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?

If I were to track my interest in anime far enough back, I would end up blaming my much-older brother whom I looked up to a lot, and tried to emulate in many ways, particularly in making myself interested in the things he was interested in. One of these interests of course was in Japanese culture.

From there(many years later), I just took my own liberties in interests, and before I knew it, I was hooked on Dragonball Z. I think one of the things that drew me to that show over other shows playing at that time was the fact that the shows were serial, rather than episodal. I had never before encountered shows which followed such a format, and I really liked it(even though the pace was gruelling), and thus I bit the hook.

Then, not too long afterwards, I went to an anime club meeting at my high school (wow, I'm dorktastic), and saw the original Ghost in the Shell, with the (at that time) complex and challenging plot, and I liked that even more; the hook was set, and the rest is history.

Why am I up so late?:-(

There's nowhere I can't reach.

XD back when i was in 3rd grade, like 8 years old...damn that was forever ago...
I used to get up early every morning to watch XD SAILOR MOON! and when i say early, i mean like 4am early to watch it, i was that addicted XD...yeah i know, most people would probly say DBZ or somthing like that, but nope...my first anime love was Sailor Moon!
But what brought me back into anime after is stopped airing at 4am-5am week day mornings on channel 4 XD
was Escaflowne on Fox at 9:30 satureday mornings, which that airing contract recently expired! and they are trying to resell it! meaning Escaflowne might be coming to a CN near you :P this was also bout the time tonami started, back when it was decent. and it pulled me into alot too

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

Hey! I do not spam!

Oh my! My first AnimeSpeck post! Exclamation points!


Actually, the first anime I fell in love with was Sailor Moon, and I continued to harbor indecent fantasies for Sailor Mars for the next 5 years!

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

This pretty much puts me back 8 years ago as well. The two series that really got me into anime were Martian Successor Nadesico and Record of the Lodoss War. A friend of mine had the videos and we often watched them over at his place and eventually founded the anime club at our high school where it's still going on strong. At the time, I thought the plot lines they covered was a lot more interesting and that the humor was better than what was available on American cartoons. From there, it went on to Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, and the rest is pretty much history.

Most amazing jew boots

I got back into anime in '99 when I saw pokemon. I still remember my first episode too, The Kangaskan kid. And this is when it was still on fox people, so I got up early enough and caught it right before school.

You see, in '98, I read an artical in this magazine about the porygon episode giving people sezures....I though the cartoon they were talking about seem interesting...what can I say I was a morbid 9 year old. Then I remembered the ads I saw for the Red and Blue games (I thought those ads were animal cruelty back then). That Christmas, my dad brought the blue game for my mom (at that time I wasn't in to video games). I got a hold of it and started playing it and I fell in love with it. Sometime around mid...I think it was March or April my mom had on the TV and I was flipping though the channels and came acrossed this cute little....thing that turned out to be a baby Kangaskan so I desided to leave it on and see what it was and I fell in love with the show that day.

I saw a few other anime at that time, but I just seemed to chalk them up to being pokemon rip offs and never saw more then 2 seconds of it. I seriously thought that pokemon was the only anime out there at that time. But sadly as I grew older (A.K.A 12) I found the pokemon anime wasn't doing much for me after it made the big move to WB kids and the orange islands arc was weak. So I moved on, even if I still like the games and play them when ever I can. I'm not as big of fan of pokemon as I used to be. And believe me, I was a fanatic over it when I was younger.

The series I moved on to were Tenchi Muyo and Outlaw Star. Yeah...That was a big jump. Pokemon to those two shows. I watched them on toonami every day it was like my TV time. This was some time around late '00 early '01. Those two shows alone opened the door to more mature anime and broke the notion that all anime were copies of pokemon, just like how pokemon broke down the wall of thinking that anime were just adult cartoons that my dad installed in me after sneeking in on him watching Akira.

After those two shows moved to Adult Swim, That opened alot of doors to other anime like Cowboy Bebop (even though at first I thought that was copying OLS so it took me a while to like it.) and a few other shows. Then from that launching point I started to discover series on my own by reading the manga then finding the anime on DVD. And here I am now.

Since then, I have gone back and wached OLS un-edited. I still have yet to see anything outside of Tenchi Muyo in Love un-edit. But I hope to find the Tenchi DVDs one day and finaly get to see my second anime, and the true series that got me into anime, un-edited.

Sorry for the long post, I really am...

How ya doing, buddy?

I guess I was getting into anime before I knew it was anime. I used to watch Speed Racer whenever I could catch it on, and once my family finally got Cable I started watching Cartoon Network about the time they were showing DBZ, Sailor Moon, and the series that REALLY got me into anime, Voltron. After that it was just a matter of searching the internet and finding out about this-series-and-that, and once the fansub community became as big as it did I only watched more and more.

Nowdays I've cut back on my watching. I used to binge-watch whole series at a time, now I just watch a few episodes every now and then. I still enjoy it just as much though.

FELIPE NO

I'm not ashamed to admit that it was the ALMIGHTY powers of Pokemon that got me into anime. It was like around 1999 or something when it was really popular, and I just got hooked, both by the game and the (terrible) TV series. But I was young at the time so I didn't care. All I knew was that the animation was (in my opinion) far better than the Saturday morning Disney lineup that I just had to watch it. Then came along Digimon, where I discovered that there's more to anime than the aesthetics -- the story (whatever story Digimon had for it's audience).

Then I realized after some bad searching that you can download these things, and I discovered other rather popular shows that are shown in the US - Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, NGE, etc. The first series I've downloaded and watched in its entirety was Fushigi Yuugi, and even then I thought it was literally da bomb.

I wish I had a more colorful start to anime, but these series were enough. What really got me into manga, though, was Hikaru no Go. But that's another story altogether, since manga for me is much more diversified.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I remember seeing Macross and Speed Racer on TV waaaay back when I was barely out of diapers. That was followed up by Sailor Moon when it had a short run on some station several years before Cartoon Network's Toonami picked up. And then yes, there was Toonami, I got hooked on DBZ when I was about 12/13ish for a few years and then decided that bad dubbing wouldn't cut it anymore and went out of my way to rent anime. I jumped into the deep end at that point when I was about 15/16. Eva and Lain all the way. I consider that my true entrance into the large world of anime, those two series earned a lot of respect in my book for the medium.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Outlaw

Sorry for the long post, I really am...

You are totally forgiven due to the awesomesauce that is your sig.

I didn't really fall into anime on purpose, one of my girlfriends was rather fanatical about it and dragooned me into watching it on a regular basis. I drew the line cosplay (despite the fact she looked damned fine in it, as opposed to some of the washing machine sized Yunas that have reared their ugly heads in the cosplay thread in the Sewers.)

Mind you, I was a devoted Tranformers fan back when I was a kid, as was every other guy at my school. Agro's cartoon connection and then Cheez TV later on fueled it a bit with Teknoman, Macross, Voltron, (both lion and vehicle) Samurai Pizza Cats and Astro Boy, so I'd been watching anime for longer than I thought.

I tend to stick to anime of the giant robot and comedy varieties though, not many others really catch my attention.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

What got me hooked into anime was American Dubbed versions being aired on TV. Then, with some help from my friends who hax the intranet, I woke up to fansubbing.

A 10 year trek of anime exploration. I guess it took me a while.

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

My first exposure would've been video game ads in the mid 90's that advertised an anime art style (Lunar, for example). I really liked the art style in all those that I saw. Then a couple years later, Sailor Moon came on Cartoon Network, in a time slot that was right after school. My sister watched it, and I started watching with her, as we only had one tv. I then started watching DBZ, which was on either right after or before, when that summer rolled around. I think this was around '97 or '98. Those two had me hooked, and eventually I seeked out more.

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

I'm so oldschool that I used to watch anime without even knowing that it was anime. I don't remember the details, but as a child I would watch Robotech. I actually went to some random video rental place that no longer exists and rented the videos. I was really into it. Then there was Transformers - totally hooked. I can't forget about Speed Racer and Samurai Pizza Cats (this needs a DVD release RIGHT NOW). Oh, and how can I forget about Voltron - which I used to watch on the Spanish channel, I think, even though I don't speak Spanish. I eventually watched Sailor Moon and DBZ. I finally figured out that anime was anime around the time that YTV started showing DBZ. Oh, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. I was so into that show. I'm sure that I'm forgetting about other things that I used to watch as a kid, but I've basically been watching this stuff all of my life.

I was speaking idiomatically.

omfg.

Robotech
Voltron
Thundercats
Speed Racer
Transformers

Those started me off when I was still barely able to walk I do believe =p But I think the very first time I saw anime might've either bee the latter Unico movie or Nausicaa. Both of those were conceived in the early 80s... Hardly remember them but I do recall being exposed to them often. My oldest brother, who has five years on me, absolutely adored the Nausicaa movie.

Damn I feel old. By the time DBZ hit American TV, I was already a semi-seasoned anime lover =I

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Mobile Suit Gundam
Dragon Ball / DBZ
Ranma 1/2
Maison Ikkoku
Evangelion.

Those are my first memories of anime, in no particular order. I saw most of them back in my early phase of experimentation with anime. My interest didn't really start to take off until about 2003 though. Up to that point, it was just the occasional anime binge. Now it's an everyday thing.

That's if you're talking about anime that was uncut, uncensored, usually bootlegged, and which I actually understood to be anime. Other than that, I could list the following:

Guyking (Daiku Maryu Gaiking)
Robotech (SDF Macross, Southern Cross, Mospaeda)
Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman)

I watched these when they were on the TV, but I didn't enjoy Robotech much at all after the Macross Saga. I'm much more interested in SDF Macross now. I never got into Voltron, and I don't count Transformers, since it was basically an American production. I love lots of American cartoons too, but that's separate from my interest in anime. Gaiking remains the only one of which I've been unable to see the uncut version.

FELIPE NO

The first and only anime I've ever watched with what might be considered regularity was Samurai Pizza Cats. I suppose you wouldn't say I'm hooked.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Before I even knew it was anime, Robotech, Voltron, and the Thundercats were my daily afternoons. Absolutely hooked on the shit. "DUDE! His jet transformed into a robot! AWESOME!" "Thunder thunder thunder THUNDERCATS! Rawwwwwwr!" "...and I'll form the head!" Hell yea.

However, I didn't know I was watching anime. Many years later, Chrono Trigger happened into my life. Now, this takes precedence, as it was key in showing me what the difference between anime and standard American cartoons was. Chrono Trigger's art style was the same as DBZ's, so when I saw my first episode of DBZ, I linked it back to CT which I had a lot of fun with. From there, I kept on watching and eventually was exposed to (thanks to Toonami) Tenchi Muyo, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Ronin Warriors.

From there, I kept watching on a regular basis. And in 2001, I bought my very first anime boxset for $109 at Best Buy -- Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Most amazing jew boots

Probably about 1995 to 1996, the YTV network started to show pretty old anime series, such as your Dragonball Z, your Sailor Moon, and your Samurai Pizza Cats. This was well, what, grade six? I basically got some of my 'dose' from that, and it stick to me for a while. Come 1999, I never really cared much for the whole Pokemon craze, despite it being a huge marketing success branching in toys and shows and you-name-it. I remember some time where the SPACE channel had their anime showing late Friday nights. I think Venus Wars was one of the very first anime movies I've seen. Holy crap, how could animation be this good? I thought to myself. Now, that movie didn't age so good, if I recall correctly, but at that time, seeing something that was so smooth and carried a more mature theme than your Disney movies was a real treat.

Later on in highschool, one of my friends brought her VHS tapes to me to just check out, since I mentioned that I'm interested in anime. The tapes were, GITS movie, Dirty Pair Flash, and the Patlabor movies. I found DPR pretty dry, but the Oshii films cativated me once again. This was probably back in 2000/2001. I started heading to Blockbuster/Rogers Video to rent whatever anime I could find. At that time, there wasn't even an anime section - it was under "foreign interests" or something like that. The first few animes were Akira (because after reading that it was so lengendary) and some other series that I can't recall. I don’t think I had constant access to internet at this time, so I just went to the library and got a book listing all the different anime series (very old book) and just picked through and saw what was interesting.

I also remember attending the first anime convention at the university. It’s laughably tiny compared to the big stuff you get in Toronto or the US, but still, it was basically one of the best days of venturing into a mini anime land. So many series I’ve never even heard of and so many CDs, Gunpla, OSTs, T shirts, DVDs, movies, toys, trading cards, you name it. Damn, I wish I had a job then.

Around 2002 or 2003, I think that's where I got a few more series through Kazaa or something like that. This was the first instance of finally getting my dose of anime through the Internet. Of course since I didn't get hi-speed service, downloading could take days to just get an episode. Later in university, I didn't watch much anime since I had other interests in mind, namely video games. So this basically brings us to now where I get most of my anime updates from this forum and with the magic of the Internet, I’ve basically watched most of the series that I’ve wanted to check out.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Thinking about it now and I realised that the first anime I ever watched was Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The film was aired on BBC2 and placed on an oddly timed TV schedule and this was when I was 8 years old. Luckily, my mother saw this on the TV and started taping it straight away for me and my sister to watch. The film was amazing, I could find myself watching this one film all the time.

A year later, the next anime I saw was Neon Genesis Evangelion that I bought on VHS in Woolworths. It looked really cool on the front and back so I purchased it without knowing was it was to start with and I REALLY enjoyed it.

Our town was very small and didn't have many shops in which to promote products, I was luckly to find the Eva video when I did since it was the only one at the store and I couldn't find any more. I never saw another anime and that one video stayed on my shelf until I turned 11 years old. New shops had started to open and during my first visit to the new MVC shop, I noticed the other Eva videos and was other joyed.

My collection has since exploded 100x fold and with the move to DVD's and the help of the Internet, the word "anime" soon became apart of my dictionary along with the friends I made in the coming years because of anime.

Boring story, ain't it? :P

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

I'd say Ronin Warriors officially got me into anime. From there it was Sailor Moon, followed by DBZ a year or two later. I'd actually watch Sailor Moon with my sisters and, on occassion, Robotech (when it hit Toonami). We'd go to these tiny anime stores (and I mean tiny, these stores barely existed in Vacaville and some parts of the Bay Area) and buy the cheapest anime merchandise we could get. Of COURSE all they sold was Sailor Moon and DBZ stuff. Without the Internet, we thought that was all that anime had to offer.

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

Thundercats is as American as apple pie, guys. It was conceptualized, developed and written in America. The animation may have been done in Japan, but then the animation for most American work is done in Asia. The same goes for Transformers.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hmm. The producer is Japanese and made quite a few Japanese series hits (Gall Force, Bubblegum Crisis, etc).

All the writers have American names... >.> Figured this was anime pure-and-simple.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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!.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Incredible Mexican

Patlabor

WHAT. How could you not have posted more in my beloved Patlabor thread. ;__;

Also, yeah, another Silent Mobius fan. Too bad it's a sucky series now that I think about it.

How ya doing, buddy?

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. :/

Jam it back in, in the dark.