Zen Reflection - My First Anime

Thanks for sharing your story, it seems we had some similar experiences. Take care!

The Zen Reaction

It’s funny you say that you never knew it was Japanese, I was the same, haha, I subconsciously knew it was different than the rest, but I still thought it was American. I didn’t know a lot of my favorite video games I played were Japanese either. Kids don’t question much, it seems, maybe that is why childhood seems so bright. Anyway, my father, who is Japanese, didn’t even tell me, haha, he knew what anime was, of course, but I guess didn’t care enough to inform me of things. My first anime was probably Pokémon. I loved it as a kid. Although, it could have been Yu-Gi-Oh or DBZ as well, loved those as well. Or the two Studio Ghibli films I saw as a child, Spirited Away, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. As I said, I didn’t even know what anime was until one faithful day, the day my anime journey began. I was in 11th grade, a few years back. I was bored, had nothing to do, so I turned on the television, which I NEVER did. Toonami happened to be on, and a show you might know was on T.A.G., Attack on Titan, Episode 1 of Season 1! I think Season 1 had just finished and Toonami was airing it. The fact that episode 1 was airing is quite a coincidence, now that I am thinking about it. I watched the episode, liked it a lot, and wanted more. I went to look online, with no expectations of finding anything. I had never watched any shows online before, in fact, the last time I really watched television was when I was much younger, it still amazes me that I turned on the t.v. at that moment. This was all new to me. Much to my surprise, the whole season was available online. I was surprised to see it was originally Japanese. I watched the subtitled version, which, in my opinion, is almost always better than the dubbed version, so it worked out. I was able to really experience my “first” anime to the fullest, amazing voice acting and all. I was so happy that I could binge the show, which I did. All 25 episodes in 2 days. What a journey that was, anime really is a drug, as I like to say haha, a unique feeling you can’t get anywhere else. After that, I discovered that there were endless anime I could choose to watch, the sheer amount excited me to no end. I even discovered that anime usually originate from manga, so if I loved a show enough, I could read ahead, instead of waiting for the next season. It was over, I fell into the rabbit hole. Being new to the anime world, watching great show after great show, that time was honestly, magical. You must be going through a similar feeling, T.A.G. Hahah, the popping of one’s anime cherry, if you will. But in your case, it’s like revisiting an old friend you never got to know very well, but after reconnecting, you realize how much you really loved that friend. I came to appreciate my Japanese side so much. Anime got me to discover so much new knowledge about the Japanese culture. Haha I know that was a long story, just thought I’d share. And thank you for sharing your story.

I hadn't even realized that DBZ aired on Nickelodeon. It's amazing how many people DBZ got into anime. Thanks for sharing, take care!

The Zen Reaction

First I saw was Naruto playing on Cartoon Network and then I have memories of Dragon Ball Z on Nickelodeon later on. I remember I was so in love with DBZ that I looked up stuff on it on the internet and thats how I learned what anime even was. (And that you could find so many episodes online!) It opened a whole new world for me.

Ocean Flan

Good old Nickelodeon, I grew up watching a lot of Nick Toons. I did watch Tenchi Muyo on Toonami, I really enjoyed it during the time. I haven't heard of the other two. i will need to look them up. Thanks, take care.

The Zen Reaction

Technically, I think the first anime I watched was Mysterious Cities of Gold on Nickelodeon. I didn't know it was Japanese at the time, though. I saw a few scattered episodes of some other series at the anime club at college, but I think the first series I really got into was Tenchi Muyo, long before its Toonami run. I also got really into The Irresponsible Captain Tylor early on. That was a really good one, although I think the ending dragged a bit.

Interesting, I have never even heard of that site, I remember back when I would watch just about any anime that came on TV since there wasn’t much choice. Thanks, take care!

The Zen Reaction

My first anime were Pokémon and dbz but what got me into anime was a site called gogoanime and I would just look at random shows and the first was ixion saga dt. It was an iseaki comedy that was pretty decent