Brother bought naruto for me when i was around 6yrs. I started getting hooked on different types of mange, then i advanced to anime, now im aiming to watch over 300 anime by the time i get into highschool!
i guess you could say it started before i new what anime was i saw a hand full of gundam episodes when i was a kid and all my life i was attracted to anime before i ever heard of anime then one of my sisters exs loaned me a recorded dvd with some episodes of black cat me and my brother realy liked it the we started to read otaku usa and i made a list of anime i wanted to watch then at fye i bought the first vol of fma and i was hooked now i watch as much anime and read as much manga as i can and try to make new friends that like anime
At age eleven, when I went to secondary school there were the mangas mamotte lollipop and +anima in the library. I looked for more manga in the public library and found a new friend who was a bit of an otaku. She introduced me to the fruits basket anime. it grew from there really ;)
^^
My anime origin started out by watching pokemon and yu-gi-oh. There wasn't much around as a child to watch on the tv so it was a few years before I properly got into anime. After reading my first manga (hack xx//) I started to look around the shops a bit more. My friend recommended watching studio ghibli's spirited away, after buying it in the shop I really started to enjoy it. It was definitely very influential to watch Summer Wars and The Girl Who Lept through time as they both definitely got me interested! But it definitely helped to have a anime obsessed friend to recommend things to be!
My "anime origin" starts with, wouldn't you know it, Pokemon (I also watched Sailor Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh). As a child, I watched the original Pokemon with my siblings, and I just ate it up. I didn't know at the time that it was anime, but as I got older (at the age of 11, to be specific), my sister introduced me to Naruto. She'd seen it at a friends house, and showed it to me, and we began our accent into Otakuism together. I realized as soon as I watched the first episode of Naruto, this is what I'd grown up with my entire life, and I'd been blind to the fact. I really do believe anime has broadened my horizons. If it weren't for my love of anime, I genuinely believe I would have been a totally different person.
My first anime was Kiki's Delivery Service.
I watched it in theaters in Denmark. It's late release in Denmark was around the same time Spirited Away came out because theaters realized that people actually liked watching Miyazaki's animes, hence started showing a lot of his other works at the time.
The first scene where she lies in the grass hooked me on the style of animation-to think all of it was done in hand was just overwhelming. My family is a big fan of Miyazaki too (the only anime my parents accept as decent), but anything else in the world of amine and manga is apparently not good enough for them.
Anyway, my first real encounter with a non-Miyazaki anime was in the summer of 2012 (seems ages ago now) when a girl from my class decided to open up to me a bit more even though we'd been friends for three years and started bombarding me with anime I should watch.
Hence my first non-Miyazaki anime became Fairy Tail, which I really enjoy too.
For me, It was inherited. As much as my dad denies it now, he is the reason I love anime.
As a baby I would watch speed racer and such with my dad and shows like "Johnny Sokko and his giant robot" (pretty much just live action Gigantor)
Never really got into the more "girly" anime like sailor moon...
Robots! Thanks Dad.
Record of Lodoss war was a pretty big thing for me! Along with the 1977 hobbit cartoon! (looks similar in art)
An anime about the little mermaid also made it so That Disney would only disappoint me later with their version XD
And It took FOREVER for me to figure out "Anime" was a genre and NOT a way to make Animation rhyme with Saturday XD
I started watching more umn... Hardcore? anime when I was around 7 or 8. I stayed up one night cause I heard they were playing "Animation" at like 3am...
(And I Loved the way the animation looked in the commercials!)
It was Akira, I loved it! So I started staying up every week to see these 3am movies
Urusei Yatsura movie 2 Beautiful dreamer was one of the ones that really stuck with me!
When My friends at school started getting into anime, they got into dragon ball z, I tried it... didn't like it. But I fell in love with the one that played before it GUNDAM! (they didn't like gundam...)
I learned that anime was an actual genre when I went to high school and met my first japanophiles! They showed me new shows (subbed) and Manga. (They were a bit mad that I knew lots of animes, but did not actually know what it was...)
And thus I knew, I was not a regular nerd. I was an Otaku.
I was past the point of no return!
Then I found out about this site and the rest is history~
Last edited by MagikSalem at 3:13:46 AM EDT on April 4, 2013.
When I was 9 years of age, I quickly became good friends with this South Korean girl in my class who could draw better than anyone I knew at the time. I peered in while she would draw on the margins of her notebooks and quickly formed a liking to this style of drawing.
Eventually I had to move away to Canada but my journey didn't end there, I realized she attained this style of drawing from reading manga. In my old school, there was no manga section in the library.
And for the next 3 and a half years I've gone into a depth of manga/anime.
It was not to long ago when I first got into anime, but even before that, it has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I've always been a fan of Pokemon (like many others here) and I still watch the anime up to today. I remember seeing about fifty seconds of Inuyasha on Adult Swim when I was younger, which didn't intrigue me much. The thing that sparked it, though, was a YouTube poop. And a bad one at that. (I'm not going to say which one, because I don't want to offend anybody) But it made me want... More. From there, it only got better, I found more and more interesting things, and when I entered the sixth grade, I was generally very quiet and had no friends at my new school, but the few friends I DID make were already into anime, and they introduced me to new worlds, and ever since, I've been watching anime, and I don't think I'll ever stop.
When I was 7 years old, I was exposed to Sailor Moon. Since then, there was more shows that I was exposed to. Soon they were gonna show Escaflowne on TV but it was canceled because it was too mature for audiences. I later found it when I started high school. But I never stopped there. I got worse after my grandfather passed away. I began to learn the world of anime. I was a teen and I wanted more. Then I found Cartoon Network's Adult Swim which had a whole block of anime that included Cowboy Bebop and finished the whole series on that channel. Then InuYasha was there too. So many favorites that I fell in love. The strangest thing, back when all of that started, I didn't know that they were called anime. I learned the meaning of anime through friends that I met online.
Of course, my passion for anime expanded as I got older. Now I'm 26 and still love anime. I don't think I will ever stop loving anime.
When I was a little kid my mom used to make my friends because I was a quiet child. I remeber that I waited all day long to be night so I could watch Inuyasha at night in Cartoon Network (In the day I just did homework, go to my other activities and watch pokemon) One day, a weird kid start yelling to me and told me why I was friend of the girl she liked, we start yelling each other until we discoverd we were talking about Inuyasha, we became best friends.
Next year he moved out, and I was alone again. I enteres Junior High and became popular until I was already 15 years old. On december of 2009, I remember Inuyasha, all of the characters and I really wanted to know how it finished, so I watched, I didn´t slept because I wanted to continue watching, and I started loving it again, when I finished I just continue to watch anothers animes like sakura card captor or digimon, I understand that I love it since I was a child, even if I didn´t knew what was it.
(-_-;) sorry for the long comment. (._.)
One day my friend (wallpaperotaku) handed me two two comic books, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles 1 and 2, said "You read them backwards," opened the first book and pointed out the order in which I read the panels on that page. Then she said "I expect to have read them by tomorrow!" and she ran off. Left confused by the whirl wind that is Wallie, I held the manga up to look at the covers, they looked interesting.
I read them that night struggling the whole time to figure out which panel went first and returned them to her the next day.
And I've been a fan ever since! ^-^
It was before Pokemon. The scene is forever stuck in my head. The scene was a woman, I think blonde wearing a pink dress talking to a boy on an old pirate style ship. They were talking a bit, she was looking over the side of the ship at the ocean. I still remember it today but. What anime was it? Haha, it started it all. :)
I've watched a lot of anime when I was a kid but I didn't really picked anime shows. I just likes Flame of Recca, Ghost Fighter, Prince of Tennis, Slum Dunk, Mirmo, Sailor Moon. And then, when I was 5th grade, my cousins and I started watching The wallflower (sunako) and I was amazed in the handsomeness of its characters so I asked what that is and I later found out it was anime. XD
But that did not make me love anime. It just made me like it more. The one which I can call my anime origin is Prince of Tennis. I love that series and I still do. It was always on HeroTV and Animax so I often watch it. Without flaw. Everyday. ^v^ And then, I started watching other anime shows. I also collected anime collectibles and magazines. Since I watch P.O.T in an anime channel, I've discovered a lot of anime and began to really love them. Some of my friends love anime and I was influenced on drawing, and reading manga.
Soon, I've realized that I feel at peace and happy whenever I'm into anime things so I love anime ♥
~tafu-chan♥
Thinking on it now, my anime origin was a little unorthodox. In the second grade, I had this kid that picked on me constantly. He would play the Pokemon games and trade cards in the schoolyard with his buddies. I didn't know what they were doing, so I asked what and was shooed away because "girls can't like boy stuff". I got into Pokemon to get back at him and his friends. Collected binders full of rare cards and got all of the games to one-up a nasty bunch of kids!
As far as other anime went, I had primarily used it as an escape from my chaotic home life because I literally had no other interests. Being an Aspie limited my interactions with people, so I watched a lot of TV and read books mostly. Watching the Toonami lineup of shows like Zatch Bell, Rurouni Kenshin, Gundam and Yu Yu Hakusho got me fixated on the style, and reading what few books there were in the library on manga and Japanese culture solidified my interest. I don't watch anime as frequently now, but I read more manga than ever, and have had more than one potential manga plotline swimming in my head at one time or another. Funny how it all began with a stupid kid's sexist remark...
Oh, definitely. ADV and Manga Corps. I would take a lot of time just watching trailers, too lol. And my brother would record from the tapes some of our faves just to have them all like in a row. XD
My introduction must have been Pokemon--my neighbors got me into it in elementary school and it became our every-afternoon tradition. (There was a point at which I refused to play with anyone until I got Pokemon toys.)
At some point in junior high, I guess, I switched from drawing horses to drawing what I thought was anime-style people, around the same time a friend introduced me to Miyazaki's Spirited Away. (Most embarrassing art period of my life.) After that it was Mew-Mew Power, the English dub of Tokyo Mew Mew; and thus began a slow spiral down into otaku-ness. ^^; Now I've watched more anime than I can remember and it's evolved into a love of Japan and its people even more than just anime, so it's been a journey. :D
The Dreamer (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I realize now that I had been interested in anime LONG before I got hooked. In junior hight, on one of my family trips abroad to Costa Rica, I stayed with a family to learn more of their culture for a couple weeks. Long story short, I didn't mesh well with the girl in that family that was my age. Lonely and often alone in the house, I turned on the TV, flipping through shows. A few cartoons were on in English and hooked me easily and I found myself drawn to a couple more because of the drawing style and fantasy era, watching those even if I didn't understand them. I didn't know they were anime then, but their styles interested me a lot more than most American cartoons. The English titles were Pokemon, which I later dumped, and Yu-gi-oh, which later became one of my favorite stories. The stories playing in Spanish were Saint Seiya and Card Captor Sakura. I look on Card Captor Sakura fondly and watch my favorite scenes,mostly with Yue, and I still have yet to finish all of Saint Seiya. (It's one of the few titles I actually LIKE the Spanish dub, and THAT is hard to find.)
However, I didn't know that they were anime, and I really wouldn't call that my start to becoming obsessed and an avid watcher. I didn't go looking for more, mostly forgot about Card Captor Sakura, and since Yu-gi-oh was on in the States, I put it together with American cartoons. Between, Yu-gi-oh soon became one of, if not, the only show I watched for the short time we had cable at my house.
I won't call my exposure to Miyazaki as my start either. Spirited Away came to our town in small, special foreign collection viewing, and after than showing, my family started buying any more of his shows. However, they were movies and again, I didn't really start exploring on my own. Therefore, as much as I LOVE Miyazaki films and am in awe of his scope and philosophy in each film, I can't give Spirited Away that trophy either.
No, credit for my start goes to my first boyfriend and Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, in my senior year of high school. Before, when were still 'just friends' best friends actually, I accidentally flashed the cover of Trust and Betrayal after school while we were waiting for a ride. Sword fighting, warriors, tragic love, I saw that on the cover and instantly wanted to watch it, and he was glad to find something to show me. I LOVED it when we finally convinced/tricked my dad into letting us see it at our house; I couldn't stop crying about the end and loved all our discussions afterwards surrounding it. A couple months later, he showed me the manga for Hellsing, another one of his favorites, which I snuck into my house to read, and he kept telling more about Rurouni Kenshin. I didn't get to read this one of my one my-all time favorite mangas AND really enter the anime world until January.
I was, and still am, a workaholic, and it was hard enough to show me a couple volumes of Hellsing and still keep up with school, (not to mention keep me from being too depressed from fighting a losing battle in Precalculus). But in January Fate intervened in a lovely way, for once. xD I fell and got my first concussion one day, left school, late, (I didn't want to disturb the teacher's lesson :P Yes, I know, dumb. I heard it for a long time and still do. ) and was excused from school for the next two days and ORDERED away from homework, not that I could do any of it or a lot of reading with my aching dizzy head. Another long story short, my boyfriend visited and brought me a present to keep me busy when away from school and without my books. Along with my first kiss, he left his copies of Rurouni Kenshin, up the end of the Kyoto arc. Needless to say, I devoured them, in two days, and was suddenly very hungry for more. When I was well, I managed to sneak in a couple episodes of the anime, courtesy of my boyfriend again, XD, before my mom put a stop to my anime watching. It didn't stop our conversations though.
(It would take a few years and my younger sisters' convincing her to change her mind on that note. Again, Miyazaki didn't count.)
As soon as I escaped my parents' threshold for college and still in contact with my boryfriend, who's a year younger than me, I dived headfirst into anime AND manga, watching shows like Black Jack, Mirage of Blaze, Yami no Matsuei, and Samurai Deeper Kyo late at night on TV, filling in the blanks and exploring further online and with roommates and housemates, as well as reading the rest of Rurouni Kenshin before starting the manga of SDK and Hellsing. I also rediscovered Card Captor Sakura and Saint Seiya, not managing to fill in the blanks with Saint Seiya as easily, but watching both seasons of Card Captor Sakura. Two of my favorite genres of anime emerged here, Samurai, with Rurouni Kenshin, Peacemaker Kurogane, AND Samurai Deeper Kyo, and vampires, Hellsing and Blood+, and I stumbled on a couple shonen classics that stunned with their depth, Saiyuki and Fullmetal Alchemist. In that one year, the passion exploded.
During the years, I dragged two of my friends into the world of anime and another friend introduced to Aisan dramas. Glad to pass on the addiction and learn another xD I started Japanese in the first year of college, not because of the anime or manga but for the ability to read Haiku in the original form and choose a third language very different than that of my siblings, (German or French after Spanish xD) and continued learning about the pop world of Japan, mostly anime and manga, but some musical artists too (never was much of a gamer). While becoming a true Japan geek, and not as knowledgeable as an otaku geek, I joined the Japan Club. I started out as one of the photographers before saving the club and taking on the mantle of president. My final contribution to that effort was splitting the club into two sections, a pop section, anime nights, and the finer aspects of the culture, such as cooking, history lectures, and calligraphy. Unfortunately, I can only take the gratitude for enforcing the split; due to coursework and a terrible increase in stress and illness, both areas flourishing and developing goes to my successor.
At the moment, I own a couple series of manga but more of my money is definitely going into acquiring more. I own over a dozen series of anime. I also claim, recognition for my sisters' vast explorations, and she can claim recognition for starting my interest in DC comics. (So far, this interest is restrained. ) Recently, with my language skills, I have now found a new interest in Japanese otome games. In the future, I hope to translate and somehow enable publishing for more light novels, including Mirage of Blaze and Saiunkoku Monogatari. xD Nope, my passion isn't going away any time soon.~~ It's an important part of who I am, and in many ways, the way I develop and evolve my interest for this world reflects how my world is changing as a whole.
Sorry for writing a novel here xDDD
Last edited by Karmira at 4:02:20 PM EDT on March 28, 2013.
I guess my anime origin story starts when I am about 5-7 years old. I started liking/watching anime in elementary school. The first anime I ever watched was Sailor Moon. I can remember acting out Sailor Moon with some of my friends. I would always pretend I was Sailor Jupiter or Sailor Mars. I even had a Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter doll. I don't have them anymore.
The second anime I watched/got into was Pokemon. I liked Pokemon up until Ash,Brock,and Misty went their separate ways. Then I lost interest in it,then I got into Yu-Gi-Oh and have been a fan ever since. I love Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Judai is one of my heroes in anime. I also love Johan too.
~Judai
I didn't exactly start out with anime. The first cartoon I was pretty obsessed with was Teen Titans, and I was sad when they stopped showing it on Cartoon Network. I didn't know about anime then other than Miyazaki's movies, so I was looking for something else to watch. I found Funimation network on cable and saw a random Soul Eater episode and I was instantly hooked.
It started when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I first watched stuff like DBZ, Hamtaro, and Digimon but later moved on to whatever was on Adult Swim. This included Inuyasha, GITS, Cowboy Beebop, Wolf's Rain, and more. Not to mention my brother made me watch awesome movies like Blood: the Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Princess Mononoke and others by Miyazaki. This was all before I turned 10 so I had a pretty early start.
Yikes! I forgot about Hamtaro! Thanks for reminding me; that was one of the shows I saw before seriously getting into anime ^_^U
Yes! I remember when Turner Classic Movies played those! I was only able to record one of the movies (Nausicaä), but that was the first time I was able to see a Ghibli movie :D
But wow, what a story. I'm glad you were able to get out of that pattern of stress (and that's cool you're a piano savant :D)
Lombax of Earth (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I had seen anime in various places growing up, and I liked the style the characters were drawn in, but I never really "seriously" got into it until high school. I mean, for one thing, Pokemon wasn't allowed in our house (it is now, but at the time my brother and I still tried to sneak episodes through Cartoon Network...), and I remembered hearing my ballet classmates and teacher (who was 19) buzzing about Sailor Moon and Princess Mononoke. But I mean, we had still seen Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland and other things like Swiss Family Robinson, The Bible: In the Beginning (created by Osamu Tezuka :D), and even a few episodes of Sandybell and Candy Candy when we took a trip to Hungary in 1998 (yeah, Hungarian-dubbed anime... our mom translated it for us because neither me nor my brother speak more than a few words XD).
Midway through my highschool years, my dad was deployed for about half a year and my mom would be working part-time at our church (I believe they needed more people to help out... it was a BIG church o_o), so Citrus and I were at home alone on some mornings when we didn't go with her to daily Mass (we were satellite schooled, which is homeschooling with a real school... ours was accredited, so I got a real diploma when I graduated highschool). It was at this time Citrus told me about these shows he'd been watching bits of on AnimeNetwork on Demand, so we started watching some of the lower-rated (PG and maybe 13+ or so) shows on there, like Azumanga Daioh, Angelic Layer, Kaleido Star, and for me, even Diamond Daydreams. I'd say this pretty much got me interested in not only watching more of these cartoons, but also interested in the culture and language (hence why I took three years of Japanese in college XD Personal motivation is a great push for learning a language). There were also a few shows we watched one episode of, but then for one reason or another didn't watch the rest.
Clearly, the point of homeschooling is to do schoolwork at home, so we were without a doubt goofing off by watching anime. There isn't much excuse for our foolish behavior. But let's face it: who knows if I'd be an anime fan nowadays if we didn't watch when we did, and we did eventually get all of our work done :D (And I graduated with a decent GPA... that work was tough! But at least it prepared me for college.)
But really, nowadays, even though I watch anime, I've found that I'm more of a video gamer. Heck, I got a GameBoy for my 5th birthday, so Nintendo's been around in my life for quite some time. Even today, I'm still a handheld Nintendo gamer; so when there were news stories recently that said "More girls are getting into video gaming," I was like, "Lady, please; I've been gaming since I was five, and that was in the mid 90s."
Last edited by CelestialSushi at 11:23:01 AM EDT on March 28, 2013.
My anime story started when I was little with animes like Secret Garden and Ai Shite Night among others...but it was with animes like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball that I was really hooked!
Madman With a Box (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I suppose my anime origins start in the 80s, when I watched shows like Voltron and Thundercats, but at the time they were still just cartoons to me, I had no concept of what "anime" was and had not even heard the word yet.
My first exposure to what I knew specifically as "anime" was commercials for anime home video collections, you know like where they'd send you a new movie every month, like Akira or Ghost in the Shell, so my idea of what anime was at that time was this bizarre, dark and violent form of animation.
A few years later, around the time I was 13, I stayed up late one night to watch Vampire Hunter D on SciFi Channel (back when they played anime films on the weekends) and it pretty much blew me away.
In the early 90s, I watched the standard anime fare that was available at the time on TV, like Pokemon and Sailor Moon. It wasn't until later when Toonami started playing Gundam Wing and Dragonball Z that I seriously began to follow anime on a regular basis. Around the time I started going to university, I was watching the anime on Adult Swim, starting with Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, and that really kicked my anime obsession into high gear where I started actively seeking out other shows that were not on TV and buying DVDs.
I've actually forgotten the circumstances surrounding the beginning of my anime fanship. It's embarassing to say, but I suspect that my crush in the seventh grade was an anime fan, and that's originally what got me interested in it.
First off, my first anime was Sailor Moon; I don't know exactly how I came to watch it, but I do remember that it happened during kindergarten (probably around '93-'95, I guess). Back then I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents' house since my parents were too busy with work to take care of me, so me and the girls living on the same street would pretend to be the Senshi (for some reason, I was always Mercury, though I didn't have any preference). Since no one wanted to be the villain, we'd fight imaginary ones XD
Then I took a loong break - almost ten years - and, with a Google search of "Sailor Moon pictures", coupled with the new Animax TV channel, I got into anime again. I think the anime that got me into watching again was Kaleido Star or Kiddy Grade, who were soon followed by Princess Tutu (awesomer than it sounds), Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and others I can't remember. Anime then got me into manga, which I prefer nowadays more than watching anime.
As a kid, I had a thing for Pokemon and Sailor Moon. I never liked DBZ, and I often got angry when it came on before Pokemon. xD I didn't realize the difference between anime and cartoons when I was young at all.
Then, in grade 3, I remember a friend of mine in our apartment complex had a Kirara plushie from InuYasha. We loved it and played with it all the time! In grade 5 I finally saw this infamous "InuYasha" show I'd heard so much about 2 years before. From then on, I discovered the manga in the library, and it all launched from there! It was a fun journey, to say the least.
I found stuff like Pokemon, Digimon, Cardcaptors, and Sailor Moon on tv and enjoyed them. But what really brought me in was when I met my best friend in 5th grade. She was an absolute nut for Sailor Moon and dragged everyone into it. After that it was anime for everybody scrambling to keep up with everything Toonami had.
I can really relate to your story, too! With the Tekken and Street Fighter movies...same with Fatal Fury. And Dirty Pair, omg, YES. Also a classic and one of my firsts. Ah, the good old days. I still have most of my tapes as well lol.
I love your story! I have to admit, mine is somewhat similar, since Ninja Scroll was also one of my first anime. XD But my story...I have 2 older brothers, a good amount older. My oldest bro actually got into anime first, watching Ghost in the Shell and other classic anime movies. Then he fazed out of it, but my other brother got into it more, and pretty soon I found myself watching movies with my brother. My Neighbor Totoro, Ninja Scroll, Fist of the North Star (that was great...really one of my first, and I was like only 8 years old? Lol), Macross Plus, Vampire Hunter D...and from those movies...then came watching anime series, like Ranma 1/2, Tenchi (I remember when Cartoon Network first announced they'd show it on tv, I was like OMG I LOVE THAT SHOW, AND NOW IT'LL BE ON TV?? Lol), Trigun...Bubblegum Crisis...ok, so I'm meandering now. Just listing my first anime experiences. XD But yeah, I blame it on my brothers!
My best friend in the 6th grade really loved Yu Yu Hakusho and so I would watch it with her so that we would have something in common. I eventually got into watching other shows like Wolf's Rain, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Inu Yasha on my own later on. It kindda clicked really quick 'cause I've always been an animation junkie, weather it be Eastern or Western media.
State Alchemist (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I started out with Sailor Moon and DBZ as a kid (before I knew what anime was) And then in middle school, we had those Scholastic book order forms. I decided to order a Shonen Jump magazine because I liked the art on the cover. I was hooked on manga and then I found out about anime. I think my first anime was Naruto because I had already read one of the first chapters in Shonen Jump
A Fiery Spirit (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
Hmm... I don't know if it can count but I remember watching Speed Racer reruns as a little kid, and I mean little as in maybe 4 or 5.
But I know what would count is the big boom there was with Pokemon. That show lead me to Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, and so many more.
Oddly enough, I missed out on a lot of the more common childhood series like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, or Rurouni Kenshin. I just had a really hardcore fixation on Inuyasha and I think some misguided sense of loyalty kept me from exploring other anime for a while.
I've been an anime fan for as long as I can remember. The first anime I watched was Pokemon and I got into it when I was a little kid. The first non-kiddy anime I watched was InuYasha.
For a long time I just watched anime whenever I could catch the episodes on tv. Bleach was the 1st anime I watched online in chronological order (though I watched it on tv too when I caught up with the current episodes). I think Fullmetal Alchemist was the 1st anime I watched all the way through.
I've recently got my parents to watch some anime with me. I'm only picking a few for them to watch. At 1st I was only watching anime with my mom, I started with Death Note but she quite watching after L died (she was not at all happy with his death lol). Then I had her watching FMA. My dad saw a couple episodes and decided he wanted to watch it too so we restarted it (we were only a few episodes in) and he watched it and Brotherhood with us. Now I've got them watching Naruto (cause it's my favorite anime).
Last edited by shinigami117 at 9:21:43 PM EDT on March 27, 2013.
Gather around children and listen to the days of old.
In the late 90's, the floodgates were opened as several anime were being imported to the now defunct Kids WB! lineup. With these imports, the channel jumped from syndication to the cable network. On September 8, 1999, at the tender age of 6, I was there for the premiere of the anime that changed the face of culture. The episode was "Pokémon, I Choose You!" It was new, it was different, it was anime. With the collection frenzy that was Pokémon, there were several other shows that aided in shaping the mold.
Cardcaptors, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball Z coaxed me in to a wondrous world of boys my age, going out on epic adventures, saving the world, making new friends. It was Shangri-La.
It was too good to last. Kids WB! began to phase out their old shows, leaving anime in the dust. Cartoon Network, who famously had a ratings war with Kids WB! in the late 90's to 2006, picked up the licenses, dusted them off, and shoved anime straight into their schedule. Some were invested into the famous programming block Toonami, including Dragon Ball Z, a program previously used with Toonami. Hours spent in the front of the tube, every day after school, devoted to learning about the stories of Hamtaro, Classic Zoids, Megas XLR, and Zatch Bell.
In sixth grade, I decided Yu-Gi-Oh! was starting to lose its luster, Hamtaro was too cute, and Pokémon had long been shelved, deemed too lengthy and too expensive to house a collecting obsession. Sixth grade went by fast, but not before it crippled me for what seems to this very day. I struggled in classes and was consistently late for math. It wasn't any psychological or environmental triggers, it was just a bad string of luck, with my schedule being physically impossible to manage. One day, I found myself watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and just...not laughing. Nothing. I was emotionally drained. The next month, I broke down in Science Class, crying for no reason.
I began psychiatric evaluation, taking pill after pill, wondering what would make me a happier person. The answer was unorthodox, but worth every minute. There was something still missing, and it would manifest itself with the form of Hayao Miyazaki.
Shortly after my birthday, Turner Classic Movies ran an entire month, January 2005, honoring the men Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, hosted by the face of Pixar and Acadeny-Award Winning Director John Lasseter. Movies like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Only Ysterday, PomPoko. These were the movies that showed me what anime was.
This would be the catalyst for a revelation. Still, it was not enough and I slipped back into depression. In seventh grade, I left public school and began homeschooling, learning more about myself than I could ever imagine. I was a piano savant, a proficient artist, really into field trips, and learning more and more every day. Still, I wanted more of anime. That's when I made the decision to watch my first anime. I gleaned the Internet for titles to watch. I chose my title based on several suggestions and it was a solid choice.
My first anime was Neon Genesis Evangelion.
While I would never recommend to anyone as their first anime, I took a gamble and watched the whole series on the now defunct Yahoo! Video. Even with the infamous ending, I felt more of a connection in my depressive state. I identified with Shinji Ikari and the scary world he had been thrust into. I wanted him to succeed. I wanted a happy ending. It didn't matter that the ending was half-assed; the ending to me was sufficient. Neon Genesis Evangelion is still one of my favorites, but with a clearer head I identify the issues the show has.
I quickly followed the series up with Cowboy Bebop, which quickly became my favorite anime, and has stayed there for six years.
In 2008, my anime love was bolstered when I joined theOtaku.com, and I regret no day that has passed that I took these steps. This community has given me so much, and in coming years I wish to give back ten-fold. I have introduced so many, including my family to anime, and they don't understand as much, but it is necessary for me. Thank you Adam for letting me reminisce. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish Steins;Gate.
Last edited by Hisaishi at 9:21:50 PM EDT on March 27, 2013.
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
It all started with an advert in a video games magazine advertising the Sonic Movie, me being quite a Sonic fan I bought it, it came with three previews.
I recognized the first as Tekken & the second as Street Fighter II but the third one was something I'd never seen before, it was called Dirty Pair Flash, so I bought the video tape (yes that long ago) and the rest is history. I was about 13-14 years old, I'm now 26, I've still got the tapes.
Although I was fully aware of the likes of Pokemon and I've known about Dragonballz since the age of 7, that's 1993! (DBZ was very popular in Europe where I went on holiday a lot, they got the series long before English speaking places did. I remember it well because you could get ice cream Dragonballs) I still judge Dirty Pair Flash as my first proper anime experience.
Last edited by Dranzerstorm at 9:32:46 PM EDT on March 27, 2013.
Chibi Artist Girl (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
Before I even knew what anime was, we had an old Speed Racer VHS in our house. When I was in elementary school, Pokemon and Digimon and Monster Rancher came out -- and from then on, I was hooked. I always loved the art, and as I got older and got into more anime, I realized how great the characters and stories were compared to the "hero vs. villain"/"cat and mouse" cartoons that were on regular TV.
Resident Dark Lord (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I didn't start to get into anime until early high school. It started with Pokemon, then Digimon. Then I saw Card Captor Sakura and some of Dragon Ball Z. But I didn't really get into anime until I saw Sailor Moon.
I'd seen some Transformers and stuff back in the '80s, but then in 1993 my family moved to Korea and I saw a few ending eps of Sailor Moon and Rayearth on Korean TV and I thought, "Oh, this is interesting." Then Slayers started; my life has never been the same.
My Anime Origin Story began in the summer of 1987 (if my memory is correct lol). I would be starting school in 1988, so i would spend all day watching cartoons, and playing with toys along with other random stuff. I specifically remember one morning i woke up and went into the living room, and there was a cartoon on the tv so i sat down and started watching it.
The Cartoon i was watching turned out to be "Thundercats" and the specific episode was titled "Spitting Image", where Panthro gets kidnapped and cloned by Mumm-Rah, and the evil Panthro goes around terrorizing everyone in an attempt to cause dissension amongst the other Thundercats.
It was that day that i fell in love with the Anime style of cartoons, and especially Thundercats. .
Fast forward to about 1992 - 1993, Another Summer morning i wake up around 5am in the morning and i find my step brother sitting right in front of the tv watching some cartoon, so i went over there and started watching it too. This cartoon ended up being the original Dragonball - specifically the episode titled "Keep an eye on the Dragonballs". At that moment i remember really being interested in it. The action and animation was so much better than the typical looney tunes crap, and i always wanted to find out what was going to happen in the next episode. After Dragonball we watched Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon and another anime type show called Bots Master and it was then that i realized that anime was something that i would probably never get tired of.
As years went by, more and more anime became easily available over here in the U.S. and i remember the rise in popularity during the Toonami block, which is where i fist began recording anime on VHS tapes (I still do!) and everything snowballed from there. I still record anime from tv channels and now that i work, i buy anime when i find it in nearby stores or online, and it has been a fulfilling experience that has never gotten old for me.
I still have the passion and imagination that i had back in 1987 when i sat on my living room floor watching Thundercats, and that passion has manifested itself into the Anime Collection that i own today. It's a lifelong story, and hopefully i can go more in depth in the future, but im glad i could post my story here, that's for sure :)
My cousin loves anime even more than I do, and would always hound me to look up some anime thing on youtube. One day when I was over at her house she made me watch Lucky Star (for entertainment purposes i'll say she tied me to a chair). Later i found myself watching it by myself and loving it too, today it's my favorite anime and i can't stop watching that and others. Of course, now she's trying to get me to watch Sailor Moon...
AirNeko
Otakuite | Posted 04/17/13 | Reply
Brother bought naruto for me when i was around 6yrs. I started getting hooked on different types of mange, then i advanced to anime, now im aiming to watch over 300 anime by the time i get into highschool!
oni db
Otakuite | Posted 04/09/13 | Reply
i guess you could say it started before i new what anime was i saw a hand full of gundam episodes when i was a kid and all my life i was attracted to anime before i ever heard of anime then one of my sisters exs loaned me a recorded dvd with some episodes of black cat me and my brother realy liked it the we started to read otaku usa and i made a list of anime i wanted to watch then at fye i bought the first vol of fma and i was hooked now i watch as much anime and read as much manga as i can and try to make new friends that like anime
Blackshaton
Otakuite | Posted 04/07/13 | Reply
It all started when my friend, who is a otaku, introduced me to D. Gray-Man and I started watching multiple others and from then on I was obsessed.
Kaede Ichigo
Otakuite | Posted 04/07/13 | Reply
At age eleven, when I went to secondary school there were the mangas mamotte lollipop and +anima in the library. I looked for more manga in the public library and found a new friend who was a bit of an otaku. She introduced me to the fruits basket anime. it grew from there really ;)
^^
HellisSinging13
Otakuite+ | Posted 04/07/13 | Reply
My anime origin started out by watching pokemon and yu-gi-oh. There wasn't much around as a child to watch on the tv so it was a few years before I properly got into anime. After reading my first manga (hack xx//) I started to look around the shops a bit more. My friend recommended watching studio ghibli's spirited away, after buying it in the shop I really started to enjoy it. It was definitely very influential to watch Summer Wars and The Girl Who Lept through time as they both definitely got me interested! But it definitely helped to have a anime obsessed friend to recommend things to be!
TyphlosionTrainer
Otakuite++ | Posted 04/06/13 | Reply
My "anime origin" starts with, wouldn't you know it, Pokemon (I also watched Sailor Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh). As a child, I watched the original Pokemon with my siblings, and I just ate it up. I didn't know at the time that it was anime, but as I got older (at the age of 11, to be specific), my sister introduced me to Naruto. She'd seen it at a friends house, and showed it to me, and we began our accent into Otakuism together. I realized as soon as I watched the first episode of Naruto, this is what I'd grown up with my entire life, and I'd been blind to the fact. I really do believe anime has broadened my horizons. If it weren't for my love of anime, I genuinely believe I would have been a totally different person.
lichschauffer
Otakuite | Posted 04/06/13 | Reply
I started watching Hamtaro ever since i remember, later mazinger, pokemon and
zoids
Haitaka
Senior Otaku | Posted 04/04/13 | Reply
My first anime was Kiki's Delivery Service.
I watched it in theaters in Denmark. It's late release in Denmark was around the same time Spirited Away came out because theaters realized that people actually liked watching Miyazaki's animes, hence started showing a lot of his other works at the time.
The first scene where she lies in the grass hooked me on the style of animation-to think all of it was done in hand was just overwhelming. My family is a big fan of Miyazaki too (the only anime my parents accept as decent), but anything else in the world of amine and manga is apparently not good enough for them.
Anyway, my first real encounter with a non-Miyazaki anime was in the summer of 2012 (seems ages ago now) when a girl from my class decided to open up to me a bit more even though we'd been friends for three years and started bombarding me with anime I should watch.
Hence my first non-Miyazaki anime became Fairy Tail, which I really enjoy too.
MagikSalem
Raving Lunatic (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 04/04/13 | Reply
For me, It was inherited. As much as my dad denies it now, he is the reason I love anime.
As a baby I would watch speed racer and such with my dad and shows like "Johnny Sokko and his giant robot" (pretty much just live action Gigantor)
Never really got into the more "girly" anime like sailor moon...
Robots! Thanks Dad.
Record of Lodoss war was a pretty big thing for me! Along with the 1977 hobbit cartoon! (looks similar in art)
An anime about the little mermaid also made it so That Disney would only disappoint me later with their version XD
And It took FOREVER for me to figure out "Anime" was a genre and NOT a way to make Animation rhyme with Saturday XD
I started watching more umn... Hardcore? anime when I was around 7 or 8. I stayed up one night cause I heard they were playing "Animation" at like 3am...
(And I Loved the way the animation looked in the commercials!)
It was Akira, I loved it! So I started staying up every week to see these 3am movies
Urusei Yatsura movie 2 Beautiful dreamer was one of the ones that really stuck with me!
When My friends at school started getting into anime, they got into dragon ball z, I tried it... didn't like it. But I fell in love with the one that played before it GUNDAM! (they didn't like gundam...)
I learned that anime was an actual genre when I went to high school and met my first japanophiles! They showed me new shows (subbed) and Manga. (They were a bit mad that I knew lots of animes, but did not actually know what it was...)
And thus I knew, I was not a regular nerd. I was an Otaku.
I was past the point of no return!
Then I found out about this site and the rest is history~
Last edited by MagikSalem at 3:13:46 AM EDT on April 4, 2013.
umekofairy
Otakuite | Posted 04/03/13 | Reply
When I was 9 years of age, I quickly became good friends with this South Korean girl in my class who could draw better than anyone I knew at the time. I peered in while she would draw on the margins of her notebooks and quickly formed a liking to this style of drawing.
Eventually I had to move away to Canada but my journey didn't end there, I realized she attained this style of drawing from reading manga. In my old school, there was no manga section in the library.
And for the next 3 and a half years I've gone into a depth of manga/anime.
It's what makes me happy and I love doing it ^.^
Thepiehaslanded
Otakuite | Posted 04/01/13 | Reply
It was not to long ago when I first got into anime, but even before that, it has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I've always been a fan of Pokemon (like many others here) and I still watch the anime up to today. I remember seeing about fifty seconds of Inuyasha on Adult Swim when I was younger, which didn't intrigue me much. The thing that sparked it, though, was a YouTube poop. And a bad one at that. (I'm not going to say which one, because I don't want to offend anybody) But it made me want... More. From there, it only got better, I found more and more interesting things, and when I entered the sixth grade, I was generally very quiet and had no friends at my new school, but the few friends I DID make were already into anime, and they introduced me to new worlds, and ever since, I've been watching anime, and I don't think I'll ever stop.
Hisaishi
News Correspondent (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/30/13 | Reply
@:
You do realize Toonami came back, right? Every Saturday at midnight.
Ankisal
Otakuite | Posted 03/29/13 | Reply
When I was 7 years old, I was exposed to Sailor Moon. Since then, there was more shows that I was exposed to. Soon they were gonna show Escaflowne on TV but it was canceled because it was too mature for audiences. I later found it when I started high school. But I never stopped there. I got worse after my grandfather passed away. I began to learn the world of anime. I was a teen and I wanted more. Then I found Cartoon Network's Adult Swim which had a whole block of anime that included Cowboy Bebop and finished the whole series on that channel. Then InuYasha was there too. So many favorites that I fell in love. The strangest thing, back when all of that started, I didn't know that they were called anime. I learned the meaning of anime through friends that I met online.
Of course, my passion for anime expanded as I got older. Now I'm 26 and still love anime. I don't think I will ever stop loving anime.
OtakuCartoonist94
Otakuite | Posted 03/29/13 | Reply
When I was a little kid my mom used to make my friends because I was a quiet child. I remeber that I waited all day long to be night so I could watch Inuyasha at night in Cartoon Network (In the day I just did homework, go to my other activities and watch pokemon) One day, a weird kid start yelling to me and told me why I was friend of the girl she liked, we start yelling each other until we discoverd we were talking about Inuyasha, we became best friends.
Next year he moved out, and I was alone again. I enteres Junior High and became popular until I was already 15 years old. On december of 2009, I remember Inuyasha, all of the characters and I really wanted to know how it finished, so I watched, I didn´t slept because I wanted to continue watching, and I started loving it again, when I finished I just continue to watch anothers animes like sakura card captor or digimon, I understand that I love it since I was a child, even if I didn´t knew what was it.
(-_-;) sorry for the long comment. (._.)
tsubasachro
Transient Rain (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/29/13 | Reply
One day my friend (wallpaperotaku) handed me two two comic books, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles 1 and 2, said "You read them backwards," opened the first book and pointed out the order in which I read the panels on that page. Then she said "I expect to have read them by tomorrow!" and she ran off. Left confused by the whirl wind that is Wallie, I held the manga up to look at the covers, they looked interesting.
I read them that night struggling the whole time to figure out which panel went first and returned them to her the next day.
And I've been a fan ever since! ^-^
~Tsu
mirahsan2
Otakuite+ | Posted 03/29/13 | Reply
It was before Pokemon. The scene is forever stuck in my head. The scene was a woman, I think blonde wearing a pink dress talking to a boy on an old pirate style ship. They were talking a bit, she was looking over the side of the ship at the ocean. I still remember it today but. What anime was it? Haha, it started it all. :)
eijiforever
Grand Otaku | Posted 03/29/13 | Reply
I've watched a lot of anime when I was a kid but I didn't really picked anime shows. I just likes Flame of Recca, Ghost Fighter, Prince of Tennis, Slum Dunk, Mirmo, Sailor Moon. And then, when I was 5th grade, my cousins and I started watching The wallflower (sunako) and I was amazed in the handsomeness of its characters so I asked what that is and I later found out it was anime. XD
But that did not make me love anime. It just made me like it more. The one which I can call my anime origin is Prince of Tennis. I love that series and I still do. It was always on HeroTV and Animax so I often watch it. Without flaw. Everyday. ^v^ And then, I started watching other anime shows. I also collected anime collectibles and magazines. Since I watch P.O.T in an anime channel, I've discovered a lot of anime and began to really love them. Some of my friends love anime and I was influenced on drawing, and reading manga.
Soon, I've realized that I feel at peace and happy whenever I'm into anime things so I love anime ♥
~tafu-chan♥
LuminousIceNinja
Otaku Legend | Posted 03/29/13 | Reply
Thinking on it now, my anime origin was a little unorthodox. In the second grade, I had this kid that picked on me constantly. He would play the Pokemon games and trade cards in the schoolyard with his buddies. I didn't know what they were doing, so I asked what and was shooed away because "girls can't like boy stuff". I got into Pokemon to get back at him and his friends. Collected binders full of rare cards and got all of the games to one-up a nasty bunch of kids!
As far as other anime went, I had primarily used it as an escape from my chaotic home life because I literally had no other interests. Being an Aspie limited my interactions with people, so I watched a lot of TV and read books mostly. Watching the Toonami lineup of shows like Zatch Bell, Rurouni Kenshin, Gundam and Yu Yu Hakusho got me fixated on the style, and reading what few books there were in the library on manga and Japanese culture solidified my interest. I don't watch anime as frequently now, but I read more manga than ever, and have had more than one potential manga plotline swimming in my head at one time or another. Funny how it all began with a stupid kid's sexist remark...
~Lumi
Angel Zakuro
bird nerd. (Otaku Angel) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
@Dranzerstorm:
Oh, definitely. ADV and Manga Corps. I would take a lot of time just watching trailers, too lol. And my brother would record from the tapes some of our faves just to have them all like in a row. XD
silvershriek
Otaku Legend | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
@cricket20:
Thank goodness you now know how to play without the obligatory pokemon offering or I would be broke 0.0 lol
Dranzerstorm
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
@Angel Zakuro:
ADVFilms really knew how to play trailers, in fact I insist on watching them every time I put in an old ADV anime.
cricket20
Otakuite+ | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
My introduction must have been Pokemon--my neighbors got me into it in elementary school and it became our every-afternoon tradition. (There was a point at which I refused to play with anyone until I got Pokemon toys.)
At some point in junior high, I guess, I switched from drawing horses to drawing what I thought was anime-style people, around the same time a friend introduced me to Miyazaki's Spirited Away. (Most embarrassing art period of my life.) After that it was Mew-Mew Power, the English dub of Tokyo Mew Mew; and thus began a slow spiral down into otaku-ness. ^^; Now I've watched more anime than I can remember and it's evolved into a love of Japan and its people even more than just anime, so it's been a journey. :D
Karmira
The Dreamer (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I realize now that I had been interested in anime LONG before I got hooked. In junior hight, on one of my family trips abroad to Costa Rica, I stayed with a family to learn more of their culture for a couple weeks. Long story short, I didn't mesh well with the girl in that family that was my age. Lonely and often alone in the house, I turned on the TV, flipping through shows. A few cartoons were on in English and hooked me easily and I found myself drawn to a couple more because of the drawing style and fantasy era, watching those even if I didn't understand them. I didn't know they were anime then, but their styles interested me a lot more than most American cartoons. The English titles were Pokemon, which I later dumped, and Yu-gi-oh, which later became one of my favorite stories. The stories playing in Spanish were Saint Seiya and Card Captor Sakura. I look on Card Captor Sakura fondly and watch my favorite scenes,mostly with Yue, and I still have yet to finish all of Saint Seiya. (It's one of the few titles I actually LIKE the Spanish dub, and THAT is hard to find.)
However, I didn't know that they were anime, and I really wouldn't call that my start to becoming obsessed and an avid watcher. I didn't go looking for more, mostly forgot about Card Captor Sakura, and since Yu-gi-oh was on in the States, I put it together with American cartoons. Between, Yu-gi-oh soon became one of, if not, the only show I watched for the short time we had cable at my house.
I won't call my exposure to Miyazaki as my start either. Spirited Away came to our town in small, special foreign collection viewing, and after than showing, my family started buying any more of his shows. However, they were movies and again, I didn't really start exploring on my own. Therefore, as much as I LOVE Miyazaki films and am in awe of his scope and philosophy in each film, I can't give Spirited Away that trophy either.
No, credit for my start goes to my first boyfriend and Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, in my senior year of high school. Before, when were still 'just friends' best friends actually, I accidentally flashed the cover of Trust and Betrayal after school while we were waiting for a ride. Sword fighting, warriors, tragic love, I saw that on the cover and instantly wanted to watch it, and he was glad to find something to show me. I LOVED it when we finally convinced/tricked my dad into letting us see it at our house; I couldn't stop crying about the end and loved all our discussions afterwards surrounding it. A couple months later, he showed me the manga for Hellsing, another one of his favorites, which I snuck into my house to read, and he kept telling more about Rurouni Kenshin. I didn't get to read this one of my one my-all time favorite mangas AND really enter the anime world until January.
I was, and still am, a workaholic, and it was hard enough to show me a couple volumes of Hellsing and still keep up with school, (not to mention keep me from being too depressed from fighting a losing battle in Precalculus). But in January Fate intervened in a lovely way, for once. xD I fell and got my first concussion one day, left school, late, (I didn't want to disturb the teacher's lesson :P Yes, I know, dumb. I heard it for a long time and still do. ) and was excused from school for the next two days and ORDERED away from homework, not that I could do any of it or a lot of reading with my aching dizzy head. Another long story short, my boyfriend visited and brought me a present to keep me busy when away from school and without my books. Along with my first kiss, he left his copies of Rurouni Kenshin, up the end of the Kyoto arc. Needless to say, I devoured them, in two days, and was suddenly very hungry for more. When I was well, I managed to sneak in a couple episodes of the anime, courtesy of my boyfriend again, XD, before my mom put a stop to my anime watching. It didn't stop our conversations though.
(It would take a few years and my younger sisters' convincing her to change her mind on that note. Again, Miyazaki didn't count.)
As soon as I escaped my parents' threshold for college and still in contact with my boryfriend, who's a year younger than me, I dived headfirst into anime AND manga, watching shows like Black Jack, Mirage of Blaze, Yami no Matsuei, and Samurai Deeper Kyo late at night on TV, filling in the blanks and exploring further online and with roommates and housemates, as well as reading the rest of Rurouni Kenshin before starting the manga of SDK and Hellsing. I also rediscovered Card Captor Sakura and Saint Seiya, not managing to fill in the blanks with Saint Seiya as easily, but watching both seasons of Card Captor Sakura. Two of my favorite genres of anime emerged here, Samurai, with Rurouni Kenshin, Peacemaker Kurogane, AND Samurai Deeper Kyo, and vampires, Hellsing and Blood+, and I stumbled on a couple shonen classics that stunned with their depth, Saiyuki and Fullmetal Alchemist. In that one year, the passion exploded.
During the years, I dragged two of my friends into the world of anime and another friend introduced to Aisan dramas. Glad to pass on the addiction and learn another xD I started Japanese in the first year of college, not because of the anime or manga but for the ability to read Haiku in the original form and choose a third language very different than that of my siblings, (German or French after Spanish xD) and continued learning about the pop world of Japan, mostly anime and manga, but some musical artists too (never was much of a gamer). While becoming a true Japan geek, and not as knowledgeable as an otaku geek, I joined the Japan Club. I started out as one of the photographers before saving the club and taking on the mantle of president. My final contribution to that effort was splitting the club into two sections, a pop section, anime nights, and the finer aspects of the culture, such as cooking, history lectures, and calligraphy. Unfortunately, I can only take the gratitude for enforcing the split; due to coursework and a terrible increase in stress and illness, both areas flourishing and developing goes to my successor.
At the moment, I own a couple series of manga but more of my money is definitely going into acquiring more. I own over a dozen series of anime. I also claim, recognition for my sisters' vast explorations, and she can claim recognition for starting my interest in DC comics. (So far, this interest is restrained. ) Recently, with my language skills, I have now found a new interest in Japanese otome games. In the future, I hope to translate and somehow enable publishing for more light novels, including Mirage of Blaze and Saiunkoku Monogatari. xD Nope, my passion isn't going away any time soon.~~ It's an important part of who I am, and in many ways, the way I develop and evolve my interest for this world reflects how my world is changing as a whole.
Sorry for writing a novel here xDDD
Last edited by Karmira at 4:02:20 PM EDT on March 28, 2013.
Rainbow Dragon
☠Eastsider✰Pirate☠ (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I guess my anime origin story starts when I am about 5-7 years old. I started liking/watching anime in elementary school. The first anime I ever watched was Sailor Moon. I can remember acting out Sailor Moon with some of my friends. I would always pretend I was Sailor Jupiter or Sailor Mars. I even had a Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter doll. I don't have them anymore.
The second anime I watched/got into was Pokemon. I liked Pokemon up until Ash,Brock,and Misty went their separate ways. Then I lost interest in it,then I got into Yu-Gi-Oh and have been a fan ever since. I love Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Judai is one of my heroes in anime. I also love Johan too.
~Judai
thesecretotaku
Otakuite | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I didn't exactly start out with anime. The first cartoon I was pretty obsessed with was Teen Titans, and I was sad when they stopped showing it on Cartoon Network. I didn't know about anime then other than Miyazaki's movies, so I was looking for something else to watch. I found Funimation network on cable and saw a random Soul Eater episode and I was instantly hooked.
Alchemic Mushroom
Angel (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
It started when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I first watched stuff like DBZ, Hamtaro, and Digimon but later moved on to whatever was on Adult Swim. This included Inuyasha, GITS, Cowboy Beebop, Wolf's Rain, and more. Not to mention my brother made me watch awesome movies like Blood: the Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Princess Mononoke and others by Miyazaki. This was all before I turned 10 so I had a pretty early start.
CelestialSushi
Lombax of Earth (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
@Hisaishi:
Yikes! I forgot about Hamtaro! Thanks for reminding me; that was one of the shows I saw before seriously getting into anime ^_^U
Yes! I remember when Turner Classic Movies played those! I was only able to record one of the movies (Nausicaä), but that was the first time I was able to see a Ghibli movie :D
But wow, what a story. I'm glad you were able to get out of that pattern of stress (and that's cool you're a piano savant :D)
CelestialSushi
Lombax of Earth (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I had seen anime in various places growing up, and I liked the style the characters were drawn in, but I never really "seriously" got into it until high school. I mean, for one thing, Pokemon wasn't allowed in our house (it is now, but at the time my brother and I still tried to sneak episodes through Cartoon Network...), and I remembered hearing my ballet classmates and teacher (who was 19) buzzing about Sailor Moon and Princess Mononoke. But I mean, we had still seen Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland and other things like Swiss Family Robinson, The Bible: In the Beginning (created by Osamu Tezuka :D), and even a few episodes of Sandybell and Candy Candy when we took a trip to Hungary in 1998 (yeah, Hungarian-dubbed anime... our mom translated it for us because neither me nor my brother speak more than a few words XD).
Midway through my highschool years, my dad was deployed for about half a year and my mom would be working part-time at our church (I believe they needed more people to help out... it was a BIG church o_o), so Citrus and I were at home alone on some mornings when we didn't go with her to daily Mass (we were satellite schooled, which is homeschooling with a real school... ours was accredited, so I got a real diploma when I graduated highschool). It was at this time Citrus told me about these shows he'd been watching bits of on AnimeNetwork on Demand, so we started watching some of the lower-rated (PG and maybe 13+ or so) shows on there, like Azumanga Daioh, Angelic Layer, Kaleido Star, and for me, even Diamond Daydreams. I'd say this pretty much got me interested in not only watching more of these cartoons, but also interested in the culture and language (hence why I took three years of Japanese in college XD Personal motivation is a great push for learning a language). There were also a few shows we watched one episode of, but then for one reason or another didn't watch the rest.
Clearly, the point of homeschooling is to do schoolwork at home, so we were without a doubt goofing off by watching anime. There isn't much excuse for our foolish behavior. But let's face it: who knows if I'd be an anime fan nowadays if we didn't watch when we did, and we did eventually get all of our work done :D (And I graduated with a decent GPA... that work was tough! But at least it prepared me for college.)
But really, nowadays, even though I watch anime, I've found that I'm more of a video gamer. Heck, I got a GameBoy for my 5th birthday, so Nintendo's been around in my life for quite some time. Even today, I'm still a handheld Nintendo gamer; so when there were news stories recently that said "More girls are getting into video gaming," I was like, "Lady, please; I've been gaming since I was five, and that was in the mid 90s."
Last edited by CelestialSushi at 11:23:01 AM EDT on March 28, 2013.
dr Muraki
Otakuite++ | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
My anime story started when I was little with animes like Secret Garden and Ai Shite Night among others...but it was with animes like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball that I was really hooked!
TimeChaser
Madman With a Box (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I suppose my anime origins start in the 80s, when I watched shows like Voltron and Thundercats, but at the time they were still just cartoons to me, I had no concept of what "anime" was and had not even heard the word yet.
My first exposure to what I knew specifically as "anime" was commercials for anime home video collections, you know like where they'd send you a new movie every month, like Akira or Ghost in the Shell, so my idea of what anime was at that time was this bizarre, dark and violent form of animation.
A few years later, around the time I was 13, I stayed up late one night to watch Vampire Hunter D on SciFi Channel (back when they played anime films on the weekends) and it pretty much blew me away.
In the early 90s, I watched the standard anime fare that was available at the time on TV, like Pokemon and Sailor Moon. It wasn't until later when Toonami started playing Gundam Wing and Dragonball Z that I seriously began to follow anime on a regular basis. Around the time I started going to university, I was watching the anime on Adult Swim, starting with Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, and that really kicked my anime obsession into high gear where I started actively seeking out other shows that were not on TV and buying DVDs.
Bazinga!
nimbusoak
Senior Otaku | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I've actually forgotten the circumstances surrounding the beginning of my anime fanship. It's embarassing to say, but I suspect that my crush in the seventh grade was an anime fan, and that's originally what got me interested in it.
sweetdevil
Embracing Insanity (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
First off, my first anime was Sailor Moon; I don't know exactly how I came to watch it, but I do remember that it happened during kindergarten (probably around '93-'95, I guess). Back then I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents' house since my parents were too busy with work to take care of me, so me and the girls living on the same street would pretend to be the Senshi (for some reason, I was always Mercury, though I didn't have any preference). Since no one wanted to be the villain, we'd fight imaginary ones XD
Then I took a loong break - almost ten years - and, with a Google search of "Sailor Moon pictures", coupled with the new Animax TV channel, I got into anime again. I think the anime that got me into watching again was Kaleido Star or Kiddy Grade, who were soon followed by Princess Tutu (awesomer than it sounds), Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and others I can't remember. Anime then got me into manga, which I prefer nowadays more than watching anime.
ChibiSasuke
13th Angel (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
As a kid, I had a thing for Pokemon and Sailor Moon. I never liked DBZ, and I often got angry when it came on before Pokemon. xD I didn't realize the difference between anime and cartoons when I was young at all.
Then, in grade 3, I remember a friend of mine in our apartment complex had a Kirara plushie from InuYasha. We loved it and played with it all the time! In grade 5 I finally saw this infamous "InuYasha" show I'd heard so much about 2 years before. From then on, I discovered the manga in the library, and it all launched from there! It was a fun journey, to say the least.
Sage of Magic
Moe Foxgirl (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/28/13 | Reply
I found stuff like Pokemon, Digimon, Cardcaptors, and Sailor Moon on tv and enjoyed them. But what really brought me in was when I met my best friend in 5th grade. She was an absolute nut for Sailor Moon and dragged everyone into it. After that it was anime for everybody scrambling to keep up with everything Toonami had.
Angel Zakuro
bird nerd. (Otaku Angel) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
@Dranzerstorm:
I can really relate to your story, too! With the Tekken and Street Fighter movies...same with Fatal Fury. And Dirty Pair, omg, YES. Also a classic and one of my firsts. Ah, the good old days. I still have most of my tapes as well lol.
Angel Zakuro
bird nerd. (Otaku Angel) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I love your story! I have to admit, mine is somewhat similar, since Ninja Scroll was also one of my first anime. XD But my story...I have 2 older brothers, a good amount older. My oldest bro actually got into anime first, watching Ghost in the Shell and other classic anime movies. Then he fazed out of it, but my other brother got into it more, and pretty soon I found myself watching movies with my brother. My Neighbor Totoro, Ninja Scroll, Fist of the North Star (that was great...really one of my first, and I was like only 8 years old? Lol), Macross Plus, Vampire Hunter D...and from those movies...then came watching anime series, like Ranma 1/2, Tenchi (I remember when Cartoon Network first announced they'd show it on tv, I was like OMG I LOVE THAT SHOW, AND NOW IT'LL BE ON TV?? Lol), Trigun...Bubblegum Crisis...ok, so I'm meandering now. Just listing my first anime experiences. XD But yeah, I blame it on my brothers!
Ritona
Hunter (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
My best friend in the 6th grade really loved Yu Yu Hakusho and so I would watch it with her so that we would have something in common. I eventually got into watching other shows like Wolf's Rain, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Inu Yasha on my own later on. It kindda clicked really quick 'cause I've always been an animation junkie, weather it be Eastern or Western media.
"You won't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed."
edisshort
State Alchemist (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I started out with Sailor Moon and DBZ as a kid (before I knew what anime was) And then in middle school, we had those Scholastic book order forms. I decided to order a Shonen Jump magazine because I liked the art on the cover. I was hooked on manga and then I found out about anime. I think my first anime was Naruto because I had already read one of the first chapters in Shonen Jump
DemonKingAtticus
A Fiery Spirit (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
Hmm... I don't know if it can count but I remember watching Speed Racer reruns as a little kid, and I mean little as in maybe 4 or 5.
But I know what would count is the big boom there was with Pokemon. That show lead me to Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, and so many more.
MaCheriexx
Grand Otaku | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
My gateway drug was Inuyasha.
Oddly enough, I missed out on a lot of the more common childhood series like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, or Rurouni Kenshin. I just had a really hardcore fixation on Inuyasha and I think some misguided sense of loyalty kept me from exploring other anime for a while.
shinigami117
Otakuite++ | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I've been an anime fan for as long as I can remember. The first anime I watched was Pokemon and I got into it when I was a little kid. The first non-kiddy anime I watched was InuYasha.
For a long time I just watched anime whenever I could catch the episodes on tv. Bleach was the 1st anime I watched online in chronological order (though I watched it on tv too when I caught up with the current episodes). I think Fullmetal Alchemist was the 1st anime I watched all the way through.
I've recently got my parents to watch some anime with me. I'm only picking a few for them to watch. At 1st I was only watching anime with my mom, I started with Death Note but she quite watching after L died (she was not at all happy with his death lol). Then I had her watching FMA. My dad saw a couple episodes and decided he wanted to watch it too so we restarted it (we were only a few episodes in) and he watched it and Brotherhood with us. Now I've got them watching Naruto (cause it's my favorite anime).
Last edited by shinigami117 at 9:21:43 PM EDT on March 27, 2013.
Hisaishi
News Correspondent (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
Gather around children and listen to the days of old.
In the late 90's, the floodgates were opened as several anime were being imported to the now defunct Kids WB! lineup. With these imports, the channel jumped from syndication to the cable network. On September 8, 1999, at the tender age of 6, I was there for the premiere of the anime that changed the face of culture. The episode was "Pokémon, I Choose You!" It was new, it was different, it was anime. With the collection frenzy that was Pokémon, there were several other shows that aided in shaping the mold.
Cardcaptors, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball Z coaxed me in to a wondrous world of boys my age, going out on epic adventures, saving the world, making new friends. It was Shangri-La.
It was too good to last. Kids WB! began to phase out their old shows, leaving anime in the dust. Cartoon Network, who famously had a ratings war with Kids WB! in the late 90's to 2006, picked up the licenses, dusted them off, and shoved anime straight into their schedule. Some were invested into the famous programming block Toonami, including Dragon Ball Z, a program previously used with Toonami. Hours spent in the front of the tube, every day after school, devoted to learning about the stories of Hamtaro, Classic Zoids, Megas XLR, and Zatch Bell.
In sixth grade, I decided Yu-Gi-Oh! was starting to lose its luster, Hamtaro was too cute, and Pokémon had long been shelved, deemed too lengthy and too expensive to house a collecting obsession. Sixth grade went by fast, but not before it crippled me for what seems to this very day. I struggled in classes and was consistently late for math. It wasn't any psychological or environmental triggers, it was just a bad string of luck, with my schedule being physically impossible to manage. One day, I found myself watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and just...not laughing. Nothing. I was emotionally drained. The next month, I broke down in Science Class, crying for no reason.
I began psychiatric evaluation, taking pill after pill, wondering what would make me a happier person. The answer was unorthodox, but worth every minute. There was something still missing, and it would manifest itself with the form of Hayao Miyazaki.
Shortly after my birthday, Turner Classic Movies ran an entire month, January 2005, honoring the men Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, hosted by the face of Pixar and Acadeny-Award Winning Director John Lasseter. Movies like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Only Ysterday, PomPoko. These were the movies that showed me what anime was.
This would be the catalyst for a revelation. Still, it was not enough and I slipped back into depression. In seventh grade, I left public school and began homeschooling, learning more about myself than I could ever imagine. I was a piano savant, a proficient artist, really into field trips, and learning more and more every day. Still, I wanted more of anime. That's when I made the decision to watch my first anime. I gleaned the Internet for titles to watch. I chose my title based on several suggestions and it was a solid choice.
My first anime was Neon Genesis Evangelion.
While I would never recommend to anyone as their first anime, I took a gamble and watched the whole series on the now defunct Yahoo! Video. Even with the infamous ending, I felt more of a connection in my depressive state. I identified with Shinji Ikari and the scary world he had been thrust into. I wanted him to succeed. I wanted a happy ending. It didn't matter that the ending was half-assed; the ending to me was sufficient. Neon Genesis Evangelion is still one of my favorites, but with a clearer head I identify the issues the show has.
I quickly followed the series up with Cowboy Bebop, which quickly became my favorite anime, and has stayed there for six years.
In 2008, my anime love was bolstered when I joined theOtaku.com, and I regret no day that has passed that I took these steps. This community has given me so much, and in coming years I wish to give back ten-fold. I have introduced so many, including my family to anime, and they don't understand as much, but it is necessary for me. Thank you Adam for letting me reminisce. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish Steins;Gate.
Last edited by Hisaishi at 9:21:50 PM EDT on March 27, 2013.
Dranzerstorm
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
It all started with an advert in a video games magazine advertising the Sonic Movie, me being quite a Sonic fan I bought it, it came with three previews.
I recognized the first as Tekken & the second as Street Fighter II but the third one was something I'd never seen before, it was called Dirty Pair Flash, so I bought the video tape (yes that long ago) and the rest is history. I was about 13-14 years old, I'm now 26, I've still got the tapes.
Although I was fully aware of the likes of Pokemon and I've known about Dragonballz since the age of 7, that's 1993! (DBZ was very popular in Europe where I went on holiday a lot, they got the series long before English speaking places did. I remember it well because you could get ice cream Dragonballs) I still judge Dirty Pair Flash as my first proper anime experience.
Last edited by Dranzerstorm at 9:32:46 PM EDT on March 27, 2013.
kita mikichi
Chibi Artist Girl (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
Before I even knew what anime was, we had an old Speed Racer VHS in our house. When I was in elementary school, Pokemon and Digimon and Monster Rancher came out -- and from then on, I was hooked. I always loved the art, and as I got older and got into more anime, I realized how great the characters and stories were compared to the "hero vs. villain"/"cat and mouse" cartoons that were on regular TV.
Darkarax
Resident Dark Lord (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I didn't start to get into anime until early high school. It started with Pokemon, then Digimon. Then I saw Card Captor Sakura and some of Dragon Ball Z. But I didn't really get into anime until I saw Sailor Moon.
The greatest fear is that of the unknown.
cougarsama
LDS Fangirl! (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
I'd seen some Transformers and stuff back in the '80s, but then in 1993 my family moved to Korea and I saw a few ending eps of Sailor Moon and Rayearth on Korean TV and I thought, "Oh, this is interesting." Then Slayers started; my life has never been the same.
Yamchaa
Otaku Eternal | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
My Anime Origin Story began in the summer of 1987 (if my memory is correct lol). I would be starting school in 1988, so i would spend all day watching cartoons, and playing with toys along with other random stuff. I specifically remember one morning i woke up and went into the living room, and there was a cartoon on the tv so i sat down and started watching it.
The Cartoon i was watching turned out to be "Thundercats" and the specific episode was titled "Spitting Image", where Panthro gets kidnapped and cloned by Mumm-Rah, and the evil Panthro goes around terrorizing everyone in an attempt to cause dissension amongst the other Thundercats.
It was that day that i fell in love with the Anime style of cartoons, and especially Thundercats. .
Fast forward to about 1992 - 1993, Another Summer morning i wake up around 5am in the morning and i find my step brother sitting right in front of the tv watching some cartoon, so i went over there and started watching it too. This cartoon ended up being the original Dragonball - specifically the episode titled "Keep an eye on the Dragonballs". At that moment i remember really being interested in it. The action and animation was so much better than the typical looney tunes crap, and i always wanted to find out what was going to happen in the next episode. After Dragonball we watched Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon and another anime type show called Bots Master and it was then that i realized that anime was something that i would probably never get tired of.
As years went by, more and more anime became easily available over here in the U.S. and i remember the rise in popularity during the Toonami block, which is where i fist began recording anime on VHS tapes (I still do!) and everything snowballed from there. I still record anime from tv channels and now that i work, i buy anime when i find it in nearby stores or online, and it has been a fulfilling experience that has never gotten old for me.
I still have the passion and imagination that i had back in 1987 when i sat on my living room floor watching Thundercats, and that passion has manifested itself into the Anime Collection that i own today. It's a lifelong story, and hopefully i can go more in depth in the future, but im glad i could post my story here, that's for sure :)
WhtN1NJ4
Otakuite | Posted 03/27/13 | Reply
My cousin loves anime even more than I do, and would always hound me to look up some anime thing on youtube. One day when I was over at her house she made me watch Lucky Star (for entertainment purposes i'll say she tied me to a chair). Later i found myself watching it by myself and loving it too, today it's my favorite anime and i can't stop watching that and others. Of course, now she's trying to get me to watch Sailor Moon...