Back in the day when the Sci-fi channel was doing their anime on Saturday mornings, they played one of the best anime movies ever, Robot Carnival. It was like no other animated movie I'd ever seen. I loved is so much, I bought a laser disc player years later just to have the best copy of it I could get. Not only did it open the door to my love of anime, it also started my obsession with all thing home theater.

In the frigid wastes of Canada, an early Saturday morn a anthropomorphic robot dog points to an oddly lettered sign and ask his mother "what's the deal with this crazy writing?" to which she replied "It's Japanese, this is a Japanese cartoon y'know."

That's right, Samurai Pizza Cats my first anime has fostered in me a love of gag dubs, sentai parody, bad puns and giant robots.

It was so long ago I hardly remember, but when I was only a child, I got a VHS tape for Christmas that consisted of the first five or six episodes of Dragon Ball Z, Ocean dub group. I guess my parents thought I would like watching people beating the crap out of each other, and they were sure as hell right.

It was just about the greatest thing I had ever seen at the time, since I had no idea that it had been heavily edited and toned down from the original. People with spiky hair throwing beams of energy at each other, wild barrages of punches and kicks... To me, it was mindless action, and it was a great thing - up until then, all I had really watched from the world of animation had consisted of American children's programming. I instantly took a liking to Piccolo, because he was GREEN, and green was my favorite color back in those days. Having the "Screwdriver Beam" definitely helped his case, too.

I used to watch that tape, then immediately rewind it and play it over again, several times in a row. I no longer have it, unfortunately - it was so worn out that my parents forced me to toss it. But I'll always remember how great and awesome my first run in with DBZ and anime was.

The first Japanese animation I ever laid eyes upon was a little film called Grave of the Fireflies. It's pretty obscure, I'm sure none of you have ever heard of it. *COUGH*SARCASM*COUGH*

Anyways, the film was released in 1988 but I didn't see it until 1994. I was six years old. At first I was unable to pick up upon what was really going on. I had little knowledge of the war and Japan in general. All I saw on screen was some very pretty moving pictures and colors (I was old and smart enough to pick up the changes from Western animation--the acute attention to detail and the way the characters looked, particularly in the facial area) and a very touching relationship between a young man and his little sister who had lost their mother in an aerial bombing of their home.

*SPOILER ALERT*


When the little sister died later in the film, I cried. I cried hard. My mom rushed into the room (she had put the film on and left to go work on something) and comforted me. I think I hugged her for about a year.

To this day, it is not only one of my favorite anime films, but one of my favorite films period. Little did I know that years later I would become a huge fan of Japanese animation. Grave of the Fireflies was a sneaky gateway drug, I guess.

Not long after that, I saw Totoro. But that's another story altogether.

One day after school, one of my friends insisted that I watch this animated movie from Japan called "Vampire Hunter D". I /had/ seen a few pictures of this strangely mesmerizing art style online but I didn't know what it was called, and certainly wasn't aware there were whole shows of the stuff. So a bunch of us hunker down in my living room to watch this show.
I enjoyed it immensely, despite my poking fun at the way Doris' necklace bounced from breast to breast or the way D's sword was a different length in nearly every shot.
But I was fascinated to say the least. I wish I had known how to get my hands on more of that stuff, but it wasn't until 3 years later that I was thrown head first into it, with friends shoving bootleg tapes of everything from Sailor Moon to Ninja Scroll into the VCR when I came around. The art was what hooked meat first, but the more I got into it, the wonderful variety and intricate story lines made me really fall in love.

My first foray into anime came when I was probably 9 or 10....

I woke up one Saturday morning and did what probably most children in America do. I sat down in front of a TV and started flipping through channels for cartoons. Durring commercials of one, I happened to land on the Sci Fi channel (not SyFy!! Silly name.) This animated show was on that I wouldn't find out the name until much later. It was strange to say the least. These two girls A-Ko and B-Ko were fighting for another girl's friendship, C-Ko. Yes, the first anime I ever saw was Project A-Ko. I found it incredibly amusing and even kept the TV on the Sci Fi channel through commercials and I was a well known channel surfer even as young as I was then.

As I said, I didn't find the name of the anime out until one or two years later when I was browsing a website a friend of mine had shown me and came across a picture that linked to a site giving anime suggestions.

Anyway this lead me to watching DBZ in the afternoons on Toonami and then into renting Anime from a movie/game rental store in town when I got my driver's license. It all went downhill from DBZ. Moved on to stuff like Slayers, then Escaflowne, then kept watching more and more until I'd seen more anime than any three of my friends combined.

So now I'm the "goto" guy for anime recommendations among my friends and I've got a massive backlog of anime to watch that I either can't find or haven't gotten around too yet. All because the Sci Fi channel used to have Saturday Morning Anime!

People have said that my stories are a little weird. But I promise this to be truth.

About 6 years ago, I lived in Zambia, Africa, and went to a boarding school. The time i spent there was composed of three things learning, soccer, and drawing. I loved to draw, a lot. So much so my grades slipped and are still slipping to this day. But while I was there, I met a small boy, about 6 years old or so. He became a friend of mine, his name was Bwalya. I still remember the night when he brought a VHS tape, packed with as many DBZ episodes as it could take. As we all sat down ready to watch this mysterious show, I am quite sure he was thinking, "za awesomeness is in our midst." And from the moment that I saw that episode on I've been watching anime.

At that time, and even now, the animation was mesmerizing and hardcore. To see huge massive men being tossed around and throwing energy balls at each other, was, to say the least, unbelievable and amazing. The episodes I watched were from the Cell Saga when a lot of powering up was going on. I still remember being glued to the screen as Cell fired finger-beams destroying Island Towns. The excessive screaming and grunting only made it better, and it added a sense of feeling to the characters, like I could feel their pain and their struggle.

It was my following of Dragon Ball Z and the rise of Digimon that brought me to become more serious about anime, and to want to know more about it. I am forever grateful to Toriyama-sama for the amazing series that brought anime into my life. And now, with the world of anime evolving at a rapid pace, i pray that others would have experiences like mine.

Anime - The Japanese cartoons that changed my life.

I have had difficulty remembering which anime I first watched, since it was so long ago. After some searching within myself, I have found out what it was. As a guy, I feel a little uncomfortable saying it, seeing as how people always made fun of me for watching it. Seeing as how I'm putting this info on a site filled with like-minded people, I'm not too worried.

The first anime that I saw was Sailor Moon. Not the original version, but the toned-down version that was aired in this country. I remember one day when I was all alone at my house, sitting in front of the TV, to which it was showing Cartoon Network. Then, it appeared on screen: Girls fighting for truth, justice, and a decent guy to love. Seeing Serina change was absolutely mesmerizing, and it still remains etched on my otaku-fixed mind.

After that episode, I secretly watched whenever I could. I didn't tell anyone (including my parents), for fear that they would make fun of me, and consider me too girly. Only in the past 4 or 5 years I have had the confidence to tell people that I actually watched Sailor Moon.

So, this was the 1st anime that I had ever seen. I glad I did, for it set me on the path of otaku-dom.

BTW, has anyone had a experience like mine?

As with Paradox I too watched my first anime on Sci-Fi wayyy back in the day. At least thats how I remember it. I remember seeing the commercials and being like 'yay japan awesome' but I don't remember why.

The first anime I watched(read remember) was Tenchi Muyo. I don't remember too much specifically except that like he couldn't come into contact with himself...which at that age totally BLEW MY MIND!!! At the time I'm pretty sure sci fi was having a whole japanimation thing going on. I spent forever watching that. I don't even know what it was that really dragged me in. I want to say it was that fact that it wasn't just stupid action crap. There was plot and thought to it. Whatever it was I loved it and was obsessed with finding more ever since.

Then came toonami and I'm sure most of us know what happened there.

The first anime I ever watched was Inuyasha when YTV started showing it. I was hooked instantly, for about three or four weeks I anxiously awaited each episode, then I discovered torrents. I downloaded as many episodes as I could and ended up watching them all non-stop one after another. To this day the original theme song from Inuyasha is my all time favorite. The fansubbers I got the show from also had done many other series, of varying types. I downloaded one after another and discovered many new genres that I enjoyed. After that I was absolutely hooked and Anime remains my favorite media bar none. I even pay for it now :)

Hah I just posted the same in user blogs, here it is :

I was I believe 11 to 12 years old when I got my first taste of Anime. At 9am sharp on Saturdays my clock would go off, signaling the time had come for something I looked forward too the whole week, Anime on TV! It's just that I didn't know that it was Anime...I just knew they were cartoons.

I would watch shows such as Dragonball, Saint Seiya, City Hunter, Ranma 1/2 and loved every minute of them. Even though they were all spoken in French. Yes, you read that right, French...

You see, when I was younger I lived in Europe, and we would get a French TV channel TF1 that had a kids show on, Club Dorothee. They would import Anime and dub them in French. It took me many years to realize that they weren't actually French but Japanese! The French always had this way of making foreign shows more "French", even American movies were dubbed in French. And they also renamed the shows...crazy stuff. City Hunter was called "Nicky Larson", saint Seiya was "les chevaliers du Zodiac" and Ranma was, well, Ranma.

Here's a small taste of what this ended up sounding like :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be2RJWJfNqs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvFWLyECdR0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws5c7NiRSFs

My first experience with anime was when I was around 5 years old with a pretty cool show called "Festival of Robots" in which all sorts of awesome robots like Maziner, Grendizer, Ufo Senshi Diapolos, Dynamo, etc were featured. I thought it was so awesome to have giant robots that could shoot lasers and kick butt!

My first encounter with anything Japanese happened when I was around 5 or 6 years old. Though at this time I was not aware that it was a Japanese show, I still fell in love with it and even to this date it is still my favorite series ever. I am talking about Saint Seiya (or Knights of the Zodiac for those in the US). It just wasn't the incredible powers that each Saint possessed or the amazing character designs that made me like it(well, at first it was), but as I grew older and started to look at if from a different perspective, I began to look at the deeper themes. For example, the struggle of men to fight for what they believe even if it means going against a god. Above all that, I still love Saint Seiya because it introduced me to mythology, one of my greatest passions in life.

I watched sailor moon when I was 5; fapped furiously. Interesting story, I know.

I had seen a couple of the usual things on TV before, but the first time I really got into anime was this, presented here in nice, short haiku form:


VHS with friends
Sixty million dollar man
Vash the Stampede, goof.


I fell in love with the series for the comedy, and stayed for the drama. [And yes, I know it's double dollars, but that's the wrong number of syllables. So there!]

hmm my first anime...That was a long time ago, and like most people have said I didn't even know it was an anime until I got older, it was just a cool cartoon on in the morning when I got up before everyone else. And back in the day (odly enough this wasn't a Wednesday) we didn't have cable so I was stuck watching over the air tv which left me with two options for Saturday morning cartoons. Fox and the local WB channel which to me at the time was just channel 2, since they hadn't adopped KidsWB as the name of their block. That show? It was Dragon Ball, and later DBZ. That was of course before the second dub cast that funimation used, before it got huge, and before I cared about silly things like original openings or uncut footage. Back when after every new episode they would cycle through four or five old episodes, play the tree of might movie, show the new episode or maybe two, and start the cycle over again. I remember it took poor Goku so damn long to get to that fight with Napa and Vegeta simply because they repeated the cycle so many times. That was my first anime, and I didnt recognize it as such until later. In fact I didnt get to see much quality anime at all until I got to high school and even then the options were limited, but I still look back on those days with DBZ in the morning fondly even if it wasn't the best show in the world.

The first anime I ever saw was Ghost In The Shell when I was 10. I didn't know what it was, and assumed that it was just some random cartoon, but rented it anyways. Once i got it home, I put it in, watched it, and within the first 10 minutes, the only words going through my mind were "HOLY S**T!" AND "AWESOME." My dad came in and started watching it too, and he was saying the same stuff, only out loud. While I had it, I watched it like 3 times before returning it.

Once that was returned, I watched Princess Mononoke. Sme thoughts through my head. Though, for a year, I had nothing else of it to watch. My movie rental place only had those. That was, until Adult Swim started showing Cowboy Bebop, which was my first TV anime experience. Cowboy Bebop cemented the obsession I have now, and it will forever make me poorer and poorer. But I am fine, as it makes me happy.

My first experience with anime began when I was in middle school, a good 10 years ago or more. Back at that time there was hardly any anime around, I don't think Cartoon Network's Toonami had even started yet.

My first exposure to anime was on Fox, but not saturday morning cartoons. I would wake up every morning at 5 AM to watch Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z, but it was mainly for Dragonball Z. It must have been one of their earliest runs in the US, they didn't even get through Frieza's saga before episodes repeated.

After a few years anime began catching on. Pokemon was getting big and Dragonball Z came to Cartoon Network with others. It wasn't until high school that I finally began discovering quality anime which led to the blossoming of my fandom. Though I'll always remember getting up at 5 AM before school every day for Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z. Ah the innocence of childhood.

The first Anime I ever saw was Pokemon, but I'd prefer talking about the first Anime I ever bought. Since it was Slayers.

This was when the internet resembled the Wild West more than anything, and everything was new and exciting. I was searching around online, and found this -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SienplC4bcs I had no idea what Slayers was, but I knew I liked Legend of Zelda, so I checked it out. After watching it, I decided I HAD to find out what this "Slayers" thing was. So I searched it out online, and ordered the first VHS of Slayers (Which is now signed by some of the cast members ^_^). When I got it, it blew my mind. This was unlike any show I'd ever seen before. The comedy, action and drama blended together in an amazing way. So, after scrounging birthday money, chore money, and begging, I ordered the first season on DVD for around $100 (I got the next 2 seasons for half price because of Right Stuf's sales, but back then I was naive and desperate, so full price for me) I loved this show, and still remember seeing the end of Try on a bus for a field trip across state, sharing it with a friend using a portable dvd player and a headphone splitter. However this story doesn't end as joyfully as it began. My dvds are worn and scratched, and skip quite often at parts. This is not from misuse mind you, but from moving from case to player so many times. They now live on my shelf. No longer able to be fully played, but merely admired. As my first anime purchase.

Dragon Ball Z on Toonami. I was in sixth/seventh grade and I had nothing better to do after school besides watch two golden-haired guys get all rough with each other. Or something.

I believe the first episode I watched was sometime after Goku had fought Cell, and Gohan was being pushed around so that Cell could see the extent of his power. Not exactly the best episode to start on, but it caught my interest long enough to watch most of the show and any reruns they were having. I kinda wished I could go Super Saiyan and fly through the skies and shoot big blasts of energy at things. Well, I guess I still do, but I understand...it's just not possible yet :(

About a decade later, I watched the Dragon Ball Z OVA, the new one - Son Goku and His Friends Return!. Made me very nostalgic of the days I used to really love anime.

Hmm. I'm pretty sure that the first anime I watched was Inuyasha. My cousin used to show me it all the time like 8 or so years ago.

I think I saw some on Toonami around that time too.

If Pokemon counts, that actually came first X3. Along with Yugioh o.o

My first real exposure to anime, knowing that it was anime, was really odd, actually.

I was mistook at middle school for somebody else (as the other person was in the hospital), and when that other person came back to school, he sought me out and we realized that we looked nothing like each other. *laugh*

In any case, he invited me to UTARPA, which is Toronto's premier Anime club. I had no idea what I was getting into, and I arrived slightly after Patlabor 2 started up. I entered the auditorium where everyone was watching, and my first vision of Japanese-language (and non-Americanized) anime was of the worker robot skitting across the bridge, over the cars like a waterbug.

Ever since then, I've been hooked. My tastes have changed over the years, but that image of the machine moving, all Inspector-Gadget-like, and yet so seriously, was cemented in my mind, and I've been watching anime ever since.

It was 1995, I was in fifth grade. Fox kids new season of shows. The one show that peaked my interest was Sailor Moon. Ordenary girl in school that transforms into a crime fighting....sailor skirt wearing hero? I was just flabbergasted. Being used to the old goofy cartoons like bobbys world and life with louie. Sailor Moon blew me away in its story. Eventualy I would depart from Sailor Moon learn that Fox is the butcher of dubs and storys (in case the infamous Escaflowne in 2000 on fox). And move on to bigger and better things.

First anime was actually initial D ^^
I've always been interested in cars and that series actually got me much more interested in Japan and its culture. I still haven't seen the whole series... As a matter of fact I think I'll go search the webbernet now to see if there is a full box set available...

my first one had to be inuyasha and the adult swim line up, i remember staying up one night, see'n this guy with ears go around killing people with a giant sword and i thought it was kinda awesome

First anime I remember watching was Escaflowne. I had just moved to a new town and slowly began that PAINFUL process of fitting in and making friends. The group I had eventual settled in with were HUGE japanophiles and were constantly swapping VHS tapes. I just happened to get loaned Escaflowne and was swept away to a world of giant dragon robots, intriguing romance, and REALLY pointy noses. Been hooked ever since. :)

I remember I was pretty young maybe 7-9 years old, I would get up really early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. I remember changing to the Sci-Fi channel, at this time in the early 90's they played anime on Saturday mornings.

Well, I change to the channel, and this 'cartoon' is just starting, and it starts with this big explosion, then some words about World War III, then it got into the movie. The opening was mesmerizing, with the music, and this animation style I had never seen before. There was a motor cycle chase going on, and I remember thinking how cool it was. Well, I remember looking in the TV guide, and the title of the movie was "AKIRA". It was almost like I was in trance watching this, I really had no idea what was going on, but it was awesome, this I did know.

Little did I know I would soon be introduced to intestines falling out of stomachs, and walking stuffed animals leaking milk. Suffice to say I was creeped out, but I continued to watch it. That was until it was time for breakfast, and my parents made me leave the TV and go eat, so I never got to see the ending. Not to say I would have known what was going in even if I did see the ending.

I remember after that point, I was always scanning the TV guide, looking for this movie that I so very wanted to watch again, and this time all the way through.

Eventually I did, and now I own the movie three times, regular DVD, Special Edition DVD, and Blu Ray. I even now got around to collecting the manga. Can you tell that this movie had a profound impact on me?

My first experience with an anime was Voltron, but since I was like four at the time I can't remember anything about it except for the fact that there were robot cats.

The very first anime I saw was probably Sailor Moon. As a guy this is embarrassing to say but even at the tender age of 8 years old I loved that show. The girls were hot, the action was pretty cool and it would always have amazing season finales (When Sailor Venus first arrived on the scene... ^___^). Although it wasn't until a few years later when I realized what I was watching was anime. I just assumed it was a regular old cartoon with high production values. The only thing that made me think it was different were the obvious in-jokes which I never understood (i.e. The sweat drop on Serena's head). All and all I still feel nostalgic whenever I see a sailor moon cosplayer.

My first anime experience happened when I was ten years old in 1996. I stayed up late one Saturday night, watching the Sci-Fi channel. An anime movie came on that blew my mind. I became fused to the story, the ships, vehicles, music, weapons, and sexual themes. I was not able to get the name of the movie at the time. Some years later it came on tv again, and I learned that the movie was titled, "Gall Force, Eternal Story" Since I saw that classic movie, I have loved anime with all my heart. I also find it cool that Sci-Fi`s Battle Star Galactic borrowed the Gall Force plot. Gall Force and works by artists like Masamune Shirow, are what inspired me to become a Industrial Designer.

Man, scrolling through those comments made me feel old.

I couldn't tell you for certain what my first anime experience was. Between Speed Racer, G-Force, Voltron, and the like, I was watching anime before I knew I was watching anime.

I can tell you, however, about the first time I knowingly watched anime... or, rather "Japanimation", as it was still known at the time. Cartoon Network made a big deal about how they were going to have a "night of Japanimation" featuring three programs: Robot Carnival, Vampire Hunter D, and Twilight of the Cockroaches. I've since come to learn that this same block of programming also aired way back when on The Sci-Fi Channel, TBS, and TNT, but for me it was the time it aired on Cartoon Network. I know because we taped it, and I rewatched that tape many times.

... Of course, Vampire Hunter D was edited, and by the time Twilight of the Cockroaches came on I had to go to bed and our VHS tape happened to run out part way in, so I never really ended up seeing it, but those first two stuck with me, as I watched them again and again in my youth... eventually taping over Vampire Hunter D with an unedited Showtime version.

Later, Sailor Moon became my first anime series I really watched from beginning to end (well, the first two seasons... or what was left of them after DiC did their stuff), and I was already watching Toonami before they started showing anime. Then came everyone's obsession with DBZ and Pokemon... And after that I dropped out of the "mainstream" anime experience and into the internet's. The rest is history :P

My first experience is watching Dragonball z on cartoon network after school. I thought it was the best but now that I watch more anime i realize how bad it was as far as dragging on the non-combat stuff.

My first anime experience was watching Sailor Moon on one of the local channels on Sunday mornings. I remember having to watch it in secret, because the last thing I wanted my dad to find out was that I was watching a "girl's show". Of course, I was watching it at a time that I was just starting to 'like' girls, so it was more like I wanted to watch girls, not be one. Plus, the action was good, too. To me, it was just like Power Rangers (which I loved at the time) with a bunch of pretty girls (who doesn't love some pretty girls?).

The first anime I ever picked up was Dragonball Z, although I honestly didn't like what I got. See, I didn't have cable, so I had to buy VHS tapes to enjoy what everyone else was watching on Cartoon Network and what not. I, unfortunately, got a VHS of the episode in the Freeza arc where Goku got body transfered with a frog or something. Turned me off of DBZ for a long time, and I still don't care for it that much.

The first anime I picked up and actually enjoyed was Slayers: The Motion Picture. I picked it up at Electronic's Boutique after seeing a review of it in Gamer's Republic, and that is what truly got me into anime. While I liked Sailor Moon, I would have never known it was anime if it weren't for Slayers, which actually go me into the fandom. Needless to say, I loved Slayers and it still holds a high place in my heart.

My first experience with Japanese animation (thats what us older folks call it) is a somewhat clouded haze. I would catch the occasional cartoon on Saturday morning, where I didn't think anything of the dialogue not matching up with the mouths, or what seemed like scenes cut out to make the plot make less sense. As I got older and I was able to stay up later on the weekend, TBS, would show stuff like Vampire Hunter D, Venus wars and Robot Carnival. I thought these must be adult cartoons, and that's why the quality was so much higher! I was intrigued, but must like with the Last Unicorn I didn’t think anything of the unusual names in the credits.
When it got crazy is when I was watching tv and a Sailormoon Toy commercial, which contained clips from the tv series, but I thought it was just clips for these toys. I remember after the commercial was done I remember saying "If that was a show I would totally watch it!" and a few minutes later a commercial for Sailormoon pops on. I end up being a huge fan of sailor moon but I knew more was out there!
Since I came from a very small down, getting anime was hard to get (Ie; little to no internet), there was no where you could find it and the local town convenience store/ video rental place only had 3 titles. Regardless I was to not be stopped! I did some fansub trading, started a club at my highschool, spent all the money I made like a junkie when I (Pfft who am I kidding, my parents) would drive the 8 hour drive to a city on anime stuff in a store that was smaller then my closet. While not a direct answer to your question, my robot therapist says it’s good for me to talk about myself to strangers on the net.

I remember my first hentai though, that was Twin dolls.

My very first anime was acutally a VHS movie called "Thumbelina"
I was 5 years old and watched this movie to death as a child.
It was only years later that I found out that it was an anime and that it was a incredibly chopped up and some how spliced into a movie from a 26 episode anime called "Oyayubi Hime". http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1754
I still own the tape, but it's very old and in poor condition from being so well loved, but it still holds a place on my shelf and in my heart.

The first anime I watched that I was conscious of the fact that it was an anime was the beloved Sailor Moon. Like many others, I watched it on Cartoon Network and my true love for anime was born. I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade and me and my best friend spent HOURS talking about the characters, role playing with our dolls, drawing and dreaming about our favorite heroines the Sailor Scouts.

From then came other titles such as
Evangelion(1st anime that scared the shit out of me), Ranma 1/2( Made me laugh and introduced me to humor I had never seen )
and The Slayers came into my life. (Actually, my favorite anime. xD Lina is just too cool!

I have never before been so passionate about loving cartoons so much and I am so thankful that I was able to be introduced to anime at such an early age.

My first anime was InuYasha, back in the summer of 2005, when I didn't have much to do. I had just graduated from high school that year, and was anxious about going to college. When I discovered that series, it was the highlight of an otherwise bleak and slow summer. It really was the highlight of my week, and lucky for me, I caught it right as they were reairing the first season. I've seen much better anime since, but InuYasha is still special to me, because, you know, [insert awkward "virgin" metaphor here].

I have a theory, though, that the best anime to start off with can't be a really good one, and obviously it can't bad one. It has to be just good enough. If it's too good, potential fans will watch more anime expecting it to be like, say, Cowboy Bebop or any other classics. But the "Goldilocks anime" as a starting point means fans can more experience the full spectrum of anime from a better viewpoint.

While I've seen plenty of Americanized Anime on TV as a kid (Robotech, Speed racer, Transformers, etc.), my first taste of Anime was AKIRA. Of course, I referred to it as Japanimation, never even hearing the terms anime, manga, Shojin, etc., before.
After watching this and being absolutely mesmerized by how sophisticated animation could be, I knew I need to watch more. I went to my local Blockbuster and saw a little title called BUBBLEGUM CRISIS. I was officially hooked. I searched far and wide (more local videostores) to see what else I could find. NOTHING. Then, I discovered a little place called JAPANTOWN in San Francisco, and a place called JAPAN VIDEO.
I immediately used the money I saved up to get a membership, and started renting immediately. I completed my BGC collection, and proceeded to discover some really awesome stuff: Fist of the North Star, 3X3 Eyes, Dangiao, Dragonball Z, Golgo 13, Crying Freeman, AD Police, Ranma, Guyver, You're Under Arrest, Robot Carnival, Gall Force, etc., etc.

While not the biggest fan of todays' anime, I will always be a fan in general.

The first anime I ever saw was, like many other fangirls, Sailor Moon. I remember the day vividly, the real reason for that being that my family had spent most of the day chasing down the neighbor's cat. The cat had attacked a family of birds that had previously lived in one of my mother's flowerpots, and we chased after it until we found one little baby bird that had survived. After a couple hours trying to convince my mom to let us keep the bird, we wound up driving down to a nature reserve and handing the bird over to them. When we came home, my sister and I were distraught, but were placated by the only thing that could have made us happy again: our first encounter with anime. We just turned on the TV and discovered that an interesting cartoon called Sailor Moon was on.

We were both hooked immediately, and spent a year or two taping every episode that aired and exploring crappy Geocities websites. (Remember all those cheap animated .gifs? The kitties running back and forth across the page?) Through the magic of the internet, I managed to put together a general idea of what anime was, but I may never have been the otaku I am today if not for a local video store.

The old video store in my town (which has since closed down) had a decent collection of anime located under its own little section, helpfully labeled "ANIME" rather than the obnoxious "JAPANIMATION" title that was popular at the time. Judging by that collection, someone at that store was an otaku, but I never found out who. They had some good stuff, like Project A-ko and assorted Tenchi videos, but what really earned my devotion was, appropriately enough, Slayers. I still don't know what it is about that show, but it was love at first sight, and it remains my favorite anime to this day. After renting every Slayers tape they had, I started building my own collection. Since this was back when VHS tapes were $20 a pop, it was slow going. Every time I accumulated enough cash, I ordered another VHS tape on our beloved internet, all the while downloading and memorizing the lyrics to ever Slayers-related song I could find on Napster. Eventually, I came up with the idea to make my own crappy Geocities website dedicated to Slayers, featuring truly godawful fanfics by yours truly.

I still have most of those old VHS tapes, too. I always feel horribly guilty whenever I spend money, so I haven't managed to acquire all of the Slayers DVDs just yet. Still, all those tapes are well-used and well-loved.

When I was a young snarky tea sipper (of age five) there used to be Childrens ITV, a block for children on the "big four" (This was a time before 5 came on the scene in the UK) and on that block, there was a "Magazine Show" called Motormouth. This in turn had several cartoons and one of these was the perennial classic "Samurai Pizza Cats".

Now, I was five so the fact that it came from japan flew the hell above my head but I could feel the raw diffrence in SPC than the likes of Scooby Doo. It felt more like a story that was to be told rather than an imature joke that always ended with "And I would have gotten away with it too if not...blah blah blah".

Then Pokemon Happened.

Then Digimon.

Then Bubblegun Crisis.

My first memories of anime are somewhat muffled and confused. I don't remember much, or how old I was at the time, but I know it was my favorite programming at the time.

I was raised on Toonami. Every day, when evening came, I eagerly awaited the black void of space, wherein a large spaceship loomed in the distance. Pan over to a short humanoid robot named TOM, who would calmly walk over to his console at the command room of the ship and take a seat. Then, anime.

Of course, I didn't know it was called anime. Just more cartoons that looked more detailed than the others but were more serious. I was introduced to many shows that I dearly loved at the time and still bring a warmth to my heart when I look upon them now. I saw the entirety of Dragon Ball Z and then the "prequel" Dragon Ball. I watched Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing and Mobile Suit Gundam. Hell, there were maybe 6 different Gundam shows that premiered on Toonami, I just watched whatever was on (I really can't remember any of the plot or if I even cared who was who). Transformers: Armada (which was awesome) and Hamtaro (which I still love and think was adorable). YuYu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin were favorites, too. Hell, I even watched Zatch Bell!, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Prince of Tennis as the years went on and programming became thinner.

I was introduced to Hayao Miyazaki via the "Month of Miyazaki." Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky were amazing on first viewing and made every Saturday night awesome and something I couldn't wait for.

Of course, Toonami had to die. TOM had morphed into a machine resembling Claptrap from Borderlands over the years and what was once an awesome, seemingly more "grown-up" programming block had devolved into a gathering for Naruto reruns and Ben 10 episodes, along with failing Cartoon Network shows that were being pushed further and further out of primetime. It was a solemn moment for me; a large chunk of my childhood was about to disintegrate in, not a bang, but a whimper that nobody but I seemed to hear. I can still remember TOM's last words as he dived off of his seemingly-pointless space voyager:

"Until we meet again, stay gold. Bang."

And here I am, age 14. Foraging for anime in an internet so vicious and unforgiving, when I could have had it spoon-fed it to me in ample supply 6 years ago.

Way back when I was about twelve years old, I was sitting in my room on my futon one night. I was up late, really late, for a kid my age. I was flicking through my television set to find something interesting to watch, and I came across a film on the Space channel (A science fiction/fantasy station in Canada) and there was a film that had just started playing. That film was Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA. Despite the fact that some of the subject matter was a bit out of my league at the time, I can remember vividly, enjoying the film. The color and the portrayal of Neo-Tokyo sort of blew me away.

AKIRA is my favorite film as of today, and I currently own every North American release of the film. It sort of changed my view on Anime and opened doors to my close minded view that everything was like Pokemon and Dragonball Z. I must say, I am a fairly large film fanatic, and I hope one day to attend film school and make a living doing something I love!

Icons like Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon, and Mamoru Oshii, among all of the greats have contributed to what film is today, and they've certainly impacted and changed a lot of views both professionally and fanatically.

When I was little I was never allowed to watch tv, mom said it was bad for me and my father didn’t want me getting ideas. So one night I stayed awake in bed and I heard the tv going, being five I was rather sly and so I got up and snuck to the hallway which led to the living room; with my luck there was a mirror there and looking in it I could see the tv! So laying on my stomach in the hall I watched for the first time an anime; Sailor moon it was called, being young I did not much understand it, but staying up longer I watched other anime and soon the sun was down and my parents were getting tired, me I was wide awake with wonder at these neat cartoons.

So when they got up for bed to walk upstairs, I ran back to my own room which was downstairs; when I stopped hearing them move I snuck back out and watched all sorts of anime episodes. I did not understand most of it; it was in Japanese with subtitles and though I could read the whole of charlotte's web by myself, so many new words I could hardly keep up and slowly I fell asleep watching tv. However late I found out my parents heard the tv and came down seeing me gripping the couch and crying as one of the characters died in an anime, and they shrugged and let me stay there.

From then on I was able to watch anime whenever I wanted, my mother was still against American cartoons and my father not liking me ask so many questions and spoiling some series for him, but we watched together till I turned fifteen then watched them by myself, mother never watched tv anymore and my father was gone; but even now I watch anime happily and still remember fondly the pride I felt at sneaking up to watch this wonderful shows full of magic. Despite what my mother says, it did not ruin how much I read books; in fact I then read manga as well. XP;

The first anime I watched was easily Samurai Pizza Cats. But I didn't really know it was Japanese at the time, and it didn't really even get me into anime. Though, the first anime I watched that actually got me into Japanese animation was a movie I saw when I was five or six, I think.

Anyone ever see Galaxy Express 999? I remember spending the night at my dads' apartment when I was a little kid, and while flipping through the channels, I thought I saw a cartoon. So I left it on the Space network, and just my luck, it had /just/ started.

I won't get into the details of the movie, but when you're a little kid and you watch a movie like that, it leaves a lasting impression on you. After a few months, they played the sequel to the movie, and again, I had just caught the beginning and watched right to the end. While Samurai Pizza Cats was technically the first anime I saw, the first anime I saw that blew my mind and made me want more was Galaxy Express 999.