What anime got you into anime?

happyninja42

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The first japanese animation I recall seeing as a young kid, was Naussica of the Valley of the Wind, possibly called Warriors of the Wind back then, not sure. The original voice actors version, not the remake they recently did with Uma Thurman and stuff.

I remember being I think....6? 7 years old? And it was on HBO one night. Sat there on the floor with my parents, stunned by it. I still cry at the end of it, the imagery and music of the final sequence is just that powerful to me. And to this day, I feel that movie is one of the defining reasons why I want strong, well developed female protagonists in my entertainment.

Shortly after that would be Akira, as well as a mixture of things on MTV's Liquid Television. Then Ghost in the Shell (movie), then Trigun much later.



I wouldn't say that I'm "into anime". I don't really own any of it, I don't do cosplay, and I don't go to cons or anything, but I have a respect for the medium as a whole. Personally I think most of what comes out of it isn't very good, but that's mostly a personal taste thing. But when something good does come along that is an anime, I will enjoy it for the good piece of entertainment that it is.
 

Souther Thorn

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My very first was Speed Racer, followed shortly by Starblazers and Robotech. Those when I was a kid firmly cemented Anime in my head as an emensly enjoyable type of animation, though the only difference I could see at the time was that the characters had the BESM look that characterizes most Anime.
As a grownup, Tenchi Universe hooked me on long form series.
 

PunkRex

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Naruto, over 12 years ago, it's gone off the deep end a bit now but it will always be special to me.
 

bauke67

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I've only really been 'into' anime for a few months now. Of course I watched pokemon and yu-gi-oh and the like when I was very young, but the first real anime I watched knowing it was anime was Fairy Tail. Sadly I didn't like it that much and gave on anime until recently someone told me to watch Elfen Lied. I loved that show despite it's brevity. After that I started looking for things that might be similarly to my liking and started watching Death Note followed by Darker than Black(my favourite so far). Thats my anime life-story, still looking for more things to watch.
 

Fdzzaigl

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Of course I watched things like Pokémon and DBZ as a kid, even unknowingly saw some of the more adult ones, like Ghost in the Shell.

What actually got me into it was Naruto though, yeah, you can say that's not an option but that's the way it went. A friend of mine was watching it subbed and I started downloading them too (I was like 15-16 then). Despite what anyone says, I still think the first parts of that series were pretty damn well done, especially for kids.

After that I made rather quick progression, moving on to things like Elfen Lied, Gantz, Evangelion and Ergo Proxy right away.

My brother had already gotten me into very gritty realistic western comics from an early age however, so it was kind of logical for me to make the step to animation and manga.
 

sextus the crazy

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I watched Pokemon back in the day, but I guess it didn't really come across as "anime" to me, you know. Even when I watched stuff like Rurouni Kenshin and cyborg 009, they didn't come across as anime, but were just "cartoons" to me. It wasn't until I watched Naruto and Neon Genesis Evangelion at a very impressionable age (12 or 13 or so) that I recognized that anime was a thing made by Japanese people and translated into english sometime. Even then I was really just as Naruto fan for a long peroid until the end of high school.

I didn't get into my current anime fandom phase (where I keep up with news and watch a variety of shows) until early 2011 when I was just getting out of highschool and began watching internet reviews by JesuOtaku. I had plenty of time over my Gap Year to watch so I watched a fuck ton of stuff, starting with Baccano!, the first anime I ever bought the DVDs for.
 

Scarim Coral

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Hard to say really. I mean the first anime I've watched was Laputa: Castle in the Sky when it air on TV and the other early animes I've watched was Samurai Pizza Cat, Robotech and Guyver.
I suppose it was the Tooami and CNX (channel) era that truly got me into anime like Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star and a few other animes that was airing at that time (Nadesico).
 
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I suppose if we were to leave out shows like Pokemon and Dragonball Z the show that got me into anime was Metropolis and Ravemaster.
 

RJ 17

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Elfgore said:
Until last year I thought anime was weird and nothing but naked women.
*raises finger and opens mouth after looking at your avatar.* Ahhh......no, nevermind. =P

OT: For me it was indeed DBZ. It was quite literally a gateway anime for me since I used to watch it on Toonami waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day. And what else played on Toonami? Why, Cowboy Bebop (which I imagine will be an anime spoken of frequently in this thread). I came for the DBZ, stayed for the Bebop. Technically speaking, though, it was Bebop that officially made me an "anime fan". Yet I would have never discovered its greatness were it not for DBZ bringing me to the party in the first place, so to be fair I have to give credit where it's due and say that DBZ was the anime that (quite literally) got me into anime.
 

sc1arr1

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Honestly for me, it was back in the late 90's..or maybe very early 2000's when they had Dragonball Z and Outlaw Star back to back on Toonami. I remember getting home from school, doing whatever it was I did as a kid, then cooking a pizza and watching both with my dad. Good times!
 

infohippie

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For me it was back at the beginning of the eighties, with Space Captain Harlock and, slightly later, Space Battleship Yamato. Those two shows got me hooked while I was still pretty young, and then Macross several years later sealed the deal.

...Yes, I'm old.
 

IshimaruHayato

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I watched DBZ, G Gundam, Bobobo-bobo-bobo,and FLCL. I think when I witnessed different genres of anime I began to take interest in it. Then I watch outlaw star, zatch bell, MAR, and cardcaptor sakura to satisfy my need even more. But after my experience with it, I tend to complain whenever spongebob is on tv I always thought to myself instinctively "You know whats better than spongebob? anime^_^"
 

Verlander

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Gundam Wing... first time I realised a cartoon could cover issues like politics and international dispute. With giant robots.

EDIT: Remember the "Mobile Drones" in GW? They called it...
 

Signa

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Sadly, Inuyasha. This was because a friend was showing off anime at our highschool's Game Club. The concepts of mythological feudal Japan was extremely cool and new to me, because almost all of our American mythology is based off of christian and Greek myths. I tried watching some of the show last year or so, and it was unbearable.
 

Corven

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I still remember, it was one time I stayed over at a friends house and we first watched Ronin Warriors and then Dragon Ball Z. When I went home the next day I was pretty much on a mission to find the channel that those shows were on, and from there I've been watching anime pretty much from then on til now.
 

Hochmeister

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Didn't even know anime existed until my college roommate introduced me to Trinity Blood. God that was such a stupidly awesome show. Not the best by a long shot, but it's still got a special place in my heart. I started looking for more after that because it scratched an action/fantasy/sci-fi itch in a way that western shows simply didn't. Since then my tastes have branched out a bit, but I still prefer that sort of show over all others.
 

Rattja

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Erhm..... I am not sure if I want to be 100% honest on this one.

I wouldn't exactly label myself as an "anime fan" as I am not THAT into it, but I have seen a few series over the years.
I would like to say that my first was The Boondocks, but that's not exactly anime now is it?

Back when I was about 14 I had a guy in my class that was really good at drawing manga, it got me sort of interested but never really cought on until later. Thing was, and is, that I never really cared much for what the story was, or who the characters were or anything like that. I watch them almost exclusivly because I really, really like the manga/anime style of drawing.
I don't know exactly what it is, but it just feels so clean, so I tend to lean towards series that are drawn well.

So I guess the first time I thought to myself "wow this is really well drawn" must have been Bible Black (don't judge).
If that does not qualify, then I have to say either Full Metal Alchemist or Ghost in a Shell.
 

MrMisfit

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Sailor Moon was the 1st anime I ever saw but Dragonball Z was the one that got me hooked. I remember watching 2 back to back episodes every weekend on UPN ( back when there was such a thing ).
 

freaper

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While I did watch Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh and DBZ as a child, the first anime that got me thinking "I want to watch more anime" was Death Note. I liked the feeling of it not just being a cartoon while keeping this dark fantasy element. Although it's been several months (or even years) since I've last finished a series I'd say that that feeling has remained the same for me. Titles like Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Spice & Wolf, etc have all stuck with me for that reason.