Anime & Manga

Akira. Hell of a way to get introduced to anime as a kid.

Apparently it was Pokemom and then Sonic X, didn't even know what anime was at the time. My first conscious effort in watching anime was Death Note. Ranks pretty highly for me, still like it, and refuse to watch the Netflix version. The previous live action ones were good but not as good as the OG.

Definitely made me a fan.

Outside of Dragonball and Pokemon, which were were on next to shows like Reboot on toonami, Chobits was among my first anime that I watched knowing what anime was.

The first anime I watched fully knowing it was an anime is Vampire Hunter D back in the late 80's. I still have a soft spot for it.

Dragon Ball and Toonami pulled me back in hard. I loved anime but didn't have much access to it until Toonami.

I had watched some anime adaptations (Voltron, etc) when I was younger, but I had no idea what anime was back then, and not sure those would count.

When I was a kid I had a few VHS cassettes with various shows and movies on them that were often recorded from TV. This was before the mid 90s Toonami era made anime popular stateside I was like maybe 2-5 with these tapes I'd watch and I didnt even know they were anime.

One of them was the Little Nemo Movie and the other one was a several episodes of a series called Serendipity The Pink Dinosaur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity_the_Pink_Dragon

Apparently it's on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZWuTSp9NgM&t

As for first anime I knew was anime thats harder to say but probably Voltron? If not Sailor moon/dbz

Sure, if by "watched" you mean really digging into an anime, and if by "anime" we're talking about stuff from Japan, then my first mind-blowing experience was with "Princess Mononoke". I saw it on TV and it was totally different, super deep, and nothing like the cartoons I was used to. As for a full series, that's gotta be Evangelion. I binge-watched the whole thing in just two days. I would still rank them as one of the top anime I ever wached.

Probably Pokemon or Dragonball Z.

Before I knew what anime was, probably something like Speed Racer.

First "let's see what this anime thing is about" anime that I watched: Ghost in the Shell (the OG movie). It was a good choice.

It depends on what qualifies as "watched". If you mean "what was the first anime you watched all the way through" it would be some 2012 anime like Code Geass or something. The first anime I ever remember watching seasonally was Parasyte: The Maxim, because a friend of mine told me I might like it but it turned out there was only 1 episode of it out. That's definitely when ~~the infection~~ my passion for anime began. I started watching everything I could get my hands on seasonally then. Parasyte is still a 10/10 show by the way, and it 2000% holds up today.

Steel Angel Kurumi and Twilight of the Dark Master My parents really should have been more careful about what I watched. :P

Naruto, There is a lot that I don't remember how they were called.

I watched a lot of anime as a kid, Pokémon is the likely candidate among them but could also be Digimon or Sailor Moon.

First time I went back to it as a teen was after watching a Death Note YouTube poop. First half is still great and one of the only Dubs I am still inclined to watch

I did watch some anime as a kid (Pokémon springs to mind) but I think the first one I really watched as an adult was JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. A friend recommended it to me, and boy was I in for a wild ride! I still feel very fond of it, though I'm not enjoying the last season(s) as much. I don't think I've actually finished watching the last one. But the earlier parts will forever hold a special place in my heart!

I had seen a few episodes of Pokémon, Hamtaro (I think that was the name), and Dragonball Z as a kid but wasn’t ever really into anime. A few years ago I gave Deathnote a try and loved it! Earlier this year I watched Cowboy Bepop. I usually enjoy reading manga more though as some shows tend to feel stretched out. It feels like a lot of them don’t translate very well to 20-30 minute episodes.

Saturday morning cartoons: DragonBall Z, Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. Friend then introduced me to Pokémon. But I just watched these casually.

A few years later, high school friends got me to watch Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Ranma 1/2, Great Teacher Onizuka, Azumanga Daioh, Love Hina, and several Studio Ghibli movies. I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, but high school was when it started for me. Action, drama, comedy, romance, slice of life, everything.

GTO is still one of my all time favorites. I've rewatched it a few times, read the manga, and watched the live action remakes. This class is known for getting teachers to quit, but Onizuka sensei is a former gang member that has a totally different perspective on life. Because of his background, he has a very different approach to teaching and relating to his students.

There have been a lot of good anime with great stories, animation, comedy, etc. GTO isn't the best anime ever, but I connected with it on a deeper level, so it holds a special place.

Not counting random episodes of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh I saw on TV, it was Tokyo Mew Mew. I wanted to watch something truly 'anime' and not just another cartoon I could find on TV. At the time, I thought that meant cat girls fighting evil. Tokyo Mew Mew was one of the recently released shows when I went looking for torrents online.

I wouldn't say Tokyo Mew Mew made me an anime fan, that came later when Haruhi Suzumiya came out and that's when I truly loved an anime. I still go back and watch it from time time (well parts of it anyway, endless eight kinda ruined it). Toyko Mew Mew is very mid and not something I've ever rewatched. I think it was surprising solid for what was essentially a knock off sailor moon, but it's not a show I'd suggest anyone else to ever start out with.

Ever? Or first after knowing about/wanting to get into anime?

I certainly saw plenty as a kid before I knew anime was a distinct thing. Super old stuff like Kimba, speed racer and voltron.

I think a much later first was robotech, even if it’s a edited/remixed version of Macross.

Spirited Away

Circa 2002, I had refused to give anime a chance because it looked like kid junk to me. Spirited Away singlr-handedly convinced me I was wrong.

I couldn’t say the exact first one I’ve watched, but it was probably something on Toonami like DBZ. I didn’t really know what “anime” was still in elementary school (US).

I didn’t really become an anime fan until my early teens when I became fed up with cartoons censoring death and blood and the likes. I wanted blood, gore and nudity. I found Elfen Lied which is probably the first anime I watched as “an anime”.

I haven’t rewatched it since I’m much older and more sympathetic now. I doubt I could handle the themes without feeling sick so it doesn’t really rank for me anymore.

However the fact that it was uncensored scratched that itch and put me onto anime. Nowadays I wouldn’t call myself a “fan” because of the rampant pedophilia and fan service but I am an anime enjoyer of very few that are very very selectively chosen.

Oh no how dare you remind me lol. Wolf's Rain here's episode 1 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x82c7kc the theme SLAPS but the whole things lowkey furry bait. still good, kinda wanna watch it again.

The Wizard of Oz was the first, before I knew there was some sort of a difference between this or that animation.

The first "proper" one was either Spirited Away, Chobits (by recommendation) or Bleach. I adore Miyazaki's work still, Wizard of Oz has a special, nostalgic place in my heart and I want to see it again sometime, Bleach I probably couldn't bother to watch anymore (soooo much filler and pointless fan-service aimed at teenaged boys, I couldn't stand all that stuff even then), Chobits I might give a spin sometime just to see if it's at all not-horrible, but it's been a while so I can't really remember. The whole virgin-boy wants sex angle and fan-service thing never appealed to me and ruins so many animes that would be good or even great otherwise.

"Atakku Nanbā Wan" it doesn't rank high anymore but I'm nostalgic for it.

Sailor Moon. I grew up right.

Robotech Macross as a kid, but I wasn't really aware of it the first time I saw it.

But then 10-year-old me discovered DBZ when it aired in the UK for the first time and after that I was hooked.

Macross holds up, imo, even if it gets a little weird to watch in certain places as an adult. I honestly outgrew DBZ in my adulthood, the power fantasy was cool when I was a kid but as a person grown and a parent now I find most of the characters insufferable.

Cardcaptor Sakura!! I found the manga as a kid and became intrigued by it on account of being a comic that Wasn't obviously for boys. I promptly marathoned all the manga in my tiny little library. Pretear, Wish, some type of ice skating manga...

But then I googled it.

I was doomed. The entire series of Cardcaptor Sakura was on either YouTube or Veoh. I watched it all. Then I watched Ojamajo Doremi, and then Shugo Chara...

Cardcaptor Sakura got me into anime and manga, but I think out of my beginning anime I wouldn't rank it too high. It's nostalgic, it's cute, I love it, it's just there's better ones out there.

It's been pretty long ago for either interpretation, so my memory might be off.

The first ever was probably Heidi or Biene Maia.

The first ever not explicitly produced for a western audience was probably Captain Tsubasa.

The first after having a concept of anime vs. cartoons was one of Akira, Ghost in the Shell or Blue Lagoon.

I have a vague recollection of seeing part of Princess Mononoke as a child, so I guess that would be my "first", although what really got me interested in anime was watching the first couple episodes of Attack on Titan at a high school club.

Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo via Toonami on Cartoon Network as a kid. Then I started buying Shojo Beat and got into Vampire Knight and Azumanga Daioh.

Probably not my first watched anime, but I do love mobile suit Gundam (the OG one : amuro and char) with Chinese voice over

As I grow older I actually watch fewer anime

Now with 3 kids I somehow get back to it

Macross

Neon genesis evangelion

Naruto

Bleach

Monster

Full metal alchemist

Tokyo ghoul

Gurren lagann

Sword art online

Stein gate

Kill la kill

Gundam seed

Witches of mercury

Demon slayer

Etc...

And then there's the movies

Most of the studio ghibli

Akira

Your name

The girl who leapt through time

Etc...

As you can see there's not much pattern to the genre. I watch just about anything

The only one I don't dare go back to is grave of the fire flies I was maybe 15 minutes in when I watch it 20 years ago? I bailed out after that The story is just too heavy for me

I wouldn't rank any of the above, mostly cuz I have bad memories and don't remember most of the details

I will just say OG mobile suit Gundam is my all time fav.

Fist of the North Star. In retrospect this probably shouldn't have been my first as it did level-set things a bit oddly as to the ratio between plot and pure, raw violence.

Hard to say for sure but probably Speed Racer. Dragonball Z is definitely the first one I followed consistently. But Speed Racer would have likely been the first I came across.

It would have been playing on Cartoon Network pre-toonami when I was a kid. Back before the US thought there was any difference in Japanese Animation vs US animation.

Spirited Away is what set me to going out of my way for more. But Toonami gave me Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, .Hack//Sign and Inuyasha while Adult Swim got my Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Wolfs Rain, etc.

I saw Spirited Away in a theater in the mid 2000s and started downloading stuff left and right.

Beyond children's stuff, and entry-tier Ghibli films, I think K-On! was one of the first anime I actually watched. I'm not really sure what I thought of it, certainly don't recall much about it. Probably took an interest in Japanese media more from manga than anime; yuri like Morinaga's Girl Friends helped me realise I was bisexual.

But to focus back on anime, Nichijou is probably what made me realise anime could be worth my time beyond the odd film, that made me smile on a lot of otherwise dark days. And on the opposite side of things, I'd probably attribute Madoka and NGE with teaching me the value that anime could hold as 'art'. (I'm a sucker for an effective deconstruction of a genre.)

Pokemon. It ended up being my morning show that would end right before I had to leave for school. But what really put anime on my radar was the old YouTube algorithm, constantly showing me pirated episodes of obscure anime lol. Good times. Thank god I never ran into anything traumatic, cuz I just winged it for a while.

I still love the anime as a childhood experience, but I don't consider it great. Probably one of the only childhood shows I'd be willing to watch today would be Avatar The Last Airbender, but I know it doesn't exactly count as anime.

Technically, probably a few episodes of DBZ as a kid. After that, I think I watched some of Fairy Tale based on a friend’s recommendation in high school and eventually dropped it. I just didn't have the patience for typical shounen pacing.

I still consider the "first" anime I really watched to be Spice and Wolf. It was the first show I actually chose to watch and finished, and I still have a real soft spot for it. Tentatively excited about that reboot!

FLCL! <3 The Pillows.

I would usually say Pokemon, Digimon, or Monster Rancher, but FLCL was my first non dubbed anime and hit all the right feels.

Nichijou. Still love it. I wasn't super into anime tonally, so a show that absolutely takes the piss and comes across like the anime equivalent of Flying Circus? ...Yeah I could watch that.

The first anime I ever watched was Macross, though I have absolutely no memory of it. The first anime I've watched that I actually remember is Cardcaptor Sakura.

The first anime I remember watching as a youngster was Dragonball or Dragonball Z! I can't really remember which I saw first but thank you Toonami on Cartoon Network for being so cool

After that I took to watching Beyblade, the OG series, every single morning on ABC here in the States followed by Power Rangers

Preeeeety sure it was this Tom Sawyer one, before i even knew what was anime, either that or good old Doraemon, either on national TV

I remember watching Battle of the Planets (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman) before school in 1978-79. I was struck by the art style and how different it was from all the other animation I consumed. Unfortunately it was soon swept away by the wave of shitty '80s animation, and I don't think I saw another anime until I watched Akira in the early '90s.

Late nights on the sci-fi channel back in the day were wild, you waited up til midnight and then had no idea what you'd get. I remember watching urotsukidoji before I was even 10, which definitely didn't mess me up, no siree bob.

Blue Gender, of all shows, was the one that really got me into anime, and I learnt to pirate things right about at a golden age of Evangelion, Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop, which were all great.

Toonami and Fox Kids/Jetix introduced me to a few anime when I was younger, before I even knew they were anime.

Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragonball Z and Rave Master were the ones I remember.

It wasn't until years later until I actually looked into watching anime properly and I started with Darker Than Black and Elfen Lied.

Darker Than Black is still a banger although season 2 is fairly disappointing.

Elfen Lied was fairly rough for my younger self though!

I recently found out that Cities of Gold is technically anime, so it'd be that, the first time it was shown in English back in the '80s. The first I consciously saw was Akira, it was shown (IIRC) in 1991 on channel 4 at 11pm on a friday night ... I couldn't watch it, but I had a friend with a video recorder who got his Mum to set the timer for me. I watched it at school the following week (in bits during lunchtimes, thanks to a sympathetic teacher), and kept the tape even though I wouldn't have my own VHS player for another 6 years, lol ... it totally blew me away at the time, and I think it's aged well :-)