You never forget your first anime

[Lynna]

My first anime was Inuyasha, but, because of the length of the series, I didn't complete it (I've been thinking of watching "The Final Act" Though, since they've finally completed it) I loved it though. Before that, I had thought anime was dumb, but it made me realize that anime isn't all the same.
The First anime I completed was Tokyo Mew Mew, and I also loved it ^_^

[MightiMidget]

Well, technically I guess the first anime I saw the whole thing of was the movie Scamper the Penguin (I only realized it was Japanese-made like a year ago!). There was a period where my little sisters were obsessed with it, and would watch it like once a day.

But when I really began to comprehend what anime was, I was exposed to three anime kind of all at once: My Neighbor Totoro, DBZ, and Pokemon. The one I latched onto was Pokemon

Scamper is anime?!!? xD Wow...ops: I had no idea. That was a first then too, I don't know if it was before or after Pokemon though.

[musicaloddball]

My first anime was technically Naruto, but I never saw a whole lot of it. My friend gave me part of a Naruto episode on Youtube, and then I clicked the first part of the first Fullmetal Alchemist episode in the Related Videos section. By the end of the episode, I was hooked.

So I consider Fullmetal Alchemist my first anime.

[Blacklight]

I used to watch Pokemon and Digimon as a kid, and saw Spirited Away some years later. But I really started getting into anime at 13, and watched the first two seasons of Digimon and started other series. I can't remember for sure what series I finished first after Digimon, but I remember Blood+ being one of my earlier series to complete; it may not have been the first.

Having trouble remembering what I watched when...

[KhakiBlueSocks]

[font="Trebuchet MS"][SIZE="4"][color="RoyalBlue"]This is going to be a relatively long story. (as many of my stories are, heh.)

My unknown journey into anime started with Nick Jr. Back then, I didn't have clue one what anime was--I just noticed that some cartoons looked "different" than others.

Fast forward to my middle school years. DragonBall Z was the hot ticket. It was dang-near required that you knew how to draw Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, Freeza, etc. There was always a handful of guys at work who knew how to draw them really well, and they made a killing doing what we would call "commissions" today. However, DBZ was not really my bag--I was into Pokemon, back when there were only 151. I had the posters all over my wall until my mom ripped them down after it came out that I was hiding my failing report cards.

Fast-forward to high school. My tastes had wondered over to Pokemon's clone Digimon. It was also around this time when my SN KhakiBlueSocks came into being. Digimon was my first real series that I watched from beginning to end. This was when I realized that shows like this were from Japan and it was called "anime". I also had a short-lived viewing love affair with Monster Rancher and Beyblade, but that didn't last very long, thankfully.

Late one Saturday night, in my Sophomore year of high school, I was flipping through the channels and I stopped on Cartoon Network. I noticed the opening sequence of a show I had never seen. The animation style resembled all the anime I've seen up to that point, but it was different somehow...I kept watching. The anime was Yu Yu Hakusho, but I will forever remember it as being my anime baptism by fire--my introduction into REAL anime. As I watched, I knew this was something special--the main character was not your cut and dry "genki" hero, the story was complex and multi-faceted, the episode actually had a cliffhanger instead of everything being resolved in 25 minutes, and at the end of said 25 minutes I was left wanting MORE.

And the rest, as they say, is history.[/color][/SIZE][/font]

[A88mph]

My first were Salor Moon, and Dragonball Z on Tonnami, and Pokemon on KidsWB. Then Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh latter on.

Like most people my age, the first anime I saw was Pokemon (and then Digimon). However, at the time, I didn't know that it was anime.

I know what you mean, I use to think that 4Kids created Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh (a scary thought today.)

...but I had a strong "anime is evil" vibe...

I have those same vibes as well. It actually started when I was young, but never figured out why where these vibes came from. The closest to my reasoning was that (for some bizzare reason) the animation/drawing style just seemed weird to me? Maybe that's where it comes from? I don't know.

However, once I started to understand the more mature stuff in life, I actually keep those vibes around. I don't like fanservice in anything I watch (forign or domestic), and It helps me be weary of what animes I watch, since that stuff is prevelant in anime (even the childrens anime has mentions here and there, but that's what you get from a country of non-christians I guess).

(I was a child, I had no understanding of "fanservice", or anything else related to it. Perhaps God put thoses vibes in me to prepare myself for when I developed an understanding of mature theams.)

[Nate]

(even the childrens anime has mentions here and there, but that's what you get from a country of non-christians I guess)

There is so much wrong with that statement.

[rocklobster]

He's right, A88mph. If you don't believe me, take a look at American comic books. Try googling, say, Catwoman as drawn by Jim Balent. That definitely counts as fan service.

[A88mph]

He's right, A88mph. If you don't believe me, take a look at American comic books. Try googling, say, Catwoman as drawn by Jim Balent. That definitely counts as fan service.

Sorry, but I was refurring to the earlier comment about "bad Anime vibes" specificly.

To be blunt about what I'm trying to say, my "vibes" come from the sole fact that I can't in good conscienes see any major sexual refrenceses in anime. It's a moral delema to me. when I watch anime, I always have the feeling Fanservice will arive in the next 5 seconds. Even when I was young, It ALWAYS felt weird to watch anime for some unknown reason.

I'ts a double edged sword to me because I think japanese writers are far better storytellers then amarican writers.

There is so much wrong with that statement.

Sorry, poor choice of words on my part. I'm not good at saying what I'm trying to say.

[Edward]

I don't know what the very first anime I watched was, but my best guesses are Pokemon, DBZ, and Sailor Moon (don't ask).

[klomp123]

I used to watch Sonic X when I was little. When I met my best friend I asked him if he liked Sonic and he was all, "I used to watch the cartoon!" and we started geeking out.

[samurai10]

My first anime was the first series of FMA.

[KimHyorin]

well, i forgot mine
it was probably spirited away, but i'm not sure.

[Ally-Ann]

Heehee! My first anime was Hamtaro when I was 5. I didn't know what type of cartoon it was called at the time, though. I've always loved anime since I was 4, but the only one I could watch was Hamtaro. My mom wouldn't let me watch Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh and she still doesn't.

[KougaHane]

Please delete this one I accidentally made a double post.

[KougaHane]

Heehee! My first anime was Hamtaro when I was 5. I didn't know what type of cartoon it was called at the time, though. I've always loved anime since I was 4, but the only one I could watch was Hamtaro. My mom wouldn't let me watch Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh and she still doesn't.

Honestly I wouldn't recommend Yu-Gi-Oh. It's just one of those things I've never liked. OK, I used to love it, but it kind of got old for me after a while. Especially after they made several spin-offs. I think the whole idea might've been a quasi-spin-off of Pokemon though. Pokemon is the earliest "battling monsters" anime I can think of. I love Pokemon to this day.

Most kids were raised on Nickolodeon and Disney Channel. I was raised on Dragonball Z and Pokemon, and several other anime's from Cartoon Network. There is one show I wish I'd never seen though. Ravemaster. I won't go into the reason publicly, but I'll just leave it at I saw it at 12 and it hastened the coming of puberty. Also, I'll never forgive Cartoon Network for replacing all their clean ( for the most part) anime with garbage toilet humor American cartoons.

And sorry for the accidental double-post, browser errors. grrrr.

[Ally-Ann]

[quote="KougaHane ( Also, I'll never forgive Cartoon Network for replacing all their clean ( for the most part) anime with garbage toilet humor American cartoons..[/QUOTE"]

Yeah, I wish they would bring back the anime, too. About a year ago I watched Bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo (I hate typing that. XD) and remembered that they used to show it on Cartoonnetwork. I never watched on TV, though, because my mom wasn't very fond of anime.

[Nate]

Also, I'll never forgive Cartoon Network for replacing all their clean ( for the most part) anime with garbage toilet humor American cartoons.

Will people ever stop blaming Adult Swim for being a business? Will people ever realize it's not Adult Swim's fault they don't show anime anymore? Will people ever stop making stupid claims about Adult Swim hating anime?

Judging from this post, I'd say nope, never.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Will people ever stop blaming Adult Swim for being a business? Will people ever realize it's not Adult Swim's fault they don't show anime anymore? Will people ever stop making stupid claims about Adult Swim hating anime?

Judging from this post, I'd say nope, never.

While I agree with your sentiment, Nate, I don't think you're being very fair here. I'm pretty sure you are projecting other ppls comments onto him, as nothing in the post you quoted resembles the things you accuse him of saying. He did not say that adult swim hated anime. Nor did he claim that adult swim ought not to run itself in a business-like fashion. Also, no claim was made by him that adult swim is to blame for anime not being on television. Seems to me that he is just expressing regret that they don't show much anime anymore but instead chose to air what he considers inferior programming. Where's the harm in that? Disagree with him about the quality of AS's current line-up, but don't put words in his mouth.

[Midori]

My first non-miyazaki anime was Sailor Moon! And I loved it!
*is stoned*

[KougaHane]

Will people ever stop blaming Adult Swim for being a business? Will people ever realize it's not Adult Swim's fault they don't show anime anymore? Will people ever stop making stupid claims about Adult Swim hating anime?

Judging from this post, I'd say nope, never.

Actually, I'm not blaming Adult Swim at all. I'm just mad that they [CN] use to have an entire segment devoted to anime (Toonami) that they cut out for no reason at all. I've never watched enough Adult Swim to know their opinion of anime. And I believe Adult Swim still occasionally shows Bleach late at night sometimes. I honestly wasn't thinking about Adult Swim at all when I wrote that comment.

[Nate]

He did not say that adult swim hated anime.

That's true, he didn't. But it usually gets lumped in with the CN/AS criticism.

Nor did he claim that adult swim ought not to run itself in a business-like fashion.

Actually, he did. Whether he knows it or not. If a show gets bad ratings, it is in the best interest of the company to remove that show. It's almost never the case that a super popular show gets removed or canceled. That means his complaint about CN taking anime off the air is because he either doesn't understand or doesn't care that CN is a business and needs to remove low-rating shows.

Seems to me that he is just expressing regret that they don't show much anime anymore but instead chose to air what he considers inferior programming.

Then he should be complaining about viewers not liking the anime CN shows. It is not, NOT CN's fault these shows get low ratings and get removed. He's putting the blame on them when it is NOT THEIR FAULT. He's misplacing blame and that's why I'm a bit irritated because this happens every single time people talk about CN/AS and anime. It has been repeated that CN/AS is a business and thus must do what makes them profit, and if they don't like it, it is not the fault of AS/CN and so blaming the companies is wrong.

I'm just mad that they [CN] use to have an entire segment devoted to anime (Toonami) that they cut out for no reason at all.

I'm not going to call you names or anything, because you probably didn't know this. So I am now informing you, so that you can know better.

CN did not cut Toonami for no reason at all. They had very good reason to cut Toonami. Roy Mustang on here made a very involved post in the "Official Cartoon Network Thread" about why Toonami was canceled and removed. TheSubtleDoctor also made a few comments, such as:

The content CN was running during the Toonami block in '06 wasn't great: edited Prince of Tennis (an unfinished R1 release), 2 Pokemon shows, Wulin Warriors and MAR. In a word: ugh. The low ratings were a direct result of poor programming choices

In other words, Toonami was doing terribly. They were not getting good ratings. And as I said, when a business (like CN) has a show or shows that are getting bad ratings (bad ratings are bad for business), then the logical and intelligent thing to do is cancel or remove that show/shows.

Doc brought up a point that the show was terrible, and why didn't they show better anime that would have gotten better ratings? Roy gave the response, in a post I will not quote because it's so long, but I will link it here: http://www.christiananime.net/showpost.php?p=1415399&postcount=38

Here's a short version though: anime fans were refusing to watch the shows because they were edited and removed content. This made them get poor ratings. In addition, trying to show other shows related to their big hits (showing other Gundam series since Wing did well) didn't work out because people didn't like them as much. Top that off with Bandai feeling cheated by CN and not wanting to do business with them, and CN getting burned and losing a lot of money by showing anime they had sunk revenue into and was not getting good returns.

In other words, CN is a business. They didn't stop showing anime because they hate anime. They didn't stop showing anime because they want to laugh at anime fans. They stopped showing anime because people weren't watching it. If you want to blame someone for CN dropping anime, blame the viewers. Do NOT blame CN. It is NOT their fault, because losing a lot of money is not a good way to run a business, and if CN were to keep showing anime at a loss of profits, then CN would either became a pay-only premium channel, or go off the air entirely, and then no one is happy.

All I want is to quit seeing people blame CN for the lack of anime, and saying CN hates anime, and all this other mess. I'm tired of it. It's not true, and it gets irritating having to explain this so many times.

My first non-miyazaki anime was Sailor Moon! And I loved it!
*is stoned*

Dude you shouldn't post on the boards when you're stoned. You have to set an example for the younger members. Drugs are bad, kids! Don't get stoned!

[ShiroiHikari]

Why in the hell do people want to watch anime on TV anyway? That's what I don't get.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Well here we go. Operation derail thread even further: commence!

Why in the hell do people want to watch anime on TV anyway? That's what I don't get.

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head:

(1) some folks who prefer not to illegally download a show that is not currently streaming might want to try before they buy]; not knowing much about what this crazy stuff is or where to get it, they keep coming back to the telly each day/week for more...so anime on TV can be good for bringing in new fans.

[QuirkyIceHeart]

My first anime... was not all that long ago :3 (A couple/few years ago, I think?)

Alright, here's my long, and life changing story XD

Technically, I think I'd seen something of Hamtaro at some point, but I didn't know what it was then, didn't care, and I still don't think it matters XD

[color="Cyan"]I was looking up Enya songs on the internet, and happened to come across an amv for Shaman King that used the song China Roses. I was instantly entranced, and didn't know exactly what I was seeing. (Still have it here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq-y7df2Gqs ... Yeah, weird what can affect people, aye? )
All I'd seen of anime previously was, well, overly endowed women in bikinis and a whole lot of evil vibes. (That I still get sometimes, and keep, as boundaries) But this looked... emotional? Plot focused? Had all the artistic and story telling benefits of a cartoon, but clearly wasn't just that. And it wasn't some evil collection of naked people, gore, and guns, either. So being the excessively eager-to-be-pleased-by-anything person I am, it wasn't long before the manga caught my eye at my library, and there was no doubt: I HAD to pick it up. I'd fallen madly in love with a two foot tall kid with an illogical hair spike (Yes, Ren ), and, well, no one was keeping me from seeing how his story went.
...and though I did lose some of my interest in Ren (Still gotta love the little bugger, though), the storytelling style itself was a whole new world for me, and I was just getting started.

Then came the first volume of Fruits Basket, because the concept sounded ridiculous, I'd heard it was lonely and emotional, and I had to see how it pulled that off with said ridiculous concept and title.
And then for the first [I]anime I really watched, I met a good friend who was obsessed with Naruto, so in my desire to see as much of this new genre as I could, I started that [/I][/color]

I ended up finishing Fruits Basket first (manga and anime), haven't watched the last sixteen episodes of Naruto, and have only recently gone back to my origins to read Shaman King (I'm loving it all over again, but with new respect :3 )

My first anime was the first series of FMA.

That's got to be, like, one of the best anime to start with O.O

[mysngoeshere56]

Pokemon was technically my first, but I didn't really watch it for the sake of watching anime... but for the sake of watching a cartoon. I didn't really know what anime was back then.

My first anime shows for the sake of watching anime were D.N.Angel and Tsubasa Chronicle.

[Nanao]

probably Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. i don't remember what my first non-Miyazaki anime was though.

[Zangetsu]

Like most people my age, the first anime I saw was Pokemon

I was planning on wording my post just like this before I saw yours. Mine was Pokemon as well.

[kairo14]

I most likely saw a Speed Racer type of anime in the 80's as a child but I do have not definite memory of the dates. But I do remember moving to Singapore in 1989 and seeing Dragonballz for the first time. I was 9 years old. It was history after that. A week later I bought a Vegeta sticker for my lunch box at a anime shop, never looked back. lol.

[Tokai]

I was one of the many anime girls who started with Sailor Moon on Toonami after school everyday.