Here’s my intro.

The first anime I remember seeing on TV was Star Blazers in the late 70s, but the first one I would fight to watch (because it was up against Days of our Lives, which my sister was addicted to) was Robotech.

I knew it was Japanese in origin but I didn’t realize the extent to which it was bowdlerized at the time (to be fair, I was 9 or so).

My first subtitled anime experience was a friend in high school giving me copies of Macross DYRL and Castle of Cagliostro on VHS and it was, frankly, mindblowing.

My first commercial anime purchase as tape 1 of Bubblegum Crisis for like $40 for 45 minutes. Since $40 was 10 hours of pay at the time, I never bought the rest of the show until DVD sets.

My first Con was anime expo 93 in Oakland (I think, I did go to a con in San Jose but I can’t remember if it was AX92, Anime America 93 or 94).

I worked as a film projectionist at AX for a couple of years (we got to do the world premiere of Memories, that was fun) and then I worked security for another 2 years after AX moved and didn’t have a film theater anymore.

About 15 years ago my personal and professional collided and I was hired by one of the original anime/manga distributors in the US and am currently their director of IT.

It’s been a long, strange, trip watching anime go from the thing you got teased for to having star athletes do poses from their favorite shonen on the field.

It may be a little “get off my lawn”-y but I still love the older stuff compared to most of the new. Give me hand painted cells over painted backgrounds, shot on film, over 3dcg any day of the week.

Hi, I’m Remilia on SDF, a geeky middle-aged goth lady. I think my earliest memories of watching anime (and actually realizing it was anime) were when I saw Project A-Ko in the late 90s during either middle or high school. It’s something I had seen at Blockbuster, but had never rented until then. I distinctly remember my mom renting it for me one evening while she was going to be out, and me laying on her bed (she had the VCR, I didn’t) watching it. I was instantly hooked.

Around the same time I was introduced to the original Bubblegum Crisis series. I think the way it went was that I had seen the VHS tape at Blockbuster, but it was one I had also passed up time after time (I think it was in the “Adult Animation” section at mine, so it was off limits to me). But Sci-Fi Channel had an episode one night that I managed to watch. I soon went to Suncoast video afterward and found me a boxed set after that ^_

Once I was old enough (or found some other way of watching) went and watched some of the other anime that Blockbuster had, all of which I had seen on the shelf, but had never been able to rent because it was for “adults”. Things like The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor, Genocyber, and I forget what else.

So yeah, Project A-Ko and Bubblegum Crisis were my first real introductions into the world of anime. Technically I had already watched some earlier series (the US-ified Robotech and Voltron series, Gaiking), but I had never realized they were Japanese anime until I was much older. So, I don’t really count any of those as my “first anime”. Even now, when I think “anime”, I imagine a cyberpunk world with a BGC art style first and foremost. Well, that and Otaku no Video, which a friend of mine showed me a few years later in college :-P

I don’t watch as much anime as I used to. Part of it is that I’m not that interested in most of the modern shonen stuff. But I do rewatch my favorites from time to time.

cfenollosa on SDF. Introduced to anime in the early 90s via Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump and Captain Tsubasa, my most loved mangas. In the late 90s Evangelion changed something in my brain forever.

Nowadays I don’t follow the new releases, but I’m always curious to read any manga that falls in my hands. As I grow older I feel like I don’t have time for animes though, the pacing on screen is usually very slow for my taste. But I constantly rewatch old gems such as Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Future Boy Conan and the likes.

Happy to join a community to talk about oldschool japanese animation!

SDF Member DiscoShrew

For my watch history, I think https://kitsu.io/users/DiscoShrew is mostly up to date.

Though not being too old myself, I do gravitate towards older shows. My introduction to anime in general was through the Toonami programming block. Specifically Rurouni Kenshin and Yu Yu Hakusho. Naturally, my introduction to manga was Shounen Jump and Shojo Beat. (I’m still waiting for Nana to be finished! More than ten years later…)

I have a love for the earlier Gundam shows though holding that 08th MS Team may be my favorite. I love the beauty found in hand drawn anime, and much prefer it to the CGI stuff of today in most cases, though I’m not totally a luddite.

My name is Wesker. I’m a US citizen, who has begun spending a small chunk of the year in Japan.

I got my first intro to anime in the late 90s, via Akira and Ghost in the Shell. I wouldn’t say I watch alot of anime, I’m very particular. I typically gravitate to distant future sci-fi and cyberpunk themes. Not limited to, however.

Is this community manga friendly as well? I’ve lately been fascinated by Tsutomu Nihei (BLAME, BIOMEGA, etc) and would love to post favorite panels and such.

Hello sdf user notptr. My older anime view is little weird. I didn’t really get into anime until I was much older but some of the older animes I like are Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop

Technically, the rec.arts.anime hierarchy still exists, although it’s been severely depopulated. I occasionally see a legitimate message ghost through .misc, though. A far cry from the late 1990s, when .misc alone had hundreds of messages a day.

(Hi, I’m an aging fan whose history with anime begins with the bad dubs of Gatchaman and Nausicaa that circulated in the early 1980s. Pleased to meet everyone.)

deleted by creator

I’m 26, which makes me extremely old and not at all out of place here. Seriously, I could die any minute now! Not for any particular reason – just too old, you see…

I’ve got an anilist on the off-chance that anyone wants to check my weeblord credentials. I think I’ll flaunt the established <2000s paradigm and say that my favorite vintage anime is Steins;Gate. A bona fide classic, IMO.

Hi there, fstateaudio on SDF and the Mastodon. I’m in the US.

The first anime I remember was Robotech (still a favorite) in my childhood, also Voltron and a couple others that made it over here back in the 80’s. Later in the 90’s some stuff on the SciFi channel and what I could get here & there on video. Bubblegum Crisis, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Green Legend Ran, and Vampire Hunter D were/are some of my favorites from that time.

My favorite stuff tends to be mecha and cyberpunk. One of the most recent things I’ve seen and liked (which falls outside those genres) is Dororo, recommended by my stepdaughter. :)

Hey, I’m Rem, remino on SDF, 41M, living in Japan but from abroad.

I watched some anime on TV when I was a kid, mostly stuff dubbed in French, but years later, I got deeper into some of them. However, I couldn’t afford them, except one VHS copy of Ghost in the Shell, and one episode of AikA which was not what I was expecting back then. I also liked Sailor Moon, but never got into Dragon Ball. I was mostly hanging out in the chat room of AnimEigo, and a kind soul mailed me pirated copies of Evangelion, whom I’ve never thanked properly.

If you’re wondering where I’m from, I’m sure the above will give you enough clues to guess it. ;)