The first anime I ever saw was "Revolutionary Girl Utena" the movie. I was attracted to it because it was bizarre and new. It hit me at a vulnerable time; my father and mother had just been murdered. I became obsessed with the "emptiness inside" theme of the movie, and felt that this related to my life somehow. I watched Evangelion next, and absolutely loved the depressing feeling both of these shows left me with. I am a person who loves depressions; I feel that I am at my most creative and "raw" when utterly depressed. The empty feeling these shows gave me filled me with emotions I wanted to recapture.
Like an addict seeking another hit, I kept downloading more and more programs, watching tons of shows. At one point, I had two shoeboxes full of CD-r's packed with Anime programs. I had a library of just about every show ever made. I became obsessive, but I wasn't finding that feeling that was originally there. Sure, I could recapture it with great stuff like Serial Experiments: Lain and Millenium actress, but that was only for a moment.
Eventually, I stopped watching the shows I was downloading, but just grabbed them for the sake of having them. I had to have more. I bought DVD's and didn't watch them. Gradually, over time, I felt my aesthetic become warped. What once was strange and bizarre looking character design became familiar; I sought it out. If I caught a glimpse of an anime style character in real life, I felt a rush; almost as if my hindbrain saw it before I was aware of it. I was visiting a Japanese tea Garden and saw real life schoolgirls in the familiar navy blue fuku uniforms. I was fascinated by them; I was drawn, attracted, but not in a sexual way; it blew my mind to see something in real life that I had before seen only in the abstract.
A familiar feeling came through me when I saw them. I felt the same at that moment as when I had first seen Utena, when I had first finished Evangelion. My obsession took a new direction.
I bought several sailor fuku uniforms from online retailers. J-list was too expensive and didn't sell in the size I desired. I had to have the legitimate stuff. At first it was satisfying to just look at the uniforms. I would keep them clean, iron them, and hang them up every day. The ritual was soothing to me.
Sooner or later I had to do it. I had to wear the uniforms I had treasured. I am proud to report that it took me a few months to break down, to really cross the threshold into utter depravity. After that line had been crossed, though, there was no going back. Tentatively, I started by simply wearing the uniforms around the house. I would wake up very early, before anyone could glimpse at me from outside on the street, and simply do my cleaning and cooking wearing the various uniforms I purchased. I got a matching apron. I would pretend I was getting ready for Japanese High school.
Soon, though, wearing the uniform in private was not enough. I purchased a duster trenchcoat and began walking through town wearing my outfit. Nobody knew, and this made me comfortable. But, again, this soon became insufficient to satisfy my obsession.
I began stalking this girl I knew, Sarah. I checked out her routines; when she left for work, when she got back, what time she went to bed. At first I furtively ventured into her place with my uniform under my trench coat while she was away. I knew where her spare key was because I had helped her move earlier. Speaking of this, I'm a pretty beefy guy. I weigh around 240-260 pounds, but I'm not that tall. A great friend to have if you need to move.
Anyway, gradually, I became more comfortable in her apartment. I started doing stuff like rolling around in her bed, stealing her underwear and putting it in little plastic bags, soforth. As you would expect, I became more and more comfortable doing this, and crossed a line. She came home unexpectedly one day, early from work. Panicked, I hid under the bed in my uniform. Immediately, as she came through the door, she spotted my trench coat. Lying under her bed, the sound of my heavy breathing seemed a thousand times louder than it actually was. I could hear her rooting through the trench coat, and could hear the wrinkling of celophane as she found my empty plastic bags. Thank god they didn't yet have her used underwear in them.
I put my sweaty, meaty hands together and prayed.
I heard her walking around the apartment. Thankfully, she didn't bring anyone with her. My mind was flashing; the excitement had triggered my epilepsy. Suddenly, I was barraged with memories from my first anime program, revolutionary girl utena. I heard her walking around some more, and then sit down on the bed. I saw her clothes come off and hit the floor in front of me. During this time I was controlling myself and having a minor epileptic fit. I could see transformation sequences from anime programs I had watched. It was all coming together; the near hallucinations, the girl in the bed above me, and most of all, my sweaty fuku uniform.
She approached the bathroom and got into the shower. She turned on the water. I was convinced that this was the one moment I had been searching for. This was my chance to cross over into the other world described in Utena; the fabric of reality was thin. I could taste it. In many of my anime programs I had seen the seemingly normal characters, like me, enter into a world of magic and joy.
I rolled out from under the bed and bounded into the bathroom. She saw my large form approaching through the glass of the shower and started screaming. I was having epileptic flashes; the screaming sounded just like "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" I was having trouble walking, my steps staggered. I couldn't feel the floor. My meaty hands slammed the shower door open, but she sprayed me with a jet of water. The water triggered another fit and I seized, falling into the bath. She tripped and fell on top of me. As she was screaming and my blood filled the bath, it swirled around reality, and intermingled in my mind. Her screams, the blood, my sweat, the uniform, Japan, schoolgirls, magic, tragedy, terror, and hope all become one to me. For one moment, I could taste it. The anime reality. It was here, like a precious jewel perched between my meaty, sweaty pectorals. And then, gone.
SO yeah I like anime.
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It sounds like a useable kopipe.
As for me it started... don't laugh... with POkemon. I was just quite captivated by the dynamics of it all and the execution and all. Somehow it really really hooked me. And later I went to some forums. Then one of my fellow Pokemon-watching friends told me to check out this cool stuff on another channel called anime which was a bit like Pokemon.
I did. It was exactly what I was looking for. I was helplessly hooked and just couldn't peel my eyes off... Of course, not all were so great, but I started off with Rurouni Kenshin, and it had me faithfully watching every episode... (and re-watching the whole thing too, some time later).
Since then I've been really hooked to the storytelling and nature of anime and I've gotten terribly addicted to it. Recently that has developed into the full-scale otaku syndrome, what with learning Japanese and looking at credits and knowing who did what and discovering 2ch and so on.
My obsession started when I found a magazine with some of Urushihara's beaming boobs on the cover in a video store.
I think I was about 16 back then. I never got much into anime, though. I watched EVA, Dragon Half and some other crazy shit, but found it to be a far too expensive hobby to maintain next to my comics obsessions.
So, ero stuff has gotten me into anime, but I never fully developed into an otaku, at least not because of anime.
I am a black guy who likes anime.
That first guy....worries me.
I got into anime with pokemon as well, but I absolutely fell in love with Azumanga Diaoh, and got about a quarter of my school into it. My school is all hardcore nigs from the hood, and they're sitting around using a projector we stole to watch Azu from an also-stolen DVD player.
> they're sitting around using a projector we stole to watch Azu from an also-stolen DVD player.
Fuck, that just made my day. XD
OMG LOSER.
The first anime I ever saw that really impressed me was Cowboy Bebop. The fluid animation, the quirky characterization, the breathtaking original music, the little homages to John Woo and Bruce Lee all over the place, it all hit me like a truck.
And then Neon Genesis Evangelion grabbed me by the frontal lobes and wouldn't let go.
Well, my brother introduced me to AKIRA, Ghost in the shell and Detonator Orgun. First I was kind of chocked by the fact there actually was something like drawn movies with good and interesting stories, characters and all kinds of stuff. But later on I got really into it.
I then realized I had been watching japanese animation since I was this really small kid. At that age I used to rent some Starzinger VHS, over and over again.
Nowadays I mostly just read manga instead of watching anime.
Man do i love anime! I think it started when i was about 8 and was watching yuyuhakusho. I became fascinated with the show and would stay up till midnight [remember i was 8] to watch it even if I've seen it. I then started watching outlaw star, gundam seed. tenchi muyu and other anime's. at 10 i sort of stopped for alittle while but in a year i was back into it, now because in addition to the other great anime's i enjoyed i was watching cowboy beebop, reroni kenshin, and inuyasha. Now i'm 13, watching these great anime still along with others like case closed, .hack sign, fullmetal alchemist. [I'm a guy] But am a sucker for well drawn anime that are part action and adventure along with part romance. :]
I don't really have any stories, i just like watching some japanese animation now and then...
I first heard of anime when I saw an ad for Akira in the Johnson Smith novelty catalog that came with an issue of Boys Life magazine (The Boy Scouts thing). I was about nine or ten at the time, so my attitude was "Whoa! Cartoons that kids aren't supposed to see? Awesome!"
A few weekends later, I saw something on the Prevue Channel (Now the TV Guide channel) about Saturday Anime on the Sci-Fi Channel. I tuned in immediately and wound up just a few minutes after the start of Project A-Ko. I loved every single minute of it.
Akira came next, then a few years later, I saw Ghost in the Shell. That was just before I went to college. There, I saw Tenchi, Dual!, Eva, Jin-Roh, and Love Hina, and my descent into otakuism was complete.
My collection isn't uber-huge... it's only about 160 DVDs and maybe 200-250 manga, but that's how it happened. ^_^
Pokemon. oh god pokemon D: i was compelety obsessed with it. i mean to the point that i thought i could see them, it was pretty trippy.
and yeah. woo.
Meers Boobies
After an alltime low a few months age I am now pleased to announce my liberation from the claws of anime addiction. It is my belief that the nature of such a condition is not so much an addiction as an unwillingness to accept and fully absorb ones current reality - instead wasting waking hours downloading, browsing forums and searching substitutes for a particularly good yet inconclusive series. Although I have left this mindstate I am not sure if it was necessary to fully give in to the addiction, to be constantly left unsatisfied and full of unanswered questions without anyone but oneself to ask. I did behave like that and the reward after a serious amount of invested time was immunity to any such kind of emotional void. The really enlightning phase came after this: A physical change of milieu, no access to anime and the time to think.
With the refusal to be ashamed of yourself the rest will follow. Knowledge that the world and the people aruond you are very simple and predictable. Certainity that the world can be altered, and most importantly, you can be altered. Do not fall in to the banality of merely changing your appearence - it is your mind that needs to be trained. The ability to reflect on a difficult matter - any matter - for minutes without breaking the trail of thought seems lost in the current youth. Realize the actual usefulness of this ability. Consider your current situation. Change it for the better.
I still like anime, I still watch it - but no longer to fill a void.
SO yeah im slightly more enlightened, possibly thanks to anime.
>>16 has successfully graduated from otaku! ヽ(´ー｀)ノ
grew up with doraemon, totoro, and some gundam.... liked them but wasn't really into anime until high school when I met my friend and he liked anime... I got "culture shock" brute forced when I watched eva... marathoned those 5th generation VHS tapes until like 5am.... also started watching anime with other old shit like birdy the mighty
the rest was history... I watch pretty much everything except for sickening shojo cough*utena*cough and H
>>I watch pretty much everything except for sickening shojo cough*utena*cough and H
but do you read those genres in comic form?
I can't help but feel that you seem to have no idea what Utena actually is, since you seem to be using it as an example of a wider genre. If there is one thing Utena isn't, it's an example of a wider genre. Utena is pretty much a genre all of its own.
Hahaha, I knew >>19 would get flamed for that Utena comment! (ノ∀｀)
That's because any criticism of Utena is wrong by default since it owns everything. >; )
my would be sitting up to like 2-3AM watching Gundam Seed Final , and the next day we had practice for the most important math exam i have had.
I always watched anime but I started watching more frequently after seeing Maria-sama ga Miteru; it's something about the romance/drama genre that keeps me going back for more.
Ie Naki Ko Remi, it was a drama anime of an orphan chid. I remember, when i was watching this anime, i felt pain for him, all the time.. Hehehehe...
i watched all 167 episodes of inuyasha straight, stopping only to eat and use the toilet
if you hadnt of been so cheap you could of bought the dvd and had a good nights sleep
The first anime I ever saw was Tenchi Muyo In Love
I still remember that summer day at 3am when I saw that beautiful film~~
Whenever it was finished, I felt like I was apart of something, like I had been through it with them
Yeah, I really got into it~~
Achika's last line still tears my heart to pieces everytime I think about it :
Watashi ha Nobuyuki-kun to isshoni seiippai ikiru, sore dake dei ino (Nobuyuki and I will live our lives to the fullest, I swear. That's all that really matters)
I started watching more and more anime ever since until I just started to get sick of it
I started a good number of years ago with Sailor Moon. I'd get up early to watch watch it before school. When the first run ended I kicked myself for not recording it. When I heard Cartoon Network was picking it up I bought a (at the time) high-end VCR. I now own the DVD box set.
I also collect older 8/16 bit video games, mainly PC-Engine games. One time, I decided to order something random and I got Galaxy Fraulien Yuna (Gina Ojousama Yuna). It's a digital comic type game. An OVA was eventually released (on VHS) and I bought it. When the DVD with both OVAs was released I got that too.
I've since watched MANY other anime (Ghost in the Shell is awesome!) but I tend to like the silly/sappy ones (who doesn't Love Hina, Ah! Megamisama, or Azumanga Daioh).
I'm not as much into manga but I do have Love Hina and Azumanga Diaoh. I'm working on Yotsubaと!
Right now I can't stop watching Pretty Cure. Its a very fine cheese. In fact the first goup to sub it was called Chi-Z, but at least they were honest. I want to see the Max Heart movie!
Dragon Ball, was the first Anime I ever watched; It was just so New, and Unique.
Oddly enough, When "Dragon Ball Z" came on Cartoon Network; That's when I became a "Serious Anime Fan".
From there, to Pokemon; Which... I don't need to explain.
I'm not quite an "Otaku", but I'm certainly knowledgeable about Anime.
hmm... when I first became obsessed...
A lot of anime on tv didn't appeal to me so I never really got into it. Sure Pokemon was at the very least interesting, since it had better plot then what was on TV at the time... but it never got me hooked.
Then somehow I stumbled upon mytenchi.com(dead now)... HOLY SHIT!!
I watched every episode from every series of tenchi STRAIGHT, stopping only to avoid being found out by my parents that I had skipped school. I didn't eat at all during that time so I had "no need for the toilet". Bwhahaha I can't believe I made THAT kind of a pun.
So tenchi became my obsession for a while, I was trying hard to find everything tenchi I could. Then I overheard some guys in my school talking about "Love Hina". Then romantic and cutesy comedies became my new obsession.
A few years later, I'm a bonified lolikon. Currently studying japanese JUST to get my fix of anything loli-related.
Sigh... damn you internet!
Alright, first anime i saw was most likely Doremon.. when i was 3 maybe 5.. dind't understand shit since i'm vietnamese n vietanmese TV channels sucked ass n Doremon probly wasn't even translated or DUBed.. Sad but yeah.
my friend Jefferi (black guy) got me into anime when he lent me his GitS (ghost in the shell) movie... original work. Hooked me on it and then he lent me Akira.. then I got into Cowboy Bebop. That shit transcended into Love Hina I downloaded using 56K Dial up connection for straight 4 months online 24/7. Love Hina probly brough some of my taste to watch some of the harem, echi, romance, shoujo, shounen, shoujo AI (only one which was dude gets turned into girl n loves other girls)
I was really into games and he got me into manga also. I just started to watch buncha shit now, race cars, KART, romance, Action, Fighting, Sci Fi, Horror, ect...
GitS and Cowboy Bebop really opened my eyes to anime and appreciated it for not that its cartoon entertainment only. I move to Samurai Deeper Kyo (first boxset i bought) and then Samurai Champloo then last to Black Lagoon (bad Engrish)
Lamune is laid back as hell but it made me feel relaxed. I watch romance n comedies n shit liek School Rumble & School Days (game) for kicks. Shuffle was.. well that shit was really hard n deep (didn't know it was based on Sim Dating Game that has violence in It), it shocked me that a echi/harem would be that violent and depressing as hell.
Then Jefferi refered my ass to GANTZ!! and that was when the shit hits the fan.. i was brought to light that that is how anime should be made, almost exactly like the manga n nothing censored except for (pussy/bush) on girls. and the English Dub for GAntz just made it 100% better than japanese dialogue they used and adds humor to it n fits atmosphere n tempo of the manga n anime itself realistically in that hysterical situation. Elfen Lied was just straight sadism and pedofile but gory liek Gantz in detail like the manga but the art wasn't as good like Gantz. Those anime just makes me wheep when i watch ThOSE washed out manga to anime crap thats out every damn 3 weeks but thats only shit i can watch. Anime-direct is place I direct download anime with full bandwidth speed for only $10 a month.. best damn service ever got.
Thats how i started... Ghost In The Shell (1995)
Untouchable Branded Unfuckable
"I don't hate people, I just don't like the way they live their life">That shit transcended into Love Hina I downloaded using 56K Dial up connection for straight 4 months online 24/7.
Holy shit, 4 months??? And no drops and disconnects/power outages in that time?
Yep yEp... straight 4 months 24/7 no disconnects or watsoever.. place i used to live gives free electric lol shit used as much as i wanted.. surprised my Comp's PSU didn't run out of its life during that crap haha
wow, mytenchi... I still have the .rm rips of the OVA and Universe on a CD-R somewhere :3 amazing how it all fit on! 15 MB per episode. Totally forgot about that site, that sure brings back memories [of a BitTorrentless past :D]. Getting anime is so easy these days.
As for me, I watched Dragonball when i was REALLY little and I loved it, and I thought it was Chinese. In my teenage years I was a DBZ fan and had a little bit of a guilty pleasure watching Sailor Moon, but what really got me hooked was seeing IRIA on the Sci-Fi channel. There's just something about IRIA that made anime something to look out for, for me. Then I kept watching anime on the Sci-Fi Channel and caught the end of Project A-ko, which I only realized was Project A-ko like last month [and then I watched the full movie], saw a really obscure movie called "E.Y.E.S. Of Mars," "Tokyo Vice," "Armitage" etc. I'm glad the Sci-Fi channel is showing anime again, though it's not the stuff I'm used to. Everyone's shunning the older, sometimes better anime on TV now, but that's to be expected. Actually, I guess those movies were a lot newer back when Sci-Fi was showing them D:! I'm still catching up on old anime though. Just finished the original Macross :D
Anyway, horror story? The most obsessive thing I've done was watch the entirety of Excel Saga over one weekend. Not that extreme, I guess, compared to what I suspect others have done.
downloaded something like 500 mbs of azumanga daioh from youtube using a 56k
Like most people, Pokemon and then Dragonball Z. Rented a couple of anime videos from Blockbuster, browsed online for a few minutes, and it just exploded from there.
ranma 1/2 was my first. my most emberrising anime seceret has to be devolping anime traits (closing eyes when happy kind of stuff)
ranma 1/2 was my first. my most emberrising anime seceret has to be devolping anime traits (closing eyes when happy kind of stuff)
I thank Toonami and Adult Swim in 2002 for nearly flunking me out of 7th grade. Yu Yu Hakusho, G-Gundam, Ruroni Kenshin... Thank you for kickstarting my like for anime.
i saw "Heidi" first...lol
>>43
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◯（ ´∀｀ ）◯ ＜ For me, it was Mitsubachi Maaya no Bouken!!
＼ ／ └──────────────
_／ ＿＿ ＼_
（＿／ ＼＿）
ｌｌｌ
It was about a year ago one of the movie channels on my cable was doing a studio ghibli season, and by accident one night I came across Grave of the Fireflies and thought I'd give it a try. By the end I confess that I was moved to the extent that I actually cried, something I hadnt done with a movie since I watched BFG the animation as a kid :D . I ordered Spirited Away off the internet and have now watched nearly all studio ghibli, and started venturing into anime with Death Note.
I was doing really important exams a few months ago when I broke my writing hand and got pretty depressed; as these exams literally mean the difference between my life amounting to something or nothing. I started watching Naruto and can honestly say his 'never give up' attitude picked me up and made me do my best in the exams and revisions. The results are coming through soon, fingers crossed everything goes well, and I'll have anime to thank if it goes well.
I am currently downloading anime from Iran with the lighting fast speed of 3.1 KB/S , total of 2.89 Gb downloaded so far. Too cheap to get ADSL.
>>46
Iranimation? o.O
I'm trying to imagine animation from Iran. "A Moose in a Burnoose!" "Popeye the Uncircumcised Sailor!" "Qaddafi Duck!"
LOL at those titles, I was referring to my location, which means that I am using a shitty dialup in Iran to watch LS and devil may cry. they do have ADSL, but you have to buy the modem yourself which is not really economical for me right now.
Iranimation is very shitty and embarrassing, but they do air Digimon, Captain Tsubasa, Macross, Pokemon, and some other anime about minuter cars battling which kinda looks like Bayblade, all dubed in Farsi.
Saw Pokemon and .hack//SIGN early on. I was like, 7 or something >_>;;
Spirited Away and Sonic X kinda kept my interest when I was 9 or so.
I really didn't understand .hack//SIGN at all, I just knew I like the opening theme, Obsession XD
Then, when I was 11 or so, I picked up volume 4 of Azumanga Daioh kinda randomly. I was hooked from the instant I read it XD
It kinda swelled from there, into my total otakuness today.
I was like 5 When I first saw sailor moon ( I still need to watch the series). I turned on the T.V and saw a blond girl holding a crystal having an epic battle with somebody. I was like holy crap! After that I tried to catch it but never could find it again :(. I now own almost all the movies on dvd :)
I was about 5years old i think.
Here is my story why ANIMES/MANGAS are my FATE ;)
I saw Dragonball on TV (not the first anime though) , which i didn't know. It was a really great. But i cannot remind of this episode xD. But i am sure it was Dragonball (on Chinese i think)
I even got some merchandise like t-shirts i with dragonball-logos. I kinda get attached to it.
Though i only could watch one episode. After that i forgot it somehow. But it was always in my heart somehow.
After 10 YEARS!!!, Dragonball got onto the TV dubbed for the first time.
I was lie, WTF?! and could remember myself when i was a child again!
Now it is obviously fate which ;)
ANIMES/MANGAS are my life :))
oh dear.
speed racer dubbed, then pokemans, then megaman, then sailor moon, then samurai pizza cats, then digimon, then pokemans again. gundam wing dubbed, love hina dubbed, evangelion dubbed.
then my friend smacked me over the head for watching so much dubbed.
kare kano, naruto, azumanga bleach, tennis no oujisama, furuba, escaflowne.
but what did it for me was seeing posters of rei and misato at this old japanese paraphernalia store. some of you may have heard it - Rising Sun Creations. they got relocated to mission valley, CA, and are now called ANIME/MANGA in bold red letters. >_>
>but they do air Digimon, [...]
Fascinating how Germany isn't any better in that respect. All they air is crappy shit. Ok, we do get SOME good anime on a otherwise rather unknown channel from time to time, like Lodoss or MD Geist.
>>51
http://www.sailormooncenter.net/
Unfortunately they only seem to have a dub version of the first season. The rest seems to be subbed though.
This is my anime obsession story...
I was about 14 years old when i was first introduced to the word 'anime'. I didnt even know what it was let alone like it. I remembered that the anime were the japenese made cartoons that often came on t.v but thats it.
I always liked Pokemon, but only because of its
This is my anime obsession story...
I was about 14 years old when i was first introduced to the word 'anime'. I didnt even know what it was let alone like it. I remembered that the anime were the japenese made cartoons that often came on t.v but thats it.
I always liked Pokemon, but only because of its fantasy like world...i didnt even understand what they were doing in the show when i first began in gr 3. I liked it but only because of its humour and quality.
Then when i was 14, everyone around me began to talk more and more about how anime is sooo good and how anime is sooo made for teens. I didnt believe them at first because i they said they liked a show called 'NAruto' when i hated it. Because i remembered a scene on t.v from Naruto and i remember picturing a yellow haired annoying kid who always said 'believe it'. So they told me to give it a try beginning from the first episode ever. I gave it a shot and watched till episode 3.
I was bored, but more grossed out because in episode 3 Nauruto and Sasuke exidently do something they were not supposed to. Thinking the show was made for kids and and scenes like that my hatred for anime grew.
But one day i had a sudden change of mind when i saw the character named 'Gaara'/ His sophisticated and cool looks made me want to give the show a try. and then thats when it happened. I GOT OBSESSED! Watching 100 episodes in 3 days. This kind of ruined my like at the time because all i thought about was Naruto and all i could see was Kakashi or Gaara. I even bought things that were used in the anime for the sake of making myself look as cool.
I had dreams where the Konoha came to life, and dreams in which i could see myself as a ninja (a little weird but true). This began to get a little annoying for the people around me and eventually i persuaded the intention of stopping this once and for all. I am happy to say that now i dont watch that many anime shows, and have more free time to do other things.
I still Love anime, and would do anything to go back to the life before, but deep down i know its wrong! So i have a new goal now!!!!
Japanese Annime girl movie.
http://anicha.animax.co.jp/blog/anicha_00004/