What movie or TV series originally got you into anime?

[Canada]

What movie or TV series originally got you into anime? I originally got into anime because my friends recommended Ghost in the Shell. I had to get my Dad to take me to a special movie rental store because they were the only ones that carried anime videos.

[Naiera]

GITS for me too, I guess.

[Cremildo]

[Shirowed]

While I wish I could say it was GITS for me too, it was technically actually Pokémon/Digimon (but I didn't know what anime was or that these were anime at the time) followed by Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh! by which time I became aware of what anime was.

[Marcus Carr]

Dragon Ball Z.

[Dragon78]

Project A-Ko

[sandman slim]

Watched Star Blazers every afternoon as a teen. Loved it, but didn't have any options for more anime back then.

First movie was this all-time classic:





And favorite series is probably this piece of absolute insanity:

[ben6543]

Growing up I watched Digimon Yu-gi-Oh Pokemon and DBZ when I had cable eventually

What really got me into anime was Cowboy Bebop. My best friend she love anime and I wanted to give it a try so I could have another thing to enjoy with her. So glad I started with Bebop cause it is still do this day my #1 favorite Anime.

[Ratcrack]

Hard to say. My earliest exposure was what was on TV or whatever my Dad's geek friends brought over. On TV it was reruns of Voltron and Robotech. When it came to films, My Dad's friends brought over obvious bootleg copies of Ninja Scroll and Street Fighter II Animated and legit VHS copies of Akira and Vampire Hunter D. My tween mind was blown. Ever since, I started hunting for whatever I could get. THat included catching Saturday Anime on the SCi-fi channel almost every Saturday and seeing Robot Carnival and Demon City Shinjuku for the 1st time and some other stuff.

Edit: I think I only caught the first few minutes of Ninja Scroll; got sent to my room after that, lol.

Another Edit: Forgot that my father also bought Celebrity Kids VHS copies of Locke The Superpower, Vengeance Of The Space Pirate and Space Firebird.

[AreaFive]

The very first anime that I remember buying was the first Ghost in the Shell film. I recall very early on also getting Spirited Away, Cowboy Bebop, and Stand Alone Complex, all very typical but excellent nonetheless.

[Cruel Angel]

Didn't realize it was 'anime' until many many years later, but for me it was watching Grendizer, Starvengers, and Spaceketeers on Showtime as a kid.

[Canada]

I payed about $ 45 for this sucker back when it was on VHS.

[keitaro]

During the late 90s, Canada had a cartoon channel "Teletoon" that aired the uncut version of Ninja Scroll movie. That was my first

[SteamfloggerBoss]

Originally Posted by Shirowed

While I wish I could say it was GITS for me too, it was technically actually Pokémon/Digimon (but I didn't know what anime was or that these were anime at the time) followed by Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh! by which time I became aware of what anime was.

Pretty similar for me but Pokemon and Yugioh. Eventually in highschool I figured out it was anime and got into it more in general. I then watched Yu Yu Hakusho and Air (tv series) through nefarious means and in extremely dubious quality but was completely hooked.

[AniPhantom]

Not my first anime (Pokemon, Excel Saga and FLCL preceded it), but the first to convince me to stick to the medium:

[Marisa Umino]

A friend showed me Ranma 1/2 in middle school and from that point on I was hooked.

[zakurowrath]

While not my first anime, Macross II: Lovers Again is the one that really got me into the classic cel animation, ten year old me was captivated by all the detailed hand painted artwork and the space opera story that made my imagination go wild, not to mention a mysterious blue haired space idol with a beautiful voice.

[tuffy]

Originally Posted by Cruel Angel

Didn't realize it was 'anime' until many many years later, but for me it was watching Grendizer, Starvengers, and Spaceketeers on Showtime as a kid.

Oh, this was me also. They were in compilation movie format, so I crammed three of them onto a VHS tape (which was also a novel new thing at the time). Thunderbirds 2086 was around that same timeframe, some years before Voltron and Robotech and the like. Though Robot Carnival airing on cable was about the time when I got into the hobby a bit more seriously than a new show every few years.

[kk1]

I grew up on anime I didn't know was anime, Battle of the Planets, Robotech, Voltron, even Nausicca(forget what it was called), but the first one I watched in the original Japanese (after watching the dub) was Sailor Moon.

[nyaa]

I'm ashamed to say it now but the Dirty Pair is the series that really got me into watching anime, I still have the 3 DP Streamline vhs tapes and they still play! It's just that I've left DP so far behind in the rear view mirror over the years after all the anime I've watched since then.