How long has anime become a serious hobby for you?
 

Hey guys.

How long have you been seriously involved with anime as a full-fledged hobby?

I'm not talking about how long since the first ever anime you've seen, but rather when you first began to passionately pursue it as a part of your life.

Me? I first watched anime in 2000 on Cartoon Network in the US. During that time it was just a casual thing I did after school to kill time. It wasn't until 2003 when I took it seriously by watching fansubs with my high school anime club and reading online forums about anime.

So I've been quite addicted to anime for a good seven (and may I say happy) years. :)

i watched pokemon and dragonball z and all on Cheese tv as a kid so did every australian boy but when i started y7 and i was like 12 i found naruto and it all started there. i can honestly say tha was probably the best day of my life so far.

Probably my Sophmore year of High School..

More of a secret passion than a hobby though.. :heh:

Since I was like toddler aged since I lived in Japan for several years so yea.

Middle school through sophomore year of high school for me. Now I'm more of a casual fan.

I would say fansub-anime-culture was a major hobby of mine for about five years, starting in high school and ending a few years into university. Since then I have become more of an occasional viewer, as with the above poster.

I wouldn't say it's a hobby of mine. I simply view anime as another form of entertainment on TV and treat it as such. If I like it I'll watch it.

So I guess I'm a casual viewer.

since I was.. 8 years old? when Teknoman Blade was airing in Australia..
then the usual proper licenced anime came along like pokemon and dragon ball

however Neon Genesis was airing in Australia around 1998 , then Bubblegum Crisis 2040 around 2001 then found out about torrents from there

however.. Figure collecting and Anime merchandise collecting started around 1997 for me when I went to Taiwan and Philippines , then found out there were 2 stores in Sydney selling them..

ahh your money blows up fast eh!

Since I was 10.

Ever since I was 11, and it eventually became a casual hobby for me.

Since I started watching DBZ in middle school. My interest in it tends to rise and fall depending on whether there are any series I'm currently into.

When I was younger around the ages 4-12, my only impression of anime was basically Dragonball Z, Yu-gi-oh! and Pokemon... and maybe some Sailor Moon for god knows why, but for some reason it's in my memory.

Since childhood, and when I was 13, I haven't really watched anime or manga ever since.

The very first actual Japanese anime that I've ever watched was Valkyria Chronicles, about a year ago during the summer in April. The game that said anime is based off of got me find an appreciation and newfound liking for the artstyle that remained concurrent with a lot of animes. While, I've seen reviews that the VC anime isn't so good, it was my first Japanese-spoken anime I've watched, and I loved it. Then it all got uphill from there, as I found myself introduced to a whole new culture of entertainment, often stumbling upon new series by accident, and finding myself having a love of new stories and worlds and characters...

So, compared to some of you, I'm a late-blooming Otaku. I've been seriously watching anime for about a year and a half now...

I started to watch when I was 14 it became serious when I stopped drinking

When I was about 13 I began collecting VHS tapes of the original uncut versions of Cardcaptor Sakura. Since then anime has become a serious hobby for me. Yet it's been also difficult due to my specific taste in certain anime.

Probably around early 2010 is when anime became a 'serious hobby'; when I was starting to keep track of anime seasons, fansubbing groups, and watching them as-they're-released. I also began participating in ISML 2010 in the summer. xD

Joined this board in 2007, began watching shows as they aired during that fall season. Due to my desire to obtain character songs, I will never leave.

Even though I've been aware of and watched anime for around 10 years now, it only become a "serious hobby" of mine three years ago.

Hmm, since I found out about it around the time shows like Hellsing (13-ep) came out. That would be 2002. Maybe a year or two later, so 6-8 years. With being serious meaning that I follow the happenings, know about what gets released and watch some stuff from time to time. It's not like I have hundreds of series behind me.

I've always loved how different anime is to pretty much all the western media there was to see. Felt like a whole another world. Still feels that way. :)

When I was about 12 or 13 I got into anime, I would just watch whatever Cartoon Network/adult showed such as naruto/Bleach. Thats when I met my two friends who were seriously into anime and told me to watch Vampir Knight, ever since then anime became a passion :heh:

11 years. The only thing i do really is watch new Anime or re-watch old Anime. . . for me its probably more of a way of life than just a "hobby".