All anime fans start somewhere, me, I started watching anime when I was about 8 years old before I even knew what anime was, I used to watch these children’s “cartoons” when I was a child, they set the groundwork for my love of anime, in my youth these shows out-shone all of the other programs that were available to me and I finally understand why and it’s a pretty simple reason, the characters had depth, they were likeable, you really cared for them and invested your time in them. If you missed an episode you wanted to know what happened, this wasn’t the same with American/English cartoons there was no depth to them they were shallow children’s cartoons in comparison, and whilst the anime shows were aimed at kids, they didn’t treat us like kids, the shows were intelligent, exciting, gripping, so much so I would run home from school with my friends in order to catch the next episode.

The Shows that introduced me to anime and had a large impact on my viewing preferences were

1. Pokemon - it felt like a giant mythical world, the world of Pokémon and to some extent I wished it was real, it wasn’t like watching a show, it was like being absorbed into this animated world, so much so that it was the only fad I ever took to, I got the games, the cards, posters, stickers anything Pokémon, I wanted. I watched the first 3 seasons diligently and then the show lost its appeal and started to become more child friendly and as I was growing up, it just lost its cool factor when they started entering them in beauty contests, I mean c’mon the whole point was catch em, battle em, evolve them, then become the greatest Pokémon master ever, not dress them up pretty and make them dance, shame on you Pokémon for not staying true to yourself.

2.Digimon - Now here we go again, back to monsters that actually fight, Digimon became my second fascination, it was like Pokémon version 2.0 it had cooler monsters, cooler bad guys, cooler characters, it felt more grown up and was more action packed, yet still held the same feeling of immersion that Pokémon had I was hooked and followed the adventures of the digi-destined from week to week, seeing all way through season 1 & 2 so around 104 episodes without missing a single one, so 2 years of my life, I grew attached to the characters and felt my first feelings of loss when the show ended, a feeling that still nags at me when I finish a truly amazing anime.

3.Yu-Gi-Oh - After a few years without any form of anime what-so-ever, I was drawn to Yu-Gi-Oh it was different, and at first the concept sempt a little daft, but the delivery was excellent making the show exciting and intriguing, which is surprising since its based on a card game and yet is exciting, intelligent and full of twists and more than enough action

These whilst not the only anime I watched as a child they were the driving force behind my love for anime and they set me on the path towards my preferred anime shows such as Bleach and D-Gray Man.