My anime life has been sporadic.
When I was younger, much younger, Pokemon was the biggest thing to be into. I played the games, got a VHS of the first anime episode in the mail, and collected the cards. It was literally my life for a while, all my friends were into it, and it lasted long. This was my "first" intro to the japanese style of art and animation.
Around that time I also had a huge soft spot for Megaman. Anything and everything related to Megaman. I was living in the Bay Area around the time, and there were a ton of shops dedicated to anime stuff. Being as young as I was and still having no real concept of what "anime" was, I went into a shop and was surrounded by (from what I now remember) as Gundam models everywhere, figures, RC cars, and manga. All I wanted was my Megaman stuff, but the robots and mecha looked so cool to this child. I wanted to know more, but my friends & family had no idea.
My cousins had then introduced me to Dragonball Z and Toonami, along with Gundam Wing and YuYu Hakusho in the late of the night. This is what really got me hooked on anime. I would run home from school just to catch "who the new character with the purple hair and the time machine" was in DBZ. Even as cheesy and boring as Gundam Wing was as a small child, everytime I saw giant robots I would immediately get giddy. Toys and merch then started popping up in large retailers, and it became popular and socially recognized.
A few years later I had forgotten about anime. I had played PS1 JRPGs, but it wasn't enough to respark the flame. Until my friend gave me a .hack game to try out years later. It may have been the graphics of the game at the time, (which I had not owned a PS2 or amazing next gen system) but I got immersed in the story and gameplay. Then I was told there were many OVAs and animes about it as well. Refueled the anime love. Trigun, .hack, and Cowboy Bebop were legends to me during this time.
Edit: Also, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest,Kingdom Hearts and SNES RPGs helped out alot.
High school came, and I completely forgot about anime once more. Still loved Megaman and all the artwork and gameplay that came with it, but videogames were the extent of my japanese knowledge. I may have harbored some unconscious feelings for anime, but I couldn't get into the Narutos and Bleachs and One Pieces.
My best friend is probably the one who finalized the love of anime for me. He also disregarded the shounen battle animes, and showed me DeathNote instead. While explaining to me the premise of the story, it sounded absolutely ridiculous. But then I watched it, and I was sure slapped in the face. To me, the fact that an amazing storyline could come from a show that wasn't just trying to sell merchandise was was baffling (of course, it still sells a ton of merch though..). Then he showed me what might be my favorite, Initial D.
Again, I thought the idea of a car racing anime was stupid. How is that exciting in the slightest? He had on Initial D Stage 3, which is the OVA movie. I sat there, ridiculing it, and started to see how intense it was getting. After that, I watched the whole first, second, and fourth season on Youtube. Completely changed me. At the time, it was my only knowledge whatsoever about cars, and what initiated the passion I have for automobiles today.
Soon I found myself watching Haruhi. Then HOTD. Then playing more JRPGs. Lurking online, finding recommended animes. Similar animes. Buying manga. I quickly realized I was out of hard disk space and cash.
In the present: I found myself on SeventhStyle. |
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Re: How you came to appreciate anime
