How did you get into anime?

[Mr Silmero]

This is a bit of a offshoot of my other topic "First anime that you knew was anime" and I did not see the topic on this board so I will make this short.


How did you get into anime? was it through a friend, co-worker, family member or did you stumble onto it like myself and been hooked since? also what anime did you get addicted to first?

For myself it was Sailor Moon.

[Darknight2433]

Spirited Away. Just because it was the best animated movie of the year, my mom and I saw it and learned of anime and I thought it was awesome. But the main show that got me into it was Rave Master. Man I love that show. <333

Actually, I truly don't know.

[reppy]

Well, I started off with Vampire Hunter D, then shortly thereafter saw Akira for the first time.  All I knew was that it was Japanese and violent, therefore I thought it was cool.  Hey, I was like 9 or 10 at the time, gimme some slack.  From there, I watched whatever I could on Sci-Fi (I saw a few cool ones . . LILY CAT comes to mind) and bought a few tapes (yes, tapes -- you danged whipper snappers and your DEE BEE DEES or whatever) at Suncoast.  A few titles like Devil Man, The Guyver, and Angel Cop.  Yeah, exactly, heh.  Anyways, so fast forward to around 7th grade, I discovered Neon Genesis Evangelion.  It was the first anime I ever downloaded, and it was in this really crappy format called VIVO.  Each episode was like, 40MB or something so it was ideal for someone like me with a 56k modem.  Problem with this file format was that you needed a special program and .. drum roll, please .. you couldn't skip ahead in the video.  I eventually started buying the tapes, and they were expensive as hell.  $29.95 for 2 subtitled episodes at Suncoast.  Plus tax.  By the time I had the first 3, I laid off for awhile and then a few years later they came out on DVD.  I swear I had that first disc on pre-order for like a year.  In between seeing NGE and buying the NGE DVDs, I was also exposed to Tenchi Muyo! and my fanboy obsession with Sasami blossomed.  (Prior to that, I was an Asuka fanboy.  Yeah, I was a masochist back then.  Now I'm a Chi fanboy.)

The first anime DVD I bought was the Tenchi Muyo! OVA boxset.  I even got the limited edition Ryoko foil.  So awesome!  After that, I started buying anime DVDs left and right.  Trigin, Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiments Lain, Battle Athletes.  I attended the Clark College anime club almost weekly.

To be honest, I really miss those days.  To me, those were the golden days of my anime viewership.  I have extremely fond memories of downloading Kenshin VCD fansubs off some random person's FTP site, burning them to disc 2 at a time and watching them with a homebrew MPEG/AVI player on Dreamcast.  Memories~

[Oniyukai]

Started with Gotchamon and Speed Racer reruns when I was 5 or six... and then Robotech Aired and I was addicted to that style of Cartoons...Voltron  on Saturday mornings on USA network when cable companies appeared in the 80s. Then all the shows disappeared for about 5 years and you had to read Dark Horse Manga until. Channel 12 started airing episodes of Sailor Moon and DBZin 1993. Saw Siskel and Ebert review Akira and Roujinzi in 1994...SCI FI channel started showing Project A-KO and Vampire Hunter D... Teh internetz started Fan subbing mangas when Netscape.s Mozaic Browser could display Jpgs.  In 5am on Saturdays(yes I was a nutty kid) Cartoon Network aired the same movies on Saturday Anime (long before AdultSwim came about). My favorite series which was Amazingly transalted on VHS but has since been impossible to find was GIANT ROBO... The action and animation in that show was perfect...must find non-chinese DVDs of that show!

[superjaz]

well after D it got me and my brothers thinking, the style was framiler to other cartoons & movies we had watched, like my favorite movie when i was little (yes thats is how it was spelled in the intro )"the fantasic adventures of unico", made by Osamu Tezuka, and others like the "Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics" and so on and we found the very limited anime section when we saw video of D there, and proceded to rent out anything that looked good, which talking about 16 years ago, wasnt always much
but when we visited other peeps we would check out their video store selection things like akira, slayers devil man (viseting dad when saw that i honestly dont think he was paying attention) vampire princess miyu and others i just dont remeber,
and sailor moon on at six am and samurai pizza cats which was on when we had to leave for school
after more japanese programing made it on air and on shelfs we watched what we wanted, but we really didnt get ood acess till 2000 when we moved back to portland and got cartoon net work with cow boy bebop trigun, tenchi ect.

I read about anime conventions in an anim mag and thought it sounded cool, i did a random search and founk that there was going to be one in eugene weekend after thanks giving, barterd my 21st birthday present away, to beable to go and the rest is history

[valliegirl]

I always have been a fan of American Animation, so Anime wasn't too much of a stretch for me.  As a teenager, my love for "cartoons" didn't subside, and I watched The New Adventures of Batman and Robin (which eventually evolved into the Batman/Superman Adventures), Animaniacs, and Tiny Toons religiously.  Sometime between late 1995-early 1996, I was flipping through channels and on the USA channel there was a cartoon I'd never seen before in a style which was totally different from anything else I'd ever watched.  I'd come into the middle of an episode, had no clue what was happening, or what I was watching, but was transfixed.  I was usually busy during that time slot, and I think I was told we had to leave soon after finding it and wasn't able to watch the rest of the episode, or even really find out what the heck it was I'd been watching.  But I knew the next time I was able to watch tv again during that timeslot, I should try watching again. 

A little while later, I was at a friends house during that same time frame when they turned on USA to watch Sailor Moon, and I realized it was the same show I had found previously.  So I sat and watched with them, and was hooked.  Every chance I got to watch the show in that time frame, I did.  Once it moved to Toonami, it was in a better time slot for my schedule so I was able to watch it a bit more easily.  The same friends who turned on Sailor Moon that day were also becoming interested in Anime and let me read some Ranma 1/2 and Ah My Goddess manga.  From there, any little piece of anything we could find, we'd watch.

[nikkiolie]

I was at soccer camp one morning and the kids where showing off the DBZ cards and I had no idea what that was so once I got home after that I watched and episode and got hooked. Also I had a Japanese kid in my fourth/fifth grade class that had pokemon cards WAY before anyone else and he told us where to get them. So once it hit America I already knew most of the characters ^_^

[Wuntvor]

I mainly got into it because my daughter was into it.  I suppose the first series I really went crazy over is Ranma 1/2.  I have all 7 seasons and the movies and OAV's.  Anyway, I really liked all of the Studio Ghibli movies.  I am glad that Disney decided to sub most of them.  I am eagerly awaiting Ponyo next year.  I have since become a major fan of all anime.  I watch it.  I haven't really gotten into manga yet.  I have a few.  I read them to compare to the shows I watch.

[xxxchihiroxxx]

Gundam Seed <3 I watched tonami before they aired it and I started watching other animes but once I saw gundam seed I was hooked.

[tofutakeout]

brother(s). one loved a whole bunch of series the other liked a couple mainstream ones. I was like 4, they helped me name my cat 'Manga'(she still resides to this day) and then it kind of shot off from there.

[Mister_manji]

Robotech.

Then, I used to watch Saturday Anime on SciFi. Iria: Zeiram, Gall Force, Akira. Stuff like that. Then, there was a big gap until I started watching Toonami at the age of 11. Gundam Wing, Dragon Ball, Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo and Outlaw Star brought me into the big leagues. Anything i could get my hands on followed. Then, when I belatedly got into torrents, (2005) diversity in programming followed, culminating in a leadership position in the PSU Anime Club.

[Kahlan4]

just happened to be watching cartoons in the afternoon and saw sailor moon and dbz on toonami and got hooked. it all evolved from there ^.^

[flash15]

Well in Aug 06', I was a member of a Harry Potter website, and there was a huge thread on there about Naruto.  So I decided to check out this thing called anime.  Watched about 180 episodes in just over 2 weeks.  Then I got watcing Bleach.  The in Jan 07 I realized that I could read the manga and be ahead in the story.  Woot!

Last fall I found onemanga, and it is only since then I have been reading other ones.  I literally just go to the list there, and start from the top clicking manga's and reading the summary.  If they look interesting, I read them, if not, nope.

[KogaRyu]

First anime i watched on a regular basis was Robotech on Cartoon Networks Midnight Run. I remember begging my parents to let me stay up late enough to watch it and then forcing myself to stay up past ThunderCats. However it really started for me with watching pokemon and Cardcaptors afterschool on Fox. I then started watching  G-Force, Sailor Moon and alot of the other animes on the original and old skool Toonami with Moltar. By the time Tom and Gundam Wing came around i was pretty much hooked.

[Trumby]

Akira was the first one I ever saw. After that the two that really got me into it were Gundam Wing and Outlaw Star because of midnight run on Toonami back in the day.

Though I guess DBZ was a part of that as well as I pretty much watched that everyday.

[Blue Leader]

It was quite a while ago when I first got into anime. If I remember right, it started with Robotech on Cartoon Network (I don't even remember if Toonami had started back than). And later I got deeper into anime with Sailor Moon. And it just grew from there.

[kurakoneko]

Sailor Moon was my first anime,though I did not know it at the time.My friends got me hooked on anime about three years ago.

[RandomCosplay]

lol my 1st was voltron

[Griff_the_dragoon]

i am cheesy mine was the old school poke'mon ya it was sweet

[Higuma]

I watched a couple eps. of FMA on adult swim when they first had it on. I thought it was pretty good and it opened my eyes to the world of anime.

[MizzArianna]

Pokemon.

[Deviant Spider]

funny story:

So my brother is 5 years younger than me and he was into pokemon as a kid totally hardcore. His obsession seemed fun so I started to follow it too. But I was more into Mythology and Dragons and European History. That was MY obsession. Well at one point my brother started to obsess about Dragons too and I got jealous. I told him Japanese things were HIS thing and Europen history was MY thing. We both stuck to our own sides untill well after I moved out.

It wasnt untill I started dating David (2008 Hotel Leison and other titles in his history with Kumoricon) that he started submursing me in the ways of Anime. And dang it is really fun!

So now my brother laughs at me and calls me a traitor. lol.

History is still my thing, but Anime is my amusement.

[CrimsonHime]

ummm fliping through the tv while sick, and started watching Voltron. and then was too lazy to change the channel so i watched Sailor moon, got hooked, and then Tenchi muyo....
yea, but I feel in love and have watched sooooo many animes since then!!!

[nikkiolie]

I think I would have to say that a friend in the neighborhood stated it with me. He introduced me to Final Fantasy (I know it's a game) and then one day he was watching an anime and I got hooked. It was "Riding Bean" a sub movie off of one of the characters from Gunsmith Cats.

And then from there Pokemon....way before most. I had to go to Uwajimaya to get my cards. It was hooked long before they started showing the anime in America.

[Blackstar]

Well I always like americanization anime like "pokemon", "Dragon Ball Z" and the "Americanized Naruto" (shutter  ). Then in high school I read my first manga the REAL "Naruto" and it took off from there. Then i got into Zatch bell, full metal alchemist, MAR, death note, Hikaru No GO and Tsubasa reservoir chronicle. But the most important the all holy AMV.

[Blackstar]

How did I forget "Soul Eater"

[Hidamari]

My older cousin. he introduced me into naruto and i branched off from there.

[Sugarlat]

The first time I got into anime seriously was....
Inuyasha. I accidentally recorded an episode,
But I was watching Pokemon and Sailormoon since I was born XD

[Seraph]

sailor moon was the first anime I saw by rare chance of waking earlier in the morning then normal for me at the time.  I think I was in the 2-3rd grade or so.   but I didn't get into anime until I got into ranma 1/2 which I had saw at a rental video store and wondered what it was about as I remembered seeing in nintendo power before.

[Hazuza]

tldr; Cartoon Network.

I used to come home really late (like midnight?) and I'd watch toonami's midnight run ^^ I liked watching cartoons a lot, so even if I didn't get what was going on, it was a habit to watch that channel, even late 80
The first real anime (that I knew was anime) that I got into either was... YuYuHakusho or InuYasha... InuYasha really got me into anime since I started looking things up on the internet and found out more on what anime was

Another thing that edged me into it was my babysitter's son, who would always watch DBZ and G Gundam while I was at his place. And he loved Naruto long before it was dubbed |D I remember him talking to me about it, but it sounded like gibberish with "RASENGAN" and whatnot xD

[tofutakeout]

I forgot to mention card captor sakura. I actually thought of that like 3 days ago(and my first post in this topic was like a month or two) XD

[Darryn-Chan]

ummmmm, my friend shay......i think. ha