games  anime  toys
Japanator is anime news, community, videos & geeky J-stuff. Updated daily!   Sign up to comment or blog    |    Returning? Login

japanator logo

What anime has influenced your childhood the most?
by Colette Bennett, 11/23/2009
What anime has influenced your childhood the most? photo

You think that anime and manga have influenced you a lot? Wait until you hear what the Japanese have to say on the matter. Apparently it's been more important to them than their own parents. Bizmoto (Via Sankaku Complex) reports the results of a survey that show when it comes to Japanese priorities, well, they are in an interesting order to say the least.

Men named Gundam as the most influential of the seventies, closely followed by Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999 and Lupin III, while women leaned towards Candy Candy, Alps no Shoujo Heidi, and Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi. In the eighties, men named Fist of the North Star as being the biggest influence, while women named Touch.

Also interesting was the question "What has most influenced your life and aspirations?", 23.9% of the people asked named television, with manga and anime coming in second at 19.7%, and then schoolteacher, books, father and mother after in that order. Wow ... apparently mothers don't have much sway when it comes to motivating their kids. That's Japan for you.

Now, many of you may have never seen anything but Gundam in the lists above, but a golden oldie like me has seen most of it, and if you haven't I recommend all of it. It's interesting to see where the roots are, and you'll also begin the notice the influences showing up in modern shows. A few of mine are Akira, Vampire Hunter D and Devilman, for instance. What anime and manga have influenced you most?





(31) COMMENTS



Link1987

Ninja Scroll and DBZ all the way lol. Akira when i got a little older. but this is what i grew up on. Goooo 90s YTV and Teletoon!
 
mooboy

Space Battleship Yamato, Robotech/Macross, Voltron, Devil Hunter Yohko, Ranma 1/2. All good stuff. I remember wanting the robotech toys hella bad, but they didn't really have them in Hawaii. I did manage to get Voltron (the car one) at some point.

 
Sr sneaky

Definitely Cowboy Bebop. I could relate all of the characters it seemed.
 
Slust

I'd have to say Akira and Vampire Hunter D as those were the first two anime I had ever watched. Blew my 4th grade old mind. (Heavy Metal was also in the trio, but technically that's not anime, even if it is animated)

The rest is history.
 
Setre

Oddly enough the original Mobile Suit Gundam. At this point I had seen most of the anime that Toonami had to offer and after seeing Gundam Wing, and playing Rise From the Ashes on the Dreamcast, I wanted to see the series that started it all. In 2001 I finally got my wish. MSG was the first series I felt that treated me like an adult and I will never forget Ryu Jose's sacrifice.
 
Aokiji

Im a 90s kid so grew up with DBZ and Yu Yu hakusho. Ahhhh good ol Toonami, RIP my friend.
 
ProtoKnuckles

As a kid, i wasn't too much into anime until DBZ and Pokemon, with Trigun, Slayers, and Cowboy Bebop soon following. However, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers ruled my childhood, and I guess that's close.
 
Violet Gray

Sailor Moon!!! It turned me to anime and the entire fantasy genre which resulted in me watching Bleach and moving to another country.
I couldn't picture my life without it

LMAO: bf just gave me a sailor moon style victory sign.

 
Zeouterlimits

Putting things like Pokémon and Digimon aside, it was when I watched Evangelion at the innocent age of 12 that turned me on my head.
In one sense it was liberating, while also being kind of scary.
 
KernelPanic

Robotech thank you very much. More specifically Mospeada era.
I most enjoy Cowboy Bebop because of the rich character development and adult storylines without taking itself to seriously, Ed, Ein. But, alas Cowboy Bebop was release well into my adulthood. So I'll have to stick with Robotech.
I did manage to catch the West Coast Premeire of Akira at the 1989 (I think) at the San Diego Comicon. It was great visually but the English dub Wasn't great. I remember the Colonel got a whole audience groan when he announced. "Come on men, were going to the Olympics."
 
FifthDream

Started out very young watching "Battle Of The Planets" and "Speed Racer" on American television. "Voltron" was huge for me and my friends when it came out. At the time, of course, i had no idea these shows were originally from Japan. Then "Robotech" hit, and it was eye-opening to say the least. The story continued from one episode to the next, characters fell in love, died. It had a huge impact on me, and my view of animation. This series cemented my love for animation, and in particular, Japanese animation. I knew there was something special about "cartoons" that could be deep and emotional.

I started going to comic cons in the late 80's. Early '90 or so, i picked up a copy of Akira and Dominion: Tank Police at a con, took them home, and my jaw dropped as i watched them. Things happened in both of those that i had never seen in animation before, that i didn't know COULD happen in animation. Akira was especially amazing. It was art, not just interesting entertainment. After being exposed to those, i truly considered myself an anime fan.
 
Magnus Dexious

My Neighbor Totoro, so much so that whenever it rains, I remember the scene where May and Tasuki are waiting for their father and the Big Totoro appears with a leaf on his head.

The humming of the Totoro theme follows shortly thereafter.

Ronin Warriors also had a large inpact on me
 
lyfeforce

Oh tapdancing crap, I could be here forever with this question. Let's see If I can do this in two hundred words or less:

Transformers/Fight! Super Robot Life: It introduced me to the entire idea of stylized robots, which would lead me to electronic games, which would introduce me to video games. The rest is history.

Voltron/Beast King Golion: Everyone on my block watched it and tried to play "Voltron Force" whenever possible, speeding me along the path to making friends and being social.

Robotech/Macross: Even with the giant robots, this is the show where I learned that love, relationships and, yes, even girls weren't necessarily that icky, mushy stuff that mom's soap operas were made of.

Akira: Watched this during a phase where I was watching Don Bluth films and saw similarities in the expressiveness of the characters, which made me start paying attention to art in general. Plus, the setting of Neo Tokyo was used in many middle school creative writing assignments, which made me love using my imagination and writing.

Cowboy Bebop: What Transformers did to my 5 year old self, this show did for my 18 year old self by introducing me to Noir, Acid Jazz and Yoko F'ing Kanno.

...done with words to spare.

 
Pangloss

Speed Racer, DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho and Cowboy Bebop ruled my childhood. It pains me to say it, but Pokemon was (if maybe less influential) a must-watch when I was in elementary school. And although it wasn't anime, and it was Americana-sterilized, Power Rangers totally counts too, as it was my introduction to the glorious tokusatsu genre.
 
Irothtin

DBZ, Pokemon, Digimon, YuYu Hakusho...

Oh, how things have changed.
 
EuricaeriS

DBZ, Pokemon, Digimon and Tenchi Muyo were all during the 'never heard of anime' stage, but I was hooked after watching Akira and GITS.

 
Miraito

I watched very little anime before I knew what it really was but I can remember watching Pokemon, some Digimon and The Mysterious Cities of Gold... the rest was American.
 
Karmacon

same with me . . . i watched Totoro and Sailor Moon w/o knowing what it was. as i got older Blue Submarine #6 really clinched it for me, i was addicted after that
 
guillep2k

Well, I'm 39, so it must be Heidi, Mazinger, Gatchaman, Mahou Tsukai Sally, Candy Candy, Speed Racer... I even watched some live action japanese shows strangely available in Venezuela when I was a very little kid, like '60s Ultra Seven and Ambassador Magma (The Space Giants). I almost forgot about anime for years until I saw Nausicaä by chance in my 20's and Sailor Moon right after that. Then it was non-stop anime love for me. :)
 
raasbo

By the age of six or seven, I had already seen Robotech, Saint Seiya, Mazinger. After that, I started to watch Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Speed Racer, and anything that I got my hands on while I lived in Mexico. From all those, I think Saint Seiya has been the most influential. It introduced me to mythology. And though I did not immerse myself completely in that subject while I was in college (my affinity for numbers surpases it), I still minored in Classics and learned some ancient Greek and Latin. I truly believe that it all started with Saint Seiya.
 
Wedge Jaeger

So far as actual "influence", Macross 7. Ever since, I play guitar cause I believe music can change the world. Or at the very least, make an enormous impact on an individual.

Though Gurren Lagann made me do the impossible by kicking reason to the curb.
 
BKE

The very first sliver of anime i whiffed was escaflowne...I think. Some one was being lifted into the sky by a boy with wings.

The ones that got me hooked was DBZ and Pokemon. I didnt even know it was Japanese. Then Digimon came and i found out these were japanese shows. I continued to enjoy monster rancher and kept moving on.

Then one day i moved into a home where we had cable. Thats when i saw...New Dominion Tank Police, which set the tone for what i sought out, and soon i started searching actively for this stuff.

But two animes(or is it three) hit me the hardest: Akira and Princess Mononoke. I had already seen Kiki's Delivery Service, and fell in love with the Ghibli style. And Katsuhiro Otomo is truly an underrated genius.

Those and Cowboy bebop taught me to love it, but only in the past year did i find some that taught me to respect it(Haruhi,Spice and Wolf) and i rediscovered some from my anime rennaisance of 01-02 like Crest of the stars and Rurouni Kenshin.

Plus, Fist of the North Star was complete win. And Black Magic M-66 too. And...you know what? Best era for anime was the early nineties IMO.
 
Link1987

gahhh how did i forget Escaflowne! shit. yeah. Definitely biggg part of my childhood
 
Heero Yuy

So apparently I'm 10-20 years younger than I should be judging from my influences? lol.

Seriously though, I'm an electrical engineer with the express intensive purpose of developing robots in an effort to eventually create something of at least Landmate class (see: Appleseed)... not to boast but I think that counts are pretty darn dedicated.
 
Borjones

Well... hihi Sailormoon! It was on the TV all weekends mornings! I din't know it was japanese either, but I wanted so badly to be the guy with the mask. Later came digimon, and Pokemon. I prefered Digimon, tho.
 
Rewarp

Rurouni Kenshin was the anime that changed me entirely as a person when I was 14.

For the new generation it may be Kamina, but for me, Himura Kenshin will always be the inspirational character who would defend his principles and the ones he loved to the bitter end.

No one nor any anime since has made as large of a change in my personality.
 
king3vbo

DBZ, Kenshin, G Gundam, and Gundam Wing if we're going by what anime I first got into as a kid, but to be fair I went from casual observer that enjoyed latenite anime to hardcore fan after watching Mobile Suit Gundam, Fullmetal Alchemist, every Ghibli film, and Last Exile. From there it became an obsession.
 
ChubbyHuggs

We were pretty poor growing up, so I wasn't introduced to cable till around 9 years old. That was about 10 years agao, so when I got cable Cartoon Networks Adult Swim and Toonami blew my mind away. (A -Z) Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball (Z), Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, and Trigun just raped my mind and I could stop watching. The thing that inspired me was they all just wanted to help other even though they all had extremely troubled pasts.

P.S. some others in no particular order: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Goldenboy, The 08th MS Team, Pilot Candidate, Digimon, Tenchi Muyo!, Wolf's Rain, Yu Yu Hakusho, Voltron: The Third Dimension, Case Closed, Eden's Bow.

Those kind of just influenced my life scheduled around what time they came one making me late for school ,skipping some family events to watch finales. Stuff like that.

Then I got satellite (Big Mistake), which made Adult Swim come one around 8, so I didn't go to sleep to late after watching the good stuff. Now I am back with Cable and the Internet (Score).
 
Domokun89

DB, DBZ after that. When my doctor recommended I take up karate at the age of 11 I was so disappointed to learn that the sensei was young and not old with white flowing beard and awesome kamehame powers. :(

Sailor Moon: Mannn I loved that series. Watching it now is funny, especially the early episodes, it all turned a bit cringe worthy towards the end.

Pokemon: I almost ejaculated prematurely when that came on TV on Sunday mornings. When I was 11, I got my first console: Gameboy Colour and Pokemon Silver. After that, I decided to point out all the irregularities in the show "hey! why didn't so and so use attack so and so??" and began to ask the mind-boggling questions: "I wonder what level pikachu is at" and "Is Misty going to marry Ash?"

What really got me into anime though was, without a doubt, *SILENT MOBIUS*, man I wish they had made a second season, and I haven't even got around to watching the films (very hard to find the episodes nowadays). The plot, the incantations, Grospoliner's appearance, the soundtrack, it was awesome!

 
Domokun89

Ah, forgot to mention, I second that, Chubbyhugs, Rurouni Kenshin (or, as it was known here, Samurai X) is an amazing anime, which also has the added benefit of introducing me to J-Pop (Sobakasu, 1/2, etc)
 
Sir Gallantmon

As a 90s kid, I remember Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, and Pokémon.

Nowadays, I watch InuYasha and I foraged around to get some Ranma ½, which was fairly difficult to find.

Detective Conan also rules my life. "Shinjitsu wa itsumo hitotsu!" or as in the dub: "One truth prevails!"
 

You must be logged in to post a comment. Click here to login or create a user account now


 
Anime news got news? tips@japanator.com



New episode: Japanator Radio 125 GET!

Loading
Loading Videos


    Community Blogs   + post a blog   view all




    TEAM

    Editor-in-Chief
    Brad Rice

    Managing Editor
    Dale North


    Associate Editors
    Chelsea Thompson
    Colette Bennett
    Edward Baylon
    Eva Duenas
    Rio McCarthy
    Tim Sheehy
    Topher Cantler
    Zac Bentz

    Made by

    ModernMethod













    about us and privacy policy