What was the state of anime when you first got into it?

[BaBaBrony 111]

I was about 12 years old when I first started watching it on a real conscious level in that I was actively seeking out new series to watch.

 

The only shows that were really on TV were DBZ and Sailor Moon. Sci-Fi channel had a midnight block that they called Saturday Anime, but I don't think it lasted that long.

 

You couldn't really buy anime anywhere. The internet was still in its infancy and file-sharing was practically non-existent. I remember Viz Video being the only North American distributor that sold stuff where I lived. Ranma 1/2 was their big series. If you haven't seen it, its a really good show but I imagine its quite dated by now. Most of what you could find was in comic book stores or smaller, independent video stores. And even then, it was prohibitively expensive.

 

There was one comic shop in my town that sold fansubbed DBZ tapes. Each one had 3 or 4 episodes and was $20, but the quality was absolute crap most of the time. On TV, the show only got to the part where Goku lands on planet Namek. They hadn't dubbed any of it beyond that. But the fansubs went all the way to the end, so that was the only way to really watch them. They had the 13 or 14 movies too. My friends and I pooled our allowances and started a collection that got pretty huge. Another funny little thing was that some of them still had the Japanese commercials from when the footage was originally recorded, so we got to see what youth-oriented marketing looked like from a very exotic country. Its very much the same.

 

So yeah, I'm a very old man. You kids are lucky that anime is just everywhere now. Did I mention that I had to walk uphill both ways to my comic shop through a pile of salt, lemons, and broken glass?

[Hushabye 47]

It wasn't very popular. The only English dubs were of obscure titles and of poor quality. I didn't watch anime again until the late 90s, when quality started picking up again.

[null1 606]

Pokemon! It had just rocketed off in the States when I first got a glimpse of Anime. It was an amazing show. My mother allowed me to skip the first half of Kindergarden class one day so we could see the first Pokemon movie.

 

Not really an anime guy but I sometimes watch it from time to time, even some of the new Pokemon, though it feels watered down from what it used to be. They made Nurse Joy look alot better in the Unova Region though.

[_Magikarp 17]

it was all about naruto one piece bleach and a bunch of others (death note to) i was into and always have been into dragon ball z at the time i ended up spending all my money on the box collections of it and the manga

[Pachirisu 42]

I live in the UK and when I first got into anime, it was because of the Toonami block every night on Cartoon Network (which was DBZ, Tenchi Muyo and Gundam Wing).

 

The only stores I ever saw anime DVDs at were HMV, Virgin and MVC (only HMV still exists) and the prices were kinda ridiculous. You were looking at paying at least £20.00 (about $30.00) for a single disc, four episode release. Nowadays, you'd get three discs with 13 episodes or that much (or about £15.00 online). DVD was a farly new format then, but I don't really remember ever seeing any anime VHS tapes anywhere outside of second hand stores.

 

I'd read the American magazines (like Animerica) I got from the comic shop and wish I could watch all the shows all the lucky Americans were. DBZ is only just getting a proper release here, believe it or not.

 

I didn't have internet access then, so I wasn't aware of the wonderful world of cheaper online prices and Region 1 imports. Nowadays I can import an American blu-ray release for not much more than HMV charges for the DVD.

[silvadel 1,393]

Read or Die on G4 got me into anime. Of course there were some cartoon types like card captors(2000) before that. It was at that point that Adult Swim started showing anime -- things like Wolf's Rain(Going by wikipedia that was 2004). Then I found some on the net.

[The Milkman 186]

I got into anime because of my sister.

We both watched Naruto (i didn't like it) and Samurai Champloo on the TV.

Basically, i like anime since i'm 7 years old.

[Raritas 6,820]

The first Anime I properly watched was probably BoBoBo-BoBo-BoBo. Yes, I know it sounds completely weird, but thats what it was! It was the most bizarre thing I had ever seen, but it was awesome

[PonyEcho 1,610]

well these were the first anime's i watch when i was around 8-9yo were Out law star and DBZ and i preferred OLS because one i was rely into sci-fi and 2 it had a better narrative and didn't rely on cheap animation tricks. after that i got into Berserk, Cowboy Bebop , Hellsing, all had the 90's anime style which im a fan of. but i was from the UK so this stuff was already around for a long time before i got wind of it.

 

then it got to around the 2004 and stuff like Naruto ad Bleach as well as *throws up* One Piece pop'ed up and to me they were just average i mean Bleach can have good fight at time's and can be well paced and Naruto's narrative can be interesting, but both suffer from the same thing they drag on to much, one piece being the biggest culprit of this. and they made me reflect on the older stuff some more.

[Planty 1,053]

Pokemon! It had just rocketed off in the States when I first got a glimpse of Anime. It was an amazing show. My mother allowed me to skip the first half of Kindergarden class one day so we could see the first Pokemon movie.

 

Not really an anime guy but I sometimes watch it from time to time, even some of the new Pokemon, though it feels watered down from what it used to be. They made Nurse Joy look alot better in the Unova Region though.

 

The first one i remember watching as a kid was pokemon !

 

I watch all of teh first series on TV and the movie, everyone at my school did it was the best think ever at the time!

[pinkiefan1287 610]

When I was a kid I saw a lot of anime anime on T.V. Both Fox kid, and CN had some pretty good anime's showing at the time. Fox had Medabots, Monster Ranchers, they also had Pokemon 4 a while before it went over to the Kids WB, and other stuff. CN with the help of Toonami and adult swim, had a lot of different animes like Gundam, DBZ, Zoids, and other animes. I became more of a fan when I got into High School I think.

 

I think they sold more DVD is stores back then, but they were single copes and not complete sets.

[Evilshy 5,090]

I'm not really into anime, I don't have time to sit down and watch that many episodes. I do, however, read plenty of manga. I think I started with D.gray-man and O-parts Hunter. I started reading Fairy Tail and Death Note soon after. The school library got a bunch of Naruto and Bleach volumes, so I started reading those, as well as digging through old issues of Shonen Jump once I was done with the volumes. While at home, I read online.

I've been reading manga for about 5-6 years, I think, since I really got into it in sophomore year of high school.

 

I read Megatokyo, and some Trigun and Evangelion back in middle school, but I didn't read much and never finished any of them, so I don't count those.

[FedoraMemes 582]

Well, I officially started watching anime around the start of this year, but in the past I have watched Sonic X and Pokémon, so not really much is to be said about the state of anime when I got into it, because I've only started watching it recently, so it's pretty much in the state that it's in now; much more popular than it used to be outside if Japan.

[Rarietty 632]

I've only just recently watched Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Host Club all the way through, both on Netflix, which alone covers the monthly cost of the service (and I live in Canada, so the selection sucks). I watched a little bit of Sailor Moon when I was a kid, but now I don't really see much anime on TV, and if it is, it's on at a really weird time, probably due to paid streaming services, fandubs/subs and Youtube. Edited August 31, 2012 by Rarietty

[Tuxedo Kamen! 114]

I dont think your exact with your releases. I remember the premier of sailor moon when I was really young, but I think DBZ came much later, because I remember the american release of Dragonball. Back then though, serialized anime was rare unless it was on television. Anime movies were what I remember watching that early. almost everything was either Fumimation or Manga ent. at the time. with the release of more videos though, AnimEigo and Animeworks rose and fell. IDK

 

I started following in the early nineties, or as soon as I basically started to watch television. My dad worked a few toy cons when I was really little, and at one in particular they had anime in the next ballroom and I snuck in. Life Changing!

 

I didn't start collecting (not including pokemon) anime seriously until five years ago. My big exception is my Akira unopened subbed videotape, from before Pioneer bought the rights.

 

Thats my anime story

[Dxthegod 251]

I think the first anime I saw was Dragon Ball Z... either Dragon Ball Z or Inu Yasha. Those are actually the only animes I really like (that I can think of, anyway)

 

And when I say DBZ, I also mean DragonBall and DBGT. Even though I only saw GT like once... but DragonBall was cool too.

 

Of course, this was like 10+ years ago, I'm not sure how much anime has changed as I've only really stuck with DBZ, mostly because of TFS's epic DBZ Abridged

[Sepia-chan 495]

The first anime I watched was Gurren Lagann. What was anime like back in 2010(when I watched it on Netflix)? I don't remember, but Gurren Lagann was definitely a good first anime.

[Anachronous 682]

First show I ever watched was DBZ during that whole Majin Buu arc. It was a source of intense nightmare fuel for a good season to me. After that, anime never really appealed to me until I decided to try Soul Eater. That was alright, I suppose. I decided afterwards that manga's kind of superior and read Gantz, Kiseijuu and a few other seinen.

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

I got into anime thanks to DBZ & Gundum series when they used to show it on Cartoon Network years back. Around 1998 through the early 2000's. Toonami had some really cool shows back then I started getting into Anime seriously about a year ago in high school my friend showed me Soul Eater & I loved it! Since then I have been watching anime so much !

[Stereopony454 18]

I miss the way anime was in the 90's back when like video games it was just for us old fashioned nerdy types... most modern anime is just otaku pandering drek in my personal opinion, hardly anything that still grabs my eye anymore aside from the occasional theatrical feature or something from the Noitamina Block. Studio wise still enjoy Gainax & Madhouse works, but overall yeah most anime made over the past 7 or so years...not really my cup of tea honestly. But hey to each their own.