Anime as you age: what it means to you

[Kirito]

I started my anime watching "career" when I was 9 years old. I watched anime titles like Pokemon, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, InuYasha, Dragon Ball, and Gundam Wing. I watched anime on TV at the time because I never knew about Japanese dubs at the time.

Watching anime on TV lost it charm because they kept airing reruns and I stopped watching anime from when I was 15-17, and became a "Riajuu". More like stopped I watched anime occasionally, but not to the point where I was into it as I'm now. My brother introduced me to YouTube, and I was watching Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, and Gundam Seed on Ytv and Toonami at the time. When I went to YouTube they were in Japanese dubs with English subtitles, and it was way ahead of North American broadcast episode listings.

My anime watching "career" picked up again, and I noticed that the animations back then, have changed and story and plot, have picked up in creativity and catering to people who're into their specific genres more. I also noticed that the Japanese seiyuu's put a lot more emotion and realism into the characters they're portraying, and it got me hooked on J-dubs more than the English ones.

My love for anime returned, and it really got into the Japanese culture more to the point where I'm studying the language, learning how to write for anime fans, going to anime conventions, and also putting my time and energy into Japanese video gaming, where I participate in fighting game tournaments.

Here's am I, in my early 20's, and my love for anime continues to gets stronger and it's something that I don't want to give up. It's a lifestyle that I cherish and I want continue helping people understand the anime world, so that future generations can come into this feeling secure and welcomed. I'm going to quote Obi-wan here: "You've taken a huge step into a larger world!" My peers look down on me because of interests, but I always tell them this: "I'm an otaku, and damn proud of it!"

[Kyuu]

Despite being a fan for almost 20 years...

I find myself actually watching more, not less, these days. Part of me blames "anime lists" (like in my sig). Part of me also blames anime communities, like this one. Yes. I blame YOU! Bwahahahaha

[Flawfinder]

Anime is as important to me as movies and such, and while I'm not into it as much as before, it's still a hobby I'm proud of.

[Alchemist007]

I found Toonami (not really my roots, but more of a golden age way back when) to be my romantic "holy crap, anime is some badass stuff" with shows like DBZ, YYH, Bebop, Trigun, and others. They even had the commercials like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP-ugoF-www

I'd say my roots were watching Dragon Ball before school at 6 am. I had no idea about anything, as I was pretty much as stupid as Goku, so his impulsive nature got me to pay attention. Master Roshi was funny but I never understood why until much later.

I'd say anime turned out as a somewhat deviant interest for me specifically. I'm Indian, there are no other Indians that I know that like anime. They all like their bollywood and singing and dancing things and I just got real ****ing bored of that really early on. There's plenty of anime that are the same way (I'd concur with some of what Vexx said in the front page), but I guess it caught my interest at an early enough age that I was like "hey, here's something different, interesting, and unique." My interest in Japanese culture came later on, but is influenced of course by my interest in anime (the question being: 'What kind of awesome people make this?').

[Tiran86]

I enjoy fiction a lot. Its one of my favorite things in the world. Anime as a medium has a lot of easily accessible stories that fit my preferences for length, pacing and genre, and I enjoy a lot of the tropes anime takes for granted.

[Ryuudou]

As I grow older I find myself liking more realistic plots. I think this is partially what you were touching on.

[NoemiChan]

Hmmm.... What's anime for me as I age? Well.

Elementary - Anime is no more different to cartoons. Kids loves cartoons.

High School - Anime is obviously different. There are for kids and for adults only. Anime is more complex. Love the girls and the cool heroes. H anime curious.

College - Anime become a hobby. Talks anime with classmates. Buy Dvds both the usual and the forbidden.

After College - Anime became a religion.

[Vexx]

I just realized I've got about five series I've fallen behind on several weeks (forgetting to grab the subs). Weekend sub management on queue... I suppose that's one of the differences: time management gets prioritized differently.