I left a REALLY Long comment on this weeks discussion but have now decided that it is important enough to keep on hand and not get lost in the sea of comments. Read on if you're curious. I think a couple friends already know most of the story, but a lot of them don't. It's a given now. 
Mostly this is for me and the memories, even if they are condensed.
Comment if you have questions of more commentary. I'll answer.
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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 the rest of his tales. 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, he 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. Including the dabbling that began my obsession with making wallpapers, 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 here, including Japanese classics like 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
