How did you get interested in anime?

[Diane_Windsor]

My name is Diane and I'm new to this subforum , but obviously not to the site

I'm curious on how you got into anime and manga, and who introduced you to it. I have a brother that loves anime, and has been in it since high school. He gave me Princess Mononoki for a Christmas present years ago. I'm not much of a fan . . . . yet. I recently watched Ponyo and I really enjoyed that film. I definately would like to see Spirited Away soon.

 

[Qyöt27]

I've been aware of it since I was like, 5 or 6, since there would be the occasional ad for a series or movie in the newspaper, or one or two would pop up on local stations.

I didn't fully acknowledge it until I was older and knew that it was distinctively Japanese, which was around 1995 or 1996 - the Sci Fi Channel's Saturday Anime movie block on Saturday morning, Cartoon Network showing G-Force, and the local TV stations airing Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Samurai Pizza Cats came at just about the start of the mid-90s boom that anime had in the U.S. At that point I was choosing it because I liked the artwork. I started watching those of my own accord, finding them when channel surfing, or because of TV airing lineups that magazines highlighted (or in the case of Sailor Moon, because my sisters watched it and I was just in the room).

What has kept me interested is the wider variety of storylines and genre in a half-hour single-season format, and because anime and manga tend to have kept things like the classic sitcom alive when domestic television has been trying to kill it off over the past few years (sure, there are notable exceptions to that statement, but sitcoms on American TV are increasingly either reruns of shows that ended years ago, or have become near-clones of The Office).

 

[Azureknight 773]

Welcome to the subforum of Anime and Manga Diane-san. I became interested in anime since I saw my arguably first anime called Slayers and found out that the action is quite cool, succeeding animes include Yaiba, G Gundam, Voltron, Akazukin ChaCha, Blue Blink and a whole lot more that followed those. I got introduced to the genre by accident when my local network aired a lot of morning and afternoon cartoons.

My examples of my faves are the Mobile Suit Gundam Series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Series, Bleach, Voltron, The Robot Romance Trilogy (Combatler V, Daimos and Voltes V) and the last of these examples is the anime of my focus, Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

The reason why I love this genre is because of the animation blended well with unique storylines and inventive plots that are giving off interest, thus making me watch it.

 

[CyberPaladin]

The first anime I ever was back when I was a kid couldn't have been more then 6 it was Superbook I didn't get into anime as hobby until I was in college Gundam Wing was the series that got me hooked it was it's first airing on toonami midnight run.

 

[Lord Herdsetk]

YouTube - ‪Cowboy Bebop intro-Tank‬‏

 

[DigiDigi]

My first anime that was introduced to me was Neon Genesis Evangellion and DBZ simultaneously when I was 4.

 

[Shmittles The Poe]

I got into Pokemon in the 3rd grade around when it first came to America, it was fun at the time (the games still are). I became aware of shows with similar backrounds (ie anime), and have since found quite a few animes that I've become particularly fond of.

 

[walkingxshadow]

pokemon dbz sailor moon and yuyu hakusho on toonami way back in the day

 

[catzetier]

I got into Pokemon when I was a kid because it was a fairly decent TV series, at least at the very start (although even back then the narrator set my teeth on edge) and I enjoyed the first few films. Even now, years later, I am still fascinated by Mewtwo... as one of the only complex characters in the entire enterprise!

I also watched Sailor Moon but lost interest partway through. And I like some of the Studio Ghibli films - although The Cat Returns is the only one I own.

 

[Amber the Duskbringer]

Sailor Moon as a kid. Dad was freaked out about it and I loved it. Then I moved onto Inuyasha and so on and so forth.

 

[aruchan]

My first anime that was introduced to me was Neon Genesis Evangellion and DBZ simultaneously when I was 4.

I do not think four year olds should watch NGE. *shudders*
I got introduced very early by Cartoon Network and my Asian friends.

 

[Crujir]

My friend got me into Dragonball Z as a kid. I was hooked, and now I'm in the process of collecting all the seasons. I have 1 through 3, and my wife and I have already watched them all together (I know; nerdish ). I've always been a Street Fighter fanatic, too, so now I own all of the worthwhile Street Fighter animes; Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II V, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, and Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind. Yes; I am an addict lol.

I do enjoy other animes, but DBZ and Street Fighter are at the top of the list, hands down.

 

[soulseeker95]

I have been interested in anime since I was 12 and started to watch Naruto, from then on, as I drew deeper and deeper into it, I found I liked all kinds of other anime like Tokyo Mew Mew, Inuyasha, Sailor Moon, Death note and so on. My mother doesn't much care for it, but my Aunt and Uncle love it ^^ So, it makes it all the better. I have watched a total of over at least 63 different anime, taking care to avoid the... Creepy ones XD

 

[stacymay]

Two words: Fruits and Basket. haha

When I was a sophomore in high school (either that or a junior - who can remember?) a friend of mine had a Fruits Basket manga from our sparse school library. I decided to check it out, because I was intrigued by its comic book Japaneseness AND the fact that it was read "backwards." Before that, I didn't know much at all about anime - in fact I thought it was all Pokemon and Sailor Moon and I called it "Japanime" as a joke.

What a fool of a Took I was! At my school library, we had Fruits Basket (but only up to about Volume 5 or something... I borrowed the rest from a friend), Bleach, Naruto, and I think that's about it. Over the months I think we got a volume or two of Shaman King, Cowboy Bebop, and other ones of that nature, which I never got into (although I do like Cowboy Bebop the anime now). SO the point is, I read Fruits Basket and then pursued Shojo Beat to find other manga because we went a long time without Internet at home and I had too much free time. HA

And now I consider myself a connoisseur of sorts.

 

[Mizzcriss]

Watching the Dragonball Z and Naruto dubs on Cartoon Network, not knowing at the time that they were anime. Now you couldn't pay me to watch a dub HAHA

 

[blarg the 2nd]

My name is Diane and I'm new to this subforum , but obviously not to the site

I'm curious on how you got into anime and manga, and who introduced you to it. I have a brother that loves anime, and has been in it since high school. He gave me Princess Mononoki for a Christmas present years ago. I'm not much of a fan . . . . yet. I recently watched Ponyo and I really enjoyed that film. I definately would like to see Spirited Away soon.

i remember waching a cople difrent anime when i was litle tors the end of grade scholl or jr high i wached drgon ballz then i sall tenchi muyo on carttonnetworck

im rambling to sum it up i sall some on tv and in jer high i wanted more thancks to the internet it was easey to look up new stuff

and i recomend howls moving castle

 

[Tenkuh]

Spirited Away is awesome! Ponyo was a cute one, and Princess Mononoke is still my favorite anime movie.

I got into manga when I picked up the magazine Shonen Jump. The very first manga I read in it was Yu-Gi-Oh! (the original Yu-Gi-Oh! with Pharoah Atem). This was back when Yu-Gi-Oh! was first released in America over a decade ago, so I do not remember the exact date.

The first anime I watched was Dragon Ball Z back when it was first released in America... I was in about junior high, I think... maybe early high school. It is hard to remember that long ago, but I remember rushing home every afternoon after school to catch it. I've been an otaku ever since!

 

[Netbug009]

I grew up on the stuff. I don't even remember when I first watched anime.

 

[Amber the Duskbringer]

I do not think four year olds should watch NGE. *shudders*
I got introduced very early by Cartoon Network and my Asian friends.

Nah it's great for kids. Nothing like a soulsuckingingly depressing show about a kid who just wants to give up all the time because of the futility. Seriously that show was good but wow it was depressing as heck.

 

[ChristianLayman]

Nah it's great for kids. Nothing like a soulsuckingingly depressing show about a kid who just wants to give up all the time because of the futility. Seriously that show was good but wow it was depressing as heck.

Bah! RahXephon was better if nothing more than having a clear story resolution at the end. NGE just....stopped, and I'm talking about End of EVA. NGE started off well enough, but it felt like the creator didn't think his series through and hoped it would just write itself. Forgive if I'm being an anime snob on this one point.

As for my first exposures to anime? Probably Robotech (Macross) and Dragonball Z, though I wasn't really interested. I think when that was on Cartoon Network, I had pretty much outgrew cartoons (until I relapsed in freshman year of college ). Before anime, I was watching Batman TAS, X-Men and Spiderman.

No, the first anime I remember getting into was Inu Yasha (which just got boring when they kept having filler come up all the time and the main story arcs were just repetitive), NGE, Transformers Armada (and boy was that bad; at least Dreamwave did a mostly better job with the comics), Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, the 08th MS Team, and Naruto.

Naruto probably became my favorite anime during the Chuunin Exams, since entry all the way to the Crash of Konoha.

I didn't really like Bleach when I saw the first episode or two and wouldn't touch the series until the prompting of friends two years later and now it's probably my favorite, other than the Fullbringer Arc seems to be dragging and it's only now that it seems like anything worthwhile in terms of advancing the story manga-wise has happened.