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Are You Sure This Is For Kids
This is the middle ground between an actual kids show and What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids? When this trope applies, there's nothing that kids can't see, but there are plenty of things that a kid wouldn't understand - it would take an adult, or at least a teenager, to fully understand and appreciate the work. Often, subjects like drugs and sex will be implied but not explicitly stated, adding an extra dimension to the book for adults who understand these things. However, this isn't always the case.

Note that this doesn't apply when something perfectly clean is marketed towards teenagers or adults. This trope only applies when the work is marketed towards kids.

Often, this trope will apply to the most popular TV shows and books among kids - adults will enjoy it and recommend it for kids. These books also frequently have a longer-lasting following, because adults who read the books or saw the shows as kids could appreciate it more, not less, in their adulthood.

Compare What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?, What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?, and Parental Bonus There's also some overlap with Getting Crap Past the Radar when the subjects inappropriate for kids are implied. However, not all instances of Getting Crap Past the Radar apply to this trope; if kids understand the explicit joke, (as they often do with Getting Crap Past the Radar), or if the joke is mainly funny to kids and not adults, this trope doesn't apply.

Examples:

Literature
  • This applies to several books of the Animorphs series, Visser and The Departure in particular. For example, in the former, we're told that Visser Three will give Spacey a 'bottle' in exchange for him talking, but we're not told what's in the bottle.
    • That's not even the half of it. The re-launch of the series has a larger following with adults who read the series with kids than with actual kids. In fact, there are entire blogs run by adults dedicated to reviewing the series.
  • Several books by Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who!, have metaphors applying to current events (such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War) that most kids wouldn't understand. It makes it a lot more fun for the adults who read it to them, though.

Live-Action Television

Newspaper Comics

Western Animation
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