Week 47 - Your First Anime?

[Tsushi]

I'm curious! What was your first anime?

I know it's a bit hard to remember, for me it was Totoro and Little Nemo, which I got on VHS and watched many many times, and I think I got into Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z around the same time as a teenager and that was the first time I really was old enough to know more about animation enough to know it was from Japan. Though a lot of cartoons that were on TV when I was a kid were outsourced to Japanese studios as well.

It was fascinating to learn later in life that Little Nemo was also made by TMS! I think there's a lot of things I loved as a kid that I didn't know until later were tied to Lupin

 

[YuStarDino]

Digimon Data Squad and Digimon Adventure 02 changed my brain chemistry forever, it aired on Pop here and i think Jetix but I mainly watched it through Pop.. Got me into Digimon because I thought Pokemon was kinda boring and I can safely say Davis is one of my favourite anime protags and I can't wait to get a chance to watch the new 02 movie.

The side effects of Data Squad as my special interest is that it came with a nuclear blast towards my bank account. 2nd anime was Dragon Ball Kai though, the 290 episode count was very daunting for 12 year old me so I went with Kai but I loved Kai so much and since the Majin Buu saga didn't get a Kai dub until 2017, I went and rewatched all of OG Dragon Ball and original Z in its entirety and I've rewatched it many times and yeah Krillin is my favourite Dragon Ball character.

 

[xxx]

And me at the time it was airing. Wish I didn't grow up.

 

[jojosuibhne]

And me at the time it was airing. Wish I didn't grow up.

chiK you were such a little cutie oh my god love the baby pic lol

i got into manga first before i started watching anime (fruits basket and love hina mostly)(both of those made me gay) but i want to say my first anime was pokemon? either that or naruto, I watched them both a lot growing up. i didn't stay into either of them for long though. i also watch gurren lagann and ouran hshc and I still love both of those shows!! gurren lagann changed me and my gender

 

[Bründelkärf]

The first Anime I watched had to be Heidi as it is a pretty popular show in Germany (To the point many here do not know it is an anime) and was shown on a lot of channels because it is liked by Kids and Adults, alongside some German/Japanese co-productions like Bee Maja, Wicky and of course Alfred J Quack.
But the first time I was aware I watched an Anime was because of my sister who got into it when I was like 11. At that day they showed an Anime Movie on TV and my Sister asked me if I would like to watch it, and of course I agreed.
....
Turns out Grave of the Fireflys is not a good movie for a 11 year old who could get sad very easy.
With 13 I read my first Manga and then talked with an older friend about the subject. Person was a massive Horror fan and recomended me a short show that she was sure I would like.
.....
Turns out Corpse Party was a good show for me ... I think.
Scince then I watch Anime and read Manga and remember and laugh about my beginnings as a fan of the mediums.

 

[lupingavemebrainrot]

inuyasha unironically I hated lupin as a kid because adult swim always aired that before inuyasha, never understood why fujiko was so big boobed, and lupin was so horny ah y2k memories....but then again I was like 8, and didnt understood the adult themes I thought the height of romance was a tsundere relationship like inuyasha and kagome, and didn't understoood why lupin kept simping for fujiko. now that I am 30 I wish I had a guy simping for me like lupin. T___T

 

[Giovanni]

Bought it because it had a Dinosaur on the cover, zero regrets.

 

[Hooder]

I didn't get into anime until around very early 2017 (yes I'm very late to the party and my weeb phase is quite over), I found complete DVD set of Deltora Quest which I had some fond memories going back to early 2000s cartoon network
however, I believe my earliest time with anime if I can recall correctly was Simba the white lion?

I remember the odd Sonic X and Pokémon and maybe even Yugioh
I only had access to tv 2 which did random Saturday morning cartoons before getting "sky" which could do channels like Disney, Nick and CN

 

[The_Walking_Pie]

My dad introduced me to Robotech at a young age, so I'd say that was my first anime, followed by Pokémon.

 

[Yawackhary]

Sadly I can't remember clearly enough... Since where I come from, anime wasn't much of a thing unlike now and growing up back in the 1990s, all I really watched was Western animation and was lucky to get satellite otherwise I probably wouldn't have watched much TV at all (metric ton of Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, whatever was on Cartoon Network, Simpsons, Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, Rugrats, some Disney cartoons e.g. Aladdin, Hercules, DuckTales, Recess, video game cartoons such as Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and SatAM, later Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World). The closest thing to anime much of the time and unaware was the outsourced animation like when TMS/Telecom did episodes of Animaniacs or DuckTales (or AoSTH when I noticed Sonic's eyes in the Super Robotnik episode).

I might have watched the Spanish/Japanese co-production of Around the World with Willy Fog when I was extremely young however I cannot remember a single thing about it (possibly a VHS cover if that around the early 1990s and even then, did I watch it?). I know that I briefly watched an episode of Moomin or The Moomins as it was known but those weren't animated in Japan... (It's not the "banned" Tokyo Movie or the Mushi Pro series). Did I watch Dogtanian? I don't know... I know that I watched Pokémon casually as it was the craze but I wasn't devoted to the medium and later went off Pokémon all together. Then came the failed attempts of anime during the 2000s... Sonic X (ughhhhh... Tried 6 times, disliked all 6 episodes), Dragon Ball Z (not for me), then onto online such as Sailor Moon (can write an entire story on THAT and the effects suffer to this day, there's even 2 fanfics by two different writers that feature exaggerated tales, the untold real story is... depressing), even the likes of Cowboy Bebop and Azumanga Daioh couldn't get me on board. Tried to take recommendations and watched an episode but all it did was really annoy people... (ugh... why didn't you like this X show, you're messed up! is what others had said and that's the kindest way of putting it)

The rest is a lot more clearer. My earliest anime film was Pokémon The Movie on VHS as it was more or less the only one that you could watch in a mainstream manner, then the failed attempt of Castle of Cagliostro on TV. That was around a 6-7 year gap. Plus the first one that I had on DVD and somewhat liked was Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (I guess that counts even if it was just two OVA episodes). That would have been around the early 2000s (2001-2003 is my guess and would have been bought from either Virgin Megastore or HMV, it had the original cover as the later cover we never got).

It took until my 30s around 2018-2019 before I started watching a lot more anime because ironically it is easier to watch anime physically than it is for Western animation and even then the failed attempts still happen (5cm per second, found just too dull and would have been way more suited to live action). All I can really say, I wished Lupin was on when I was growing up especially Parts 2 and 3... It is the first anime that I loved.

 

[Bründelkärf]

then the failed attempt of Castle of Cagliostro on TV.

Can I request more information on this one pls XD

 

[Tsushi]

It took until my 30s around 2018-2019 before I started watching a lot more anime because ironically it is easier to watch anime physically than it is for Western animation and even then the failed attempts still happen (5cm per second, found just too dull and would have been way more suited to live action). All I can really say, I wished Lupin was on when I was growing up especially Parts 2 and 3... It is the first anime that I loved.

I can understand being picky, as I've aged I've definitely gotten a lot more unwilling to put time into something that doesn't impress me early

I won't say I never watch anime, but there are a lot of things needed to qualify it as something I actually want to watch through. And that doesn't make any that I don't watch BAD shows, just personal preference stuff!

 

[Hooder]

I can understand being picky, as I've aged I've definitely gotten a lot more unwilling to put time into something that doesn't impress me early

I won't say I never watch anime, but there are a lot of things needed to qualify it as something I actually want to watch through. And that doesn't make any that I don't watch BAD shows, just personal preference stuff!

Nothing wrong with being picky at all.
I've never seen why stuff like One Piece and AOT are so popular for example

and I don't want to sound like "ooh I only watch the very rare cause I'm quirky"

a lot of them just don't sound all that interesting.

 

[Tsushi]

Yeah I don't do this for clout, and I'm sure most of the popular stuff has great aspects, but a lot of popular stuff just doesn't hit the spot for me. Some does though like Mob Psycho 100 is popular but I definitely enjoyed the heck out of that one. It's not usually about the premise being interesting, it's about how it's done.

Kaguya-sama really proves that rule for me because high schoolers romantic comedy is pretty dull in concept, but it stands out because of great writing!

I never really know what will be my type lol it's just helpful to be open and allow for very different tastes.

 

[YuStarDino]

Yeah I don't really watch much new stuff either, like I didn't touch any new animes this year at all excepts Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, this year was 100% more of a Gamer year than an anime year. Like the other exception was Hirogaru Sky Precure but I was kinda on and off co watching it with a friend.

 

[se.mo]

It was Pokemon and Digimon- and some Ghibli movies (I remember watching My Neighbor Totoro, The Cat Returns, and Spirited Away). The former two I'm guessing I just caught on TV. The latter films my parents showed me.
But Ojamajo Doremi was probably the first anime series me and my sister actively seeked out fansubs for when 4kids stopped localizing it.

 

[jojosuibhne]

I can understand being picky, as I've aged I've definitely gotten a lot more unwilling to put time into something that doesn't impress me early

I won't say I never watch anime, but there are a lot of things needed to qualify it as something I actually want to watch through. And that doesn't make any that I don't watch BAD shows, just personal preference stuff!

i'm like this as well, i can start any new anime and watch a couple episodes but if it's not stand-out to me i'll just drop it without a second thought, lol. it's been a while since i picked up any new series and got into it. in fact it might have been when i got really into lupin a few years ago a lot of modern anime to me feels homogenous and predictable. i'd rather not waste my time on something that i've basically seen before when i could watch four criminals and a cop duke it out homoerotically for 400 episodes lol

 

[VampireNaomi]

Pokémon was the first anime that I was watching while knowing what anime is, but before that I'd seen a bunch of other stuff as a kid, like 90s Moomins, Pinocchio, Sherlock Hound, Nils Holgersson etc. I have no idea which one of them was the first first.

My issue with a lot of modern anime is that so much of it is an adaptation of a manga, a light novel series or a game, and usually adapts only a fraction of the story and even then leaves out a lot/speeds things up. Recent-ish (from the past 10 years or so) series I've enjoyed are Mob Psycho 100, ACCA 13, Megalo Box, Ore Monogatari and Sarazanmai.

 

[Lupin34]

While I'd probably seen various anime unwittingly, my first concious memory of watching anime was an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! when I woke up early for school one morning. I think it was First Duel, where Jonouchi faces off against Mai Kujaku and her psychic fake-out. Little did I know that would begin my love of anime and manga today!

 

[lastflunky]

I don't which I saw first. It was either Pokémon, Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z.
Irish TV didn't have much anime until Pokémon aired in 1997. After that The Den (RTÉ 2's kids program block) got a bunch more.
Digimon, Cardcaptors, Astro Boy (2003), Sailor Moon (briefly according to my older sister), Cyborg 009, Beyblade, Medabots and of course Yu-Gi-Oh which was really popular. I wish Irish TV info wasn't lost media as I really want to see the Cyborg 099 ad again. It was basically Tears for Fears AMV.

If you had satellite TV you would get access to more anime from British channels like Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Bobobobo, Shin Chan, One piece and of course Ghibli season on Film4. Did you know there was a channel called Anime Central that barely lasted a year.
I was obsessed with Tokyo Mew Mew on Pop Girl when I was 11. Since half the series wasn't dubbed. I watched the rest subbed on YouTube in 3 parts which was the style at the time. Fast-forward to today were a kid on the Late Late Toy talks about anime and drew the host Patrick Kielty in different art styles.
It was very cute.

I have some fun related links:
Irish kids show Cyber Stream from 2000. There's a Pokémon segment.
Mew Mew Power Pop Girl Promos: Ad 1 - Ad 2
CN Austrailia's Linkin Park Gundam promo. (This is what The Den's promo for Cyborg 009 felt like)
Shin Chan Fox Kids UK ad
That time Murphy's Stout hired Studio I.G. (yes really) for an ad. (It was the Celtic Tiger, there was money to burn)
Anime Central ads. AD 1 - AD 2 - AD 3 (mild flashing warning) - AD 4
I realy went down the rabbit hole and found Anime Central Cosplay Interveiws: Part 1: Intros Part 2: Why do you like anime? Part 3: What's your favourite? Part 4: Who are you cosplaying Part 5: What is cosplay? Part 6: Do people think you're strange?