AnimeSuki Forums

Revan21 · 2012-04-21, 07:29

I never watched any anime when I was a child, eventhough the local TV-channels were airing DB and SailorMoon quite frequently at that time (about 15 years ago, before DB got banned here) and many of my friends were into it, I simply couldn't find anything interesting in it.
Although I later found out that I did happen to watch some anime as a child (like Moomin, Spoon Obaasan) without knowing anything about their japanese origin.

The first time I intentionally watched an anime series (and that was Fate/stay night and Higurashi) was back in 2007, after a four-year (all through university) long pursuasion from a friend of mine, and discovered that I could get into this genre afterall.

Obelisk ze Tormentor · 2012-04-21, 07:34

My first anime is Doraemon, and even then, I and many people who watched it already knew that it’s “animation from Japan” due to the images of Tokyo Tower, Fujiyama, eating with chopsticks and the characters’ names. After that, a horde of anime from different genre invaded our local TV. A title that made me very interested in anime is Kabuto. It’s about a demon slayer who’s accompanied by the four gods (Seiryu, Sukazu, Genbu, & Byakko) in human forms. I was really surprised when, at some point in the anime, the demon lord kinda “raped” Suzaku (in girl form). It was the first time I see that kind of thing in any media, let alone animation. I didn’t know that anime could be so bleak. And no, Kabuto is not a hentai, it’s a supernatural action anime.

I love anime more and more after I saw the subsequent titles like Saint Seiya, Go-lion, Lady Oscar (Rose of Versailles), Sanrio, Gaiking, and Magic Knight Rayearth. In late 90s, our local TV aired some more well-known anime like SDF Macross, Patlabor, Dragon Ball, Ranma ½, Sailormoon, Yaiba, Fuushigi Yuugi, Fuuma no Kojiro, Ronin Warriors (Yoroiden Samurai Trooper), Shurato, etc and some short OVAs like Tokyo Babylon, RG Veda, & Rayearth which I saw ‘em all. They didn’t air Pokemon and Digimon until early 2000s, so when I saw them for the first time, It didn’t pick my interest even though Digimon’s story is pretty nice & better than Pokemon. Furthermore, when they aired Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), it became a big hit in my country. Kenshin became every child’s hero (from elementary school to highschool) aside from tokusatsu at that time. Cardcaptor Sakura & Detective Conan also became hits. Next, they finally aired Evangelion here on the adult slot time which is 12 pm or 00 am. Now, Anime is still shown but not as intense as it was due to some “sensitive” issues about pornography and violence. Thanks to that, Korean Dramas is now booming.

Thanx to the internet, from 2004 onwards, I don't need to watch TV to watch anime anymore

. Long live DL and streaming!

Jaden · 2012-04-21, 09:03

Magic Knight Rayearth was the first anime I saw, it was on local television and happened to be shown at an opportune time. I never watched a lot of TV even as a kid. During the first few episodes I didn't really think anything of it...just another cartoon. And the protagonists were all girls, so I wasn't really into it being a boy.

As the weeks flew by I begun to appreciate it more, though. The art was pretty, the story was good and had that RPG-like atmosphere which I liked. It had unexpectedly mature themes, what with characters actually being killed, romance, and even in the battles a feeling of suspense and desperation not a lot of western action toons had. Also, it wasn't dubbed to my native language, only subtitled, which gave it a different feel.

By the time I saw all of the first season I was totally hooked of course, and wanted to see more. The following year we got a broadband internet connection at home. And that was that.

Endless Soul · 2012-04-21, 10:21

I've posted this before in similar threads, but like others, I grew up watching Speed Racer, Starblazers(The American title for Space Battleship Yamato), Astro Boy, Battle of the Planets (the American title for Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), and even a bit of Voltron(which I absolutely hated btw).

Also, like others, I didn't know I was watching anime.

It was Robotech, or more specifically, The Macross Saga that hooked me. I still remember the discovery quite clearly. It was spring, 1985, I was 16 and I had just come from school and was going through the channels looking for something to watch when I saw Minmay trying to shoo away the soda vending robot. I stuck with the channel, watched the rest of the show. My mind was quite literally blown and I was hooked. It was far and away better than anything else offered on American TV.

It was my love of this show that got me into anime and I spent the next few years following everything I could of all things Macross. This, of course led to the discovery of other anime titles.

Endless "G-force" Soul

lml99 · 2012-04-21, 11:41

My first experiences with any anime related content at all was with the pokemon games. It took a while, but eventually I got my parents to get me a gameboy and Emerald version. My parents were sort of conservative, so they pushed me away from DBZ and other toonami stuff for a while. At one point, we didn't even have any TV at all. It was during that time, when I was over my friend's house after school, watching TV. Naruto happened to be on, and I was hooked. As I recall, it was a rerun of an episode during the Zabuza arc when Naruto and Sasuke were in the house of mirrors. It seemed so much edgier than anything else I'd seen on CN before, and it had a lot more moral depth. I was instantly infatuated. Later, after one of my cousins told me about Shippuden, I started youtubing the stuff. After I saw all the dubs, I started watching subs. Then, every time we stopped at Barnes and Noble's, I'd always head over to the manga section and start reading something. Some of the stuff I read, like Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note, were a lot darker than anything else I'd seen. It was captivating. I started to head over to B&N every time we went to the mall. After I'd completely caught up on Shippuden, I started other serieses, like Bleach and One Piece. And from there on, my life pretty much revolved around anime and manga.

FlavoryFantasy · 2012-04-21, 12:18

I believe it was...early or mid 2000, I was 6 at that time, I was sleeping over at my cousins house, and their older siblings had rented Kiki's Delivery Service, and a few episodes of Escaflowne. I remember watching them (though I fell asleep during the Escaflowne run, since we watched Kiki's 1st.

)

So my interest got the better of me, I started watching the toonami block, from the suggestion of my cousins. My parents kind of blamed my cousins for getting me uhm...addicted to the toonami block of CN, since before I used to just play outside or read books.

I remember watching Saint Seiya, Mobile Suit Gundam (original), G Gundam, Gundam Wing, DB & DBZ, Sailor Moon, and whatever else that was probably on toonami until mid or late '05. I think.

Then I got addicted to gameboy games for a while...so I didn't really watch tv much.

Then sometime in late '06 one weekend my parents went to visit some dear friends of theirs for something, so I stayed up late, and I caught an episode of Eureka 7.
I still liked the theme of "giant robots shooting at each other" (silly I know

) and what not from what I remembered of Gundam, so I was...fascinated needless to say, especially since the giant robots were surfing in the air.
So after that night, the next day I went on the internet, because I wanted to see what else happened in Eureka 7....and the rest is history.

What a trip down memory lane!!

Ithekro · 2012-04-21, 13:01

I started early. Star Blazers and Battle for the Planets (which I hardly remember anymore). Also a little Speed Racer in reruns.

I know I watched several Japanese animated American productions like Transformers. But also dubs like Robotech (which I thnk I only saw part of) and Voltron (Both robot versions).

Then there was a lull. Then there was the late night anime block on the Sci Fi Channel when they started up. But those were of the like of Silent Mobius and Robot Carnival. But also Galaxy Express 999.

It was around that time that I rediscovered Star Blazers on VHS, and got more heavily into Matsumoto anime starting with Harlock Saga. That is also about the time I started listening to the shows in Japanese with subtitles. It pretty much stayed there and other space opera anime until around 2006 or so, when I started looked up parodies. First Excel Saga, then somehow I found Azumanga Daioh, (probably from AMV Hell) and then Haruhi and Lucky Star in 2007. Its has been a ride since then.

Haak · 2012-04-21, 13:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kizoku Keenan

So my question to you is what was your first memory of anime, what was the first manga/anime that introduced you to the japanese animation phenomenon tht we on this forum all clearly love.

I don't think there's any one moment where I suddenly gained an interest. Rather it seemed to have happened in stages.

If we're talking purely about the first anime that we watched per se then my guess would have to be Samurai Pizza Cats. I was only 6 or 7 at the time though so I didn't even know it was an anime. I held it in the same regard as any other cartoon that I watched. That's why I said "My guess". Because it's possible that I watched an anime before then and didn't even realise. But Samurai Pizza cats is the likeliest.

The first anime that I watched, that I knew was an anime would be Pokemon. But although I knew it was anime I didn't really understand the concept of an anime then. I still liked it though and i henceforth started to watch all the other "Mon" anime that would often air on channels like Cartoon Network.

The first anime that I watched that I'd put on my MAL without feeling like an idiot would have to be Zoids. I was watching this at the same time as all the other "Mon" series but I considered this different from the rest because of its dark post-apocalyptic war setting that I had simply never seen before. Even then though i was still content to watch "Mon" series and never branched out (I was about 10 at the time) but it certainly piqued my interest in darker storylines. Plus I was watching Dragonball Z

A few years later I was randomly flicking through the channels when I stumbled across a show called Wolf's Rain. I watched an episode of it and I thought it was pretty deep, but it was completely overshadowed with what aired next which was Fullmetal Alchemist. I know it's episode 14 that I first watched because I still remember exactly what happened, and man I really loved it. Fullmetal Alchemist was the first anime that I actually decided to look up on the internet so I could watch it all (The channel that aired it went down) and it's still one of my all time favourites. After exposing myself to anime on the internet I was suddenly seeing a lot more clips of anime on youtube that piqued my interest, so my interest in anime exploded at that point. I started watching all the anime I'd see on youtube clips, that interested me (usually the mainstream ones).

Kizoku Keenan · 2012-04-21, 15:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haak

If we're talking purely about the first anime that we watched per se then my guess would have to be Samurai Pizza Cats. I was only 6 or 7 at the time though so I didn't even know it was an anime. I held it in the same regard as any other cartoon that I watched. That's why I said "My guess". Because it's possible that I watched an anime before then and didn't even realise. But Samurai Pizza cats is the likeliest.

Holy crap samurai pizza cats was awsomes I had totally forgot about that show I would never have had put it under anime though, I would have thought it would have been western animation like biker mice from mars and skeleton warriors but I jut youtube a few clips of it and I see what you mean, what a great show, big time blast from the past.

Solafighter · 2012-04-21, 17:12

When i was a kid, my older sister discovered the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion(which is for me still the most epic anime ever), but then i lost it untill 2007. I found the concert video of Haruhi from the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. There, i kind of totaly fell for it and watched the whole Haruhi anime, which was the first Anime, i have seen for ages and the 2nd or 3rd, i ever watched. Following with Kanon 2006 and many more to follow.
I think if i wouldnt have trapped over the Haruhi concert video on Stage6, i wouldnt be here, posting this.

This concert video, was this to be exact, but posted on the old Stage6.com website, which was like youtube, but more for HD and DivX videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fcci2J3RGA

Chiibi · 2012-04-22, 00:15

Maya The Bee was my very first anime at seven years old but I was unaware of it and the world it came from.

When I turned twelve, I enrolled into an art class offered at a community college to younger kids. I met a girl there who had cards with cute-looking characters on them and asked her what they were. She told me they were from a show called Sailormoon and that I could watch it on Cartoon Network every weekday at 4:00 p.m. I starting watching and got hooked.
Since the first time I learned how to turn on a TV, I loved cartoons. But I could tell this was very different from American cartoons; something seemed very "foreign" about it.
My first boyfriend explained to me that Sailormoon was part of an animation genre called anime and it was all from Japan. After a bit of research during my first time using the internet (we didn't have our own connection back then!), I began to be able to easily recognize characters and anime-related products. I went to Hollywood Video and rented every VHS "that had cute people with big eyes" that I could get my hands on.

I bounced from Sailormoon to Ranma 1/2, to Evangelion to Gunsmith Cats to Tenchi Muyo....I watched any anime I could find on any TV station I could find (Cartoon Network's Toonami religiously!) I made friends at school who liked it too, traded VHS tapes with them, located the (not-so local) anime shop near my hometown, got a rental card and got to see more and more different anime (both mainstream and obscure) of all genres and ages and I was introduced to fansubs by an anime store during a trip to Arizona when I was fourteen and digital fansubs through friends in high school. The more I saw, the more I fell in love with anime, manga, and the Japanese language and culture.

In high school I enrolled in the Japanese course and was top of my class by the first year

I became Sensei's Pet and started a very small anime club after school. After turning 15, I bought my very first official, uncut anime OVA, My Dear Marie. (I wanted Devil Hunter Youko first but it looked too "mature" and I didn't want to see sex scenes XD) At age 16, I went to my very first anime convention, Katsucon 2000 in Baltimore, Maryland. In my senior year, I saved up a thousand dollars to go to Japan with the class and became addicted to raw manga and magazines Ribon and Nakayoshi and began purchasing them monthly from online bookstores.
Once I started attending college, I met a WHOLE group of "my people" there and my knowledge was extended even further and going to Otakon together became an annual summer tradition among our group.

SilverSyko · 2012-04-22, 01:14

Don't we already have several topics like this already? Bah, I'll reply anyway.

I wouldn't say I discovered anime. In my case, I was more or less introduced to it.

The first anime I had any interest in was Pokemon (big surprise) back when I was in elementary school. It was a phenomenon among my classmates so I pretty much followed them and became hooked myself. I was an avid follower of Digimon & Yu-Gi-Oh at those times as well. Of course at that time though I had no idea they were Japanese cartoons and thought they were no different from any other animation I watched. I was exposed to a few others like Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon, but I didn't pay any mind to them since I detested like cutesy-girlish shows when I was younger. (I'm more tolerable of cute now, but IMO I still prefer cool over cute.)

Even after I learned what anime actually was, I wasn't incredibly fond or interested in the medium until May 2008. At that time I had a lady friend who was really into Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It was an odd coincidence, but at the same time I was really into the video game Mother 3 and I just happened to stumble upon a video on Youtube that parodied the Higurashi Kai opening with Mother 3 characters. It mingling with my current interest of Mother 3 piqued my interest, and after asking my friend about it, I began to watch the show myself. At that point, it's safe to say the gate in my mind opened completely to non-mainstream stuff.

I can easily acknowledge anime AND manga as a worthwhile method of entertainment much more than I did before then.

Kirito · 2012-04-22, 12:32

I discovered anime when I watched Pokemon, and I was 9 at the time. I saw other anime like Dragonball Z, Digimon, Gundam Wing, and InuYasha and started to get bored because they keep repeating the same episode, and I watched anime on TV at the time.

I stopped watching anime when I was 13 for a few years (I began a riajuu), and then when I turned 17, I started watching Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist English dub (I didn't watch Japanese dub at the time) on YTV's Friday Night Specials, and I got hooked again, but the show kept repeating the same episodes again.

I was about to throw in the towel again, but then my brother introduced me to Youtube, and the Bleach episodes, ones I haven't seen before, were dubbed in Japanese, but had English subtitles. I grew to love the Japanese dub, and watched whatever Full Metal and Bleach episode I could find. I pretty much stopped watching TV, and following what the "riajuus" were doing because I realized that anime was my true calling and I was living like a "sheep" those last few years. I googled many anime sites and I discovered many new and interesting anime like Fate/Stay Night, Air, Clannad, Mai Hime, Full Metal (Japanese Dub), and many others. I also found manga sites by people posting comments on each of the episode windows.

I got my love back for anime back and to this day my love for it still continues to grow strong. That's pretty much how I discovered/rediscovered anime, and I'm currently watching the 2012 spring reason. That's my story, so yeah.

Dawnstorm · 2012-04-22, 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiibi

Maya The Bee was my very first anime at seven years old but I was unaware of it and the world it came from.

That could have been my first, too. Either that, or Heidi, Girl of the Alps. (I'm Austrian. Heidi's based on a Swiss children's book. Switzerland is geographically and culuturally a lot closer to me than Japan. When I saw a Swiss movie adaption of the book I was sorely disappointed. This is not Heidi. Heidi has huge eyes, and black smooth stand-up hair!!!

)

I just called them "Japanese cartoons" back then. Other shows I watched around that time were Kimba, the White Lion, Pinnocchio, Sindbad and 3000 miles in search of mother (or what the English title is; it was simply called "Marco" in German). Later, there was Captain Future.

The first time I saw an anime with a Japanese highschool setting was in the nineties: Atakku no.1, a late-60ies show about a girl volleyball team. After that came the Sailor Moon era, and they also started showing late-night anime (and music-TV stations would later show anime).

My first subbed anime was Silent Möbius (late night TV). Watching dubbed anime was a revelation; German dubs tend to make the characters sound a lot more naive...

Kirarakim · 2012-04-22, 20:21

I also watched Maya the Bee as a kid & also Grimm's fairytales. I had no clue they came from Japan at the time though so not sure if it counts, except to show I loved anime even before I was aware of that fact.

Nightbat® · 2012-04-23, 08:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Endless Soul

I've posted this before in similar threads, but like others, I grew up watching Speed Racer, Starblazers(The American title for Space Battleship Yamato), Astro Boy, Battle of the Planets (the American title for Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), and even a bit of Voltron(which I absolutely hated btw).

Also, like others, I didn't know I was watching anime.

It was Robotech, or more specifically, The Macross Saga that hooked me. I still remember the discovery quite clearly. It was spring, 1985, I was 16 and I had just come from school and was going through the channels looking for something to watch when I saw Minmay trying to shoo away the soda vending robot. I stuck with the channel, watched the rest of the show. My mind was quite literally blown and I was hooked. It was far and away better than anything else offered on American TV.

Somewhat the same story for me
I'll give Credit where it's due: it was Robotech
It took me the first steps into the world wide web (1995-ish roughly 10 years later)
to find out that it actually was called 'Super Dimensional Fortress Macross' , quite heavily edited and the whole 'mess' behind it

This show was so awesome, it replaced Transformers as my favorite show (admittingly, 'dumped' into the Transformers G2 series without seeing the movie wasn't helping its popularity)

It took about 14 years before I finally saw the original

ranran · 2012-04-23, 21:05

1992 My mom showed Doraemon to me and then came Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth...and it went on from there.

kj1980 · 2012-04-24, 23:59

Though probably unfair as I was born and raised in Japan, but I guess my first real addiction to anime as an otaku base would be watching Neon Genesis Evangelion on air.

Apart from that, I don't think watching Anpanman, Sazae-san, Doraemon, or other Fujiko Fujio anime like Kiteretsu Daihyakka or 21emon would count persay. Nor would watching things like Arare-chan, Hokuto no Ken, Kinnikuman, CITY HUNTER or Dragon Ball would count either. Studio Ghibli works? Meeeh, not quite there yet either. All of these were more like "everybody boy (maybe some girls too) in my age group watched that as they grew from toddler to elementary school."

OTOH, I did get somewhat a small taste of otakudom as a young child when I wandered near my aunt's place in Harumi where Comiket was back then. As a child all I knew were "creepy looking geeks lusting after Lum-chan drawings made by amateurs." Couldn't quite get that as a 10 year old boy.

Little did I know I'd be one of them when I started lusting after Ayanami Rei doujinshis a few years later.

mystogan · 2012-04-30, 03:45

when i was 15 i used to watch shows like bakugan :battle brawlers,dragon ball z on cartoon network ,then i watched naruto on cartoon network and liked the series very much,then i started watching naruto and naruto shippuden online ,soon i covered till the latest manga chapter of naruto

when i 16 i watched little random episode of bleach on animax and would regularly watch k-on ,
then my best friend told me about some other series like FMA ,blood+,etc,then i started watching lots of animes of different genres ,i was so addicted that i would watch anime day and night.

well now, i don't get much time to watch animes but i still manage to download it and still watch

actually i was rather surprised when i found someone(the same friend i mentioned above) in real life face to face who watches anime like me

Vanguard · 2012-04-30, 17:36

I was 5 years old and some chanel was aring Grave of the fire files that was my first contact with anime. Same Year I found on a Store a VHS copu of the 2 first episode of Macross that was Named Here in Sweden, Robotech. Ever sense then I loved anime and always been a huge fan of the macross series.

2012-04-21, 07:29	Link #21
Revan21 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Middle of Nowhere Age: 39	I never watched any anime when I was a child, eventhough the local TV-channels were airing DB and SailorMoon quite frequently at that time (about 15 years ago, before DB got banned here) and many of my friends were into it, I simply couldn't find anything interesting in it. Although I later found out that I did happen to watch some anime as a child (like Moomin, Spoon Obaasan) without knowing anything about their japanese origin. The first time I intentionally watched an anime series (and that was Fate/stay night and Higurashi) was back in 2007, after a four-year (all through university) long pursuasion from a friend of mine, and discovered that I could get into this genre afterall. __________________

2012-04-21, 07:34	Link #22
Obelisk ze Tormentor Black Steel Knight Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Indonesia	My first anime is *Doraemon, and even then, I and many people who watched it already knew that it’s “animation from Japan” due to the images of Tokyo Tower, Fujiyama, eating with chopsticks and the characters’ names. After that, a horde of anime from different genre invaded our local TV. A title that made me very interested in anime is Kabuto. It’s about a demon slayer who’s accompanied by the four gods (Seiryu, Sukazu, Genbu, & Byakko) in human forms. I was really surprised when, at some point in the anime, the demon lord kinda “raped” Suzaku (in girl form). It was the first time I see that kind of thing in any media, let alone animation. I didn’t know that anime could be so bleak. And no, Kabuto is not a hentai, it’s a supernatural action anime. I love anime more and more after I saw the subsequent titles like Saint Seiya, Go-lion, Lady Oscar* (*Rose of Versailles), Sanrio, Gaiking, and Magic Knight Rayearth. In late 90s, our local TV aired some more well-known anime like SDF Macross, Patlabor, Dragon Ball, Ranma ½, Sailormoon, Yaiba, Fuushigi Yuugi, Fuuma no Kojiro, Ronin Warriors* (*Yoroiden Samurai Trooper), Shurato, etc and some short OVAs like Tokyo Babylon, RG Veda, & Rayearth* which I saw ‘em all. They didn’t air *Pokemon* and *Digimon* until early 2000s, so when I saw them for the first time, It didn’t pick my interest even though Digimon’s story is pretty nice & better than Pokemon. Furthermore, when they aired *Samurai X* (*Rurouni Kenshin), it became a big hit in my country. Kenshin became every child’s hero (from elementary school to highschool) aside from tokusatsu at that time. Cardcaptor Sakura* & *Detective Conan* also became hits. Next, they finally aired *Evangelion* here on the adult slot time which is 12 pm or 00 am. Now, Anime is still shown but not as intense as it was due to some “sensitive” issues about pornography and violence. Thanks to that, Korean Dramas is now booming. Thanx to the internet, from 2004 onwards, I don't need to watch TV to watch anime anymore . Long live DL and streaming! __________________

2012-04-21, 09:03	Link #23
Jaden Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006	Magic Knight Rayearth was the first anime I saw, it was on local television and happened to be shown at an opportune time. I never watched a lot of TV even as a kid. During the first few episodes I didn't really think anything of it...just another cartoon. And the protagonists were all girls, so I wasn't really into it being a boy. As the weeks flew by I begun to appreciate it more, though. The art was pretty, the story was good and had that RPG-like atmosphere which I liked. It had unexpectedly mature themes, what with characters actually being killed, romance, and even in the battles a feeling of suspense and desperation not a lot of western action toons had. Also, it wasn't dubbed to my native language, only subtitled, which gave it a different feel. By the time I saw all of the first season I was totally hooked of course, and wanted to see more. The following year we got a broadband internet connection at home. And that was that. __________________

2012-04-21, 10:21	Link #24
Endless Soul Megane girl fan Join Date: May 2011 Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe. Age: 55	I've posted this before in similar threads, but like others, I grew up watching Speed Racer, Starblazers(The American title for Space Battleship Yamato), Astro Boy, Battle of the Planets (the American title for Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), and even a bit of Voltron(which I absolutely hated btw). Also, like others, I didn't know I was watching anime. It was Robotech, or more specifically, The Macross Saga that hooked me. I still remember the discovery quite clearly. It was spring, 1985, I was 16 and I had just come from school and was going through the channels looking for something to watch when I saw Minmay trying to shoo away the soda vending robot. I stuck with the channel, watched the rest of the show. My mind was quite literally blown and I was hooked. It was far and away better than anything else offered on American TV. It was my love of this show that got me into anime and I spent the next few years following everything I could of all things Macross. This, of course led to the discovery of other anime titles. Endless "G-force" Soul __________________ Signature by ganbaru

2012-04-21, 12:18	Link #26
FlavoryFantasy ♪~Deculture~♪ (✿◠‿◠) Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Various Pocket Dimensions Age: 30	I believe it was...early or mid 2000, I was 6 at that time, I was sleeping over at my cousins house, and their older siblings had rented Kiki's Delivery Service, and a few episodes of Escaflowne. I remember watching them (though I fell asleep during the Escaflowne run, since we watched Kiki's 1st. ) So my interest got the better of me, I started watching the toonami block, from the suggestion of my cousins. My parents kind of blamed my cousins for getting me uhm...addicted to the toonami block of CN, since before I used to just play outside or read books. I remember watching Saint Seiya, Mobile Suit Gundam (original), G Gundam, Gundam Wing, DB & DBZ, Sailor Moon, and whatever else that was probably on toonami until mid or late '05. I think. Then I got addicted to gameboy games for a while...so I didn't really watch tv much. Then sometime in late '06 one weekend my parents went to visit some dear friends of theirs for something, so I stayed up late, and I caught an episode of Eureka 7. I still liked the theme of "giant robots shooting at each other" (silly I know) and what not from what I remembered of Gundam, so I was...fascinated needless to say, especially since the giant robots were surfing in the air. So after that night, the next day I went on the internet, because I wanted to see what else happened in Eureka 7....and the rest is history. What a trip down memory lane!! Last edited by FlavoryFantasy; 2012-04-21 at 12:58.

2012-04-21, 11:41	Link #25
lml99 Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Preferably in my imagination	My first experiences with any anime related content at all was with the pokemon games. It took a while, but eventually I got my parents to get me a gameboy and Emerald version. My parents were sort of conservative, so they pushed me away from DBZ and other toonami stuff for a while. At one point, we didn't even have any TV at all. It was during that time, when I was over my friend's house after school, watching TV. Naruto happened to be on, and I was hooked. As I recall, it was a rerun of an episode during the Zabuza arc when Naruto and Sasuke were in the house of mirrors. It seemed so much edgier than anything else I'd seen on CN before, and it had a lot more moral depth. I was instantly infatuated. Later, after one of my cousins told me about Shippuden, I started youtubing the stuff. After I saw all the dubs, I started watching subs. Then, every time we stopped at Barnes and Noble's, I'd always head over to the manga section and start reading something. Some of the stuff I read, like Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note, were a lot darker than anything else I'd seen. It was captivating. I started to head over to B&N every time we went to the mall. After I'd completely caught up on Shippuden, I started other serieses, like Bleach and One Piece. And from there on, my life pretty much revolved around anime and manga.

2012-04-21, 13:01	Link #27
Ithekro Gamilas Falls Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Republic of California Age: 46	I started early. Star Blazers and Battle for the Planets (which I hardly remember anymore). Also a little Speed Racer in reruns. I know I watched several Japanese animated American productions like Transformers. But also dubs like Robotech (which I thnk I only saw part of) and Voltron (Both robot versions). Then there was a lull. Then there was the late night anime block on the Sci Fi Channel when they started up. But those were of the like of Silent Mobius and Robot Carnival. But also Galaxy Express 999. It was around that time that I rediscovered Star Blazers on VHS, and got more heavily into Matsumoto anime starting with Harlock Saga. That is also about the time I started listening to the shows in Japanese with subtitles. It pretty much stayed there and other space opera anime until around 2006 or so, when I started looked up parodies. First Excel Saga, then somehow I found Azumanga Daioh, (probably from AMV Hell) and then Haruhi and Lucky Star in 2007. Its has been a ride since then. __________________

2012-04-21, 17:12	Link #30
Solafighter Hige Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: God only knows	When i was a kid, my older sister discovered the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion(which is for me still the most epic anime ever), but then i lost it untill 2007. I found the concert video of Haruhi from the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. There, i kind of totaly fell for it and watched the whole Haruhi anime, which was the first Anime, i have seen for ages and the 2nd or 3rd, i ever watched. Following with Kanon 2006 and many more to follow. I think if i wouldnt have trapped over the Haruhi concert video on Stage6, i wouldnt be here, posting this. This concert video, was this to be exact, but posted on the old Stage6.com website, which was like youtube, but more for HD and DivX videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fcci2J3RGA __________________

2012-04-22, 00:15	Link #31
Chiibi Vanitas owns you >:3 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: in a boring place you will not want to go to	*Maya The Bee* was my very first anime at seven years old but I was unaware of it and the world it came from. When I turned twelve, I enrolled into an art class offered at a community college to younger kids. I met a girl there who had cards with cute-looking characters on them and asked her what they were. She told me they were from a show called *Sailormoon* and that I could watch it on Cartoon Network every weekday at 4:00 p.m. I starting watching and got hooked. Since the first time I learned how to turn on a TV, I loved cartoons. But I could tell this was very different from American cartoons; something seemed very "foreign" about it. My first boyfriend explained to me that Sailormoon was part of an animation genre called anime and it was all from Japan. After a bit of research during my first time using the internet (we didn't have our own connection back then!), I began to be able to easily recognize characters and anime-related products. I went to Hollywood Video and rented every VHS "that had cute people with big eyes" that I could get my hands on. I bounced from Sailormoon to *Ranma 1/2, to Evangelion* to *Gunsmith Cats* to *Tenchi Muyo....I watched any anime I could find on any TV station I could find (Cartoon Network's Toonami religiously!) I made friends at school who liked it too, traded VHS tapes with them, located the (not-so local) anime shop near my hometown, got a rental card and got to see more and more different anime (both mainstream and obscure) of all genres and ages and I was introduced to fansubs by an anime store during a trip to Arizona when I was fourteen and digital fansubs through friends in high school. The more I saw, the more I fell in love with anime, manga, and the Japanese language and culture. In high school I enrolled in the Japanese course and was top of my class by the first year I became Sensei's Pet and started a very small anime club after school. After turning 15, I bought my very first official, uncut anime OVA, My Dear Marie. (I wanted Devil Hunter Youko* first but it looked too "mature" and I didn't want to see sex scenes XD) At age 16, I went to my very first anime convention, Katsucon 2000 in Baltimore, Maryland. In my senior year, I saved up a thousand dollars to go to Japan with the class and became addicted to raw manga and magazines *Ribon* and *Nakayoshi* and began purchasing them monthly from online bookstores. Once I started attending college, I met a WHOLE group of "my people" there and my knowledge was extended even further and going to Otakon together became an annual summer tradition among our group. __________________ Last edited by Chiibi; 2012-04-22 at 00:33.

2012-04-22, 01:14	Link #32
SilverSyko Okuyasu the Bird Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Age: 32	Don't we already have several topics like this already? Bah, I'll reply anyway. I wouldn't say I discovered anime. In my case, I was more or less introduced to it. The first anime I had any interest in was Pokemon (big surprise) back when I was in elementary school. It was a phenomenon among my classmates so I pretty much followed them and became hooked myself. I was an avid follower of Digimon & Yu-Gi-Oh at those times as well. Of course at that time though I had no idea they were Japanese cartoons and thought they were no different from any other animation I watched. I was exposed to a few others like Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon, but I didn't pay any mind to them since I detested like cutesy-girlish shows when I was younger. (I'm more tolerable of cute now, but IMO I still prefer cool over cute.) Even after I learned what anime actually was, I wasn't incredibly fond or interested in the medium until May 2008. At that time I had a lady friend who was really into Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It was an odd coincidence, but at the same time I was really into the video game Mother 3 and I just happened to stumble upon a video on Youtube that parodied the Higurashi Kai opening with Mother 3 characters. It mingling with my current interest of Mother 3 piqued my interest, and after asking my friend about it, I began to watch the show myself. At that point, it's safe to say the gate in my mind opened completely to non-mainstream stuff. I can easily acknowledge anime AND manga as a worthwhile method of entertainment much more than I did before then. __________________ Last edited by SilverSyko; 2012-04-22 at 02:05.

2012-04-22, 12:32	Link #33
Kirito Enjoying Snack Time! Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Where It's Legal to Marry Clara and Alice Age: 35	I discovered anime when I watched Pokemon, and I was 9 at the time. I saw other anime like Dragonball Z, Digimon, Gundam Wing, and InuYasha and started to get bored because they keep repeating the same episode, and I watched anime on TV at the time. I stopped watching anime when I was 13 for a few years (I began a riajuu), and then when I turned 17, I started watching Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist English dub (I didn't watch Japanese dub at the time) on YTV's Friday Night Specials, and I got hooked again, but the show kept repeating the same episodes again. I was about to throw in the towel again, but then my brother introduced me to Youtube, and the Bleach episodes, ones I haven't seen before, were dubbed in Japanese, but had English subtitles. I grew to love the Japanese dub, and watched whatever Full Metal and Bleach episode I could find. I pretty much stopped watching TV, and following what the "riajuus" were doing because I realized that anime was my true calling and I was living like a "sheep" those last few years. I googled many anime sites and I discovered many new and interesting anime like Fate/Stay Night, Air, Clannad, Mai Hime, Full Metal (Japanese Dub), and many others. I also found manga sites by people posting comments on each of the episode windows. I got my love back for anime back and to this day my love for it still continues to grow strong. That's pretty much how I discovered/rediscovered anime, and I'm currently watching the 2012 spring reason. That's my story, so yeah. __________________

2012-04-22, 20:21	Link #35
Kirarakim Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007	I also watched Maya the Bee as a kid & also Grimm's fairytales. I had no clue they came from Japan at the time though so not sure if it counts, except to show I loved anime even before I was aware of that fact. __________________ Twitter MAL

2012-04-23, 21:05	Link #37
ranran daydreaming 24/7 Artist Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: DC Age: 33	1992 My mom showed Doraemon to me and then came Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth...and it went on from there. __________________

2012-04-24, 23:59	Link #38
kj1980 Gomen asobase desuwa! Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 43	Though probably unfair as I was born and raised in Japan, but I guess my first real addiction to anime as an otaku base would be watching Neon Genesis Evangelion on air. Apart from that, I don't think watching Anpanman, Sazae-san, Doraemon, or other Fujiko Fujio anime like Kiteretsu Daihyakka or 21emon would count persay. Nor would watching things like Arare-chan, Hokuto no Ken, Kinnikuman, CITY HUNTER or Dragon Ball would count either. Studio Ghibli works? Meeeh, not quite there yet either. All of these were more like "everybody boy (maybe some girls too) in my age group watched that as they grew from toddler to elementary school." OTOH, I did get somewhat a small taste of otakudom as a young child when I wandered near my aunt's place in Harumi where Comiket was back then. As a child all I knew were "creepy looking geeks lusting after Lum-chan drawings made by amateurs." Couldn't quite get that as a 10 year old boy. Little did I know I'd be one of them when I started lusting after Ayanami Rei doujinshis a few years later.

2012-04-30, 03:45	Link #39
mystogan The Lost Lamb Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: in Darkness	when i was 15 i used to watch shows like bakugan :battle brawlers,dragon ball z on cartoon network ,then i watched naruto on cartoon network and liked the series very much,then i started watching naruto and naruto shippuden online ,soon i covered till the latest manga chapter of naruto when i 16 i watched little random episode of bleach on animax and would regularly watch k-on , then my best friend told me about some other series like FMA ,blood+,etc,then i started watching lots of animes of different genres ,i was so addicted that i would watch anime day and night. well now, i don't get much time to watch animes but i still manage to download it and still watch actually i was rather surprised when i found someone(the same friend i mentioned above) in real life face to face who watches anime like me __________________

2012-04-30, 17:36	Link #40
Vanguard Member Join Date: Oct 2011	I was 5 years old and some chanel was aring Grave of the fire files that was my first contact with anime. Same Year I found on a Store a VHS copu of the 2 first episode of Macross that was Named Here in Sweden, Robotech. Ever sense then I loved anime and always been a huge fan of the macross series.