Early immersion: Which non-childish anime can beginners follow without subtitles?

I’m currently half way through level 3, I tried watching pokemon but the long segments of pokemon chirping at eachother kinda made it feel fruitless. I eventually tried out Uma Musume on JP Netflix with JP subtitles and I’ve really been enjoying it (even though I can hardly read the kanji haha).

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Did anyone here watch Non Non Biyori, Shirokuma Café, or Chi’s Sweet Home and can tell me if these are suitable for watching (with our without subtitles) relatively early at an N5 stage?

They all seem popular, well-rated, and contain a more daily-life kind of language. I’m just not sure if they are simple, slow and repetitive enough? Any insights?

Non Non is a bit difficult because a) it’s a comedy, so there’s a fair amount of non-sequiter jokes, and b) it’s explicitly set in the countryside, so there’s quite strong accents that will be confusing for N5 learners.

Shirokuma I think is a bit easier but I think it’s still a bit complicated for N5 learners. There’s a few wordplay jokes that crop up but I think there’s less accents.

I can’t comment on Chi’s as I’ve never read or watched it.

To be honest I think you should just dive in and see how you feel. There is truly no good starting point, just less bad ones, and those are both imho among the less bad starting points.

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Thanks @Jintor, you’re right. But if you think it’s hard even with these with N5, I’m thinking maybe I should just rewatch an Anime that I enjoyed but in Japanese (if I can find). I’m considering Haikyuu!, Bakuman, and My Dress-Up Darling. I’ll try them all and see how it goes!

I watched Chi’s Sweet Home (specifically the one on Crunchyroll, which is technically season 2. There is also a 3D reboot that can be found on YouTube I believe, but I haven’t seen it)

The episodes are very short, about 3 minutes if I recall correctly. The language is pretty easy most of the time and the characters are cute. The main drawbacks are:

  • Chi’s got a bit of a “baby accent”, and of course being a cat also a bit of a “cat accent”. This can make some words harder to tell apart.
  • Because the episodes are so short, if you’re doing a “watch once with subtitles, watch again without” kind of thing, it does mean messing with subtitle settings more often when binge watching

The language is more N4 than N5, but you’ll still pick up things you recognize.

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Of those I can recommend Dress-Up Darling with the caveat that Marin’s gyaru slang can be a bit difficult to get to grips with. But I find it relatively easy these days.

Actually I think of the anime you’ve mentioned before, Sweetness and Lightning is probably my recommendation. Unfortunately I don’t know if it’s streaming anywhere anymore…

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