The other kid-friendly animation shows besides Avatar that I can recommend are The Owl House and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer could be a good pick or she might be a bit young for it (it's rated TV-14).
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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Television
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Putting forward Unicorn Warriors Eternal, Central Park, and City: the Animation. The other suggestions are pretty great too.
Bob's Burgers is also great
Ducktales (2017).
Sure you could watch the original from the 80s, but if you grew up on that series and 90s Disney cartoons then the 2017 Ducktales series will be a treat for you both.
Infinity Train
Although you'll have to sail the high seas as there is literally no legal way to watch it.
Witch hat Atelier maybe
My daughter is a little older, and there is some content in both that you might not think appropriate for a 12 year old, but "sweet tooth" and "wednesday" were both shows we watched together and enjoyed.
A few others not mentioned here:
Jackie Chan Adventures
Men in Black
Gravity Falls
Batman Beyond
Centaur World
Futurama
Roughnecks: the Starship Troopers Chronicles
Reboot
Over the Garden Wall
QI
If you're careful with the remote control, House rocks. Drama and some pretty good influences for smart girls. Downsides are adult stuff that you can skip and some other cultural things that have changed since then, but again it's a good place for Dad's commentary!
Over time, if she likes it, you can each try to guess the diagnosis, defend it, and see who was right. You get to teach her critical thinking, how to debate, and at the end to understand why the other person thought what they did.!
Adventure Time. It's a unique show that kinda "grows up" with you. It starts out silly, random, and goofy but by the end of it all it really matures and teaches some very valuable lessons. then you follow it up with "Fiona and Cake" which is a sort of alternate timeline for Adventure Time that swings back around. Fiona and Cake is more mature but still just as good as Adventure Time.
I've seen those characters but never actually watched an episode. I'll give it a shot, thanks
I love Adventure Time, I gotta check out the newer shows
like I said the series grows up with you. Fiona and Cake is quite mature and deals with some dark stuff especially revolving around Finn. so it's a good follow up to Adventure Time.
It has mature emotionality, but my 8 year old was okay with it. We agreed it was good TV, but didn't quite recapture the magic of classic AT. I think because it's too serialised, too long, too grounded.
That's very cool!
Already watched Legend of Korra?
I'd suggest Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood that I consider very similar to Avatar in being funny/easy going/friendly but having those arcs tackling mature issues.
Arcane is also cool.
As she seems to like sitcoms (Malcom in the Middle is my favorite), try Scrubs :)
I'm torn on Korra. I really liked the first season, but I remember it going downhill. I remember the season with Henry Rollins being really dark. Like the whole choking people thing seemed a little much for nickelodeon. That and my wife is still mad about Korra breaking the connection with the past Avatars. I guess I'll leave it up to my daughter if she wants to watch it.
I've seen Full Metal Alchemist suggested a few times. I'll definitely be checking that out.
I still need to get to watching the new season of Scrubs and Malcom too. I cancelled Hulu because fuck Disney, so I guess 🏴☠️
Arcane is a great show but 12 is a bit young for it.
I utterly disagree, it's TV-14 and those ratings are made by fanatical conservatives to appease Christian parents associations. Trust your kid's intelligence.
If she liked Avatar you gotta do Korra!
Absolutely! And the new movie is a nice, if slight, coda to the ATLA gang and bridge to LoK.
If avatar was her favorite (understandable) then she might like other adventure shows like the dragon prince, samurai jack, she-ra, the mandalorian, the owl house, Steven universe.
For shows like modern family she might like the goldbergs, everybody loves Raymond, abbot elementary, parks n rec.
- Little Witch Academia - I think this is probably my top recommendation for this age group, and if she likes Sabrina then this is probably perfect too. Beautifully colorful art style.
- Spy x Family - This one starts off leading you to think it's a high stakes action series, then bait-and-switches you into a wholesome sitcom about two bozos trying to be good parents to their adopted daughter. So maybe a little bit of Modern Family vibes, though much much sillier.
- Teen Titans (original, not Go) - Definitely one to watch if she liked Avatar.
- Bocchi the Rock! - This one might be a stretch because it's entirely dependent on whether she's alright with subtitles. If that's cool with her, watch Bocchi.
See liked Teen Titans Go when she was little. It was the right level of silly when she was like 5-6. I'll have to the no Go one a shot. I'll check out the others too, thanks!
The Middle might be one to hold her interest. It’s currently available through Amazon Prime streaming.
Veronica Mars
After rewatching that one recently, I'd say 12 is too young. 15-16 would be more appropriate. A huge part of the story in the first two seasons is Veronica trying to deal with and investigate her own rape, and the major subplot of the third season involved a serial rapist. It gets very, very heavy and adult at times.
It's still a great show, but not one for a middle schooler.
My 12yo daughter just recommended Avatar (of course), the new Among Us show (a little gory, but in a hyper-cartoony way), and Gravity Falls.
I got her to go through Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and while she didn't adore it as a love letter to SW and to Amblin-style 80s tween adventures like I did, it was the one Star Wars show she stuck with. I'll also recommend Korra and Adventure Time, and I daresay 12 is the perfect age for AT. Hilda and Kipo & the Age of Wonderbeasts are two more really good ones.
Live action ATLA is okay, but it's more like if the Fire Island Players had budget and some okay actors; it's just so compressed that it's better as a nod-along-with-it background re-watch for some months or years after you last watched the real thing. On the flip side, I found the sheer amount of anime One Piece to be extremely daunting, but the live action is spry and fun and still has at least some sense of scale and scope, not to mention they 100% nailed the casting on Monkey and dialed back the fan service a lot.
You totally nailed the live action Avatar feel. We were half way through one episode and she decided to just go to bed. When I went to stop the episode she told me, "you can keep watching, I saw the cartoon".
I'll check out the other recommendations, thanks!
No worries! I also saw a couple of other commenters mention the modern She-Ra, and I'm a little embarrassed I forgot about it. It's really, really good.
Hmmm...
- The Good Place
- Schitts Creek
- Abbott Elementary
- Modern Family -> Life in Pieces. I loved it but heads up, they did cancel
- Parks and Rec
- Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Spy X Family dubbed or subbed okay
- Frieren : Beyond Journeys End (my current fav)
Frieren might be a little too violent for age 12. Definitely have her come back to it when she's older though.
My daughter and I watched Wizards of Waverly Place, and Just Add Magic together. Both were obviously kids shows, but I enjoyed them, and spending that time with her was great.
As she gets older maybe Locke and Key. There is another show along those lines, but I cannot think of the name right now.
There is another show along those lines, but I cannot think of the name right now.
~~I think it was Shadow and Bone. ~~ nope reading about shadow and bone I am certain that is not it.
Full House!
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
the worst witch :)
31 minutos, is it even in english?