How and why did you get into anime?

[Chiibi]

I've always been a total animation addict since I was three or four. I had Hello Kitty stuff and I watched The Littl' Bits, the Noozles, and Maya The Bee on Nick Jr's daily line-up for the younger kids. But I didn't know they were anime-I just watched them because they were "cartoons".
When I was around twelve years old, I took an art course being offered to younger kids at a community college. A girl there had cards with colorful girls who had really big eyes. I thought they were neat-looking and I asked her about her cards; she told me about Sailor Moon. I started watching it on Toonami every day and got totally hooked. In seventh grade, a boy "asked me out" (lol 13-year-old dating LOL) and I mentioned how I loved Sailor Moon. He said, "Oh yeah...anime, it's from Japan." And I was like o_o "SO THAT'S why Sailor Moon is so different from other cartoons! (I could tell it was foreign but I didn't know Japanese back then lol)
Once I learned that anime was a complete genre of animation, I started renting everything I could get my hands on! I went from Sailor Moon to Ranma 1/2, to Tenchi Muyo to Evangelion. Since it was the golden age of the late 90s, video stores also "underground" OVAs and I got to see Gunsmith Cats, Burn Up, Battle Angel, and Birdy the Mighty.
It was a magical time. XD

Oh, and I also thought "cartoons with nudity and swearing" was the most hilarious thing ever. I'd run around and show everyone the back of the VHS covers. "LOOK, IT SAYS NUDITY!! AND PROFANITY!! AND SEXUAL SITUATIONS! PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED!! ISN'T THAT CRAZY!? HAHAHA!! "


.............what a n00b.

When I turned 14, my family took a trip to the Grand Canyon. I had developed the habit of grabbing the phone book and looking up anime stores whenever I traveled to a new place (and we travel a lot). I found a store and bought (!) my first fansub (The SuperS movie) on VHS. When the guy said it was only going to be in Japanese, I was wary, but lo and behold I fell in love with the foreign audio; the girls' voices were too adorable! I decided I was going to learn it so I changed my language choice from German to Japanese.

[Dragonar Fan]

I was more pulled in to Maya The Bee & The Littl' Bits due to the Backgrounds & how thery were similar to some paintings i had seen as a child & the style (Though i just plain love animation & films) but it wasnt till elementary school in the 2-4 grade I got introduced to the Toonami Line up , but i also did watch some VHS in the long run , But one fateful night on the Midnight Run , I caught my eyes on which i now learned was the 4 episode of 08th MS Team , Yes I watched Gundam Wing but the only thing that appealed to me was the OZ Corp Cannon Fodder & Tallgeese , Also watched Ronin Warriors,DBZ,& Sailor Moon .. But 08th MS Team is what got me pulled in to Anime even further , then in '01 I saw MSG'79 and that was that . cause I was pulled in by the artstyle that I had seen in Maya the Bee in Mobile Suit Gundam (in exception to 08th MS Team) but other than the Toonami line up I was always interested in my Cousins drawings which I later learned were from Alita & Akira later on , (he did a lot of Comic Book Art alot of Dark Hosre Related comics I was also reading The Goon at the time too )
By 5th Grade i was watching some damn violent OVAs & Films such as Guyver, Ninja Scroll & Bio-Hunter , (though i was elusive , cause my mother demonized any anime (or what she knew as anime especially during the Pokemon Witch hunt/ whatever the news said was bad ,) but my dad was cool with it he gave me some comics( which i learned that they were manga also later on ) he had when he was assigned in Japan in the Early 80s . also yes still watced poke mon & I still have my GBC,

I got into YYH,Kenshin , HnK ,Cyborg 009 (2001 series ) in 6th -7th Grade Dragonar & more obscure series later on in life started to drift from the Toonami Line up Shifted from Toonami & Adult Swim lineups.
Now im sort of on step one again looking for things that will convince me to watch it whether that be the Director or Music Composers or even certain Voice Actors or Designers (Does not limit to Live Action Films either ) but eh Im still looking for more Shuki Levi music

[SayItAintSoJoe]

I don't really remember to be honest. Anime's always been around in my life thanks to Pokemon and such. It was something about the animation that just hooked me to the stuff, but when I became older I started looking for more than just flashy action scenes and anime eyes. That's when I chanced upon Trigun, and then Death Note, and the rest is history.

[NoemiChan]

Blame it to SAILOR MOON and the mini skirts. It was translated in Filipino back then...actually it's the only dubbed I ever heard... I didn't heard the original.

"I'll punish you in name of the moon!"

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by genjichan

Blame it to SAILOR MOON and the mini skirts. It was translated in Filipino back then...actually it's the only dubbed I ever heard... I didn't heard the original.

"I'll punish you in name of the moon!"

You nail it right there, man. Yeah, that catchphrase is very famous (or infamous) in my country. Even the nowadays celebrities who grew up with Sailormoon still remember it and some TV comedy programs often make a joke about it. Of course, those aforementioned people only knows the Indonesian dubbed version of that catchphrase.

[Ak3mi]

When I was eight my brother who was fifteen brought back manga films on VCR every fortnight he would bring a new one home from the store and we would watch it together . First one I watched was I think Cyber City Oedo 808 or Fist of the North Star, I thought they were brilliant and I continued to show interest and he kept buying them, I now own all 134 Videos

I thank my brother so much, even though I am 27 I still watch them with my wife ahaha. They give me so much joy!

[Kirito]

I've been watching anime since I was 9 years old. Pokemon and Inuyasha were the starting line that started my love for anime.

I look back now and I still love and cherish anime from now until my dying days, and that's not a joke that's the truth.

[MisaoFan]

When I was little, I'm always interested in western anime. One day, I saw a Pokemon anime, then Cardcaptors Sakura, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh! anime when I was 6. At the age of eight, I bought the second volume of ecchi manga called Futari Ecchi while I thought it was a romantic comedy. However, my mother demonized this manga and I started crying for this because of the sex scenes she hates. That was not until I saw One Piece, which makes me really hooked ! I started watching every anime on Mangas and I even saw You're Under Arrest!, then the 80' anime such as City Hunter, Cats' Eye and Dragon Ball, as well as Case Closed and Love Hina. In 2004, I watched some episodes of GTO and almosts every episode of Excel Saga. Then I watched few episodes of Noir (I even saw the final episode) but my mother and my sister Sarah demonized it, again ! Because of that, I can't bring more anime (even for FMA) until I was returned from Naruto in 2006 ! Thanks to this, I watched every anime and thanks to Hunter X Hunter and Magister Negi Magi, I became an anime fan ! Last year, I watched an anime called Qwaser of Stigmata, which became my first anime in Japanese audio. For now, I was a current anime fan !

[MikuMagica]

I've always watched a show called Voltron when I was little but didn't know about anime until I saw Project A-ko on TV. After that, I got into ones shows like Sailor Moon & tenchi. Now I'm totally crazy about anime!

[DXMichael]

The first time I ever watched anime was on Toonami where I watched Dragonball Z. I would come home everyday after school and eagerly await for Dragonball Z to come on. Each episode would continue the story everyday instead of them beign random episodes so I was always anticipating on what would happen next .

Only other anime I watched at that time was Pokemon. After that, I took a long break from anime...not sure why, but I regret it. My friend then introduced me to Negima and I'm grateful that he did, as it has become one of my favourite animes/manga's. Now I watch all the new animes that come out.