What is the ruling on watching the anime Detective Conan, in which girls appear wearing skirts above the knee, and its characters are drawn without noses and with eye shapes that do not resemble the eyes of God's creation, and on keeping pictures of its characters?

We advise the questioner not to be attached to anime and to spend her time on what benefits her in her religion and worldly life. Then, we answer her question in the following points:

1. Looking at cartoon images differs from looking at real, actual beings. If the images that show the virtual thigh arouse instincts and lead to corruption, then it is not permissible to look at them or keep them. However, if they do not arouse instincts and no corruption is feared from them, then the prohibition of looking at them is not apparent, although the safest and most pious approach is to avoid looking at them altogether.

2. The mere absence of a nose does not remove the image from the category of prohibited depiction. Rather, if the image lacks all facial features (nose, eyes, and mouth), then some contemporary scholars have permitted this. However, if the image is only of the head without the rest of the body, there is no harm in it, even if it includes the nose and eyes.

3. Keeping images: If they are digital images on devices, there is no objection to keeping them – provided there is no Sharia-based prohibition, such as them being nude images. However, if they are non-digital images, such as printed pictures on paper, it is not permissible to keep them if they are of a complete creation. But if they are incomplete and free from Sharia-based prohibitions, then there is no harm in keeping them.