How and why did you get into anime?
 

How did you get into anime? My brother was watching inuyasha on Adult Swim and i asked him what was up and he said that he was watching an anime. So then he said ill buy the collection so he did and i saw everything. Even the japanese stuff so i know the ending.

It doesn't end.

I was occassionally watching anime on Adult Swim... I think I missed and episode of Wolf's Rain so I downloaded the series... and from there I began my decent into the black pit of Hell that is anime addiction. And here I sit, in the company of anime dorks who discuss character motivations and designs and which anime is better than that anime and who would beat up who, and people who buy dolls and wear a cartoon caracter's clothing and eat pocky and learn japanese and spend hundreds of dollars on dvd sets, manga, and mousepads and read this run-on sentence and and and yeah...

boredom, decided to download some random series. didnt even know it was an anime, just liked the title. Stellvia <3

I can't even remember really.

I sort of grew up with it. As a child, my dad would take me to this oriental video store to rent videotapes (yes, back in the VHS days). I'd always pick out anime cuz it appealed to me. The store has long closed down, but my interests haven't waned. I don't remember a time in my life that I wasn't an anime fan.

Anime got me before I could even notice it was all around me. :heh: :heh:

Waaay back when I was a kid I used to watch a ton of "cartoons", and I did so never questioned their place of origin; Some years later, I learned that most of my favorite shows where from the same place: Japan!

Then, when I figured out the whole cartoon vs anime thing it hitted me:

Oh god, I think I am an anime fan. :eyespin:


This all happened around the time when Robotech was the new and big thing on Tv.

I first entered the world of anime in my Freshman year of college. Before then I had seen some shows on TV and never really distinguished between them and american cartoons. Animation was animation to me in those days.

Then, while wandering through the club fair at the beginning of my Freshman year, I came across the anime club. On a TV set was playing Windaria. In that moment I was riveted. It was so beautiful and poetic that it expanded my idea of what animation could be. I went to club meeting and saw a few shows after that which I quite enjoyed. And finally a few weeks later, when I got to see Windaria from beginning to end, my soul was forever pledged to anime.

All my life, well at least as long as I can remember, I've suffered from insomnia. One tragic sleepless night, I turned on the tv at about 1am. That fateful night I saw Vampire Hunter D. Now addidicted to this anime, I searched out more. At my local blockbuster, I discovered a small section. Renting the few movies and ovas only put me further down the path to otakudom.

After I had exhausted the supply of anime from blockbuster, I was forced to rerent titles I had seen to get my fix of anime. Then, my cable system got the scifi channel. I then had access to more anime, including Vampire Hunter D. I eagerly watched these, and discovered a few anime tv series on other channels, like sailor moon.

I had heard about a discount online bookseller, amazon.com. As I was also a huge scifi fan, when I finally got internet access, I began ordering books from this site. Then, I discovered they also sold vhs tapes. Among those anime, which until then I had no way of buying. This was the fatal step, plunging me forever down the path of the otaku. I was now able to buy the series I had only heard about, like Tenchi Muyo.

Soon after, I had aquired a small anime collection of my own, which put the local blockbuster video to shame. I also began attending college. One day, I was walking down the hall, when I noticed something on a billboard. It was a flyer for the college anime club. I was intrigued, but just like Sasahara from genshiken, I couldn't bring myself to attend a meeting. I'd walk down the hall for the meeting room, but then walk by, usually heading to the library to kill time before my next class.

Finally, one day I decided this was ridiculous, and I stopped, asking if this was the meeting for the anime club. I was immediately welcomed and invited in. This was another fateful day, as the club was screening Neon Genesis Evangelion. I had heard of this title of course, but I had passed, thinking I wouldn't like it. Also, up to that point, all the anime I had seen was dubbed. Eva was the first I saw subbed. The club showed up to the episode Asuka first appeared.

That night, I went online and ordered the first vhs tape. Now, I had not yet been converted to a sub fan, so I ordered it dubbed. After all, it was ten bucks cheaper. I got it a few days later, and eagerly put it in the vcr. I watched that tape once. I bought the rest of the series subbed. My transformation into an otaku was complete.

Hmm... I probably could have made that a bit shorter... :heh:

my cousin kept nagging me to go watch anime and gave me some CDs of naruto...that changed my life forever :heh:

grew up watching Macross (or robotech as it was known back then) when i was a wee nipper

I watched digimon thought id look for some episodes online & found the subbed versions ended up getting on irc.

Always loved cartoons as a kid. Used to run home from school to watch He-man, Thunder-cats etc...

Then one day when I was a bit older, say about 12-13 I got introduced to Fist of the North Star by some kid called Bernie. (He also introduced me to GnR but that is another story) After that we set out to find more of this crazy shit we called "manga cartoons" at the time.
Local video shop had Vampire Hunter D, 3x3 eyes*?, and Legend Of The Overfiend, all on good ol' VHS. That was it! We were hooked.

Time passed... I forgot all about "manga cartoons"

Now about 16. One night I was watching TV and Channel 4 announced they were going to have an "anime" season! They showed Akira! I was blown away! They had a series called Legend Of The Four Kings which was awesome! They also had The Guyver but iirc they never did finish the series. Anyway, I ended up hooked once again.

Then Pokemon and DBZ starting airing on the kids channels, which caught my attention.

Then I got the internet, and the rest is history...

*Ha! Enjoyed typing that! ...Memories...*

As a kid, I had been curious of anime for a long time since american cartoons were everything we had at that time. Sadly, there was no internet back then and, in fact, my parents still don't have it. But after moving to my own student's box I got Internet and few years later found BitTorrent too. One thing leads to another, like they say...

As to why, well; anime still sometimes manages to surprise and present a real, creative story unlike the bloated Hollywood firms. Unfortunately, the game-industry is also going to the same way with big publishers -like EA- striving to appease only the masses. Doubt flicks like Love Hina or Green Green would had ever made it past the first line of reviewers.

Started interested in Pokemon. Other Pokemon fans pointed out classic stuff like Slayers and Fushigi Yuugi, and they got me hooked. :P

Hmm... I was actually introduced to anime three separate times, for some reason.

When I was a kid, like 6 or 8 or something, my father used to rent a lot of anime for my brother and I, and would watch it with us. I saw tons of things I can barely remember, like Speed Racer, Lensman, Akira, Ninja Scroll, Robotech, Project A-ko, Gunbuster, etc. Thinking back, I'm wondering if that was age-appropriate, but whatever. We even rented some tentacle hentai accidentally once, but our father made us leave the room. I find this amusing in retrospect.

Anyway, for some reason we stopped. I have no idea why. Later, in middle school, I would go to D&D campaigns at some guy's house, and after the session was over, we'd play video games or watch anime. This sort of resparked my interest, so I started renting things again. In this era, I watched things like Ranma 1/2, Irresponsible Captain Tylor, and Trigun. I also discovered manga, but that's another story.

The third and final push was in high school. A friend of mine downloaded various things on Kazaa, which included anime. Flame of Recca, Love Hina, etc. He never actually finished a series, but I got hooked on the convenience of the internet fansubs. Well, that's pretty much it. Continue this third part ad infinitum.

For most of my life, I've thought that animation is just animation. I didn't see any difference between cartoons and anime. Jetix and Cartoon Network pretty much ruined my view of all animation. They made me think "Everything that is animated is childish", which is pretty much the general view of anime. At least over here in Sweden.

But that was when my friend told me of Elfen Lied. He said it was bloody hell. Literally.
One night, I downloaded the whole series. I watched it in one sit. Of course, I was going "Oh hell yeah!" and smiling as the guts and blood flew everywhere. And who doesn't fancy the boobies?

After that, I started "researching" the cartoons vs anime thing, and eventually got consumed by the oh so evil being that is anime.


On another note, after watching Elfen Lied in one sit, I had problem sleeping and felt like I'd have a heart attack when I had to go up for a piss. Hey, the lights were out and I thought I saw Lucy :(

Ah, is this the Anime'sAnonymous Confession thread? :p

They show Animes from 11pm -12 am on a local arts channel here. A friend of mine caught it, and at that time they were running Inuyasha. He got really caught up in it; and tried recommending it to me again and again ~ how it was actually quite fun. I actually turned him down quite a few times; his enthusiasm cold-blanketed mine :heh: I mean, pish.. Cartoons? I got better things to do than to watch.

I never started with the series, but I was coerced into watching the first movie, and I felt it was kinda cool after all. Then I became a regular in front of the TV at 11pm. Then while on Inuyasha, they started another Anime at 11.30pm, yes, Last Exile. That really caught my eye. Soon, another of my friends bought Scrapped Princess, and that really really caught my eye. Wow, Animes can be taken seriously!

So when I needed more, I started downloading from AS. Then I found that AS had a wonderful forum in its backroom. Now I have got nothing better to do then to watch Anime. :D

As a kid I saw a lot of anime without knowing it was anime. I totally forgot about it and animation in general.
Later in life I accidently rented Spirited Away. I liked it and bought it plus Princess Mononoke the next day.

Then fansubs helped to start and to keep my interrest alive. At first I downloaded a lot of them. But in the meantime I calmed down a bit, and only download a few of them.
I am not as addicted as many others here, but I regularly buy one or two DVDs a month, or a set.

Haven´t bought anything else but anime for ages (last was Star Wars boxset). Normally I prefer to rent DVDs...

Scrapped Princess was btw the first fansub that really impressed me too.

In the past I had watched Dragonball Z and Cowboy Bebop, but had no idea they were anime.

During second year of college (last October) a friend recommended some anime to me. The titles looked iffy to me "Fruits Basket? Stupid name." (I love Fruits Basket now). I decided to find my own. I watched Onegai Teacher and I was instantly hooked.