AnimeSuki Forums

RichardFromMarple · 2013-02-12, 16:16

Growing up in the UK in the 1980s I watched a few Anime, even if I wasn't aware of their originals at the time.

Certainly Battle Of The Planets was one that stuck out, even Sandy Frank's "toning down" didn't seem to take much of the "chilling & thrilling" edge of them.

At that time there were a lots cartoons the were written in European countries (mostly France) & animated in Japan. I'm never sure if they count as Anime or not.

Ulysses 31 & The Mysterious Cities of Gold certainly fall into this catgory.

If anyone else is willing to share their earliest anime memories then feel free to do so.

SeijiSensei · 2013-02-12, 16:23

My introduction to anime came in the mid-2000's when my daughter brought home a copy of Mononoke Hime that she borrowed from a friend. (We had watched Pokemon together when she was little, but that wasn't a "gateway" for me.) At the time our cable service was carrying ADV's now-defunct linear channel, The Anime Network, so we watched a number of dubbed shows there like Evanegelion and the like. But I would say I really started watching in earnest when I downloaded some fansub torrents of shows like Monster and Junni Kokki. I still think the period when I first began watching anime, 2006 to 2008, was the high point for me in terms of quality and diversity of shows.

RWBladewing · 2013-02-12, 16:35

Mysterious Cities of Gold is probably the first I watched though I don't remember anything about it and had no idea it was anime at the time.

First show I watched that I really knew was anime was Sailor Moon.

The shows that got me into watching anime regularly were probably Yu Yu Hakusho and Gundam SEED. My tastes in shows have changed quite a bit since then, With Clannad as my gateway into other genres besides Action.

Kudryavka · 2013-02-12, 16:42

Pokemon? La Blue Girl? Dragonball? Hamtaro?

Dawnstorm · 2013-02-12, 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardFromMarple

At that time there were a lots cartoons the were written in European countries (mostly France) & animated in Japan. I'm never sure if they count as Anime or not.

Heh. I grew up in Austria in the 70ies, and so I'm mostly familiar with the Japanese-German-Austrian co-productions (e.g. The Bee Maya, someone from the US studio Hanna Babera (sp?) was also involved in that one).

I was also watching a lot of World Masterpiece Theatre stuff (Heidi, Marco, Perrine...). Then, there was something about Kimba, White Lion (not sure about the English title), and Sindbad... The first show I remember with a Japanese setting was in the early 90ies, Attaku No. 1. Sailormoon, Card Captor Sakura... followed, but I couldn't watch them, since I was busy at university when they aired. I remember always wanting to see Akira and Ghost in the Shell, but they only played them in arthouse cinemas, and nowhere near me. I didn't have a VHS back then...

There was no gateway as such. Anime has always been part of my cartoon landscape since I was a child. I think the first time I heard the term "anime" itself was in the late eighties, around the time Akira was new, but I have no clear memory so it could have been later.

The first subbed anime I saw on a swiss sattelite TV station: Silent Möbius. It was a revelation. Some of the bodylanguage seems a lot less "naive" in the Japanese original. It's hard to explain.

A German music TV station broadcast Agent Aika and Najica Blitz Tactics. Talk about culture shock: these shows are a panty shot parade. It's quite surreal; everything I've seen before that was quite tame. It didn't seem perverted so much as silly.

I discovered fansubs in 2009, which is when I started following current series. That's basically it.

RegalStar · 2013-02-12, 17:01

First anime I've layed eyes on: Forgot. Probably Pokemon.
First anime I've actively watched from start to end: .hack//SIGN and Gundam SEED.
First anime I've actively sought after (as opposed to just watch them on TV when they air): Hayate no Gotoku S1
Anime series that made me actually start try to sought after them in large amounts: Clannad
Anime series that made me start following current series: Ore no Imouto

RichardFromMarple · 2013-02-12, 17:09

In the mid 1990s I mostly stopped watching childrens TV, though I did start to get interested in the history of TV, & bought a book listing almost every science fiction show made, including a lot of anime.

In recent years I've become a bit more aware of anime, along with getting interested in Japanese culture, finding a lot of anime & manga terminology on TV Tropes has also get me more interested.

Sadly these days UK TV isn't a good place to find much anime (at least on the free to air channels), so it's a bit hard to find what's around without going online.

Ithekro · 2013-02-12, 17:33

The original gateways were probably Battle of the Planets, Speed Racer, and Star Blazers. There may have been some others on as well, but I don't recall them at all.

I know I saw some Robotech as well as several Japanese animated American cartoons (G.I. Joe, Transformers, and the like). But never clued in on it being Japanese at the time.

I probably got reintroduced via the VHS release of Star Blazers and the various animated films shown late night on the Sci-Fi Channel in their first year or two on the air. (Robot Carnival, Silent Mobeus, Fist of the North Star, Galaxy Express 999, and others).

More would come via ther various Harlock series, the Irrisponsible Captain Taylor, and some other random space shows until probably sometime between 2004 and 2006 when I got a more reliable and faster internet connection. This is also were I started watching shows in Japanese with subtitles.

By that point I was looking for Space Battleship Yamato parodies, finding some and on occasion watching the entire series said parody was it. This included Excel Saga, and eventually Haruhi. Via AMV Hell I found Azumanga Diaoh to get use to such stylings. After that, via Haruhi, came Lucky Star. Via that I started searching for blogs and the like (as it was the first show I had encounted to this point that was still on the air). By the end of the year I was starting to watch Minani-ke RAW because I didn't want to wait a day or so for translations (and it was easy enough to follow most of the time). I think I did this with Clannad later, but usually I can wait for a subtitle to come out.

By 2008 I was here. It's been five years already?

Kirarakim · 2013-02-12, 18:05

A friend introduced me to DBZ in college. At first I hated it but then she showed me the Trunks saga and I was intrigued that the villain from the first arc had a kid.

But I think it was really Inuyasha on Adult Swim & the Ranma 1/2 manga that probably got me really hooked.

Other early series were: Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fruits Basket, & Escaflowne.

Chaos2Frozen · 2013-02-12, 18:19

I probably have several gateway Animes:

As a wee little kid, it was Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger. There were others, but this was the only one whose name I could find... Oh, I also had a love-hate relationship with several Mahou Shoujos (Moon, Sakura, Chacha).

*Several years had passed*

As a young teenager, it's whatever I could find on AXN (Rave, Ranma, Saiyuki, Kenshin, Vandread etc). Around this time I was introduced into the wonderful world of modern shounen action... You know, the big three and then some?

*A few more years had passed*

As an Otaku who 'goes out to get his own shows' instead of being told what to watch by friends and the media, I would probably have to say... The one that started me on this road would be Shakugan no Shana.

Kotohono · 2013-02-12, 18:24

Junni Kokki suggested from a friend got me into some anime, but my real gateway ones for me few years later were Toradora, Lucky Star, and Haruhi Suzumiya after watching those off a friend's suggestion the amount and types of series I watched dramatically increased.

I had saw some animes on TV prior to either of those, but none of them really got me into watching more like the above 3 did.

Ridwan · 2013-02-12, 18:31

The real start in Otakudom for me would be Onegai Teacher back in middle school, but years before even that, Return of The Condor Heroes taught me how to ship.

Marcus H. · 2013-02-12, 18:52

Quote:

As a wee little kid, it was Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger. There were others, but this was the only one whose name I could find... Oh, I also had a love-hate relationship with several Mahou Shoujos (Moon, Sakura, Chacha).

*Several years had passed*

As a young teenager, it's whatever I could find on AXN (Rave, Ranma, Saiyuki, Kenshin, Vandread etc). Around this time I was introduced into the wonderful world of modern shounen action... You know, the big three and then some?

*A few more years had passed*

As an Otaku who 'goes out to get his own shows' instead of being told what to watch by friends and the media, I would probably have to say... The one that started me on this road would be Shakugan no Shana.

Well shit, we had pretty much the same stages of anime fandom, although mine had an extra stage that involves the local TV stations showing at least two hours worth of anime per day. Alas, that era is long gone.

Chaos2Frozen · 2013-02-12, 19:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Well shit, we had pretty much the same stages of anime fandom, although mine had an extra stage that involves the local TV stations showing at least two hours worth of anime per day. Alas, that era is long gone.

Oh I had those too, but I never caught them regularly because Mom was a Tyrant in her younger years.

The only one I did somehow manage to watch finish was Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, hilariously I had no idea what a harem was at that time...

Marcus H. · 2013-02-12, 19:19

^ And my mind was defiled for good when I watched the OVAs of Fushigi Yuugi.

cyth · 2013-02-12, 19:31

My first anime that I watched knowing it was a Japanese cartoon was like a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I often forget this ever happened, so I just cite Dragonball as my first. When I was 13 or 14, the only thing I knew about Japan, or had a false illusion of, was that it was a technologically developed nation, so I watched Ghost in the Shell, the movie, as it was airing on national television. I watched it not because I knew it was anime, not because I had any experience with anime, not even because the TV guide sold me on the idea. Instead, I watched it purely because I felt obligated to watch it, sensing it would be a crime to miss a show coming from this high-tech far away land.

Eater of All · 2013-02-12, 19:59

Ignoring stuff I didn't know (or cared) were anime that I watched as a kid, my first real gateway show is Kanon 2006, recommended to me by a friend while it was still airing. When I feel romantic, I mark christmas 2006 as the exact day I really dived into the fandom.

I've always wondered if I had started out with a different show, would my preferences in anime have turned out differently...

GreatTeacherKen · 2013-02-12, 20:53

The first anime I remember really liking was My Neighbor Totoro which I watched multiple times when I was a little kid. It's also one of the first anime I watched, but I no longer remember which anime was truly the first anime I watched.

For the rest of my childhood I caught a few episodes of various anime here and there, but the series that really made me actively seek out other series was the first season of Initial D, which I watched after a friend of mine recommended it to me.

Infinite Zenith · 2013-02-12, 20:58

My curiosity in anime was piqued by Ah! My Goddess The Movie, Laputa: Castle In the Sky and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season One.

orpheus2 · 2013-02-12, 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

I probably have several gateway Animes:

As a wee little kid, it was Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger. There were others, but this was the only one whose name I could find... Oh, I also had a love-hate relationship with several Mahou Shoujos (Moon, Sakura, Chacha).

*Several years had passed*

As a young teenager, it's whatever I could find on AXN (Rave, Ranma, Saiyuki, Kenshin, Vandread etc). Around this time I was introduced into the wonderful world of modern shounen action... You know, the big three and then some?

*A few more years had passed*

As an Otaku who 'goes out to get his own shows' instead of being told what to watch by friends and the media, I would probably have to say... The one that started me on this road would be Shakugan no Shana.

Ah, Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger one of my old favorites and one of my first anime.

For my teenage years, I also watched AXN. My personal favorite was GateKeepers. Other channels include WOWOW for Girls Bravo, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Jing: The King of Bandits and other foreign channels for Sakaino and Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver.

When I entered college, the series that made me watch anime online was D. Gray-Man.

2013-02-12, 16:16	Link #1
RichardFromMarple Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Stockport UK	What were your gateway shows? Growing up in the UK in the 1980s I watched a few Anime, even if I wasn't aware of their originals at the time. Certainly Battle Of The Planets was one that stuck out, even Sandy Frank's "toning down" didn't seem to take much of the "chilling & thrilling" edge of them. At that time there were a lots cartoons the were written in European countries (mostly France) & animated in Japan. I'm never sure if they count as Anime or not. Ulysses 31 & The Mysterious Cities of Gold certainly fall into this catgory. If anyone else is willing to share their earliest anime memories then feel free to do so.

2013-02-12, 16:23	Link #2
SeijiSensei AS Oji-kun Join Date: Nov 2006 Age: 74	My introduction to anime came in the mid-2000's when my daughter brought home a copy of Mononoke Hime that she borrowed from a friend. (We had watched Pokemon together when she was little, but that wasn't a "gateway" for me.) At the time our cable service was carrying ADV's now-defunct linear channel, The Anime Network, so we watched a number of dubbed shows there like Evanegelion and the like. But I would say I really started watching in earnest when I downloaded some fansub torrents of shows like Monster and Junni Kokki. I still think the period when I first began watching anime, 2006 to 2008, was the high point for me in terms of quality and diversity of shows. __________________ Taking Anime Seriously - Politics by the Numbers - Sports by the Numbers - MAL List - Avatars - Images

2013-02-12, 17:33	Link #8
Ithekro Gamilas Falls Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Republic of California Age: 46	The original gateways were probably Battle of the Planets, Speed Racer, and Star Blazers. There may have been some others on as well, but I don't recall them at all. I know I saw some Robotech as well as several Japanese animated American cartoons (G.I. Joe, Transformers, and the like). But never clued in on it being Japanese at the time. I probably got reintroduced via the VHS release of Star Blazers and the various animated films shown late night on the Sci-Fi Channel in their first year or two on the air. (Robot Carnival, Silent Mobeus, Fist of the North Star, Galaxy Express 999, and others). More would come via ther various Harlock series, the Irrisponsible Captain Taylor, and some other random space shows until probably sometime between 2004 and 2006 when I got a more reliable and faster internet connection. This is also were I started watching shows in Japanese with subtitles. By that point I was looking for Space Battleship Yamato parodies, finding some and on occasion watching the entire series said parody was it. This included Excel Saga, and eventually Haruhi. Via AMV Hell I found Azumanga Diaoh to get use to such stylings. After that, via Haruhi, came Lucky Star. Via that I started searching for blogs and the like (as it was the first show I had encounted to this point that was still on the air). By the end of the year I was starting to watch Minani-ke RAW because I didn't want to wait a day or so for translations (and it was easy enough to follow most of the time). I think I did this with Clannad later, but usually I can wait for a subtitle to come out. By 2008 I was here. It's been five years already? __________________

2013-02-12, 18:05	Link #9
Kirarakim Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007	A friend introduced me to DBZ in college. At first I hated it but then she showed me the Trunks saga and I was intrigued that the villain from the first arc had a kid. But I think it was really Inuyasha on Adult Swim & the Ranma 1/2 manga that probably got me really hooked. Other early series were: Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fruits Basket, & Escaflowne. __________________ Twitter MAL Last edited by Kirarakim; 2013-02-12 at 21:23.

2013-02-12, 18:19	Link #10
Chaos2Frozen We're Back Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Redgrave City Age: 35	I probably have several gateway Animes: As a wee little kid, it was Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger. There were others, but this was the only one whose name I could find... Oh, I also had a love-hate relationship with several Mahou Shoujos (Moon, Sakura, Chacha). Several years had passed As a young teenager, it's whatever I could find on AXN (Rave, Ranma, Saiyuki, Kenshin, Vandread etc). Around this time I was introduced into the wonderful world of modern shounen action... You know, the big three and then some? A few more years had passed As an Otaku who 'goes out to get his own shows' instead of being told what to watch by friends and the media, I would probably have to say... The one that started me on this road would be *Shakugan no Shana*. __________________ Devil Trigger , Subhuman , Crimson Cloud , Mad Qualia

2013-02-12, 16:35	Link #3
RWBladewing Salt Levels Critical Join Date: Oct 2007	Mysterious Cities of Gold is probably the first I watched though I don't remember anything about it and had no idea it was anime at the time. First show I watched that I really knew was anime was Sailor Moon. The shows that got me into watching anime regularly were probably Yu Yu Hakusho and Gundam SEED. My tastes in shows have changed quite a bit since then, With Clannad as my gateway into other genres besides Action.

2013-02-12, 16:42	Link #4
Kudryavka Senior Member Join Date: May 2009	Pokemon? La Blue Girl? Dragonball? Hamtaro?

2013-02-12, 17:01	Link #6
RegalStar Mishaguji-sama Join Date: Oct 2010	First anime I've layed eyes on: Forgot. Probably Pokemon. First anime I've actively watched from start to end: .hack//SIGN and Gundam SEED. First anime I've actively sought after (as opposed to just watch them on TV when they air): Hayate no Gotoku S1 Anime series that made me actually start try to sought after them in large amounts: Clannad Anime series that made me start following current series: Ore no Imouto

2013-02-12, 17:09	Link #7
RichardFromMarple Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Stockport UK	In the mid 1990s I mostly stopped watching childrens TV, though I did start to get interested in the history of TV, & bought a book listing almost every science fiction show made, including a lot of anime. In recent years I've become a bit more aware of anime, along with getting interested in Japanese culture, finding a lot of anime & manga terminology on TV Tropes has also get me more interested. Sadly these days UK TV isn't a good place to find much anime (at least on the free to air channels), so it's a bit hard to find what's around without going online.

2013-02-12, 18:31	Link #12
Ridwan Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: قلوب المؤمنين	The real start in Otakudom for me would be Onegai Teacher back in middle school, but years before even that, Return of The Condor Heroes taught me how to ship. __________________

2013-02-12, 19:19	Link #15
Marcus H. Princess or Plunderer? Join Date: May 2009 Location: the Philippines	^ And my mind was defiled for good when I watched the OVAs of Fushigi Yuugi. __________________ Continuing: White Sand Aquatope (6/24) and Vanitas S2 (0/12), The Vampire Dies in No Time S2 and Bofuri S2 (3/12). 2021: Restaurant to Another World S2 (3/12), takt Op. Destiny (1/12) and Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale (1/12). 2022: Yuusha Yamemasu (1/12), Kaguya-sama S3, Mob Psycho 100 III (Oct06), Bleach: 1000 Year Blood War (2/13) and Chainsaw Man (6/12). Spring 2023: Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Punch! (4/12), Skip to Loafer, Tonikaku Kawaii S2 (1/12), Otonari ni Ginga (5/12) and Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia (3/13). Contact me on Wikia and MyAnimeList. Anime List Status ~ Watching: 33. Completed: 468. Plan to watch: 39.

2013-02-12, 19:31	Link #16
cyth Banned Join Date: Dec 2006 Age: 38	My first anime that I watched knowing it was a Japanese cartoon was like a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I often forget this ever happened, so I just cite Dragonball as my first. When I was 13 or 14, the only thing I knew about Japan, or had a false illusion of, was that it was a technologically developed nation, so I watched Ghost in the Shell, the movie, as it was airing on national television. I watched it not because I knew it was anime, not because I had any experience with anime, not even because the TV guide sold me on the idea. Instead, I watched it purely because I felt obligated to watch it, sensing it would be a crime to miss a show coming from this high-tech far away land.

2013-02-12, 19:59	Link #17
Eater of All NOM Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Outside the Asylum	Ignoring stuff I didn't know (or cared) were anime that I watched as a kid, my first real gateway show is Kanon 2006, recommended to me by a friend while it was still airing. When I feel romantic, I mark christmas 2006 as the exact day I really dived into the fandom. I've always wondered if I had started out with a different show, would my preferences in anime have turned out differently... __________________

2013-02-12, 20:53	Link #18
GreatTeacherKen Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: California	The first anime I remember really liking was My Neighbor Totoro which I watched multiple times when I was a little kid. It's also one of the first anime I watched, but I no longer remember which anime was truly the first anime I watched. For the rest of my childhood I caught a few episodes of various anime here and there, but the series that really made me actively seek out other series was the first season of Initial D, which I watched after a friend of mine recommended it to me.

2013-02-12, 20:58	Link #19
Infinite Zenith Operation sneaky sneaks IT Support Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Hic et ubique	My curiosity in anime was piqued by Ah! My Goddess The Movie, Laputa: Castle In the Sky and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season One. __________________