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Author Topic: How were you hooked.... on anime in general?  (Read 4259 times)
Saucer
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« on: June 17, 2003, 12:53:27 am »

OK, let's all give a chronological breakdown of our descent into otaku madness! Everyone has a story to tell (don't front, you know you're a fiend too)
__________________________________

1982: Saucer starts watching reruns of Starblazers on local TV.

1986: Saucer starts watching first broadcast run of Robotech. This show, and Starblazers become two of my favorite "cartoons" of all time. Their animation, depth of story, etc... causes them to stick in my mind longer than anything. Also around this time, Voltron and some other giant robot show run on TV. They don't really mean as much to me.

1992: MTV starts running reruns of Speed Racer. Never could get into that show.

1994: Saucer's best friend Booze keeps telling him (OK, I neeed to stop talking in the third person now) to watch this funny ass anime called Ranma 1/2. He finally sits me down and we watch it. I laugh my ass off. Also this year, I start working at a video store that carries alot of anime. Booze tells me to take advantage of my free rentals and start bringing over some anime. We watch Bubblegum Crisis, Akira, Gunbuster, The Guyver, MAPS, Tank Police, Appleseed, Black Magic M66, Gall Force, Urotsokidoji (^^;;; ), Fist of the North Star and many others.

1996: I start working at the Library. I notice they seem to have, and have access to, an awful lot of manga and anime. I gradually get more and more serious about fandom.

1998: I discover a local PBS Station, KTEH, is running uncut (and often subtitled) anime on Sunday nights. Including Tenchi Muyo, Urusei Yatsura and Key the Metal Idol.

1999: My life begins to fall apart (we won't get into that right now) and I find solace in anime. I go full-blown, non-stop, frothing otaku. And, the rest is history as they say.
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Spanner
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« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2003, 08:19:43 am »

My anime origins are pretty much rooted in video games and fanfiction. I'm too lazy to try to remember dates, right now, but I'll try to put things in general chronological order.

When I was very young, I liked Voltron, though even my young and unjaded mind could see how incredibly cheesy the show was. (Why don't they just draw the darned Blazing Sword at the BEGINNING of the battle?) I was far more interested in other shows, so I wouldn't exactly count this as a sign of early anime fandom.

I'd been into video games since I received my first Atari 2600 at age 6. Now, I was into my brother's Nintendo Entertainment System, and I found myself at least as fascinated with the character designs as I was with the games themselves. I had stickers of Megaman characters, I was enthralled with the mysterious girl who congratulates you upon winning The Guardian Legend, and so on and so forth. Little did I know that the character designs I was so fascinated by were a standard in Japanese animation. Heck, I wasn't even really aware that most video games of the time were produced in Japan.

Early high-school: A friend shows me a tape he recorded of exactly one episode of Robotech - namely, the flashback episode titled "Gloval's Report". I'd pretty much missed Robotech while it was on TV, as it hadn't interested me at the time, but now I was hooked. I watched the episode over and over again, built a transforming SDF1 out of Legos, and spent a bundle collecting and reading the twenty-book novelization of Robotech. While I sort of understood that this was a Japanese cartoon, I wasn't aware that it wasn't a unique phenomenon.

In my late high-school years, I read an advertisement in a video game magazine for a fighting game called "Ranma 1/2". The advertisement consisted mostly of a clip taken from the first issue of the Ranma 1/2 manga, showing how Ranma got cursed. The whole boy-changing-into-a-girl premise sounded fascinating, but not enough to make me buy the game.

College, freshman year (1993): I get introduced to this thing called the "Internet". I spend a lot of time browsing, and stumble across this page called Spatula City, written by a guy called Stephan Gagne. I was a fan of Weird Al, so I decided to browse. It was quite funny, but had numerous references to this show called "Ranma 1/2". It reminded me of the ad I'd read in that gaming mag a while back, and so I poked around a bit. Eventually, I found his fanfiction section, and read my very first fanfic, a piece by the name of "RanmaPunk 2033", written by John Walter Biles. (Which, ironically, happened to play fast and loose with "canon" Ranma pairings, and was a Bubblegum Crisis crossover to boot. I probably woulda passed it over, if I were to have found it for the first time now.) It was a little confusing, but I enjoyed it, and went on to read other Ranma fanfiction.

I was now officially a Ranma fan. Sophomore year, I spent some of my paltry funds to buy Volume 1 of Ranma 1/2, as well as the first Ranma movie. I hooked my brother and sister, as well. I also start to buy volumes of Robotech, but the series goes out-of-print before I can even finish buying the Macross arc. I still haven't gotten into other anime series, yet, but that changes as I become interested in other series through Ranma 1/2 crossovers. This leads me to get into such series as Tenchi Muyo, Tank Police, and others. I do read one Ranma 1/2 / El-Hazard crossover, but it strikes me as strange, and not terribly well-written, so I pass it off.

Post-college: Now employed, but unmarried, I finally had some cash to play with. So, I began a frenzy of collecting anime and video games that has continued until this day.

And that, as they say, is that. ;D
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Kathy Guinea
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« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2003, 11:39:47 am »

Quote
I had stickers of Megaman characters,



** DROOLS UNTIL SHE FALLS OVER AND PASSES OUT **
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« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2003, 12:40:47 pm »

Quote
** DROOLS UNTIL SHE FALLS OVER AND PASSES OUT **


Heh, I was wondering if I'd get a reaction like that out of you. (I control the horizontal and the vertical, remember? ;D) But don't get too excited - remember this is the early days of Megaman, when Megaman's character design was pretty simple, and characters like Zero, and Bass and the like hadn't entered the picture yet. I only got two stickers (one included with Megaman III, and one with Megaman IV, if I recall correctly), both of Megaman (in one, he's firing a Crash Bomb, and in the other he's riding the Rush Jet), and they've already been applied to various objects. Though, I still own those objects.
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larewen_evenstar
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« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2003, 01:31:55 pm »

Well. The first anime (i think its an anime anyway, same style) i watched was the moomins. In fact, it was like the only anime released in this country until Pokemon. Well, except from Akira.

After the moomins, I saw pokemon, which was my favourite show for two years, then I saw gundam wing, tenchi and digimon all at the same time.
Then I found out about Oh! My Goddess! so I got the two DVD's of that, then El Hazard, then...well their wasn't really much after that.

I suppose my taste in anime has gotten better over the years.  ;D

I suppose its the art and emotion of anime that draws  me in. I mean, watch Disney, they use loads of words to express things, whereas, anime, well, it consists of emotion filled expression, and every word that most characters say mean more than your avarage cartoon.
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Kathy Guinea
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« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2003, 09:44:23 pm »

Quote

remember this is the early days of Megaman, when Megaman's character design was pretty simple, and characters like Zero, and Bass and the like hadn't entered the picture yet.


Zero doesn't do anything for me... he's just a pretty boy -_-;

Bass is just an asshole

The original Megaman series was my favorite... I play 1-6 more often than any other games.

7 was cool until I got to the final boss... which is just unfair...

8 was like WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! Did Megaman get a robot lobotomy?! I mean he was about to cap Wily's ass and WHAT?! Now he's all cute and happy?!

Quote
I only got two stickers (one included with Megaman III, and one with Megaman IV, if I recall correctly), both of Megaman (in one, he's firing a Crash Bomb, and in the other he's riding the Rush Jet)


Crashbomb was a Megaman 2 power O_o weird that they would include that with 3  err... I'm not complaining mind you...

I HATED the Rush Jet in 4! It was so excellent in 3! Then they redid it so that if you run into something Rush  keeps going and you ass slides off and you fall into the pit... THAT WAS SOOOOOOOOOO not cool! I got used to it though... 9_9

ok now to make this relevant to the topic... Megaman art!








Maybe when I get bored I'll do a write up on how I got hooked...
« Last Edit: June 17, 2003, 09:47:13 pm by ifurita » Logged


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Saucer
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« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2003, 12:11:28 am »

Quote



** DROOLS UNTIL SHE FALLS OVER AND PASSES OUT **

::catches her::

Hey, watch out! What would happen if you hit your head and Rock took over permanently?

Quote

Maybe when I get bored I'll do a write up on how I got hooked...

Well, hurry up and get bored, damn it! I'm always interested in hearing these stories from people. Those pics are rad, BTW. What's up with the giant shiriken?
;D
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« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2003, 12:47:52 am »

Shadow Man's power, Shadow Blade I believe.
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rienna_the_red
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« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2003, 09:26:23 pm »

heh  I think I went over this already, but I'll happily say it again.  ^^

Like most Children of the 80s I grew up on anime- I just didn't know it.  My earliest exposure was catching abot 15min of "Naussica and the Valley of the Winds" followed by regular veiwings of Voltron, Transformers, Fying House (heh...I'm old, I know), The Little Prince, Cities of Gold, Gimms Fairy Tales, and sundry other stuff.  I had NO CLUE what ANY of it was until highschool, I guess, when  friend invited me to watch her tape of then NEW TV eps of Sailor Moon and I went ""OH MY GOSH IT'S THAT STUFF THAT I WATCHED AS A KID!!!"  And thus I realized I'd been hooked since the early 80s.  ^^;
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Kathy Guinea
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« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2003, 10:43:01 pm »

Quote
Hey, watch out! What would happen if you hit your head and Rock took over permanently?


I imagine the outcome would be similar to Phoenix: The Chapter of the Future... where all the world's remaining cities are indirectly destroyed by Rock...   ;D

Quote
Well, hurry up and get bored, damn it! I'm always interested in hearing these stories from people. Those pics are rad, BTW. What's up with the giant shiriken?  ;D


Bob iz right tis DWN 24 Shadowman's power "Shadow Blade" from Megaman 3...
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executor82
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« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2003, 12:18:57 pm »

Well, let's see....
The first animes I've seen were 'Captain Future', 'Saber Rider and the Starsheriffs' and 'Queen of 1000 Years' (or however it might be translated). At that time, at the age of 10 (not sure), I wasn't aware that this were anime series. The first time I saw a 'real' anime was when I saw 'Fist of the Northstar' with my brother at the age of 14. Then came 'Akira' and since that time I'm addicted to anime! I don't know how many animes I've seen yet but I'll never stop!!!  ;D
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theravenisdead
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« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2003, 08:09:36 am »

The first anime I ever saw was probably Astroboy, when they aired it on reruns in the late 80s/earily 90s. Although at the time I didnt know it was anime, since i was too young to differenciate between local and imported shows.

The first anime I watched, knowing it was an anime, was Sailor Moon when it came to north america in 1995. After enjoying the hacked n slashed DIC dub, I eventually got internet access in 1997 and started to learn about other series. In actuality, I didnt really know anything about EH besides the name untill the spring of 2002, when i decided to check it out.

Since them i've been hooked.
My other fave animes are Love Hina, Real Bout High School, Nadesico, Tenchi Muyo!, etc. lots others too.

But El Hazard reigns supreme for me ^_^
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Kathy Guinea
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« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2003, 08:46:44 pm »

Ok I'm bored enough now.

When I was little I remember Voltron...

After that I don't remember much til high school... and I'm not just talking anime here, I don't remember shit.

The first thing I remember seeing that I KNEW was anime was Sailor Moon.

After that I was interested in seeing more. It was round this time that I got to see some of Tekkaman Balde (Technoman as it was dubbed). I liked Tekkaman but it was on when I was usually at church so I only got to see it once in a while... but I liked what I DID see ^_^

After that I sorta saw snippets of things here and there... my main connection to anime was more or less through video games. Megaman being my favorite series.

Sometime in college a friend of mine showed me Cowboy Bebop when it first came to the US. It was awesome and I knew I DEFINATELY wanted to get more anime. So I decided to take a chance on a series I heard about (mostly from reading catalogue descriptions in the Right Stuf catalogue) The Irresponsible Captain Tylor.

Tylor was excellent and sparked a new desire for me to obtain more anime.

I prefer animes that generally fall into the humor category... I like stuff to be funny... that's just how it is. So if it's funny I'll watch it.
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« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2003, 09:15:10 am »

Careful what you wish for, Saucer...

From the Yahoo! Group EHFC...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

From:  "Mark Engels" <mark_engels@r...>
Date:  Thu Sep 13, 2001  4:35 pm
Subject:  By way of introduction (long post)

Greetings, my fellow EHFC members.

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My anime and manga interests are wide and varied. It all began as I suppose it does for most latetwentysomething and earlythirtysomething
listers here: sneaking down at 6:30 in the morning to watch Kimba and Speed Racer, then watching Battle of the Planets, then later  Voltron and finally Robotech (this all before we knew what "anime" was.) In college I experienced the requisite Bubble Gum Crisis, Akira, and became hooked on the Heavy Metal motion picture. (OK OK not anime per se but a cult favorite.) By this time I'd found out there were actually COMIC SHOPS where one could buy manga. While not manga in the strict sense, I'm sure there are other fans of Steven A.
Gallacci, Stan Sakai and Reed Waller/Kate Worley on the group: it was about this time I first became a fan of their anthropomorphic work. I did collect every Macross/Robotech comic I could get my
hands on and ate up everything by Johji Manabe (Outlanders, Caravan Kidd and more recently Drakuun.) Miyazaki's Nausicaa was also one of my early favorites. After picking up Ben Dunn's adaptation of Captain Harlock, I began Ninja High School. That more
than anything set the hook for me, as I immediately began wondering where all these "walk on" anime characters were coming from in the NHS plotline (Salusian fanservice notwithstanding. ;) )

I fell off the wagon for a few years while I pursued some other interests, namely "railfanning" (people who stand trackside watching trains go by, naming off the model, builder, and horsepower rating of every locomotive that rumbles by. A train otaku, you could say.)  
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During college I had obtained a Commercial Driver's License. I got back into manga when I was driving tractor trailer on the weekends hauling mail between Minneapolis and Chicago to earn some extra pocket change. I needed something to pass the time on my layovers, so began toting various trade paperbacks with me in my grip. I tore up Battle Angel Alita and the collected Nausicaa with a vengeance. This was also when I'd started picking up Oh! My Goddess and Gunsmith Cats. I'd also become familiar with Rumiko Takahashi's works at this time and began collecting Ranma, Inu Yasha, and Maison Ikkoku (probably my all time favorite) in trade paperback form.

It was also about this time I first began spreading my wings as a fan fiction author. If any of the list is interested I'll be happy to direct you to a link of my own works set in Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita timeline. At various Midwestern anime conventions I've had
pleasure to meet a number of fellow fictwriters and engage in wondeful C&C with them (usually while consuming libations in generous amounts. ;) in fact, John Biles was often among them along with other Ranmaverse writers like Greg Sandborn, Richard Lawson, Nick Liefker, Travis Butler, and the nefarious Zen.)

More recent favorites include Neon Genesis Evangelion and Child's Toy (known as Kodocha in comic form.) Other short series I've picked up in either manga or anime form include 801st Airbats, You're Under Arrest, AD Police, Spirit of Wonder, Legend of Kotetsu, All Purpose Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Dual! and Tenchi Universe. Being a Kishiro fan I've enjoyed Aqua Knights and
await the coming of the new Battle Angel Alita adaptation. I pick up Animerica Extra and Super Manga Blast at every opportunity because I've been enjoying each publication's serieses a great deal.

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Time and again I've seen references to EH anime music videos. I was absolutely stunned back in '98 at Anime Central when I saw Neon Genesis Evangelion set to Europe's Final Countdown. More on topic,
at Ken's urging I downloaded the the Sarah Brightman Once In a Lifetime El Hazard video by Michael Ko. Wonderful piece of work, that. Watch it every chance I get!
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"...an' keep 'em 'tween da white lines, driver..."

--me

Mark Engels

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Now since I first wrote this, of course, I did finish the fan fict work with Ken Wolfe (Rough Justice has already been talked about in detail elsewhere on the EH forum.)  And I've continued to watch anime.  Saw the Sakura Diaries once.  I've had chance to watch the original Tenchi OVAs and the three movies (liking the last one the most, though being an Ayeka fan less than pleased at the less-than-subtle hintings at just which girl was Tenchi's favorite.)   I've also really enjoyed Fushigi Yugi and Princess Nine.  Can't beat the Miyazaki flicks--you can pick up Castle In The Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki's Delivery Service at Sam's Club for under ten bucks each on DVD.  Saw the first four eps of Nadesico and enjoyed them a lot!  I have yet to see more of Trigun and Captain Tylor but saw the first few eps and definitely want to see more!  (Kudos to Spanner for bringing over Tylor to Wilson's place for our enjoyment.)  Of course that was the same day when a friend who had lived in Japan had introduced us to the insanity that is Excel Saga, but that's another story.  (And I thought Child's Toy was over the top!)  

My wife Sonia and I also used to watch Adult Swim on Cartoon Network but fell off the wagon after we moved into our new house out in the sticks.  We watched enough Inu Yasha, Yu Yu Hakusho and Cowboy Bebop to want to see more.  Those are on the list, although I've got the Blue Seed Perfect Collection and the combined Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars (again courtesy of Spanner-san) already sitting on my mantle (which serves as my impromptu viewing queue.)

So I figure with all those that I know about today that I'd like to watch, at my current viewing rate I'll be an anime fan for at least the next five years or so.  ;)  Seems though that these damn previews on these DVDs keep introducing me to more and more series I think "hey, that looks interesting!"  So I'm probably hooked for life.

--me

Mark Engels
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