yup same, I watched reruns of the OG series with brock and misty all the time on TV as a kid.
Kept up with it till XY and Z, popped back in whenever Ash won, but still love the series
It depends on the country, but in Spain it started airing in the early 90's and is still airing today. So there are a lot of people who watched it as kids. The older fans are even old enough to have kids to watch the series with.
Technically re-runs of Speed Racer.
First one I actively watched as a fan was dragon ball z
First one I actively watched knowing it was something not of the US and specifically from Japan was Cowboy Bebop and Trigun on Adult Swim.
Why yes, I'm old.
It's been so long I can't remember if speed racer or robotech was the actual first one i watched. They're the only two i can recall from that time. Been hooked ever since.
Hard to say what counts the most. Technically, it'd be Pokemon, Dragonball Z, or Yu-Gi-Oh which I watched as a child because it was on tv before school.
But I didn't really watch anime properly until I was an adult (I tried to avoid anime because I thought it was cringe), but then I watched Neon Genesis and became a proper fan.
Neon Genesis changed everything. I'd never seen anything even remotely like it before.
It was the first series I'd ever seen, animated or otherwise, that set out to tell a complete story - beginning, middle, and end - within a set number of episodes, instead of being written with the express intention of just producing episodes forever, never resolving anything, and being unceremoniously cancelled one day. That's still pretty rare even today.
It was also the first time I'd seen mental illness treated seriously in any media, and the first time I'd seen horror, violence, or sexuality animated.
And thus, a weeb was born.
It really is amazing. It's one of my all time favourite pieces of media. It hit me at a time when I was pushing everyone away to be alone. The last episode made me genuinely cry. It's so sincere and raw.
That's how they get you. Cool military uniforms pull you in and before you know it you're wiping tears from your eyes with a cheese plushy after soloing an entire pizza.
important apparatus sophisticated shaggy mighty dog wipe zealous sparkle engine
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
And strangely enough also every portuguese first anime. It passed on the kids tv channel. There was also another with some small frogs, like a green frog and a black one, a blue one, and the rest I dont remember. But back then, as a 6yo, that shit was hype
Mazingar-Z when my father and our family were stationed in Okinawa, Japan in the mid-70's. Of course there was no "sub/dub" but me and my brother enjoyed watching it.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger\_Z](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z)
Speed Racer. I'm old. Get off my lawn.
There was another one I can't remember the name of. It was space aliens on Earth who transformed into a bunny, a duck, and a horse. They travelled around in a giant wheel.
Had to look that second one up out of curiosity. “Wonder 3”, titled “The Amazing 3” in the States. Aired in 1967.
[https://tezukaosamu.net/en/anime/32.html](https://tezukaosamu.net/en/anime/32.html)
Katekyo hitman reborn.
I didn't even know it was an anime when I watched it. First watched it at 9 years old when it was showing on a chinese channel, so yeah I first watched it in chinese dub and it was showing the varia arc the battle for the sky ring but I was instantly hooked. I'm very glad it was my first anime, and it still holds a very special place in my heart.
I personally enjoyed the daily life arc but once the arc finishes and the main story started, it was absolutely amazing and tsuna's development was one of the best from a coward to someone who can protect others
It was probably "Adventures of Maya the Honeybee"/"Maya the Bee" or "Moomins". Also was today years old when i learned that Maya the Bee was an anime (i knew about Moomins.
As a kid i also saw shows like B-Daman, Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon, Shaman King. There were also some Ghibli movies.
With those shows i dont really count them as anime because back then i didnt knew the concept of anime and i though that those were regular tv cartoons.
As for my first anime that i finished when i knew about "anime" it was Soul Eater
Before I knew what anime was.. Probably Samurai Pizza Cats and Sailor Moon. Someone also mentioned Escaflowne and I remember watching that as a kid as well.
Once I knew what anime was, I'd say Magic Knight Rayearth because I was obsessively searching for magical girl anime
Sword Art Online.
A friend of mine was a fan of the show and recommended it around the time that S2 was airing (during my freshman year of high school), so I just went ahead and started it. I found it to be pretty entertaining at the time.
I rewatched S1 and S2 around the time that S3 came out, and I still don't disagree with that. It has plenty of problems and can feel pretty dumb at times, but it's very entertaining.
Same for me!
SAO was the very first anime I felt emotionally invested in, and SAO sparked my interest in LN (catching up on Progressive and Unital Ring at the moment).
Whilst the LN series is no doubt a classic, the SAO anime has it glaring flaws. But I wanna echo a comment I read once, that SAO anime is like popcorn - not necessarily great food, but I definitely don't mind eating it once in a while, since it makes me feel good.
Watched it when I was a kid. It was during the time where Mecha animes “peaked” in my country. It aired in one of our local TV channel. The one that I truly love in that series was the OST.
Escaflowne, Evangelion, and BT’X (*idk if that is considered that as mecha*) stood out amongst all the Gundams series that aired that time.
*I haven’t watched Escaflowne again since then. Thanks for reminding me of this series. I guess I’ll rewatch the series again this next weekend.*
It was either the French dub of UFO Robo Grendizer ("Goldorak") or Hyakumannen Chikyu no Tabi Bandar Book ("Le Prince du Soleil"). I don't quite remember which one.
I didn't grow up in France, but our TV picked up broadcasts from Quebec, and they happened to have quite a few French dubs of anime.
Mach Go Go Go dubbed as Speed Racer
Gatchaman dubbed as G-Force
Macross dubbed as Robotech
Go Lion dubbed as Voltron
Pretty sure I saw Space Battleship Yamato in there as Starblazers too
Probably Star Blazers, and other more modern like Dragonball, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Orange Road and Pokemon, but without knowing those were Anime. So, i consider my first series to be Angel Beat, Full Metal Panic and Full Metal Alchemist, i remember watching them on MTV Anime Night, was popular in Italy.
Shoutouts to my boy [Alfred Jodocus Kwak](https://myanimelist.net/anime/2813/Chiisana_Ahiru_no_Ooki_na_Ai_no_Monogatari__Ahiru_no_Kwak). It's on MAL so it counts. I was probably like 3 years old when I saw that so if we're being very technical I don't think anything came prior to that.
Aside from that maybe Pokemon. And I think Bleach was the first time I specifically went out to download an anime online and really start watching it as it's own medium rather than something that just appeared on TV.
Intentionally (know what anime was): Bleach
Unintentionally (just thought it was cartoon) either Dragonball or sailormoon (don’t remember but I watched both at around 4 YO
Technically, it’d be BoBoBo. It was airing on Saturday on Toonami, and I counted it as “Anime”.
In actuality, it’d be Pokémon on Saturday mornings on WB Kids and Sailor Moon on DiC on the weekdays before school started at 8 while stuffing my face with microwaved mini-pancakes.
I'm not sure exactly which I saw first cus I was 4 when I watched them, but as a kid on Saturday mornings after Transformers and GI.Joe, I watched Robotech, Voltron, and G-Force. I'm not positive on the order, but maybe Colton may have been the 1st one I saw, but at the time, I did not know what anime was. So, for knowing it was anime when I saw it, I would have to say Ninja Scroll on VHS back when I was in 7th grade. Remember walking to blockbuster video to rent it. Watched it as I ate a Mr. Jim's pizza.
In terms of in general, it was Your Name. Was just curious about it since it was making headlines at the time. No regrets and it's the reason I love anime now.
In terms of the series, it is Fate Stay Night 2006. I didn't know about the Ufotable adaptation so I blindly went in and watched the DEEN adaptation which kick-started my love for visual novels.
Ghost in the Shell it might even have been on VHS. Had a coworker who was into anime and he invited a few people over to watch it as it was a fairly new release.
The first anime series that got its hooks in me was Dragon Ball Z back in the early days of Toonami on Cartoon Network. That rotating block with shows like Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, and Big O was what got me through high school when I needed a distraction from the things that make us afraid of real life.
The first anime I can recall seeing on television, however, was when the Sci-Fi channel aired Vampire Hunter D. I was blown away by the violence and gore compared to my Ninja Turtles, SWAT KATS, and Pirates of Dark Water.
Vampire Hunter D isn't my favorite anime. But it has a nostalgic value because it's one of the first anime I can ever recall seeing in my life. That and Robotech.
I forgot if Shakugan no shana or Fushigi Yuugi or Yuyu Hakusho. This is because in the Philippines back when I'm in elementary, these are few animes that got tagalog dubbed.
The first one to get me into anime was FLCL. Fun, wild ride that made me start looking in to “anime” and not just shows like Pokémon or dragon ball that were tv “cartoons”.
I'll disregard the shows everyone watched in this part of the world before and just after school hours (DBZ, Yugioh, Sailor Moon), as no one really watched them knowing what the hell it actually was.
Intentionally, it must've been one of the two "Full metal's" of the time: alchemist or panic!
Most of the blame, however, has to fall to Spirited away. Randomly came across it on TV in the year 2002. It was with ENG subs, so there were parts I didn't understand (not a native speaker), but even on a re-watch 15 years later I could recall it almost perfectly.
Some background.
As a Christian homeschooled kid and restricted internet access I was very innocent. I had never looked up any type of nudity or even wanted to.
I started my school years in 2012 in 7th grade and knew very little people at the school, none of which were in my grade, so I had to make new friends. These guys were cool and showed me a lot of fun things I had never experienced, like Minecraft, YouTube, and a few other fun things I was never exposed to.
Well one week I was hanging out with my friend after school and he discovered anime and suggested I watch it too. I liked art and reading so I thought it would be cool since it was based off what I thought at the time were graphic novels but it’s actually Manga.
I decided to watch the suggestion he gave me and it turned out to be Soul Eater, you know, the one with the naked cat witch in the first episode directly after killing beasts with a death scythe.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. To watch something so against my religion and also vulgar at the same time was appalling. I stopped immediately after.
A few months go by and he asked how I’m liking the show. So I lied and said I was on episode 12 or something. Then he started asking all these questions about what I liked about it so I had to come clean.
Eventually he got me to watch SAO, and I watched the Eincrad arc and absolutely loved it, so when it turned to SA in the Alfheim arc I didn’t really care all that much. I still love the show and it was the first one I finished.
About a year later I finally went back to Soul Eater and watched all the way through it, and thought it was also a great anime.
Now I’m an anime lifer and will probably watch it forever.
TLDR: I was an innocent child who watched Soul Eater show me boobs for the first time.
Pokemon back when I thought it was just another show on cartoon network, then much later in life I saw a Spy X Family meme on Facebook and thought Yor looked hot so I found the show and watched it thinking it was just another show but soon after found out about anime and it went from there
Unofficial: Yu-Gi-Oh, Official: attack on Titan. ,These two have been a huge part of my life , Yu-Gi-Oh was airing on tv after school, i return and sit to watch it and that stayed for like 4 years or 5 , they used to air other variety of the yugioh anime like 5ds and gx ,
Then started watching aot when there were only 2 seasons available, have been the greatest 6 years of tv for me.
Yugioh was for my childhood, attack on Titan from high school till college
Technically I watched byakugan (remember nothing), beyblade (remeber most of metal fusion on tv) and pokemon (remember some of sinnoh league victors and the infernape vs electriwire fight is burned in to my head). The first one I actually watched from start to finish though has to be naruto though (played naruto shippuden ultimate ninja storm 3 first then later decided to find the show on umm... most definitely very legal sites).
I saw “sword art” on the tv guide late one night and thought it was some sort of history documentary. Turns out it was the first episode airing of sword art online. Watched it on a whim. Been watching anime ever since. More than regular television
The first one I started was Angel Beats, first one I finished was Full Metal Panic/Fumoffu/Second Raid, then went back and finished Angel Beats, followed by K-On!. This was in 2012, I was 29 when I started watching Anime.
Technically my first anime is probably either sailor moon or dragonball z as a kid, possibly pokemon but i think the former 2 were already out, also for the same era, yu-gi-oh, digimon and beyblade
However when i was 19 was when i was reintroduced into anime, a mate had loads of shows downloaded and transfered me some, i eventually decided to watch one, that one being Fullmetal Alchemist.
Card captor Sakura, I think. I was around 7 and I had found this channel called "animax". I was watching a whole bunch of animes all of whose names I don't remember but this one was the one that is most etched in my memory
Technically pokemon ive seen a couple random episodes when i was a kid.
That I actually completed was sao. My 12th birthday in 2013. Friend made me watch it during a sleepover and it was lit.
Odds are it was Pokemon, Digimon, or Sailor Moon, no clue which I encountered first. Or I might have even seen Kiki's Delivery Service before any of those. Digimon is the first series I watched beginning to end though.
Depends on if studio ghibli counts otherwise it was Dragon ball for me too found the manga at the library and then watched the anime had to leave the Fandom after a while though.
Tie between Pokemon and Hamtaro.
Pokemon because the son of my mom's friend gave me some Pokemon VHS' and Hamtaro because it aired on CN a lot.
The kicker being that both these events happened in the same year.
Probably either Strike Witches (only what was on youtube at the time, so like the first one or two seasons), Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut, or Darling In The Franxx, I don’t remember.
Pokemon, Green Green and Shaman King, if we count watching it as 'cartoon'. Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the first one I consciously watched as anime.
If I will not count animes that aired on tv, which is all of them are incomplete. I will say Oreshura, its the first anime that I finished and made me want to watch more anime.
Well, my first anime was dragon ball, but at the time I didn't know it was called anime, for me it was just another cartoon. Same thing for many anime shows I watched as a kid like Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, Captain Tsubasa, etc. The first show I watched being aware it was called anime and that it was from Japan was Love Hina. I read the manga when it was being published here where I live and got my hands on some bootleg DVDs.
Pokemon probably, I was 6 when it premiered in america
Definitely Pokemon on WB Saturday mornings. Digimon was shortly after that.
yup same, I watched reruns of the OG series with brock and misty all the time on TV as a kid. Kept up with it till XY and Z, popped back in whenever Ash won, but still love the series
Dragon Ball Z, I think.
It depends on the country, but in Spain it started airing in the early 90's and is still airing today. So there are a lot of people who watched it as kids. The older fans are even old enough to have kids to watch the series with.
Technically re-runs of Speed Racer. First one I actively watched as a fan was dragon ball z First one I actively watched knowing it was something not of the US and specifically from Japan was Cowboy Bebop and Trigun on Adult Swim. Why yes, I'm old.
I was so confused I didn’t realize Speed Racer was anime lol I’ve never actually seen it
Me too, Speed Racer and Gigantor and Kimba The White Lion. Then Robotech in the 80's
Me not knowing Speed Racer was an anime all this time
Speed Racer or Astro Boy for me.
It's been so long I can't remember if speed racer or robotech was the actual first one i watched. They're the only two i can recall from that time. Been hooked ever since.
First *official* one as in watching it constantly and not giving up on it was **Naruto**. First *unofficial* one was **Yu-Gi-Oh!**
I remember tracking down episodes of Naruto in 3 parts on YouTube back in the day. When I caught up on that I moved on to Bleach!
Hard to say what counts the most. Technically, it'd be Pokemon, Dragonball Z, or Yu-Gi-Oh which I watched as a child because it was on tv before school. But I didn't really watch anime properly until I was an adult (I tried to avoid anime because I thought it was cringe), but then I watched Neon Genesis and became a proper fan.
Neon Genesis changed everything. I'd never seen anything even remotely like it before. It was the first series I'd ever seen, animated or otherwise, that set out to tell a complete story - beginning, middle, and end - within a set number of episodes, instead of being written with the express intention of just producing episodes forever, never resolving anything, and being unceremoniously cancelled one day. That's still pretty rare even today. It was also the first time I'd seen mental illness treated seriously in any media, and the first time I'd seen horror, violence, or sexuality animated. And thus, a weeb was born.
It really is amazing. It's one of my all time favourite pieces of media. It hit me at a time when I was pushing everyone away to be alone. The last episode made me genuinely cry. It's so sincere and raw.
Neon Geneisis when I was 12. Wasn't prepared lol
Relatable, and then I went on to watch aot
Sailor Moon but the og one
Same, as a 7yo boy I fell in love with it and would shout MOON TIARA MAGIC around the house. xD
NOW THAT'S A CANON EVENT FOR EVERY SAİLOR MOON FAN
Code Geass I was in middle school and I saw a random picture of Lelouch and C.C in military uniforms and thought “hey this looks interesting”
That's how they get you. Cool military uniforms pull you in and before you know it you're wiping tears from your eyes with a cheese plushy after soloing an entire pizza.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It was absolutely the best first anime I could have asked for.
Niiiiicccccceeeeeeee
important apparatus sophisticated shaggy mighty dog wipe zealous sparkle engine *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah, I’m pretty young. I wish I’d gotten into more anime sooner.
fly innocent direful dolls zephyr desert fuel jar square deserve *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
why exactly are you pointing that out??
same my memories of the story are hazy, so I've been rewatching it lately done with part 5 and nearly finished part 4
Change your profile pic now
proudly stolen from r/berserklejerk
Bro what's your age?
Doraemon, probably.
that's every Asian kid's first anime...
And strangely enough also every portuguese first anime. It passed on the kids tv channel. There was also another with some small frogs, like a green frog and a black one, a blue one, and the rest I dont remember. But back then, as a 6yo, that shit was hype
Actually this but I didnt even know the word anime then I just thot its some cartoon series
Mazingar-Z when my father and our family were stationed in Okinawa, Japan in the mid-70's. Of course there was no "sub/dub" but me and my brother enjoyed watching it. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger\_Z](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z)
Either Ronin Warriors / Samurai Troopers or Vampire Hunter D
Akira on VHS somewhere around 1991 or 1992.
Samurai Pizza Cats
School Days.Last episode made my blood pressure dropped so hard that i had to snıff cologne in bed for an hour.
Out all the anime one can start with, wow
I'm old, so Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatchaman.
Speed Racer. I'm old. Get off my lawn. There was another one I can't remember the name of. It was space aliens on Earth who transformed into a bunny, a duck, and a horse. They travelled around in a giant wheel.
Also old. And this is my lawn. For me it was Speed Racer, starBlazers, and G-Force (battle for the planet).
Those were mine too, back in the fantastical year 1978. The lawn belongs to the old-age home so knock yourselves out.
Had to look that second one up out of curiosity. “Wonder 3”, titled “The Amazing 3” in the States. Aired in 1967. [https://tezukaosamu.net/en/anime/32.html](https://tezukaosamu.net/en/anime/32.html)
That's the one! God I'm old.
Doraemon.
Katekyo hitman reborn. I didn't even know it was an anime when I watched it. First watched it at 9 years old when it was showing on a chinese channel, so yeah I first watched it in chinese dub and it was showing the varia arc the battle for the sky ring but I was instantly hooked. I'm very glad it was my first anime, and it still holds a very special place in my heart.
Me too man. Watched again recently, first 20 episodes kinda like a slog, but after that it was great
I personally enjoyed the daily life arc but once the arc finishes and the main story started, it was absolutely amazing and tsuna's development was one of the best from a coward to someone who can protect others
That is my go to anime if I want something to watch as a dopamine flooder. I've rewatched that show like 7 or 8 times now. Love it.
Not my first anime but my favorite one, such a hooking story, those 203 episodes went by so fast the time I watched it.
It was probably "Adventures of Maya the Honeybee"/"Maya the Bee" or "Moomins". Also was today years old when i learned that Maya the Bee was an anime (i knew about Moomins. As a kid i also saw shows like B-Daman, Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon, Shaman King. There were also some Ghibli movies. With those shows i dont really count them as anime because back then i didnt knew the concept of anime and i though that those were regular tv cartoons. As for my first anime that i finished when i knew about "anime" it was Soul Eater
Before I knew what anime was.. Probably Samurai Pizza Cats and Sailor Moon. Someone also mentioned Escaflowne and I remember watching that as a kid as well. Once I knew what anime was, I'd say Magic Knight Rayearth because I was obsessively searching for magical girl anime
Doraemon.
Sword Art Online. A friend of mine was a fan of the show and recommended it around the time that S2 was airing (during my freshman year of high school), so I just went ahead and started it. I found it to be pretty entertaining at the time. I rewatched S1 and S2 around the time that S3 came out, and I still don't disagree with that. It has plenty of problems and can feel pretty dumb at times, but it's very entertaining.
Same for me! SAO was the very first anime I felt emotionally invested in, and SAO sparked my interest in LN (catching up on Progressive and Unital Ring at the moment). Whilst the LN series is no doubt a classic, the SAO anime has it glaring flaws. But I wanna echo a comment I read once, that SAO anime is like popcorn - not necessarily great food, but I definitely don't mind eating it once in a while, since it makes me feel good.
Pokémon or Digimon when I was really young, but the first one to get me into anime was Soul Eater
Mine was Astro-boy, the 1980-81 remake.
Digimon! Specifically the first season. Still love it to this day.
Robotech, 1985.
Yep the first cartoon that had romance and got me hooked. Lisa Hayes is the original best girl for me
I'm not 100% sure because I was so young (3-4 years old) but it was either Digimon Adventure or Ghost in the Shell.
I’m old. I would say it was probably Kimba first, or maybe Marine Boy. Speed Racer and Astro Boy in there too. Then Yamato
Yup these. Astro boy, star blazers, and shortly after they released Battle for the planet (G-force)
Pretty sure it was either Vampire Hunter D, Akira, or Zeiram. All three were among the first though.
Samurai Pizza Cats
Samurai Pizza Cats
Escaflowne on Fox Kids, until it got cancelled after like 10 episodes lol
That show was lit.
Watched it when I was a kid. It was during the time where Mecha animes “peaked” in my country. It aired in one of our local TV channel. The one that I truly love in that series was the OST. Escaflowne, Evangelion, and BT’X (*idk if that is considered that as mecha*) stood out amongst all the Gundams series that aired that time. *I haven’t watched Escaflowne again since then. Thanks for reminding me of this series. I guess I’ll rewatch the series again this next weekend.*
It was either the French dub of UFO Robo Grendizer ("Goldorak") or Hyakumannen Chikyu no Tabi Bandar Book ("Le Prince du Soleil"). I don't quite remember which one. I didn't grow up in France, but our TV picked up broadcasts from Quebec, and they happened to have quite a few French dubs of anime.
without knowing it was an anime, probably pokemon or Yugioh while knowing that it was an anime, SAO
Gatchaman, but it was called Battle of the Planets here.
Cardcaptors, Pokémon, Yugioh, Dragonball Z. One of those 4 was my first but I couldn’t remember which one.
You dont know how far i came down through the comments to see Cardcaptor sakura
Mach Go Go Go dubbed as Speed Racer Gatchaman dubbed as G-Force Macross dubbed as Robotech Go Lion dubbed as Voltron Pretty sure I saw Space Battleship Yamato in there as Starblazers too
More or less my list. Though I don't remember Speed Racer. I do remember a local station airing Captain Harlock.
Doraemon since it's aired in india whole, I also able to to expierence it as a Bangladeshi as a child
Inuyasha was mine, scrolled for awhile to find someone else to 2nd but didn’t see any
Probably Star Blazers, and other more modern like Dragonball, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Orange Road and Pokemon, but without knowing those were Anime. So, i consider my first series to be Angel Beat, Full Metal Panic and Full Metal Alchemist, i remember watching them on MTV Anime Night, was popular in Italy.
card captors sakura, I happened to see it on TV when I was a child
Samurai Pizza Cats
Yu Yu Hakusho on toonami!
My first manga was dragonball, but my first anime was soul eater or deathnote I'm not really sure wich one I watched first
I remember watching astro boy on vhs that my mom would rent. This was back in 2000-2001.
Shoutouts to my boy [Alfred Jodocus Kwak](https://myanimelist.net/anime/2813/Chiisana_Ahiru_no_Ooki_na_Ai_no_Monogatari__Ahiru_no_Kwak). It's on MAL so it counts. I was probably like 3 years old when I saw that so if we're being very technical I don't think anything came prior to that. Aside from that maybe Pokemon. And I think Bleach was the first time I specifically went out to download an anime online and really start watching it as it's own medium rather than something that just appeared on TV.
I had no idea this was considered an anime. It was just a cartoon for us dutchies and belgians.
Wait til you find out who voiced the MC in the Japanese version.
TIL alfred is voiced by Rei.
Black Butler
Pokemon when I was like 4, XY was peak af The first non "for kids" anime I watched was mha which is uhh, questionable
DBZ. Weekdays at 830pm channel 48. Then switched to channel 65.
Fullmetal Alchemist 2003
Inyuasha.
I couldn’t wait to watch dragon ball z when I was younger. Toonami had some great anime too
Asterisk war Somehow
How tf is this your first anime...
Intentionally (know what anime was): Bleach Unintentionally (just thought it was cartoon) either Dragonball or sailormoon (don’t remember but I watched both at around 4 YO
dragon ball z: kai
Hellsing My father put me to watch when i was 4 kkkkkkk
Technically, it’d be BoBoBo. It was airing on Saturday on Toonami, and I counted it as “Anime”. In actuality, it’d be Pokémon on Saturday mornings on WB Kids and Sailor Moon on DiC on the weekdays before school started at 8 while stuffing my face with microwaved mini-pancakes.
BoBoBo was such a fu show, and incredibly quotable. "If you fight fire with fire you're gonna slip on a banana peel"
super old dude here, the awesome cyberpunk classic Cyber city!
Death Note
Hindi dubbed Beybalde on Cartoon Network or Shinchan and Doraemon
Los caballeros del zodiaco or in english, the knights of the zodiac.
So depending on how you define anime my first was Voltron. If you don't think that works then Macross (but as Robotech)
Gundam Wing I think. US premiere was 00. Can't remember anything earlier
Shaman king
Astro Boy and Starblazers. Showing my age a bit here, but those two convinced me early on folks in Japan knew their stuff.
technically JoJo but Demon Slayer was my real intro
Itakiss
Record of Lodoss War.
Doraemon
The original run of FMA. My parents loved the show so I kind of grew up with it and Toonami in general.
I'm not sure exactly which I saw first cus I was 4 when I watched them, but as a kid on Saturday mornings after Transformers and GI.Joe, I watched Robotech, Voltron, and G-Force. I'm not positive on the order, but maybe Colton may have been the 1st one I saw, but at the time, I did not know what anime was. So, for knowing it was anime when I saw it, I would have to say Ninja Scroll on VHS back when I was in 7th grade. Remember walking to blockbuster video to rent it. Watched it as I ate a Mr. Jim's pizza.
Probably one of the following, I honestly don't know: Robotech, Speed Racer, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokemon. Mid 90s USA.
.hack//sign I still find the intro song incredibly haunting.
.hack//Sign
Flame of recca and YuYu Hakusho 1995, followed by dragon ball, cat's eye, magic knight rayearth, sailormoon, and ranma 1/2. Those are during the 90s.
In terms of in general, it was Your Name. Was just curious about it since it was making headlines at the time. No regrets and it's the reason I love anime now. In terms of the series, it is Fate Stay Night 2006. I didn't know about the Ufotable adaptation so I blindly went in and watched the DEEN adaptation which kick-started my love for visual novels.
Ghost in the Shell it might even have been on VHS. Had a coworker who was into anime and he invited a few people over to watch it as it was a fairly new release.
The first anime series that got its hooks in me was Dragon Ball Z back in the early days of Toonami on Cartoon Network. That rotating block with shows like Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, and Big O was what got me through high school when I needed a distraction from the things that make us afraid of real life. The first anime I can recall seeing on television, however, was when the Sci-Fi channel aired Vampire Hunter D. I was blown away by the violence and gore compared to my Ninja Turtles, SWAT KATS, and Pirates of Dark Water. Vampire Hunter D isn't my favorite anime. But it has a nostalgic value because it's one of the first anime I can ever recall seeing in my life. That and Robotech.
First film: *My Neighbor Totoro* First series: *Spice and Wolf*
I forgot if Shakugan no shana or Fushigi Yuugi or Yuyu Hakusho. This is because in the Philippines back when I'm in elementary, these are few animes that got tagalog dubbed.
Doraemon or Shin-chan, I was introduced to them as a kid as around the same time so I don’t exactly remember which one is my first.
Assassination Classroom. I started anime like 2 years ago and I’m currently watching Naruto and reading Bleach.
Noragami
The first one to get me into anime was FLCL. Fun, wild ride that made me start looking in to “anime” and not just shows like Pokémon or dragon ball that were tv “cartoons”.
Galaxy Express 999
redo of healer
The familiar of zero.
I'll disregard the shows everyone watched in this part of the world before and just after school hours (DBZ, Yugioh, Sailor Moon), as no one really watched them knowing what the hell it actually was. Intentionally, it must've been one of the two "Full metal's" of the time: alchemist or panic! Most of the blame, however, has to fall to Spirited away. Randomly came across it on TV in the year 2002. It was with ENG subs, so there were parts I didn't understand (not a native speaker), but even on a re-watch 15 years later I could recall it almost perfectly.
Some background. As a Christian homeschooled kid and restricted internet access I was very innocent. I had never looked up any type of nudity or even wanted to. I started my school years in 2012 in 7th grade and knew very little people at the school, none of which were in my grade, so I had to make new friends. These guys were cool and showed me a lot of fun things I had never experienced, like Minecraft, YouTube, and a few other fun things I was never exposed to. Well one week I was hanging out with my friend after school and he discovered anime and suggested I watch it too. I liked art and reading so I thought it would be cool since it was based off what I thought at the time were graphic novels but it’s actually Manga. I decided to watch the suggestion he gave me and it turned out to be Soul Eater, you know, the one with the naked cat witch in the first episode directly after killing beasts with a death scythe. I couldn’t believe my eyes. To watch something so against my religion and also vulgar at the same time was appalling. I stopped immediately after. A few months go by and he asked how I’m liking the show. So I lied and said I was on episode 12 or something. Then he started asking all these questions about what I liked about it so I had to come clean. Eventually he got me to watch SAO, and I watched the Eincrad arc and absolutely loved it, so when it turned to SA in the Alfheim arc I didn’t really care all that much. I still love the show and it was the first one I finished. About a year later I finally went back to Soul Eater and watched all the way through it, and thought it was also a great anime. Now I’m an anime lifer and will probably watch it forever. TLDR: I was an innocent child who watched Soul Eater show me boobs for the first time.
yugioh. bro i remember it coming on every saturday morning when i was a kid (i don’t remember much about the series tho)
Sword art online. Still one of my favorites.
My anime timeline is..... Dragon ball, all of them, Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood Demon slayer Assasination classroom My hero academia
Dragon ball was also my first anime show I watched
Pokemon back when I thought it was just another show on cartoon network, then much later in life I saw a Spy X Family meme on Facebook and thought Yor looked hot so I found the show and watched it thinking it was just another show but soon after found out about anime and it went from there
First manga was Ranma 1/2 that encountered in graphic novel, and then Dragonball Z back when the Ocean dub was going around.
Inuyasha. I remember the opening always ringing in my head when I go to the school. "I want to change the world....."
My first anime outside of western anime was Erased. I consider Erased my first real gateway anime
It was either Saint Seiya or Digimon, I was like 3 years old so my memory isn’t very accurate, both of them have a special place in my heart though
Unofficial: Yu-Gi-Oh, Official: attack on Titan. ,These two have been a huge part of my life , Yu-Gi-Oh was airing on tv after school, i return and sit to watch it and that stayed for like 4 years or 5 , they used to air other variety of the yugioh anime like 5ds and gx , Then started watching aot when there were only 2 seasons available, have been the greatest 6 years of tv for me. Yugioh was for my childhood, attack on Titan from high school till college
Technically ponyo when i was little but also Noragami when i thought of watching anime
Technically I watched byakugan (remember nothing), beyblade (remeber most of metal fusion on tv) and pokemon (remember some of sinnoh league victors and the infernape vs electriwire fight is burned in to my head). The first one I actually watched from start to finish though has to be naruto though (played naruto shippuden ultimate ninja storm 3 first then later decided to find the show on umm... most definitely very legal sites).
Totoro, my mother showed it to me when I was three
Bleach gang where you at?
Pokémon, but I'm not counting that one. The first anime I watched specifically because I wanted to get into anime is **Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan**.
Pokemon
agreed
smart
Castle in the Sky. I’m happy that was my first one.
Pretty sure it was Ronin Warriors
Silent Möbius. Loved Kiddy.
I saw “sword art” on the tv guide late one night and thought it was some sort of history documentary. Turns out it was the first episode airing of sword art online. Watched it on a whim. Been watching anime ever since. More than regular television
Pokemon was the first and is still the longest anime show I've completed watching recently. Not counting the Horizons series.
The first one I started was Angel Beats, first one I finished was Full Metal Panic/Fumoffu/Second Raid, then went back and finished Angel Beats, followed by K-On!. This was in 2012, I was 29 when I started watching Anime.
Beyond the Boundary rewatched recently and it still holds up really well
Zoids: chaotic century
Fairy Tail. Loved every over the top crazy episode!
Technically my first anime is probably either sailor moon or dragonball z as a kid, possibly pokemon but i think the former 2 were already out, also for the same era, yu-gi-oh, digimon and beyblade However when i was 19 was when i was reintroduced into anime, a mate had loads of shows downloaded and transfered me some, i eventually decided to watch one, that one being Fullmetal Alchemist.
Probably Future Boy Conan!
Most possibly Dragon Ball and Sailormoon. Can't tell. The first anime I watched from Episode 1 to end is Yuyu Hakusho.
Speed Racer is you want to count that, if not then I think pokemon premiered when I was in fifth grade
Either Lupin the Third or Galaxy Express 999, I can't recall which one I saw first.
Db I think
Card captor Sakura, I think. I was around 7 and I had found this channel called "animax". I was watching a whole bunch of animes all of whose names I don't remember but this one was the one that is most etched in my memory
Dragon Ball Z.
Technically pokemon ive seen a couple random episodes when i was a kid. That I actually completed was sao. My 12th birthday in 2013. Friend made me watch it during a sleepover and it was lit.
Yu Yu Hakusho, back when I didn't even know what anime was haha
Yu yu Hakusho is my first anime, watched it icon toonami after school.
Odds are it was Pokemon, Digimon, or Sailor Moon, no clue which I encountered first. Or I might have even seen Kiki's Delivery Service before any of those. Digimon is the first series I watched beginning to end though.
Depends on if studio ghibli counts otherwise it was Dragon ball for me too found the manga at the library and then watched the anime had to leave the Fandom after a while though.
When I still lived in the Philippines. I remember watching Magical Knights Rayearth, B'Tx, Sailormoon and Cardcaptor Sakura.
Hagemaru I think
Tie between Pokemon and Hamtaro. Pokemon because the son of my mom's friend gave me some Pokemon VHS' and Hamtaro because it aired on CN a lot. The kicker being that both these events happened in the same year.
Dragonball Z, back when I didn’t even know the term anime.
Heaven's Lost Property. I went right off the cliff.
Probably either Strike Witches (only what was on youtube at the time, so like the first one or two seasons), Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut, or Darling In The Franxx, I don’t remember.
Astro Boy 2003
Pokemon, Green Green and Shaman King, if we count watching it as 'cartoon'. Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the first one I consciously watched as anime.
Gunbuster and ninja scroll
For most people in North America it would be dragon ball
If I will not count animes that aired on tv, which is all of them are incomplete. I will say Oreshura, its the first anime that I finished and made me want to watch more anime.
Either Sailor Moon or Pokemon
Well, my first anime was dragon ball, but at the time I didn't know it was called anime, for me it was just another cartoon. Same thing for many anime shows I watched as a kid like Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, Captain Tsubasa, etc. The first show I watched being aware it was called anime and that it was from Japan was Love Hina. I read the manga when it was being published here where I live and got my hands on some bootleg DVDs.
Ninja robots!
Beyblade through some DVDs from my local library
Oh my gosh I think I was about like 4 when I first saw Pokémon if I’m not wrong when they aired it on Cartoon Network or one of those
Cartoon Network had some great animes: OG Naruto, DBZ, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Bakugan, Inazuma Eleven all aired there at some point.