Best 15 Anime For 9-Year-Olds To Watch in 2023

For most people, there’s always a stereotype around anime. Some believe because it’s an animated media, anime is for children. There is another faction who believes anime always contain mature content like violence and provocative scenes. Let us assure you that anime has a broad spectrum, having content appropriate for both children and adults. So, if you’re looking for some anime for your kids, we have the best 15 anime for 9-year-olds to watch in 2023.

We’ve ranked the anime by their IMDb scores. Read on to find out the best 15 anime for 9-year-olds to watch.

Best 15 Anime For 9-Year-Olds To Watch in 2023

15) Tokyo Mew Mew

If you’re looking to introduce a 9-year-old to anime, you might want to start with the Magical Girl subgenre. These anime are fun and exciting, with flashy action scenes but not violent. One of the best of these is Tokyo Mew Mew.

Ordinary girl Ichigo Momomiya’s date with her crush goes wrong when she falls asleep after getting a vision of a cat entering her body. Upon waking, she finds herself with catlike characteristics and the ability to transform into a magical girl: Mew Ichigo.

14) Yu-Gi-Oh!

Frequent in every kid’s favorite anime list, Yu-Gi-Oh! is about bullied kid Yugi Mutou who finds an ancient Egyptian puzzle called the Millennium Puzzle. After solving it in hopes that it will grant him a wish, Yuugi awakens a personality within him instead.

Yami Yugi is everything the original Yugi isn’t: he’s dark, twisted and very strong. He takes over Yugi’s body whenever he’s bullied and challenges the bullies in an intense “Shadow Game.”

13) Digimon: Digital Monsters

There are very few anime fans who haven’t loved Digimon as kids. With its same charm that captured us as kids, Digimon: Digital Monsters will be an enjoyable anime for 9-year-olds. This is an isekai where seven kids are transported to another world filled with strange creatures called Digimons.

With the help of their Digimon friends, the kids will have to find the reason why they were summoned to the Digi World.

12) Ponyo

Ponyo is Studio Ghibli’s version of the Little Mermaid and is guaranteed to be an awesome anime for 9-year-olds. After being saved by a little boy named Sosuke, a goldfish becomes his friend and is named Ponyo by him.

Unknown to him, Ponyo has a family that lives underwater. But Ponyo wants to stay with Sosuke and wishes to become a human instead. Her wish is granted, but this causes an imbalance in nature that can only be soothed if Sosuke passes an ancient test.

11) Cells at Work!

Cells at Work! puts great creativity into making the physiological systems of a body into a working factory with thousands of employees doing their jobs. The protagonist of the show is a red blood cell that has a tendency to get lost.

This anime is very enjoyable as well as educational, and thus, the perfect anime for 9-year olds.

10) Sailor Moon

No Magical Girl anime is as big and popular as Sailor Moon. A global sensation, this is just the anime for 9-year-olds. It’s about a lazy and dimwitted but kindhearted girl, Usagi Tsukino.

One day when she saves a cat with a moon mark on its fate, she learns from the cat that she’s destined to be a celestial warrior known as the Sailor Moon. It’s Usagi’s destiny to become Sailor Moon and fight the evil Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom.

9) Little Witch Academia

Atsuko “Akko” Kagari has always admired the famous witch Shiny Chariot and aspires to be like her. Though she is from a non-magic background, she makes her way into the prestigious Luna Nova Magical Academy.

Finding friends in the shy Lotte Jansson and the sarcastic Sucy Manbavaran, Akko strives to find her feet and gain the respect of her peers as she works for her dream.

8) Kiki’s Delivery Service

Studio Ghibli always delivers the very best, and Kiki’s Delivery Service is another example of that. The plot centers around Kiki, a young witch who has to leave her friends and family to live alone for a year.

With her flying broom and pet cat Jiji, Kiki settles in a coastal town called Koriko, where she accepts making deliveries for a bakery in exchange for lodging. This is a tale of a kid learning her place and responsibility in the world and is a perfect anime for 9-year-olds.

7) Cardcaptor Sakura

If you’re looking for an amazing and fun anime for 9-year-olds, we’d suggest you check out Cardcaptor Sakura. It’s about an ordinary girl, Sakura Kinomoto, who one day opens a strange book called The Clow that contains several cards.

Unknowingly causing a gust of wind that shatters the card, Sakura now has to don the persona of Cardcaptor Sakura and find the scattered cards to put them in their rightful place. Joining her on this adventure are Tomoyo Daidouji, Syaoran Li, and Keroberos.

6) Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu mixes fairy tales with the subgenre of magical girl beautifully, telling the story of Ahiru, a duck, who is transformed into a human by the mysterious sorcerer Drosselmeyer. With the help of the pendant around her neck, she can also transform into Princess Tutu: a ballet dancer who takes away the sorrow in people’s hearts.

Don’t judge the anime by its seemingly girlish name, as this anime contains deep ideas about fate and people’s beliefs.

5) My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is one of the most wholesome creations of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. It’s about two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move to the countryside with their father after their mother is hospitalized.

Spending the days in the soothing rural environment, Mei one day finds the mythical forest spirit Totoro while chasing after a strange bunny. Eventually, Satsuki also meets Totoro, the sisters befriending the huge and gentle spirit.

4) Naruto

If there’s one anime everyone has heard around the world, it’s Naruto. A mega-popular anime that is a favorite for all age groups, Naruto is about the titular character, an orphan ostracized by his village for being the vessel of the monstrous nine-tailed fox.

When Naruto becomes a genin and is put under the guidance of Kakashi along with Sasuke and Sakura, he makes lifelong friendships for the first time in his life. Many obstacles will come, but Naruto will continue to give his best to become the Hokage.

3) Detective Conan

Reigning the mystery genre for decades, Detective Conan starts with brilliant high-school detective Shinichi Kudo going to an amusement park with his childhood best friend and crush, Ran Mouri. 

When he stumbles upon two men conducting illegal business, he’s caught by them and fed a pill before he passes out. He wakes up with his body shrunken to be that of a 10-year-old kid.

As he has to hide his identity, he takes the name Conan Edogawa and stays with Ran and her drunk detective father, all the while looking for the men responsible for his condition.

2) Spirited Away

Spirited Away made history by being the first anime ever to win an Oscar, so it needs little introduction. A masterpiece from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, this anime movie features a young girl Chihiro who finds herself in a strange, magical place after crossing an old tunnel with her family.

Finding employment in a lavish inn run by a witch, Chihiro takes a new name as Sen. Her encounters with a mysterious boy named Haku and a strange faceless being make the backbone of this interesting story.

1) One Piece

One Piece is one anime that is able to grab the attention of kids and adults alike with its adventure-filled story and colorful characters. It’s also one of the best anime for 9-years old to watch.

The story is about Monkey D. Luffy, a young man with rubber powers who dreams of finding the legendary treasure One Piece and becoming the King of Pirates. Joining him on his adventure is his wacky but lovable crew.

With this, we end our list of the best 15 anime for 9-year-olds to watch in 2023. We hope this list helps you choose a great anime that kids can enjoy. Follow Otakus’ Notes for interesting anime-related content like this. We’ll be back soon with some more fun stuff.

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Anamika Das

Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.