Your Otaku Origins

[JohnnyAR]

When did you become an Otaku? Who was the one that got you into anime? or What was the series that made you into the Otaku that you are today?!

The first series I saw was Power D.O.L.L.S. on VHS (Detachment Of Limited Line Service) on the VHS tape I saw an old trailer for Evangeilon around the time it first came out .I was only a five or four years old that had no idea what it was and what I also didn't know was that it was rated 16 up :o there were no bad words but there was a scene with nudity in it, but since being only 5 I didn't care. Luckily my parents never saw it. But, even though it was my first, it wasn't what got me into anime. So I've seen DBZ, Pokemon, Digimon, a little bit of Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo. But when I was in 3rd grade my cousin brought Princess Monoke to watch at my house and I was becoming intrested in anime after watching Princess Monoke. In 2006 my cousin showed me X and after watching it we looked at the trailers and that is when I discovered Hellsing.

After seeing X and Hellsing I was looking around the house for the Power D.O.L.L.S. VHS tape and found it, I still have it right now :P, I watched the trailers that were in it and I saw an old trailer for Evangelion (around the time it first came out) and immediatly started watching it and became a NGE fanboy.

So if it wasn't for my cousin, I wouldn't be an Otaku right now

[Amon_devilman]

I was ten, had moved to a new country, and it was there that I met my surrogate little brother. He was hardcore into anime for a little kid, and would frequently talk my ear off about the Guyver and other shows.

Eventually, he moved away. Now, I've watched anime shows before, but didn't become an otaku until he moved. I'll be honest, I missed him (he was the little brother and best friend I always wanted [I say little because he was both a little younger and shorter than me]), so in honor of him, I rented and watched the Guyver. I became hooked, looked up Fist of the North Star, Tenchi Muyo, and spiralled into anime fandom.

I then moved here and became truly hardcore otaku.

[questionette]

I think my roots date back to a mixture of times when I was little, one being the day my dad brought home "My neighbor Totoro."  The next being my mom's discovery of Sailor Moon, and how it seemed to shut me up for several hours watching the movies and T.V.  My best friend was an anime fan as well when I was little, I had never been into it like her, but that soon changed :

The day I met my friend lauren I got more into anime.  She was asian.  She was crazy.  To top it off, she LOVES anime.  To this day she is the only one that understands my random half-sentence way of talking.

So yeah, I guess you could say that I was set up to like anime and it just skyrocketed from there.

PLUS, not a lot of people around me like it so it makes me different and I like that =]

[PyronIkari]

Me? Otaku? No, not raelly. A big fan, yes. A bigger fan than most people that claim to be an otaku? Yes as well.

The first thing I ever watches was Golgo 13 strangely enough? Other than that, Appleseed, Super Gal, Dragon Ball, and a bunch of old stuff. ESPECIALLY ANPANMAN. I used to watch it almost everyday via my friends VHS tapes that his family would record and send to him.

This was back when I first moved to California, so I was 3/4 years old back in '86. In '89 there was Bubble Gum Crisis and the horrible Dragon Quest cartoon.

[questionette]

(Definitions from UrbanDictionary.com)

A Japanese word describing a person beyond the realm of fandom but into mania that is improperly used by American fans.

When dealing with Japanese people, however, it may be best to keep in mind the modern Japanese image of an otaku -- Someone who only leaves their home to eat or shop, if at all, with an overwhelming and unhealthy obsession about something. It can as easily refer to a stalker or sociopath as it can to a harmless anime buff.

Okay, I have to address the term "Otaku".  It's seen in a negative light by some people, and NO I do NOT associate myself with that connotation of the word.  I would rather just simply say that I like anime.  Not much of an otaku. I do have other hobbies. XD I know in this instance it is used in a more liberal sense, but I'd have to agree with pyron and say that I am not an otaku. I'm a fan.

[Trumby]

I don't consider myself an otaku either..there is a pretty good discussion of that subject on the cosplay.com general board. Watch Genshiken..it seems from everything I've read that is a pretty accurate showing of how the Japanese feel about the whole "otaku" thing.

The first anime I saw was Akira..then Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll. I remember renting those on VHS when I was like 13 or 14. But I didn't really get into anime like I am today until around early 2005.

I did watch Outlaw Star pretty much religiously when it was on Midnight Run on Cartoon Network..that was good stuff. Watched DBZ pretty much every time it was on as well.

[AnimeEmperor]

13, Gundam Wing was on Cartoon Network and it was the first series I saw that kept the original Japanese ending theme.

All it took.

[alisonbrock]

Honestly, I had watched Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and DBZ, and I did not even know that they were anime when I was younger. I am Japanese(born in US), so that makes it even more embarrassing! I think it was because my cousins introduced my to Hayao Miyazaki films that I got into anime. I just became so in love with the art form, and the art form was so unique in its own way. Also, my friends began to start drawing their own manga, and they encouraged me to read manga. Now, I am the happy owner of over 300 mangas and 120 anime DVDs. You cannot say that I am freak though! Anime is fantabulous!!!!!

[Mister_E]

Dragon Ball Z, but was hooked after Gundam Wing, Blue Submarine NO. 6 and Outlaw Star. That is what started my journey down the path of Anime and Mangas. My little had Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo but did not turn out to be as big an Anime fan as I.

[rude32]

Back when I was about two-three I used to watch Voltron all the time. I even have an old pic of me cosplaying as him. Back in grade school I used to watch speed racer, and around the same time dragonball came on at like 4 in the morning. And I mean, dragonball, not DBZ. I used to watch it before I helped my dad with the paper route, but all these times I didn't know what anime was, or that any of these were anime. It wasn't until toonami that I found out what anime was, so it was pretty much that stuff that got the ball rolling. DBZ, Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, until I went to Jr. College, and then I found my clan. We were all fresh out of high school, and at the time none of us really wanted to go to school. We all hungout in our area, "locke lounge" everyday playing video games and watching anime.

[Trumby]

13, Gundam Wing was on Cartoon Network and it was the first series I saw that kept the original Japanese ending theme.

All it took.

...! How could I forget to mention Gundam Wing!? That is still one of my favorites.

[JohnnyAR]

13, Gundam Wing was on Cartoon Network and it was the first series I saw that kept the original Japanese ending theme.

All it took.

...! How could I forget to mention Gundam Wing!? That is still one of my favorites.

I love Gundam Wing! I have Endless Waltz on VHS.

[BobMakihara]

It started for me in 1991, with bubble gum crisis and akira on VHS.  After that, I started to study japanese culture, language, and attempt to draw manga all the time.  Posters ordered from Nikaku Animart and Right Stuf...getting a ride to San Francisco just for a gundam model...getting giddy as a school girl over a friends imported DBZ game for SNES...watching ALL of Fushigi Yuugi in one weekend while holding back tears...
I have watched so many anime series since then that I have lost count. 

Anime has been such a big part of my life, and I treasure the opportunities to share my interests with fans and friends from all over. 

[LordKefka]

I wouldn't call myself an otaku but I do enjoy watching Anime. A friend of mine back in 1999 first got me really into Anime by introducing me to Evangelion. Then I watched it on PBS every Sunday night and boom, from there I went.

[Varnado Barolius]

Well, my original exposures to anime were as a kid, with Sailor Moon being my favorite show for a couple years, and then Pokeman for several years. I still love that old pokeymon show. I didn't really get into anime until about two years back, though.

Way back then, I was really into posting on forums, even though I wasn't a very good writer, and my favorite forum was about Fire Emblem, which is a Japanese video game for the one or two of you out there who don't know. Most of the on-topic discussion was centered on the games not released in the US, which were considered by the locals of the board higher caliber than the newer ones, and most of which have been fan translated. Needless to say, just about everybody was a complete nerd on that forum, and at least half had their main nerdy focus on anime.

I had a friend who I knew from all over the internet at the time on that forum, and after awhile he was absorbed into the whole anime fandom by the community there. Even though I'd resisted for nearly a year, I just noticed that the majority of off-topic discussion referenced anime directly or indirectly through channer jokes, and it couldn't be all bad if it was tantalizing my good friends to conversion. So I decided to watch the hugely popular show of the time, Haruhi.

I was pretty impressed by the sheer quality of the artwork and intricacy of the story--a TV show with a plot like a novel's seemed amazing to me--even though, with more experience, it no longer seems extraordinary. I went on to watch a couple more titles, including my favorite of all time Full Metal Panic, and was hooked. Recently, my anime stuff has even come to outnumber all of my other nerdy objects, including Star Wars figurines, model tanks, and Mudkip merchandise (Poke Mon is not animu, it's a field in and of itself ;)).

[ThatBlueDinosaurGuy]

I was 10, and it was Ronin Warriors that got me hooked on anime. I remember getting up early in the morning just to watch it. I've been an anime fan ever since.

[SOawesomeness]

I'm a very very casual anime-watcher. :00
I watched Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Ranma, and Wedding Peach(kr) back when. (:
Brother sort of introduced me to Ghost in the Shell and Gundam Wing, I think.

:00

[sykoeent]

Well... I grew up on Transformers, Voltron and the Thundercats. Way back in the 80's... But this was before I knew what anime was. Then stuff was starting to show on TV like Sailor Moon and DBZ. I've been into those, but not really enough for me to go hard core. I've always been into American Comics and stuff, but never really read them, cos the stories just... well... sucked... I did like the drawings, as I was an artist myself. But DBZ got me to see that there can be actual story to the panels and, at the same time, be fun! After this period, Toonami sarted up their anime block and Tenchi Muyo was a big favorite of mine, along with Gundam Wing. Yes, I was into Pokemon too, still kinda am, it's fun... and that brought me to visit JTown in SF. This opened doors to JPop, like Ayu and Utada alond with Mini 4WD and random ANime paraphanellia. Art books, although expensive, were also very big to me. Then I went to College, an Art college in LA. Here, I was introduced to a lot of different anime, one in particular, Love Hina. My brother and I flew through our bootlegged copies in a weekend. Then came Noir, GTO and Naruto. And now, Transformers has came back to me, but, still... Anime has taken over. Genshiken has sealed the number 1 position for me and I just keep buying and buying new anime and anime things! Fun Stuff!!!

[Chun]

Me? Otaku? No, not raelly. A big fan, yes. A bigger fan than most people that claim to be an otaku? Yes as well.

That's about it for me. Higher than the general weeaboo/stereotypical demographic, lower than "True otaku" derogative.

Before Sailor Moon and Pokemon (Late Elementary), there was KTEH with Lain, Dirty Pair Flash, Please Save My Earth.

And before KTEH there were Cantonese dubs of Tonde Buurin (Boorin) and Dr. Slump (Early Elementary--).

I remember watching Dragonball GT as a kid and thinking it was complete garbage.

~Chun

[Miku]

_{I remember when i was about 7-8 years old(1994-1995) I went to the Philippines and saw some cartoons on the tv..and was like heyyy this is awesome being that was the dragonball series :] It was also all in badly translated english;...though after that I started watching anime..mostly whatever I saw on tv aka toonami until I got a laptop..in middle late school o_o;}