Introduction to anime

[Laevatein]

Wow, you really do remember your roots XD

Actually, a similar phenomenon also involving Gundam was my intro to anime: Since I can remember I've watched anime alongside American toons. For every GI Joe and Transformers there was Grendizer and Mazinger, and a smattering of Miyazaki (not to mention most of the World Masterpiece Theater). As American animation fell to the wayside, I was getting my anime fix through such generous channels as AXN and various local dubs.

The first turning point though was my introduction via model kits to Gundam Wing in 1999. Now here was an anime that despite having Super Robot like mechs, had them in a realistic war setting, no longer Earth vs Aliens, but man against man, not to mention the various political twists kept us (and the rest of the country) on their seats. I've been hooked to Gundam ever since XD And leading from there, in my quest for more Gundam did I run into the incredibly large world of otakudom XD

[OTGX]

My first anime is Saint Seiya I watched it when I was 5 on free TV
That excited me, and in 2002 it came back and gave me some great memories once again

[Ryuko2]

Thankfully, my first anime was Dragonball Z. And to me and I quote tononami, "Until the sun rises on a world without anime, [to me] dragonball Z will remain the first, and still the best"

[dijiko]

Pokemon, digimon, dragonball z and such.

[NejinOniwa]

Ara, i haven't seen this thread before i think...;

Anyways, aside from the Pokemon frenzy of my early childhood, and my comparison of the DB manga with the DBZ anime (the manga clearly much better than the dubs I found on Kazaa), I got my real start by downloading fansubs of One Piece episodes at the age of 13 when i got impatient for waiting for the books to translate. From there on, it's been escalating rather rapidly.

[Bella]

I guess the first "anime" I saw was Pokemon...I became a big collector of the cards and a fan of the show, although I never was too big on the game itself. But it was my older brother who taught me about real anime.  When he lived with us, we'd watch Adult Swim...Cowboy Bebop, InuYasha, Trigun...my dad liked watching, too. Now when go to visit him, we usually watch whatever anime he just bought (saw a few episodes of Samurai Champloo a while back). Besides the action and  innovative storylines themselves, I consider anime a real art form.

I found out about OS-tans while researching OS advocacy. I instantly knew I had to do drawings of these characters, because I love computers and different OS's, and I love "humanizing" intimate objects (Just ask Cherry Red, my phone, K8, my computer, or Silver, my car ^_^), and OS-tans bring these together.

[Gummster]

As with many other here the first animé I saw was Pokémon. But that did indeed not get me into animé. Something about three years or so ago Bíórásin (A local TV channel) viewed Princess Mononoke, that was probably the start for my older brother who watched in total amazement, shortly after that he bought almost all of the Hayo Miyazaki films. But I didn't really start watching animé 'till I saw Neon Genesis Evangelion, that was about a year ago. Since that fateful day I have downloaded gigabytes off animé and bought alot.

I would say that my favourites are:
Neon Genesis Evangelion (of course)
Gunslinger Girl
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

[congee]

When I was young, my aunt showed me the Miyazaki films when I was staying with her. Granted, at that time I didn't realize it was considered anime. I stayed in Taiwan for a while on vacation, and they've some  Japanese influences, so I'd occasionally notice these "really pretty cartoons".

Back at home, there was sailormoon of course. It used to play waaaay early in the mornings. And then around here, all the girls had a sailormoon card phase, where we'd all collect the cards and trade with each other. That lasted a good few years. At this time, my brother started reading Slam Dunk Mangas, so I saw those. He also previously had some Ranma 1/2 videos. Then, we finally got cable, so I managed to watch DBZ too. Eventually, they started airing Tenchi Muyo. Gundam Seed, and some other stuff.

Then, of course, there was Pokemon, including the card craze and whatnot. Following, there was Digimon. And luckily, they started airing CCS too.

But at this time, my brother started getting anime from his friends, so I had access to that. He also started downloading it for me. Though, now, I'm the one DLing most of it for the both of us.

The first time I started DLing by myself was probably... 4 years ago. Beforehand, I would ask my brother to dl stuff for me.

[Khoryu]

dragonball Z was the first anime i watched. it was my favorite back then.