Animeversary

[BrownMasterV]

So around this time of November last year, a little brown man discovered the world of anime. It changed his little brown life. He has since pierced through the heavens, kicked his life to the curb, and delved into the world of the otaku.

This brown man is I. (WHAT A TWIST!)
Yes, it's been around one year now since I started watching anime...and I'm glad I made that decision.
I'm nowhere near stopping now :3
I know 1 year is VERY new compared to most of the people on this site.
However, In this one year, I have amassed 64 series/movies (Excluding OVAs and specials), and my to-watch list is ever-growing.
This past Summer season was the first time I've ever watched/followed airing anime.

So when did you all start watching anime, and when were your anime 'checkpoints'?
When did you realize your otaku-ness?
When is your animeversary?

[Pentium100]

I started watching anime somewhere in 2005, I think in summer. Before, I had watched Dragon Ball (,Z,GT), Rurouni Kenshin and (I think) Shaman King on TV but did not know that they were called anime. Anyway, when I found out, one day when I had nothing better to do I went to some FTP server and downloaded a few episodes of School Rumble. A few months later I actually watched those episodes and really liked it. Then I went to anime-planet to look for similar series.

I have about 1TB of anime in my collection (some of it is on DVD-R, some on hard drives and more on tapes).

[xfreidax]

I started watching anime before it was even called anime. I have memories of watching Science Ninja Team Gatchaman when I was just a tod in Taiwan. Me and my sisters would gather round the TV religiously every week and act out the opening as it played. I even had the costume of one of the characters. Yeah I started cosplaying when I was three.  That was 30 years ago 

Happy Animeversary!

[NaRu]

I was in highschool when I started to watch anime. That was in 2000....I feel a bit old right now

[Soryon]

I first started watching anime around 2000 while I was in High School. I was pretty big into it back then but then for some reason I stopped watching it all together around 2002. I started back up around 2006 by catching up on some of the stuff I had missed in that time. That was also the first time I had watched an anime as it actually aired (well, and got subbed) which was Ergo Proxy. Something about the anticipation of waiting for new episodes roped me in but it only lasted for a year or so. I just started watching again last year.
I can't say if I will stop watching again but I don't think I will for quite a while.

I don't think of myself as an otaku at all as I only see anime as a form of entertainment. I don't take it all that seriously and I don't collect merchandise.(I do have an Akira t-shirt and an NGE t-shirt from like 10 years ago tho.) I like to talk about it on the internet cuz I can't talk about it with my RL friends.

My animeversary? I don't remember.

[monstor666]

I started watching anime back in grade school, right when toonami came out(anybody remeber toonami, channel was the bee's knees) I watched DBZ and Gundam Wing (by far the best Gundam imo), The Big O (very underrated anime), Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop. That was what 12 years ago. But the first anime I ever watched was Akira, when I was like 10, that and Metropolis (my favorite anime to this day). So...i've been watching anime for about 12 years and just keeps getting better and better. But i just got my girlfriend into anime like 2 months ago, she's in love with Panty and Stocking haha.

[SirSkyRider]

Started somewhere around 2003, when series like Golden Boy, Najica and - my all-time favorite - NOIR were aired on MTV and VIVA (Yeah, MTV got me hooked up on anime and I still love those series). My first anime DVD was .hack//SIGN (I started getting hooked on .hack the same year but didn't play the games until a year later) and the first anime I downloaded was Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha. My taste has since then expanded, but not changed (I still dig Noir and Golden Boy and I loathe series coming from VNs). I do not think I'm too old though... depends on what you're watching.

[NexVinco]

I remember watching Inuyasha and DBZ around 2000, not knowing that it was anime. I really started being an otaku in 2006, when a friend showed me Hellsing and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, and that's when I fell in love with anime  and started watching like a fiend. I can't remember the exact date as to when I started, but I am always glad that when another year passes I can still find a series that suits my tastes and that I can share it with others.

[x5ga]

I was a happy anonymous resident of 4chan city, so of course my first anime was Rozen Maiden. That was in 1st year of uni (2 years ago). I really liked Rozen Maiden, and I'm not necessarily talking about the DESU DESU DESU part, that anime had an awesome plot. It was nothing like I expected/seen before anywhere. Of course after I watched it I got some more anime to watch (Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Elfen Lied, if I recall correctly) which were awesome. And then a few harem comedies and School Days and Narutaru. After Narutaru I remember making my BoxTorrents (now BakaBT) account and I've been seeding ever since. After that, A-P to get recommendations for new stuff to watch. Anime Milestones? 1st milestone: School Days. That's the only one.

TL;DR: 1st anime Rozen Maiden, animeversary: somewhere in March.

[Ixarku]

When is your animeversary?

Ummm... sometime in 1985 would be my guess, when I first saw Robotech.  Earlier than that, if you count watching Star Blazers, Voltron, or Tranzor-Z on U.S. television.

[kurandoinu]

Lord... That would be when I was in primary school and I discovered Sailor Moon... so about 1999-2000ish?

[Garret02]

Well, if you won't count series I watched not knowing they were anime (Yatterman, Yattodetaman, Paul no Miracle Daisakusen, General Daimos, Tiger Mask, Captain Tsubasa, Sailor Moon, Arrow Emblem: Hawk of the Grand Prix, Mahou Tsukai Sally, Mahou no Mako-chan and other old stuff when I was 3+ and Dragon Ball, Slayers, Saint Seiya, Pokemon and few others when I was 9+), then it would be in middleschool when I was 13 or 14 years old (now I'm 21). I don't remember exactly when because I have terrible memory for dates but sometime then my friend gave me Hellsing and after that I wanted more. He gave me Evangelion, Trigun, Fullmetal Alchemist and Elfen Lied and after that I started downloading anime on my own (though I don't remmber what title came first). I didn't watch much (MAL says 181 copleted titles) because I love games too and I'm usually spending much more time on them but I'm very happy I started watching anime.

[harpy]

I started watching it quite early (primary school I was something like 7-10 years old) with all the anime on that german TV (Dragonball and Sailor Moon stuff).
After that I did watch something since 2000 (or a year or two earlier, bad memory) here and there as I did not have my comp and could not watch and download all what I wanted (I have never been able to watch stuff online, just do not feel right), but usually I mark the time I started watching anime with 2003 when was the first time I went to watch anime on big screen (Interstella5555).

According to my anidb.net acount up to date I have 1086 titles in my watched list (do not remember most of them as I tend to forget the bad or mediocre stuff)

And I still do not follow currently airing anime, I watch only finished stuff....

[rostheferret]

I'm a relative newcomer compared to most here. I think I only really sat down to watch my first show about a year ago, mostly because before that all my exposure had let me to believe it was shit. Dragonball Z and Pokemon re-runs were virtually all I had access to. I once saw a few minutes of Fruit Basket before walking off to do something else. Then when I commented about how it all seemed cheesy and childish, my sisters friend retorted with "someone's clearly never seen Elfen Lied."

I still don't think of myself as Otaku though. I view it as a format for telling a story and little more. Like Films, Books and TV shows, it has it's good examples and its bad.

[JoonasTo]

I quess you could say when I was a kid, moomins, silver fang, Mila superstar, etc.

But what really counts would be the near religious following of MKR back in the day. Watched every episode, watched every rerun, I practically worshipped that series. 

Watching anime would be 2007/8 with elfen lied followed by black lagoon, NGE and SEL.

Then when I commented about how it all seemed cheesy and childish, my sisters friend retorted with "someone's clearly never seen Elfen Lied."

Elfen Lied was THE anime back then. It really drove way for a lot of other series. Made anime gain a lot of credibility.

[Sasaki]

I started watching anime back in grade school, right when toonami came out(anybody remeber toonami, channel was the bee's knees) I watched DBZ and Gundam Wing (by far the best Gundam imo), The Big O (very underrated anime), Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop. That was what 12 years ago. But the first anime I ever watched was Akira, when I was like 10, that and Metropolis (my favorite anime to this day). So...i've been watching anime for about 12 years and just keeps getting better and better. But i just got my girlfriend into anime like 2 months ago, she's in love with Panty and Stocking haha.

Hah, I'm the same.  I started watching Toonami on Cartoon Network around 1997 with Thundercats (I realize it isn't technically an anime), then in 1998 they introduced DBZ.  Of course, to my 10-year-old mind, DBZ was just about the most awesome show ever.  Throughout the years, I have also enjoyed each of those series you mentioned.  Adult Swim had some good shows as well, such as Yu Yu Hakusho (which they never finished).  I find myself dismayed at what has become of Cartoon Network since then...

[harpy]

Then when I commented about how it all seemed cheesy and childish, my sisters friend retorted with "someone's clearly never seen Elfen Lied."

Elfen Lied was THE anime back then. It really drove way for a lot of other series. Made anime gain a lot of credibility.

for some reason I was never really found of Elfen Lied. I even like Saikano better the Elfen Lied and I do not like Saikano


and I was never really fan of NGE ( I rather watch other this kind of anime...em, like RahXephon, Fafner or not really that stuff but something like Blue Gender (should watch that again) or Gunparade March or what ever else I can not remember now....I just love RahXephon....
But I did love and still love Lain oh and then Paranoia Agent and Perfect Blue and Texhnolyze and Boogiepop Phantom and Gilgamesh and...and....and...
And I still do not get al that obsession with Akira. The only thing I actually like about that anime is the part where these big plushy things started to move around and that song there (really annoying t5une but it did stick to my mind of a long time)

*harpy runs of to find a nice Blue Gender torrent*

[x5ga]

Mila superstar

That was an anime? whoah. I watched that on RTL2 in German when I was 6 or something. I didn't understand very much but it was awesome. The OP kicked ass too. I guess I've been watching anime for a long time

[BrownMasterV]

Hmm I guess my definition of otaku may be a tad different from that of everyone else. I always thought 'otaku' meant nerd (which I very much am). Buut I guess I'm wrong about that.
As for me, I've never bought any anime merchandise, nor do I obsess over anime characters feverishly.
Uhh...maybe I'm not an otaku, and just a guy who has too much free time and chooses to fill it with anime

[xfreidax]

I don't cosplay (except when I was a kid, doesn't really count though =P) or buy figures or other merchandise. Anime is just a way for me to spend my free time but I do consider myself an otaku.

I'm a game otaku (big into mmo's) and anime otaku. Otaku to me simply means to have strong interest in a hobby or recreational activity. The term does have negative connotations in that it is used to describe people who are obsessed. But I feel whether you see that as negative or positive all boils down to perspective.

I mean the truth is I do love anime and I'm not ashamed of that.

Edit: I don't see anything wrong with cosplayers or folks who buy anime merchandise btw.