particularly infamous for this. The show regularly features extreme violence, and the main characters die painfully in pretty much every episode. The best example of this is probably episode 11, Swallower. The episode contains the main character, Popee, attempting sword swallowing. This goes horribly wrong as usual, and resulting in Popee being impaled, with the tip of the sword stuck in the sand. Kedamono attempts to help him out, and tries attaching the hilt of the sword to a car and driving fast in an attempt to pull it out. This results in Popee being dragged around the circus and bashed into the ground and walls, his face covered in blood. Eventually the sword is pulled out, but Popee is furious at Kedamono for dragging him around. He chases Kedamono down and swallows him whole, then repeats his sword trick from the beginning of the episode, impaling and killing them both. The episode ends with Popee's lifeless, impaled body falling to the ground, then a fade to black.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' ran in Weekly Shonen Jump, a magazine aimed at young audiences, yet it features some extremely bloody violence, one of the three kings, Mukuro, was raped. Not to mention that the English dub of the anime featured tons of profanity, and yet it aired on Cartoon Network.

* Blockbuster Video once had a point where they rated every anime "Youth Restricted Viewing", even relatively kid-friendly titles like ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'', ''Anime/KOBeast'', basically, every anime that wasn't ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''; however, Blockbuster's system for the "Youth Restricted Viewing" rating was all messed up; on your account, you either had to allow it all or none of it. So, you either can have none of the anime section, or you can have all of it, including the hentai, with the same rating, showing no difference between the two; you could end up with a "Youth Restricted Viewing" title that has a "damn" or two and maybe a drop of blood, or you could end up with an also "Youth Restricted Viewing" hentai that has everything but the kitchen sink in it, with no warning. A rather difficult system to deal with if you've got a young kid into anime.

* Some of Creator/OsamuTezuka's {{anime}} and manga aimed at children/young teens tend to fall under this. The first episode of ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'' for example can pretty much be summed up as one massive BreakTheCutie for the eponymous character, and [[DownerEnding the ending for the manga and movie is one of the most infamous endings in the industry]].

* ''Andro Trio'', a relatively obscure manga from the 80s by prolific lolicon artist Aki Uchiyama, is probably the most extreme example of this. Despite it being incredibly blatant lolicon diaper fetish porn, with the main lead being an 7-year old girl who is subjected to many sexual situations involving diapers (which was the manga's main selling point), lingering panty shots, and eroticized nudity, you'd be shocked this was serialized in Shonen Champion of all things. Hell, later tankobon releases slapped an adults-only sticker on it.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' is a brutal and often highly cynical series with violent deaths, horrific creature designs, and a lot of sex (including a lesbian orgy adorning a color spread). However, it first ran in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' (later moving online to ''Shonen Jump +''), which is still intended for younger audiences.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the anime series is aimed at younger teenagers and is shown on a family-friendly time slot in Japan, but it still has a rather dark tone, and tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, relationships, slavery, mass murder, suicide, etc, which a lot of kids won't understand or might get frightened by. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut versions, both English and Japanese), a lot of rather crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, a few character designs, Kakashi's books, Drunken Rock Lee, Jiraiya's antics, breast jokes and the Thousand Years of Death), a massive amount of violence, some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Hidan, Pain, Obito and Kisame), a large amount of [[tearjerker]] moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody, cruel and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching at all. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in North America, the show was noticeably toned down (for example, words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", deaths being shown off-screen, blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series, as some scenes, such as several fights, some deaths, the Sexy Jutsu, Jiraiya's perverted nature and several deaths were left uncensored. Viz Media and ShoPro later averted this trope when they released the uncut version of the anime, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating on a late-night weekday time slot on Adult Swim.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the anime series is aimed at younger teenagers and is shown on a family-friendly time slot in Japan, but it still has a rather dark tone, and tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, relationships, slavery, mass murder, suicide, etc, which a lot of kids won't understand or might get frightened by. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut versions, both English and Japanese), a lot of rather crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, a few character designs, Kakashi's books, Drunken Rock Lee, Jiraiya's antics, breast jokes and the Thousand Years of Death), some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Hidan, Pain, Obito and Kisame), a large amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody, cruel and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching at all. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in North America, the show was noticeably toned down (for example, words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", deaths being shown off-screen, blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series, as some scenes, such as several fights, some deaths, the Sexy Jutsu, Jiraiya's perverted nature and several deaths were left uncensored. Viz Media and ShoPro later averted this trope when they released the uncut version of the anime, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating on a late-night weekday time slot on Adult Swim.

* ''Manga/SgtFrog'' is a [[ShonenDemographic shonen]] manga, but it has a very raunchy sense of humor and the female characters are often a source of {{Fanservice}}. The anime is TamerAndChaster as a result of being made more family-friendly, but there's still some fanservice left in as a ParentalBonus.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the anime series is aimed at younger teenagers and is shown on a family-friendly time slot in Japan, but it still tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, relationships, slavery, mass murder, suicide, etc, which a lot of kids won't understand or might get frightened by. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut versions, both English and Japanese), a lot of rather crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, a few character designs, Kakashi's books, Drunken Rock Lee, Jiraiya's antics, breast jokes and the Thousand Years of Death), some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Hidan, Pain, Obito and Kisame), a large amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody, cruel and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching at all. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in North America, the show was noticeably toned down (for example, words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", deaths being shown off-screen, blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series, as some scenes, such as several fights, some deaths, the Sexy Jutsu, Jiraiya's perverted nature and several deaths were left uncensored. Viz Media and ShoPro later averted this trope when they released the uncut version of the anime, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating on a late-night weekday time slot on Adult Swim.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the anime series is aimed at younger teenagers, but it still tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, romantic relationships, mass murder, suicide, etc, which a lot of kids won't understand. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut versions, both English and Japanese), some crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, Kakashi's books, Jiraiya's antics, breast jokes and the Thousand Years of Death), some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Hidan, Pain, Obito and Kisame), a surprising amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody and violent, such as most early Gaara and Orochimaru fights, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching at all. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in the west, the show was noticeably toned down (words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", deaths being shown off-screen, blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' is a Shonen manga in the vein of ''Manga/DragonBall'' (Creator/EiichiroOda's main inspiration for the series) that's supposed to be meant for all ages, but it surprisingly features a huge amount of adult content that seems to push every single boundary of the Shonen genre to the extreme, what with insane amounts of extreme violence (including all sorts of extremely bloody and messy fights), some sexual material, foul language befitting of a sailor, [[NightmareFuel frightening imagery]], a gigantic plethora of [[TearJerker surprisingly incredibly heart-wrenching moments]], racism, slavery, torture, and genocide that would make ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' look like a picnic, [[CompleteMonster some truly vile and heinous villains]], one of the most horrific and utterly evil totalitarian governments in all of fiction being largely responsible for [[CrapsaccharineWorld all the suffering in the series' otherwise optimistic setting]], and so much more. It's telling that the U.S. version of the anime adaptation tried to make it kid-friendly by reducing most of the violence and language for any kids channel, including Cartoon Network, but after 4Kids dropped the license, Funimation averted this trope when they released the anime in its uncensored form, now with a well-deserved TV-14 rating.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and its anime adaptation; the manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' and the series aimed at younger teenagers, but it still tackles some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, mass murder, suicide, etc. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut version), some crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, Kakashi's books, Jiraiya's antics and the Thousand Years of Death), some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Pain and Kisame), a surprising amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in the west, the show was noticeably toned down (words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' ran in a Shonen magazine, yet it features some extremely bloody violence, one of the three kings, Mukuro, was raped. Not to mention that the English dub of the anime featured tons of profanity, and yet it aired on Cartoon Network.

* Like One Piece below, ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and it's anime adaptation, is a kids' series, running in a Shonen magazine, but they do tackle some pretty serious topics, including death, loss, mass murder, suicide, etc. The series also has a fair amount of profanity (especially in the uncut version), some crude and sexual scenes (like the Sexy Jutsu, some swimsuit scenes, Kakashi's books, Jiraiya's antics and the Thousand Years of Death), some terrifying imagery, especially from villains like Orochimaru, early Gaara, Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki (notably Itachi, Pain and Kisame), a surprising amount of tearjerker moments, and a lot of the fights can be extremely bloody and violent, and then there is [[DirtyOldMan Jiraiya]], who is extremely perverted and does stuff no kid should be watching. When the anime first aired on Cartoon Network in the west, the show was noticeably toned down (words like kill and death being replaced by "destroy" and "defeat", blood edited out, etc) but it didn't stop it from still being violent, especially for a kids series.