Here's the thing about Gacha: the app itself is relatively harmless dress-up and storytelling. But it exists in an ecosystem that's genuinely problematic.

Your kid will almost certainly end up on YouTube watching Gacha Life videos, and that's where things get dicey. We're talking kids creating content about relationships, breakups, LGBTQ+ storylines, mental health crises, and sometimes truly inappropriate scenarios—all acted out with these chibi anime characters. It's like if The Sims and anime had a baby that was raised by unsupervised tweens.

The gacha mechanics (random character unlocks) also introduce gambling-adjacent dopamine patterns that we'd rather kids not internalize at age 9. Add in unmoderated chat features and you've got a recipe for concerns.

That said, some kids use it purely for creative expression and never venture into the darker corners. If you're going to allow it, you need to be monitoring YouTube watch history religiously and having frank conversations about what they're seeing and creating. This isn't a 'set it and forget it' game—it requires active parenting.