It’s fun to look back at our lives and ponder on the various experiences that we’ve all had over the years, which shaped the people we are today. For many of us, we can point to an exact moment when we became anime fans, viewing an especially exciting series or being presented with an emotional high that seemed impossible for a medium like animation.
What was the exact point that you became a lifelong fan of anime? For me it was at the age of 6, watching the final episode of Speed Racer. It was so thrilling to see a mystery that had been set up actually resolved properly. pic.twitter.com/qmqDMMpEkU
— Peter Payne (@JListPeter) February 25, 2020
I’ll never forget back when I was 5 years old, watching my favorite show, Speed Racer. Throughout the series, the was a “mystery” about the identity of Racer X, who was secretly Speed’s older brother Rex, who had run away from home to become an international spy. In the final episode, Speed figures out Racer X’s identity and confronts him, which thrilled me as a child. Dramatic story elements that are set up, then paid off in a satisfying manner at the end? There was nothing else like it on TV.
So I asked J-List’s awesome Twitter followers what was the exact moment you became an anime fan, and here are some of the replies we got! The responses have been edited for clarity.
For me, it was watching the original Space Battleship Yamato. That story has never gotten old for me.
Saint Seiya, about 6 years old. I loved Marin-sensei!
At 15 or 16, I saw Tenkuu no Escaflowne as part of my high school’s anime club. I realized there were more genres of anime than Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon.
When Goku became Super Saiyan, I decided I wanted to become an artist. Yet here I am, drawing pretty girls when it was a muscular man screaming who triggered my passion.
I was probably 13 or 14. Our cartoon channel here was playing anime late at night and showed the 4 part Macross Plus OVA and I loved it. I’d watched a bit of anime before that but Macross Plus really sealed it for me.
When my dad bought me a VHS copy of Akira for Christmas.
For me it was Dirty Pair, I got a small poster with Kei and Yuri on it. I loved it so much! (^_^;)
My obsession proper started with binging Dragon Maid in one night, right after it finished airing. Fast-forward three years, and now I have hundreds worth of manga, and an Astolfo bean, and…
If I remember correctly, it was back when VHS tape Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z were a thing. Damn, I’m old…
I was 3 when I watched Captain Avatar give his last breath as they approached Earth in Star Blazers. I had watched my mother nearly died a few months before, and nobody would tell me what happened or why they were scared. A cartoon instead told me what almost happened that day.
Roy Focker’s death in Macross gave me the “can they do that?” feeling when I first saw it. That’s when I knew anime was different than cartoons.
As long as we’re going through great anime deaths that affected us deeply, who can forget the sacrifices made by the Sailor Scouts so that Sailor Moon could survive. pic.twitter.com/UaEFTdwYEi
— Peter Payne (@JListPeter) February 28, 2020
When I saw Sailor Moon fighting on after her friends were killed was moving.
Voltron.
The episode where Sven sacrificed himself to save his friends.
It was then I realized that cartoons could be less about teaching singular lessons or selling toys and more about creating characters who leave an impression.https://t.co/PZJzEm35jo
— Sutorippu! – 脱衣ゲームのデータベース (@Sutorippu) February 25, 2020
What about you? Was there a specific moment you became an anime fan? Tell us on Twitter!
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