Might as well make a first post for myself since I didn't see an "Introduction" page.

What got you into Anime/Manga?

For me it was the idea of telling a story with a clear picture, the ability to watch a cartoon and yet not seem childish.
Also because I thought watching Anime as a young teen made me seem more "Adult" because there was sex, violence, swearing, fighting and such....

Porn. Definitely the porn.

In all seriousness is was a gradual progression; Pokemon coupled w/ Toonami (back when the lineup was pretty darn good, Gundam Wing, DBZ, Hakusho, Kenshin).

Well, aside from the Pokemon/Digimon season 1/Yu-Gi-Oh that I watched when I was younger, I didn't get into anime until this past Fall semester. It all started when a discussion after the VGO meeting one night seemed to be centered around anime, and I felt left out when I couldn't contribute anything to the conversation. Coupled with the misconception I had about anime (that all of it was too similar in artistic style, and all of it seemed to be fantasy-based [more so the latter]), I decided to go to the Modern Animation and Anime club meetings the next week to see if not only I can change these misconceptions, but also to possibly contribute to future anime discussions.

Since then, I have pretty much become heavily interested in watching anime; from what I've seen, I can say I like mostly realistic anime and slice-of-life stories, but I'm hoping I can expand my genre interests in the future.

I agree with Zero on this, the idea of being able to watch "cartoons" and not seem childish was a big thing, but the characters and being able to relate with them helped too. I progressed from Sailor Moon to DBZ to Yu-gi-oh (toonami afterschool ftw!) and then I found Rurouni Kenshin and was a fan ever since.

Yeah, Pokemon/DBZ (which came on at 4pm-ish everyday... why do I remember this?)/Digimon did it for me.


I think those were the gateway anime's for a bunch of kids. That, and being the loner/quiet kid at school gave more incentive because we could immerse ourselves in a fantasy world that we wished existed T_T. Who the hell DIDN'T want to go on a Pokemon adventure?!? :P

Looking back, what got me into anime directly linked to my roots as an American cartoon viewer. I mean come on, do you people think that Disney and all the Looney Tunes cartoons had no effect on your enjoyment of animation as a whole? All throughout growing up I watched cartoons (whether it be in movies, or TV) and it felt as though the cartoons grew up around me as well. I watched things that were mostly relevant to my age group, and this is why once I was in High School that anime was interesting to me all of a sudden. Anime is simple more mature in most aspects to the things I was watching, and so since I was getting more mature, so did the content.

I had seen a few scattered episodes of stuff in High School, then saw Project A-Ko on Sci-Fi (which is amazingly animated for being a parody with an epic soundtrack) the next week Sailor Moon, which by the way has a much deeper plot than people may realize. Even the dubbed version with it's gender changing. And it goes on from there, the UCJAS back when I was a member had Escaflowne, Kenshin, some unmentioned awful shoujo series that will be referred to as just FY, Bubblegum Crisis, and countless others. Skies the limit!

UGH! I will date myself.

5:30 am when we only had 7 channels and you had to get up and turn a knob.

G-force.

Techically, Battle of the Planets. I used to get up every morning at like 5 or 6 AM just to watch it, keeping the volume down so I didn't wake my parents. Then I went back to bed until it was time for breakfast and the rest of Saturday Morning Cartoons.

To be honest, though, I don't consider "anime" to be a separate genre like many people seem to. It's just animation from another country, just like something from England or Canada or something. They do have a certain viewpoint about animation (I know if I use the "c" word, otakus will have me strung up, but I don't consider it an insult) that I wish we did here, but since I enjoy plenty of stuff targeted to a younger audience (usually more than the stuff targeted to "my" age group, since blood, boobs, and bad language do not a mature story make) I'm not as bothered by it. Animation is just another way to tell a story. (Compare the live-action and Filmation versions of Star Trek sometime. It was an animated story that was the most contriversial.)

scifi channel anime movies

anyone else remmeber those or am i too old?

Hmm..I can't recall what got me into anime because I've been watching it since I can remember. When I was 4-5, I'd watch sailormoon every morning, and of course in elementary school I'd be watching pokemon, and DBZ. Eventually, I suppose I got to watching other anime through the internet and my friends- oh, and I think by watching really awesome AMVs online I felt compelled to actually watch the show. XD