I don’t know about you, but school was not my favorite. Math, science, social studies, biology… It was all so boring! I’d much rather be at home watching cartoons than studying or learning at my desk all day. If only school had shown us animes or cartoons like these instead: Here are six animes that teach you things!
Dr. Stone
Where to watch: Funimation
What’s Dr. Stone about?
This anime currently has two seasons originally adapted from the manga. The plot of the story is that one day there is a mysterious light that turns every human on the planet into stone. 3,700 years go by when Senku Ishigami, the main protagonist, emerges from his petrified state into a “Stone World” and he plans to un-petrify all of humanity and rebuild civilization with SCIENCE!
What does this anime teach you? Science!
This anime uses real scientific properties. It teaches about chemical compounds and how different minerals and metals to build and create. There have been several mentions of “do not try this at home” within the show as well. The story itself is farfetched and has equal parts hilarity and drama. I highly recommend it.
Sound! Euphonium
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
What’s this anime about?
https://tenor.com/embed.jsThis anime has two seasons and several movies, originally adapted from the manga. It follows the lives of a high school band and the trials and tribulations they go through as they dedicate their high school youth to practicing for nationals. While the main protagonist is a first year named Kumiko Oumae who plays the Euphonium, a brass wind instrument, the anime pans out to get to know most of the orchestra band.
The Lesson: Music
The first season teaches about how to handle instruments, breathing techniques, and shows the growth of the orchestra band as their musical skills develop. The second season starts to fall off with the educational aspect and follows more of the drama between bandmates. If you have a love for classical music, this was a wonderful watch.
Cells at Work!
Where to watch: Netflix
What’s this anime about?
https://tenor.com/embed.jsThis anime has two seasons and one special episode. I thought it was a very sweet anime. All of the cells are anthropomorphized, and the human body looks like neighborhoods and factories. The two main protagonists are a Red blood cell who often gets lost while delivering oxygen or nutrients to different parts of the body, and White blood cell who fights against any germs that invade the body who Red frequently runs into.
What does this anime teach you? Physiology
This anime teaches about how the cells in our body help it works and keeps it healthy. There are also lots of other cells we meet in the show and learn what their roles are in the human body and how they all work together to get rid of germs and viruses along the way.
Cells at Work! Code Black
Where to watch: Funimation, Crunchyroll
What’s this Cells at Work! spin-off about?
https://tenor.com/embed.jsA spin-off series with the same premise, but this time the cells are in an unhealthy body. This one is definitely darker, even edging into horror/gore territory. I did appreciate that they genderbent the cells’ anthropomorphized images from the original series. I think this was to show that it’s a separate series from the first and not a 3rd season.
The Lesson: Health & Hygiene
This anime teaches you what happens when you don’t treat your body right. Smoking, eating unhealthy foods, drinking, etc. It really pulled at my heart-strings to see the cells working so hard in a body that seemed beyond repair, but what choice do they have? If they give up that leads to… well, we know what would happen. It really makes you want to take more care of your body too!
Heaven’s Design Team
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
What’s this anime about?
https://tenor.com/embed.jsI was so sad at how short this anime is because it is just so adorable! It follows a team of seven designers, all named after the planets in our solar system (excluding Earth), who are hired by God to create the animals that will inhabit the world. God generally sends extremely vague descriptions to the team to fulfill his design goals. Sometimes the team can create a new design on their own. Designs that God approves become animals while rejected ones go back to the designer to revise until he is satisfied or are scraped completely. One of God’s angels, Shimoda, is tasked with overseeing the crew and sending potential new animals for God’s approval.
The Lesson: Zoology & Biology
The anime teaches the biology of real life animals and their characteristics. It’s really interesting when hearing descriptions of certain animals and being completely surprised when the animal is revealed! It also explains why mythical animals just can’t exist. Each designer works differently. One loves to design beautiful animals, one loves to make cute & cuddly animals, another likes to create tasty animals, one likes to make creepy animals, although she calls them “cute”, and so on, showing the concepts of design thinking, such as testing and prototyping.
Silver Spoon
Where to watch: Funimation, Crunchyroll
What’s Silver Spoon about?
This anime has two seasons. The main character, Hachiken, runs away from his city life, and his strict parents, to attend a school for agriculture thinking rural life will be easy. Tired of always working hard in his studies per his parents expectations, Hachiken chose this school thinking he’d breeze through his classes filled with “country bumpkins.” He has a rude awakening when he discovers the backbreaking labor that goes into agriculture. He can barely keep up with the country kids who grew up around this. Trying not to be sick when learning about the biology of egg laying or how bacon is made, is the least of his worries.
The Lesson from this anime? Agriculture
This anime teaches about farm life, agriculture, and caring for livestock. It also gives you an appreciation for where your food comes from as you learn about it along with the protagonist. It can get pretty detailed at times, but don’t worry, they don’t show any animal cruelty or preparation.
Read more of Melissa Joy’s articles.
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Featured image credit: David Production
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