What anime got you into anime?

[kasperbbs]

I started watching anime before i even knew what it was, a bunch of shows aired on TV right after school, but i only liked DBZ from that lot, stuff like digimon, pokemon, sailor moon didn't interest me at all. Then one day i cought a glimpse of Hellsing airing late at night and i thought that it was the most bad ass cartoon i have seen in my short life so the next day i went to my friend with an internet connection and downloaded the whole show, then we found a couple of other great shows in the same category and we were hooked.

 

[Seracen]

I suppose I SAW anime well before I became conscious of it (Saber Riders and Robotech/Gundam/etc), but it never really caught my fancy until high school.

I remember seeing "Armitage III." I can't even recall what prompted me to buy it, probably the cool artwork (very "Blade Runner" feel). Still, after seeing that movie, the flood gates opened.

After that, the next big anime nostalgia for me was Toonami's Midnight Run. My fave lineup consisted of Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, and Tenchi. Barring Bebop, all these titles still remain in my top 10 (Bebop is somewhere in the teens for me...blasphemy I know).

 

[Smiley Face]

I think my friend gave me one or two before I got to it, but for me it was Baccano!, and it was awesome.

 

[Hectix777]

I was home sick from school one day, randomly flipping channels, and chanced upon a pretty significant episode of Sailor Moon, and was hooked almost immediately.

It wasn't the first anime I'd ever seen (that was probably Speed Racer), but it was the first I associated with the concept, and convinced me to start watching the rest of the show, check out what else was showing on Toonami (Tenchi Muyo was my next big thing), and see what was available at my local video store (not a whole lot, but I watched most things that were there; Sorcerer Hunters, Ranma, Record of Lodoss War...Ninja Scroll >_>...).

Tenchi Muyo! is my favorite anime ever. The cast was memorable, the story was fun, its probably the only harem anime where the protagonist almost knows that the women are attracted to him and probably the only one to speak out or just try to do his own thing rather then theirs.

Plus Ryoko; everyone's first anime crush. Fairly confident that it was Ryoko herself that got me into anime.

Also, just want to point out that a lot of the shoes we're listing ran on the Toonami block back in the late 90's. I guess Toonami really was the force that pushed anime over the edge.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Well I watched DBZ religiously as a kid, but that was back before I even knew what anime was so I'm not sure if that counts. If not, Gurren Lagann it is.

 

[Hectix777]

Was working night shifts and one of the other guys got us all to watch Trigun during our breaks... We've been friends ever since and I've been huge into anime ever since.

Every time someone mentions Trigun I have to do this.

 

[Funyahns]

Dragon Ball Z was probably the first that I caught. Then later on Stuff on adult swim like Cowboy Bebop, TriGun, Full Metal alchemist. Now I have been watching a bunch of anime that were visual novels. Like Fate Stay Night, Little Busters

 

[Fifty-One]

It was a combination of Escaflowne and Princess Mononoke. Someone in the dorms was watching it and I ended up getting hooked on anime. Immediately afterward I watched Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Record of Lodoss War, Armitage, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Trigun.

Thinking about Ghost in the Shell and Armitage has me thinking about Blade Runner now. I need to watch that again.

 

[happyninja42]

Was working night shifts and one of the other guys got us all to watch Trigun during our breaks... We've been friends ever since and I've been huge into anime ever since.

*thumbs up* Eeeeexcelleeeent xD

Love Trigun, one episode in particular still makes me cry when I watch it. xD Damn good show.


Engaging in a little cross pollination here, you should check out Bennet the Sage's show Anime Abandon over on That Guy With The Glasses. He does a fun review/critique of anime, and I loved his evaluation of why he felt Trigun was one of the better anime's out there.

 

[Michael Tabbut]

This is a tough one to answer because I've been watching it casually since I was really little. The first anime I remember watching was an untranslated VHS copy of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind from my aunt and uncle when I was about 3 or 4 years old. My enjoyment of anime really kicked in with the shows on Toonami, most prominently Sailor Moon, G Gundam, DBZ, etc. What probably sealed my love was an accidental rental of End of Evangelion at age 7 or 8. Scarring as it was, it really got me into the medium.

 

[gagagaga]

I think it was Fooly Cooly and shortly thereafter Bleach in grade 6. I had watched a Studio Ghibli or two, and the Nelvana Cardcaptor Sakura dub, but those two were what introduced me to the anime as a "thing".

 

[Artina89]

Like many people, my first foray into anime was Pokemon and Digimon. From there I went onto Virus: Virus buster Serge, the 2003 version of Astro boy (I love the intro):


I also watched BlackJack and Trigun. To this day I still love anime and the ones I watched as a child are ones that continue to be among my favourites.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

It would probably be a stretch to say I'm "into" anime, I only watch a few and I'm very picky about them. I suppose the first one I really enjoyed was Tenchi Muyo. I'm not currently watching any, I'm waiting on Shingeki no Kyojin to start up again. I'm also thinking about watching Full Metal Alchemist, from what I've heard about it it sounds like one I would enjoy.

 

[Fox12]

DBZ, Digimon, and the entirety of Toonami. Funny, since I didn't think of t.v. as anime. They were just cartoons. However, because I watched those shows as a kid I was more open to anime when I grew older. After a faze where I avoided anime, I eventually came back to the medium through Studio Ghibli and shows like Elfen Lied, Saikano, and, more recently, Berserk. I wouldn't call myself a huge anime fan, I tended to get annoyed by my Weeaboo friends in high school, who wouldn't shut up about pocky and Naruto, and how subs are always better than dubs. However, once I came to understand that anime could exist as an intelligent and beautiful art form, it won me over. It's actually the only form of "television" I'll watch right now, since the season are usually small and self contained, unlike American television.

What probably sealed my love was an accidental rental of End of Evangelion at age 7 or 8. Scarring as it was, it really got me into the medium.

Out of pure curiosity, how does one accidentally rent Evangellion? Please be specific, I'm doing a college dissertation on the affects of crazy on the child brain : P

 

[The Wykydtron]

snip

Oh Rosario Vampire, there's something I haven't seen in a while. (i've always cut out the cross when writing for convenience) I never finished the manga, did it end well? I used to marathon the manga back in the day. The days where Onemanga.com was live... Good times.

Well around half-way through the second season, the show went so dark and edgy I almost cut myself on it. Evil organizations, world destroying evil, etc. The ending was really good, it does one of those... I don't know to describe what it is over the internet. Something really bad happens and they do a cheap shot to not make the ending so sad. I liked it, but sometimes a I want something to end with a little sadness. Tskune becomes a total badass though. I'd suggest finishing it.

Going a little off topic, how'd you like TWGK's ending?

Spoiler

I did like it, it's great how the writer kept prioritising Keima's character over everything else, recognising that Keima is pretty much the sole reason TWGOK is so good. He didn't just cave and make him say some drivel like "oh maybe the world is alright after all, I should cut down my games" but kept him in character the entire time. Seriously, the manga would have had some easier plotpoints to write if he cut corners like that. Also the time travel worked. No idea how, I hate all time travel stories in the world but it worked here. It was refreshingly simple and worked as a lives mechanic to keep the plot going.

Honestly I should have hated the last phase of TWGOK. The cool main character gets turned into a child while introducing time travel into the manga. It worked damn it, how did it work? I suppose because they happened for a reason? Like that time travel made sense in universe to keep the plot going and there's always a link to the present via the Goddesses so you cannot get tangled in timelines. Time travel just for the sake of time travel is annoying.

Keima just stating that harem endings suck and there has to be one final girlfriend at the end may seem like a cop out excuse to some but it keeps him well in character and let's be honest, harem endings do fucking suck so he's totally right. I never minded about Chihiro winning, it's not my first choice but as if Yui had a chance. Chihiro had some decent foreshadowing on her winning though so it's not like the writer just drew names out of a hat. Probably. Still i'm shocked Ayume didn't win, they dodged the first girl gets the guy rule. Twice if we include Tenri.

Oh and Kaori was such an awesome conquest target/villain, her arc is my favourite part of the whole manga. I do love the mirror stuff, Keima vs Evil Keima. Someone who can legit match Keima was really interesting.

 

[otakon17]

Project A-Ko as shown on the Sci-Fi channel on Saturday Anime. God those were the days.

 

[Lunar Templar]

while I did watch the original US runs of DBZ and Sailor Moon, and even Tekkaman Blade, it wasn't until the original Toonami run that I started getting into it, so Gundam Wing and Outlaw Star are what truly brought me into anime.

Kinda 'between' shows atm, I have Witch Craft Works all ready to go though so probably gonna watch that, well, that, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, I REALLY need to track that down and watch it.

 

[The Random Critic]

Since we are talking about anime...

Yu-Gi-Oh, since I watch the first two arc of this show obsessively when I was a younger.

But the anime that are more memorable to me are FMA:Brotherhood, and that Card Sakura thing...

Now that I think of it, I don't really watch too many anime despite enjoying alot of Japan's stuff. Should probably work on this

 

[Oni Squirrel]

I was watching anime before them, but the two shows that made me a full blown anime fan were probably Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Gosick.

FMA:B is just a fun show to watch with some of my favorite action beats of any anime.

Gosick being the first anime I got truly emotionally attached too. Seriously the series finale still gets me teary eyed on rewatches.

Both also really appealed to my personal aesthetic stylistically which tends to be true for most BONES produced shows.

 

[Tony2077]

well i would have to say the ones on ytv got it started and then when i watched others and had the money i went all out