@fireweed@lemmy.world

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/50591135

In a similar vein as our last “education through entertainment” title, Laid-Back Camp, is Encouragement of Climb (Yama no Susume), another cute-girls-doing-cute-things series, this time about mountain climbing.

As with Laid-Back Camp, Encouragement of Climb features real-world locations, gear, and conditions as pertaining to hiking (such as keeping fed on the trail, and dealing with altitude sickness). The learning imparted by the series is limited to Japanese geography and information about hiking, however Encouragement of Climb features such accuracy and passion about the topic as to land the series squarely in the “educational” category. A successful manga series, it has been adapted into multiple anime seasons as well.

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/50442474

Next up on our tour through educational animation/comics is Laid-Back Camp (also commonly known by its Japanese name, Yuru Camp).

This manga-turned-anime falls squarely under the category of “cute girls doing cute things,” which in this case is winter camping. I personally happened to get into camping around the same time as the anime first dropped, and was impressed by the degree of detail in the series, which even included real-world product brands and designs, while the girls visit real sightseeing and camping sites in Japan.

While the “education” provided by this series is markedly less academic and more hobby-oriented, for anyone interested in camping and/or rural Japan, it’s a decent primer in both.

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/50387285

Next up in my “education through entertainment” series is the family-friendly Heaven’s Design Team (Tenchi Souzou Dezain-Bu).

This manga-turned-anime series is another “it’s ironic that this is as educational as it is” series, given the premise is that creationism is real and all of Earth’s creatures were intentionally designed by a team in heaven in response to (often arbitrary) requests from God. Before the pitchforks come out, rest assured that this premise is presented as fictional and fantastical (the Japanese are not known for being big believers in creationism, after all), and is just a fun setting to explore the various ways that animals’ biology helps them overcome issues they might encounter in their environment, or even as a result of their own anatomy.

In an amazing feat (for anime at any rate), the series manages to stay engaging for older audiences while maintaining a PG-ish content rating, making it one of the few anime appropriate and engaging for the whole family. Additionally, unless you’re a zoology nerd, the biology facts presented in the series are likely not the kind most adults have encountered before; despite being a nature documentary aficionado, I found myself learning quite a bit about zoology/biology/evolution, and had a lot of fun guessing what animal they were building up to as they struggled with God’s latest design assignment.

You can read my full review of the series here.

What were some of your favorite educational animated/comic series as a kid?