How Did You Get Interested in Anime?

[Wrecky]

If you're into Pokemon, chances are you like various animes as well. I first heard of Pokemon through the anime that debuted here in the mid 90's after all, which spawned an obsession in me that lasts to this very day. But in no way was it my first anime/game franchise I got into. It all started when I was very young:

I remember as a wee little thing (in the long long ago of the 80's), there was a certain style of animation I knew that I liked, but I had no idea that it in fact had a name: anime. I remember growing up with the likes of Voltron, Samurai Troopers, as well as several "cartoons" that aired on Nick Jr many years ago. One of which was the anime versions of Grimms famous Fairy Tales, a show called the Lil' Bits, and koala dolls that came to life called the Wuzzles.

As I went into adolescence, I finally knew that what I loved so much had a name, and at my local comic book store began reading magazines of all the animes of the time that were popular. This was also around the time of Sailor Moon, the genesis of Dragonball Z in the US, and at last I graduated to other popular animes, such as Tenchi Muyo, Ranma 1/2, Slayers, Record of Lodoss War, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Project A-ko, and many others. Today I'm mostly into 2 animes: Code Geass, Hellsing, and Burst Angel, just to name a few.

So that's how my anime obsession got started. How about the rest of you?

NEW: RULES:
1. No flaming anime. If you don't like anime, don't bother posting here please.
2. I know those of you here who do love anime, please try to stay on topic. I don't want people who come to this thread to be confused and think it's nothing but arguments, as this was not my intent on this thread.
3. I encourage, please, have fun, mention all the animes you're into, I'm seeking new animes to watch all the time!
4. No "bumping", this thread is meant to be a serious, intelligent discussion of anime.

That's all, happy posting!

 

[Jackman10k]

I would have to say around the time they had Ruroni Kenshin, Ronin Warriors (Samurai Troopers?), and Dragon Ball Z were on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, with maybe Yu Yu Hakusho being around that time to. I was amazed by these shows compared to the other shows on CN, especially after I noticed that a hole made by a blast during the fight between Goku and Frieza was still there in the next episode while characters in the other shows would be back to normal in the next panel. So I looked for other shows that did that and started noticing a theme, they all seemed to be drawn around the same, with much more detail than the other shows that I would later find out weren't made in America.

After a long while, Adult Swim came around and brought shows like Inuyasha and Fullmetal Alchemist to the table. As it would turn out, Inuyasha was the sole reason for most Anime being the way it was for the next few years, all over the place on CN.

Along came more shows like Naruto, which I was in awe by, though at the time, wasn't sure why, until I watched more of it, then I knew why. A few random shows later that I maybe liked a little bit, came along my hands-down favorite: BLEACH. At first, I had a bad feeling about the show because I didn't like the commercial, but was proven wrong within the first episode and was completely hooked ever since then to this very day. Another honorable mention is One Piece, something about it was freakin' awesome to nearly all of my senses, but then it just seemed to dissappear, so I was left wondering where it went.

And that's how I got started.

 

[chaos]

If you're into Pokemon, chances are you like various animes as well.

news to me

 

[Firestorm]

I think the first anime I was ever exposed to was Dragon Ball (with the kid goku). I never really followed it religiously. I remember following Sailor Moon with my cousins and brother after that but stopped after maybe the first season or so.

I was exposed to Pokemon through talk at school when I was in grade 4 or 5 and it was just coming out. I didn't have cable at the time and I remember catching one episode when I was at my uncle's house. I was in love with the world and characters just from my friends' descriptions and the game which I got after trying it on my friend's Game Boy. Once I got cable I started watching the series regularly. One of my favourite TV days was this one day on YTV where they showed the new seasons of Pokemon (Cinnibar Island!), Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, and Monster Rancher. I think they called it Toon Typhoon? It was amazing. Was glued to my TV the entire day. I stopped watching Pokemon around the Steel or Ghost gym in Johto. I was also into Dragon Ball Z and Yu Gi Oh. I stopped DBZ during the Buu saga some time when I was sick and tired of it endlessly rerunning. Yu Gi Oh I have no idea when I stopped.

As for watching anime subtitled... My first was Naruto because all my friends seemed to wach it and I got a bunch of CDs from my friend with it. I stopped when it turned into dog shit. Moved onto FullMetal Alchemist from recommendation of a friend (best tv show ever) and .hack//SIGN (stay the fuck away why is this so terrible) because it sounded interesting (srsly it's not). Bleach I started and liked before it became boring as hell. Death Note is one of my favourite shows. Can't think of much else that I've watched that's made an impact.

I don't watch a lot of anime to be honest. It's all stuff my friends have to nag the hell out of me to start. Currently I'm watching FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood which is a remake of FullMetal Alchemist and One Piece which is the best running show on TV as far as I'm concerned.

Comedy anime bores me and makes me cringe. The Japanese have absolutely horrid humour for the most part. The action and drama in anime though is something I've never really found in western animation which I find it either skewed to the young or skewed old but is always comedy. As far as western shows go, my favourites right now are The Office (US) and House MD. I recently started watching 30 Rock which I'm enjoying.

Edit: Fuck why do none of you watch One Piece. Watch One Piece. It's Naruto without the suck and replace the ninjas with pirates. Only issue is it takes like 26 episodes to get going into the good stuff. The first 26 episodes are horrid.

 

[Yaoman]

I would have to say around the time they had Ruroni Kenshin, Ronin Warriors (Samurai Troopers?), and Dragon Ball Z were on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, with maybe Yu Yu Hakusho being around that time to.

for me it was pretty much that + outlaw star

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

I got into anime because of the movie howl's moving castle, which is an awesome movie. But from there anime kind of fell off the map for me. until my friend made me watch naruto. I was hooked, and I stopped watching the anime only to read the manga (pretty much the same goes for bleach as well.) As far as current animes I watch I only have 4 series (FMA2, K-ON!, Hatsoiki Limited, and Eden of the East) but during me 6 or so years of anime watching I've seen over 40 series, both good and bad.

 

[Wrecky]

Ah yes I heard they made a followup to FMA but I was wondering if it was any good. I mean, how do you pickup where you left off? They decided to stay in Nazi Germany our world.

I also agree with the One Piece comment, I do tend to prefer pirates over ninjas. Only thing I hate about the dub really is the horrible, horrible opening theme.

Ah I forgot to mention Digimon, Monster Rancher, hell, usually if it had to do with Monsters I like it. I stopped watching Yugioh for a while now because I didn't want to be tempted to buy more cards again. It seemed like they came out with a new booster pack every month and I just couldn't keep up anymore.

But lately in the morning CN has been airing Yugioh 5Ds which is...different..I mean I can handle going to an academy to duel better but come ON! Dueling on motorcycles? You're seriously reaching, Konami/Shonen Jump.

And yes, Howl's Moving Castle was excellent, the best Miyazaki by far in my opinion. And as far as the Pokemon anime goes right now, I've been getting some laughs out of it. Especially a recent episode where they were terrorized by Rotom at the Old Chateau.

 

[Olie]

I've never been the biggest fan of anime, but when I was in junior high I sometimes went over to a friend's house with some other people and we'd watch about 6 anime episodes (usually Inuyasha, Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, FMA etc).
Twas a good time.

oh yeah yugioh was okay for about 5 seasons

 

[kd24]

dragonball z and yugioh. some of the best stuff i ever saw as a kid. although i have somewhat outgrown dbz, yugioh is still as great as ever, especially gx which focuses more of actual dueling and gameplay than storyline (theres still good stories though).

 

[MagicMaster87]

I remember watching shows such as Tenchi Muyo and Sailor Moon before I even knew what anime was. When I did find out that style of animation had a name, I thought it was called "japanimation" because that's what the local video rental stores called it.

Then I started getting into the series show on the more child-based networks, such as Pokemon, Digimon, and Dragonball Z. Eventually I discovered manga and I pretty much stopped watching anime since I'd already seen all the stuff shown on Cartoon Network, Kids WB, and Adult Swim several times over and animes were too expensive for my then-meager income. Chobits is probably my favorite series for being the very first manga I ever read, as well as the first anime I saw not being aired on the above-listed channels.

I've never really gotten into One Piece, Naruto, FMA, Code Geass, or any of the other animes shown on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. I think it's mostly just my tendency to not want to watch a series if I don't watch it straight from the beginning to the end, and if I miss a few episodes then I stop watching it.

 

[ferron]

part of my youth was spent in italy, with my family, where they showed saint seiya, city hunter and hokuto no ken as kids shows...
that was the start of it, but there was also the weekend anime showing on the scifi channel, toonami, etc. which lead to me being part of both my highschool and my college's anime clubs. now i contine to be interested and in fact will sometime be a panelist at anime conventions.

favorite anime and manga series, in alphabetical order:
666 satan (a.k.a. o-part hunter in the states)
air gear
beach stars
beck
black cat (the manga is much better)
CCS
kodomo no omocha (a.k.a. kodocha, child's toy)
city hunter
d.gray-man
deadman wonderland
doujin-work
flame of recca
fma
gash bell (a.k.a. zatch bell)
gto
historys strongest disciple kenichi (finally released stateside just a few months ago)
hunter x hunter
mahou sensei negima
MAR
nurarihyon no mago
p.k.
pandora hearts
shaman king
slam dunk
spiral
tenjou tenge
veritas

sad thing is that that is a small sample, since i have been watching anime for the past 20 years...

Ah yes I heard they made a followup to FMA but I was wondering if it was any good. I mean, how do you pickup where you left off? They decided to stay in Nazi Germany our world.

that only happens in the anime, since the plot of the anime and manga go in different directions after the lab arch. due to this, a new FMA series was started a short while ago.

 

[Wrecky]

I remember watching shows such as Tenchi Muyo and Sailor Moon before I even knew what anime was. When I did find out that style of animation had a name, I thought it was called "japanimation" because that's what the local video rental stores called it.

Then I started getting into the series show on the more child-based networks, such as Pokemon, Digimon, and Dragonball Z. Eventually I discovered manga and I pretty much stopped watching anime since I'd already seen all the stuff shown on Cartoon Network, Kids WB, and Adult Swim several times over and animes were too expensive for my then-meager income. Chobits is probably my favorite series for being the very first manga I ever read, as well as the first anime I saw not being aired on the above-listed channels.

I've never really gotten into One Piece, Naruto, FMA, Code Geass, or any of the other animes shown on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. I think it's mostly just my tendency to not want to watch a series if I don't watch it straight from the beginning to the end, and if I miss a few episodes then I stop watching it.

I feel the exact same way about watching animes. If I see a new anime On Demand, I will refuse to watch it if its not from the beginning. Nothing irritates me more than missing episodes and being confused.

 

[Fishin]

Somewhere in high school I hung over at a the house of a friend that liked watching Adult Swim, and got introduced to some shows like FMA, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Samurai Champloo, etc. That same friend also showed me a couple episodes of FMP Fumoffu which I found hilarious. I liked the shows I saw but didn't have cable so I couldn't ever really catch the whole series, so I went online to watch all the episodes, and from there moved on to some more of the well known stuff like Naruto and Bleach and then just continued watching different shows. It had nothing to do with Pokemon.

Fuck why do none of you watch One Piece. Watch One Piece. It's Naruto without the suck and replace the ninjas with pirates. Only issue is it takes like 26 episodes to get going into the good stuff. The first 26 episodes are horrid.

absolutely agree, on the surface it sort of seems kiddy and lame (blame 4kids) but it ends up much better than either of them. It's pretty amazing that the series has managed to run so long while actually getting better and better instead of worse, which is exactly what Naruto/Bleach have done.

 

[Firestorm]

Ah yes I heard they made a followup to FMA but I was wondering if it was any good. I mean, how do you pickup where you left off? They decided to stay in Nazi Germany our world.

I also agree with the One Piece comment, I do tend to prefer pirates over ninjas. Only thing I hate about the dub really is the horrible, horrible opening theme.

FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a complete reboot of the series. Aside from the first episode, it is going to follow the manga instead of branching off into its own little storyline halfway through like it did in the original series.

If you're talking about the 4Kids dub, the opening was the least of its worries. Cutting so much content that 4 episodes become 1, skipping entire arcs that are integral to the plot later on, and changing the underlying theme of the entire show should be what you're worried about. If you mean the FUNimation dub, I heard that's pretty good. I usually prefer Japanese with English subtitles as they are available eons before the English versions are =P I usually reserve the dub for a second viewing on DVDs if I like the show enough.

 

[CaptKirby]

I saw Love Hina, Escaflowne, Serial Experiments Lain, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Trigun, and Hellsing as a kid. I hated the first three and liked the last four. With that sample size, I decided it was not really worth my time (and, as a kid, did not get a lot of the subtleties of Evangelion/Cowboy Bebop). When I got bored in college, however, things changed a lot.

 

[franky]

I only watch one, and because it has 400+ episodes means I don't have to wait every week. That's how I got into it.

 

[jjfun]

I always used to hate anime because One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Inuyasha, Bleach and a whole host of other animes were fucking terrible.

However, that being said I've realy come to appreciate:

Akira
Samurai Champloo
Cowboy Bebop
Fullmetal Alchemist (old and new)
Infinite Ryvius
FLCL
Hellsing (original and OVA)
GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) (anime and irl)
The Boondocks
Berserk
Trigun
Neon Genesis Evangelion

This is a comprehensive list of any and all the anime you'll ever need. Most anime is terrible.
To those of you who watch kawaii kids anime you should grow up and stop being manchildren.

 

[Wrecky]

FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a complete reboot of the series. Aside from the first episode, it is going to follow the manga instead of branching off into its own little storyline halfway through like it did in the original series.

If you're talking about the 4Kids dub, the opening was the least of its worries. Cutting so much content that 4 episodes become 1, skipping entire arcs that are integral to the plot later on, and changing the underlying theme of the entire show should be what you're worried about. If you mean the FUNimation dub, I heard that's pretty good. I usually prefer Japanese with English subtitles as they are available eons before the English versions are =P I usually reserve the dub for a second viewing on DVDs if I like the show enough.

Ah ok good to know.

And tsk tsk, why doesn't anyone like comedy animes? Excel Saga and Nerima Daikon Brothers are hilarious!

 

[Firestorm]

Well, like I said, the Japanese have a really, really bad sense of humour. haha i fell and slipped and touched you boobs laaawwwllll. Yeah. No.

Also, much of their humour comes from puns which obviously don't translate well over to English."Translater Note: this sounds like this and that's why it's funny" doesn't have the same effect. Although I must admit, Luffy is a genuinely funny character. God I love One Piece. If you don't watch One Piece you're doing it wrong.

 

[TVboyCanti]

Dragonball Z. Isn't that how every person over the age of 17 discovered anime?

 

[spies]

I like comedies! Azumanga and Zetsubou Sensei are some of my favorite shows

Comedy that is inserted in shounen series is usually very dumb though

 

[MegaMewtwo]

Learned about it through the Pokemon anime, before I played the games. I knew that it was based off the games, just hadn't played them.

What about anime you saw before you knew the concept of anime? Is there like a term for that or omething? I ask because I watched Samurai Pizza Cats when I was young (I think I was around 7 at the time). I remember pretty much nothing about it though.

 

[Giga Punch]

I always used to hate anime because One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Inuyasha, Bleach and a whole host of other animes were fucking terrible.

However, that being said I've realy come to appreciate:

Akira
Samurai Champloo
Cowboy Bebop
Fullmetal Alchemist (old and new)
Infinite Ryvius
FLCL
Hellsing (original and OVA)
GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) (anime and irl)
The Boondocks
Berserk
Trigun
Neon Genesis Evangelion

This is a comprehensive list of any and all the anime you'll ever need. Most anime is terrible.
To those of you who watch kawaii kids anime you should grow up and stop being manchildren.

Please note The Boondocks (while I believe slightly influenced by REAL ANIME) is NOT an anime itself.

I'll answer the topic question at a later time.

 

[animenagai]

I grew up in Hong Kong. It's normal.

 

[CaptKirby]

I always used to hate anime because One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Inuyasha, Bleach and a whole host of other animes were fucking terrible.

However, that being said I've realy come to appreciate:

Akira
Samurai Champloo
Cowboy Bebop
Fullmetal Alchemist (old and new)
Infinite Ryvius
FLCL
Hellsing (original and OVA)
GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) (anime and irl)
The Boondocks
Berserk
Trigun
Neon Genesis Evangelion

This is a comprehensive list of any and all the anime you'll ever need. Most anime is terrible.
To those of you who watch kawaii kids anime you should grow up and stop being manchildren.

To those of you who parade your disdain for anime as something that makes you a better human being, grow up and stop playacting. Your list is anything but comprehensive.

Except FLCL, though it still arguably is such, all you did was list most of the most popular shounen. Great Teacher Onizuka is in no way "essential" - it is not really substantial at all even if it is fun. The Boondocks is not even an anime. Berserk is effectively worse than the manga, even the parts both cover. The elder Hellsing anime is widely derided. Infinte Ryuvius hadly belongs on any "comprehensive" list.

What makes Akira more essential than Spirited Away to you? Because Akira came first?

Your trashing of DBZ, Pokémon, and One Piece is what most clearly illuminates your utter misunderstanding of anime that you have watched and ignorance about that which you have not. Just because of whatever personal taste you have, that does not make the extreme quality of Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z any less deniable (at least up until Freiza); it does not make One Piece any less quality (and you can see the art at least try to improve, the one big weakness); it does not make the Indigo League portion of Pokémon bad, especially if you never bothered to watch it in Japanese and understand the very Japanese humor to it.

In conclusion, restrain yourself from making sweeping and stupid judgements about quality (not about anime, but anything) based on your limited experience. Furthermore, do not pejoratively dismiss people for enjoying something just because you have some delusion about how manly and filled with vitality you are compared to everyone who happens to enjoy more than hotblooded, filled to the cusp with action works.