I’m still looking for that one story; that makes me love the art form…
As far as series go I love Naruto. It was one of the first animes I watched and feel in love with it. For me it is mostly the story that sucks me in as well as the universe. The real art of Naruto is the world, characters, jutsu and the use of chakra that intrigues me. The potential for other stories is infinite. With American animation it seems much more a story of the week style. Even in the best work it is rare to find a world so in depth and detailed.
My first Feature was Spirited Away. It is a magical movie and has a unique visual style. I came away with a love for the genre and feeling envious of children that will grow up enjoying these movies. It is good to see more culteral material made available to a wider audience. We are very sheltered in America and thanks to movies like this I was inspired to search out good material, no matter where it is from or what language it is in.
Spirited Away was my first.
Gundam Wing…hands down
Cowboy Bebop, was my first introduction and a heck of an introduction it was.
I still think it’s phenominal and being self contained its a pretty good introduction for spreading the word, that cartoons aren’t just for kids and can be art.
Technically, I supposed it would be Starblazers and Voltron, but I didn’t know they were anime at the time. So, I’ll give them honorable mentions.
When I started college, I saw Gundam 0083 and the original Bubblegum Crisis (AKA BGC, 1987 to 1991). 0083 for it’s great complex (compared to American TV) story and effects. I never saw the twists in 0083 coming and got hooked.
I say BGC for Priss and its music. Priss was one of the first, strong, female leads I’ve seen (outside of Ripley, Sarah Connor, and Lindsey Brigman). Plus, I got into Jpop in a major way because of BGC and I’m still into Jpop to this day. Hell, I have a couple BGC songs on my Winamp playlist as we speak.
I have to give the original Sol Bianca (1990) and the original Silent Möbius (1991) movies a shout out too. Never saw such quality sci fi (before B5) on American TV.
I like some anime and I don’t like other. Just because it is a cartoon from Japan does not make it good.
I watched some movies and shows and thought it was neat (Lensman & Akira were two I really liked) but the one that just grabbed me and made me do silly things like buy box sets of DVDs was Urusei Yatsura.
It was funny. Loved it, and I’ve been playing it for my kids. They don’t know how to read the subtitles, but they still like watching it.
Agreed. There was a period where I was very into anime, but now it’s mostly just seeing what Watanabe, Kon, and Miyazaki are up to. I do not like these series that have hudnreds of episodes because the story ends up feeling watered down to me, and many others often feature the same character archetypes.
Anyway, my introduction was Toonami in the late 90s. Tenchi, Gundam Wing, those I liked, the latter more than the former. A good friend of mine loved DBZ but I hated it almost right away. Shamelessly repetitive and slow.
For me, it was probably Sailor Moon, though I did watch and love Voltron when I was a kid, I didn’t watch it regularly. Then, after college, a friend gave me a bunch of VHS tapes with a bunch of series on them: La Blue Girl, Venus 5, an epic-type story I can’t remember the title of… (Something about scrolls…), and another one about a girl who’s parents lived in another dimmension. I was intrigued by the idea of animation telling stories that weren’t kiddie morality tales. So I started buying my own. Vampire Hunter D, Ghost in the Shell, some other stuff. Then an ex stole it all. I have very little of my collection left, and in this economy, replacing it isn’t quite feasible.
Ninja Scroll? The dimension one doesn’t ring a bell.
Project A-Ko was another example of a smart & funny series of movies that I feel didn’t talk down to the audience. The implications about her parents, for instance, were pretty dang great, even though they never actually spelled it out explicitly who they were.
I guess my first favorite went back to Starblazers when I was a kid. The first anime movie I enjoyed was Akira. I don’t think I even own that one… maybe I do on VHS somewhere.
Lol A-Ko was a blast! Great, over-the-top, fun parody. I have that soundtrack around here somewhere.
There’s a more recent parody thats just as good imo, but it’s more risque. It’s called Kirameki Project (OAV). NSFW or family, but I thought it was funny as heck. I should rewatch it to make sure because I may have been loopy from lack of sleep when I first saw it.
Edit: If you like Starblazers, you might like INTERSTELLA 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (it’s 65 minutes, so I didn’t embed it). Same director and character designs as Starblazers (Leiji Matsumoto):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ5XOwiryv0
Princess Mononoke
Well i’m going way old school here. When I was just a kid the local NYC station would air Aqua Boy and Gigantor. This was not the revamped one done in the 80’s. This was the Black and White shows that started it all there.
During the seventies, First Battle of the Planets. Always loved Gforce and that sonic boomerang.
After that I was hooked. Voltron, StarBlazers, RoboTech I was on a role then. Then the dry spell in the 90’s. That until Toonami and all the stuff that has come on lately.
Always get a kick out of finding some of the same voice artists in different anime. In a strange twist of fate, one of the members of my church went to Hollywood and has done well. I still can remember when he was just a kid himself. Now if only he could get me some voice work in one of these series i’d be in heaven.
Well I can dream.
I loved Battle of the Planets and Voltron. That was the extent of anime for me, as a child. Never really got into it.
I’ve recently seen Hayao Miyazaki’s work (My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle)
That is so great. Good on for him.
My brother got me into watching anime: DBZ, Cowboy Bebop & Inuyasha
They are finally re-continuing Inuyasha in a few days/weeks.
You have just made this day AWESOME!!
The DVDs for Inuyasha & Cowboy bebop put deep deep holes in my pocket