Gateway Drugs. Or How I Got To Know Anime.

No, you tools, this thread does not belong in the Sewers where Capo and I can spam the shit out of it using asinine cocaine and marijuana references. This thread is good old-fashioned query about what exactly was it that got you into anime.

Since the conception of Japanese animation there have been people who have become hooked on this stuff. Much like heroin junkies who have fallen prey to just "taking another fuckin' hit", we (as in a lot of us, not the entire population) too have become addicted to a makeshift drug that's perfectly legal and fun to boot: ANIME

So discuss, kids... I assume that most of you who post in this forum know what this stuff is and I'd like to know. What anime/series/manga got you into this cel-shaded / pen-sketched culture of awesome?

How ya doing, buddy?

You know, I never would have considered Thundercats an anime series, but now that I think about it, fuck yes it was! <3

Anyway, when I was in high school I was never really much into anime. I mean, I’d seen it advertised every so often but I’d never really had any proper exposure to it until I got to my art class my sophomore year in high school. I hung out with this one crazy cat named Daniel. Daniel was your standard-issue pothead and he was always on Cloud Nine, had an amazing talent for color pencils and inks and he was pretty damn good at drawing anime. I mean like REALLY above average artist. He was always talking about it when we’d hang out but back then my stance on anime was, “You’re a fucking moron, Daniel. I’m supposed to be trying to get laid instead of watching cartoons! I’m too old for this shit!”

Yeah... Good one

One day while we watched a film about the bombing of Hiroshima in history, Daniel (whom I also took that class with) told me that he had another movie about the same subject that he wanted to share with me. He said, “Dude... Just trust me. You’ll like it.” I finally succumbed to his constant badgering and decided to give it a try. After school we went to his house and he handed a VHS tape labeled “Grave of the Fireflies”.

I never thought I’d ever cry while watching a cartoon movie; ever. But this movie, while being incredibly well-animated also had a story worthy of a thousand books. I was fucking HOOKED.

After that, I started absorbing as much of it as I could: The Fist of the North Star series, Patlabor, Bubblegum Crisis, Appleseed, Crying Freeman, Macross, Silent Mobius, Wicked City, etc. I was basically just on a binge. Some of it was OK and some were really really good (Like Crying Freeman), but it was films like AKIRA, Ghost In The Shell, Ninja Scroll and Sanctuary (Not Angel Sanctuary, I’ve never seen that. I’m talking about THIS Sanctuary..) that really captivated me. Suddently, after graduation, this stuff no longer interested me. I was fresh out of high school, was a total pothead and only worked to support myself before I moved to Oregon. It was only back in 2002 that I got back into watching anime with a film that I saw called Cowboy Bebop (The movie only, I didn’t find out there had been a series until 2004 when I watched all of it). The animation was top notch and there was so much story to be told in its eclectic style. Then I started hunting down anime more often. I went back and found things I remembered from back in high school that I never got around to watching. Like 3x3 Eyes, Vampire Hunter D, Record of the Loddoss War and the like. But my favorite series in most recent years has definitely been Samurai Champloo. Samurai and hip-hop are a fucking winning combination. Other series that somewhat captivated me were Lain: Serial Experiments, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Twin Spica. <3 Lately Ergo Proxy has my soul, but the sub groups are taking their sweet time on it.

Fast forward to today and I’m comfortably sitting with a large collection of anime that I’ve spent literally years amassing onto DVDs. Some of it is released in the US but most of it is subbed. Really... I need to get out more. and not be so longwinded MOTHERFUCKER I DIDN'T REALIZE I'D TYPED THAT MUCH!.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Dude... I haven't seen Patlabor since 1996, that's probably why. ;__;

As far as Silent Mobius went, I've only seen the first film and I didn't know there was a series. :/

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I only saw Patlabor The Movie. I haven't really caught up on too many of those recently.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by zerosconcubine

Darkstalkers and Fatal Fury anyone?

No. Please refrain from using this reference again.

I was speaking idiomatically.

That's quite an insightful answer but perhaps it's too in-depth for me to understand it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?