I got involved originally because my parents used to have a rule that I had to take part in an extra-curricular activity every year, but I was not, still am not really, big on the whole commitment thing. I found out that my school had an anime club and figured they were probably a pretty laid back group. I checkedt them out and sure enough they asked for absolutely nothing from me. However, they introduced me to anime, showing me that it had a subculture, and that many of the shows I had liked were part of it, not defined merely by the art style, but by the culture they came from. Probably the earliest anime that I went crazy for was digimon. I got up at seven every morning (or was it only saturdays, it's hard to remember) so that I could watch it on fox for the early viewing, and then again at 11. I had an enourmous crush on kari (think it's hikari in japan) back before I got old enough that it would make me a pedophile (or lolicon, whichever you prefer, lolicon really does sound nicer). It was one of the sadder moments of growing up when season for came on to ytv and I realized that I just didn't enjoy it in quite the same way anymore. Anyway, despite joining the club so that I wouldn't have to do anything I found I was attending every week and was always the last to leave, and later even dressed up for my first appearance at Anime North. Nothing quite like the first one. Needless to say, despite what my parents kept telling me about how I would grow out of anime that never happened and I continue to watch avidly whenever I can find a moment.
