What was your first anime? When did you started to watch it? How did you become aware of its existence?
Was it the anime that made you an anime fan? (If you consider yourself as such)
How does it rank for you? Would you say you still like it? Would you consider it one of you favourite anime series?
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Akira. Hell of a way to get introduced to anime as a kid.
Same! I remember watching Akira as a kid when it was on TV back in the 90s and it just blew my mind.
Created a life long appreciation for anime and animation in general.
Me too!
I was about 12. The last 1/3rd of that movie really fucked with my kid brain, gave me nightmares for weeks, and turned me completely off from trying any other anime until I found Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network like 8 years later. XD
Akira was my intro to anime too. It came on IFC incredibly early in the morning (no idea who picked that time slot) and I was often the only one awake in my house at 4am on a Saturday.
Probably Pokemon or Dragonball Z.
Before I knew what anime was, probably something like Speed Racer.
First “let’s see what this anime thing is about” anime that I watched: Ghost in the Shell (the OG movie). It was a good choice.
Spirited Away
Circa 2002, I had refused to give anime a chance because it looked like kid junk to me. Spirited Away singlr-handedly convinced me I was wrong.
The Wizard of Oz was the first, before I knew there was some sort of a difference between this or that animation.
The first “proper” one was either Spirited Away, Chobits (by recommendation) or Bleach. I adore Miyazaki’s work still, Wizard of Oz has a special, nostalgic place in my heart and I want to see it again sometime, Bleach I probably couldn’t bother to watch anymore (soooo much filler and pointless fan-service aimed at teenaged boys, I couldn’t stand all that stuff even then), Chobits I might give a spin sometime just to see if it’s at all not-horrible, but it’s been a while so I can’t really remember. The whole virgin-boy wants sex angle and fan-service thing never appealed to me and ruins so many animes that would be good or even great otherwise.
Ever? Or first after knowing about/wanting to get into anime?
I certainly saw plenty as a kid before I knew anime was a distinct thing. Super old stuff like Kimba, speed racer and voltron.
I think a much later first was robotech, even if it’s a edited/remixed version of Macross.
Oh no how dare you remind me lol. Wolf’s Rain here’s episode 1 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x82c7kc the theme SLAPS but the whole things lowkey furry bait. still good, kinda wanna watch it again.
Cardcaptor Sakura!! I found the manga as a kid and became intrigued by it on account of being a comic that Wasn’t obviously for boys. I promptly marathoned all the manga in my tiny little library. Pretear, Wish, some type of ice skating manga…
But then I googled it.
I was doomed. The entire series of Cardcaptor Sakura was on either YouTube or Veoh. I watched it all. Then I watched Ojamajo Doremi, and then Shugo Chara…
Cardcaptor Sakura got me into anime and manga, but I think out of my beginning anime I wouldn’t rank it too high. It’s nostalgic, it’s cute, I love it, it’s just there’s better ones out there.
It’s been pretty long ago for either interpretation, so my memory might be off.
The first ever was probably Heidi or Biene Maia.
The first ever not explicitly produced for a western audience was probably Captain Tsubasa.
The first after having a concept of anime vs. cartoons was one of Akira, Ghost in the Shell or Blue Lagoon.
Robotech Macross as a kid, but I wasn’t really aware of it the first time I saw it.
But then 10-year-old me discovered DBZ when it aired in the UK for the first time and after that I was hooked.
Macross holds up, imo, even if it gets a little weird to watch in certain places as an adult. I honestly outgrew DBZ in my adulthood, the power fantasy was cool when I was a kid but as a person grown and a parent now I find most of the characters insufferable.
Also watched Robotech as a kid and also didn’t know it was anime at the time. I think the first real full series I watched “subbed” was Flame of Recca (1997-98 version) followed closely by Record of Lodoss War (1990 version) and Rurouni Kenshin (1996-98 version).
I didn’t discover Rouroni Kenshin until much later, as it never officially aired in the UK (and if it did, I missed it completely).
It was probably late 00s when I first got to the States that I saw it for the first time based on recommendation.
That being said, after DBZ I went into all the 90s / early 00s classics: Elfen Lied, GitS, Trigun, Bebop, Outlaw Star, Akira, etc.
They honestly don’t make anime like they used to. I can’t point to anything modern that even comes close except maybe the Blame OVA from a few years ago. Maybe Chainsaw Man but the tropes are so modern it’s hard for me to compare it to anything from back then.
I have a vague recollection of seeing part of Princess Mononoke as a child, so I guess that would be my “first”, although what really got me interested in anime was watching the first couple episodes of Attack on Titan at a high school club.
Sailor Moon. I grew up right.
Hard to say for sure but probably Speed Racer. Dragonball Z is definitely the first one I followed consistently. But Speed Racer would have likely been the first I came across.
It would have been playing on Cartoon Network pre-toonami when I was a kid. Back before the US thought there was any difference in Japanese Animation vs US animation.
Spirited Away is what set me to going out of my way for more. But Toonami gave me Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, .Hack//Sign and Inuyasha while Adult Swim got my Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Wolfs Rain, etc.
I saw Spirited Away in a theater in the mid 2000s and started downloading stuff left and right.
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Pokemon. It ended up being my morning show that would end right before I had to leave for school. But what really put anime on my radar was the old YouTube algorithm, constantly showing me pirated episodes of obscure anime lol. Good times. Thank god I never ran into anything traumatic, cuz I just winged it for a while.
I still love the anime as a childhood experience, but I don’t consider it great. Probably one of the only childhood shows I’d be willing to watch today would be Avatar The Last Airbender, but I know it doesn’t exactly count as anime.
