Your First Anime Series -- What Got You Into Anime to Begin With?

[Neane]

What was your first real anime series (The one you realized was anime instead of just a normal cartoon)? What about this series got you hooked on anime and made you want to watch more of it?

For me, it was Paranoia Agent when I was 15. It greatly confused me at first and I just had to keep watching it and watching it because I believed that there was something that I was missing. And then it finally came to me what the anime was about after watching it about 7 times. Then I got bored with this series and looked for other anime that were like this one series. (Starting with the "essential" anime series and moving on from there.) This one series showed me that there was something about Japanese animation that separated it from normal American animation (At that time, I thought that all animation was for just relaxing and joking around or for children.) What about you?

[Lynna]

Inuyasha. It is not the greatest anime ever, though I do still like it, but it was unlike any western cartoons I'd ever seen. Although not historically accurate, it does very much have a Feudal Japan feel to it. The depth of the characters astounded me(sadly. Other anime series have a lot more depth) It was so new and fresh to me, it pulled me in. I particularly liked Sango. I was around 12/13. I actually had no idea it was anime untill my older brother found me watching it and made fun of me for watching anime. And I thought, oh, is that what it is? XD

[Crossfire]

My first experience with anime was in 2001-03 watching Transformers RiD. However, I didn't realize what anime was at the time so that doesn't really count. I guess I really started with Naruto when I was around 12 years of age. Watched it for a period of three months, then I moved on to try out a few new series. I think I settled on the Japanese dub of Transformers: Cybertron, which was my first experience watching anime in it's native language. Once I started that, there's no way I could go back to english-dubbed anime (Hetalia is an exception).

[KeybladeWarrior]

If it was recognizing that it was anime, it would have to be Pokemon. It was more of a door to the world of anime for me. I started to recognize more anime series on TV as anime, because of this show. I realized that Ronin Warriors and Sailor Moon were shows from Japan. Sadly, I have lost interest in the Pokemon series, but I have gained a deep passion for anime in the English and Japanese language. This interest in anime has become a part of who I am.

[rocklobster]

My first anime ever was Voltron, known in Japan as Beast King Golion. (I reviewed it for CAA here. But I didn't know it was Japanese. I didn't know what anime was until Ronin Warriors came to the US. I'm probably one of the few people on here who knows about that show.

[Atria35]

What was your first real anime series (The one you realized was anime instead of just a normal cartoon)? What about this series got you hooked on anime and made you want to watch more of it?

Why does everyone think that the first anime series you watch will be the one to get you hooked? The first anime I ever watched, Final Approach, turned me OFF of anime for a year after I saw it! It was terrible! And I know one or two other people that saw uber-violent and sexual anime (not Ninja Scroll, I'm talking like.... Demon Lord Shinjuku) that made them avoid anime with a vengiance for longer than that.

[rocklobster]

I concur. What made me a fan was Sailor Moon, because I'd never seen a heroine that was given so much depth and wasn't treated as idiotic (well, ok, she did start out clumsy, but she developed A LOT over the course of the show and by the second season, most of the clumsiness was gone). Ronin Warriors, while I did enjoy it, didn't make me a fan right off.

[TWWK]

Digimon was the first anime series, post-childhood, that hooked me. But it was Tenchi Muyo that made me stand up and seek out other anime.

[Danderson]

While I didn't know it was anime at the time, the first series I watched was Flying House and Super Book....

The first (and only) series I finished was Sonic X....

[TopazRaven]

Technically speaking my first Japanese animation was actually the movie My Neighbor Totoro. Then my mother introduced me to Pokemon and I watched bits and pieces of Yu-Gi-Oh every now and then. I didn't know they were even anime at the time however. Shortly after that some of my friends got me interested in watching Card Captor Sakura and Sailor Moon. Then I found Dragon Ball Z and Ronin Warriors on my own and got my friends into it. I was somewhat aware they weren't American cartoons, but I didn't care where they were from at the time. The first time I actually started watching anime while knowing it was anime I was 13. I'd started watching Wolf's Rain, Trigun and InuYasha on Adult Swim.

[Agloval]

I saw the Cowboy Bebop movie, and dabbled around with a few movies and the first volumes of a few series.

What really grabbed my interest was Martian Successor Nadesico, which was the first series I completed (over a weekend). Those who've seen it will know that Nadesico is pretty thick with allusions and jokes about other shows & about anime in general, so it was in a strange way a good education. It also has enough freestanding jokes and plot interest to entertain a bored teenager, and I was dimly aware that underneath all its silliness it is quietly quite clever.

[FllMtl Novelist]

I guess technically my first anime was Pokemon, when I was eight or nine, but I didn't get to watch it consistently and was more into the world than the show anyway.

After growing out of that and a Digimon tape my library had, I didn't touch anything anime until I played a Naruto game (Clash of Ninja 2) at a friend's house years later. We had such a blast with it, I looked up when the show was airing on CN and checked it out. My siblings and I watched it until it was eventually taken off the air (at a truly bizarre place in the filler), and as I pursued it through the powers of the internet and my library's subscription to Shonen Jump, I eventually picked up other manga like Bleach. Finally my brother made me read some FMA and I kind of went, "Hey, it's a manga that doesn't do all those things Naruto does that annoy me!". The rest is history. XD

[the_wolfs_howl]

All around the same time, I saw My Neighbor Totoro, Pokemon, and Dragonball Z. That hooked me on Studio Ghibli and Pokemon, and convinced me never to watch DBZ

I was a pretty big Pokemon fan for several years, watching it whenever I could find it on TV, but mostly playing Pokemon Yellow and dabbling in the card game. I thought it was the most dramatic, emotional thing ever...until I found FMA

[Vii]

I suppose it would be Naruto, but Avatar: The Last Airbender, despite not being an anime, is what put the idea in my head that there might be some really good "cartoons" out there that actually have a plot and such.

Before that I think I did watch some of Ponyo, and of course, Pokemon was on TV a fair bit, but I didn't really recognize them as anime at the time.

If I remember the order correctly, these are first few anime I watched:
1. Naruto
2. Fruits Basket
3. Fullmetal Alchemist

[AnimeGirl]

First anime for me, like a lot of people, was Pokemon. As far as what really got me into anime was... Cardcaptors.

[A_Yellow_Dress]

I was definitely born into the whole Pokemon, Digimon and Cardcaptors era, but that doesn't really count as I didn't know it was anime.

I guess it was Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. Hook, line and sinker.

Do I explain? Allow me to ramble?

[spoiler]
When I 'grew out' (don't think I ever really did) of that stage of my life, I didn't give it much thought. I guess I was around 11 or so when my cousins forced me to watch Zatch Bell and Naruto one day. (When you steal the remote from someone, they are likely to dislike what you are watching). I thought it was so weird. My sisters and I developed a hatred to the weirdness of it all, and avoided anime like the plague. This was about the time my best friend moved away. When she came back, she kept raving about all these awesome shows she was obsessed with. So one day, when I was home alone, I noticed it was playing one of her favorite shows, Full Metal Alchemist. And for some reason, I clicked that channel. Even though I had this weird hatred, I went in with an open mind. And then I watched an episode of Bleach. Admittedly, I never really watched that much and I kept it as a bit of a secret. Sometime around last summer (as in summer 2010), my cousins and I pulled out our old VHS tapes of Digimon. I became a little bit curious about Bleach (I like ghost stuff, so sue me. ) so I looked it up on Youtube. I watched a bunch of episodes. (It really wasn't so weird....) And then I looked up Cardcaptors. after I finished Cardcaptors, I indirectly was told of Tsubasa Chronicle by our schools resident otaku (who still doesn`t know I watch anime....) So I looked it up. After that I just sort of became ....obsessed...
[/spoiler]

[aliveinHim]

Other than Pokemon from when I was 5-6 (mom used to put it on for me and brush my hair). My real anime (non-childhood anime) was probably Ouran High School Host Club.

[GrubbTheFragger]

Cowboy bebop.

[ABlipinTime]

hm... This thread looks very familiar. I do recall we had one of these already, but that may have been last year. Nevertheless, I shall answer the question anyways...

First official anime: Sonic Adventures
First anime I realized was anime AFTER watching: Kirby Right Back At Ya
First anime I knew was anime BEFORE watching: .hack//SIGN
First anime I knew was anime and I saw it from start to finish: Clannad

Like some of the others here, the very very very very little I had heard about anime when I was little was that it was bad. I didn't know why - I was too young for anyone to tell me. But I didn't hear more than a word about it (maybe I only heard about it once, actually, but I amazingly remembered). Nevertheless, when I discovered that Kirby was anime, I started considering anime more. The clincher, though, was .hack//SIGN - that anime was creepy weird, or at least it was for a guy like me who always had a tendency to walk in at the weirdest parts of it while others were watching. I was fascinated by the show (and I finally did get around to finishing it). I recommend it.

[Wallachia]

My Neighbor Totoro, Sailor Moon, and Pokemon were my first few anime series. Mega Man NT Warrior was the first show I knew was anime, I think, and then Ah! My Goddess made me get into actually looking up more stuff and watching anime frequently.

[Winry]

Toonami (used to be on Cartoon Network) got me hooked on anime. From 1-3pm everyday they would have shows like DBZ, Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo. My brother and I would set the VCR to record during the day and then when we got home from school we would watch them (well to be fair he didn't watch Sailor Moon.) Good times...

[ashfire]

Well lets see. In the 60s it was Astro Boy, Marine Boy, Gigantor, The 8th Man and a few others around then.
Then Robo Tech and Star Blazers came along and then videos came and I started buying Tenchi Muyo and a few others that came out on tape and then DVD.
I also taped shows like Salior Moon and others.

[TheMewster]

Pokemon was my first series.

[rocklobster]

Toonami (used to be on Cartoon Network) got me hooked on anime. From 1-3pm everyday they would have shows like DBZ, Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo. My brother and I would set the VCR to record during the day and then when we got home from school we would watch them (well to be fair he didn't watch Sailor Moon.) Good times...

Yeah. Now CN hates us anime and cartoon fans and thinks showing stupid stuff like that new upcoming Level up Show is a good idea.
I miss Tom.

[Lilac#18]

Yeah. Now CN hates us anime and cartoon fans and thinks showing stupid stuff like that new upcoming Level up Show is a good idea.
I miss Tom.

[color="Plum"]QFT. I also stopped watch CN after the got rid of Toonami.


Anyway, although this isn't the first anime I've ever saw, Tenchi Universe is the first anime that I saw, that I knew was anime. It was the scientific elements, humor and having girls that were unique in their own special way, that got me into anime.[/color]

[Mouse2010]

The very first anime I saw was probably Leo the White Lion, which has also gone under a bunch of different names. I was only five when I watched that, and I had no idea that it was "anime." I loved it a lot, but I hardly remember anything about it.

The thing that got me into anime was not actually an anime at all, but Avatar the Last Airbender. My husband and I watched that about a year and a half ago, and when we finished, we were like "if this was influenced by anime, we should try watching some anime, because this was really good." So we did, starting with a couple of shows on Netflix's Instant Streaming.

[rocklobster]

[color="Plum"]QFT. I also stopped watch CN after the got rid of Toonami.


Anyway, although this isn't the first anime I've ever saw, Tenchi Muyo (now named Tenchi Universe) is the first anime that I saw, that I knew was anime. It was the scientific elements, humor and having girls that were unique in their own special way, that got me into anime.[/color]

Actually, you're somewhat mistaken. Tenchi Muyo is the OVA version. Tenchi Universe is the TV show.

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]Thanks. I got a little confused because when I first saw it on KTEH, (KQEH Plus) I thought I heard them calling it Tenchi Muyo (I'm talking about the tv series which has 26 episodes).[/color]

[Winry]

Actually, you're somewhat mistaken. Tenchi Muyo is the OVA version. Tenchi Universe is the TV show.

There's also Tenchi in Tokyo which is another 26 episode series


TOM!

[rocklobster]

Yeah, but I'd rather forget that version. It wasn't that great.