"When did you see Japanese ANIME for the first time?" Topic

I was thinking about this for sometime and I thought I'd ask this question because I was curious.

For myself it happened back in the 1970's when a local tv station started showing the following ANIME shows every weekday afternoon:

Kimba

Astroboy

Maine Boy

Speed Racer

Now I've seen a lot of Cartoons on tv mostly on Saturday like Top Cat,Frankenstein JR and the Animated King Kong for example so I was used to seeing cartoons.

But Kimba,Astroboy and the others were different from the other Cartoons that I've been watching for sometime but I really can't explain since I was young at the time.

Then I started watching a local station which aired mostly Japanese programs and every Saturday evening I saw other Japanese Anime and some live action shows as well.

Now the Live action shows were Go-Rangers and Kikaider and these would alternate each Saturday with ANIME shows like Raideen and UFO Dai Apolan.

Sadly these were shown before I had a VCR because I would've taped these shows if I could've but it wasn't to be.

Another nice thing was that the shows were subtitled so I could understand the storyline of the shows.

Now the last Japanese Anime show that was shown before they switched stations was Captain Harlock which I liked a lot.

Along the way I also saw shows like Ultraman and Space Giants and some others and before the 70's ended there came StarBlazers which I really enjoyed.

So how did some of you get introduced to Japanese Anime?

I guess for me it was Cities Of Gold in 1986, although I certainly didn't realise it was anime at the time.

For me it's Marine Boy then Go Speed Racer Go!

I also had my introduction to anime in the 1970's; with Speed Racer, Space Battleship Yamato/Starblazers and others that I remember less well.

For me it was either Starblazers (AKA Space Battleship Yamato), or maybe Battle of the Planets (AKA Science Ninja Team Gatchaman?). Both were on around the same time, and I knew both were different from the fare offered domestically at the time.

Damon.

Robotech, the heavily adapted version of Super Dimension Fortress Macross, ca. 1985.

Ron

Speed racer sometime in the 1970's at a convention in Denver,Co.

Speed Racer, Ultraman, Starblazers, Battle of the Planets -- and later on, of course, Robotech!!

Speed Racer then Robotech. Unless Vultron counts.

AstroBoy (late 60's?)

Then Speed Racer

Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, Force Five (which was 5 anime, each had their own day), Star Blazers in the early 80s/late 70s and then Robotech in the mid to late 80s.

Once I got into college I saw untranslated, unedited anime. Akira was my first movie.

Probably in the '90s. My reaction is still the same as then; what the h*** is this?

In the 1990s when I returned to Greece from the US. There were these fringe channels (New Channel) that used to play anime. I had no idea they were anime, I only knew that they were bounds superior to the american and European cartoons I was normally watching.

I think my first anime (without knowing it was anime) was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (The Warriors of the Wind Version), that just blew me away. Gall Force, Locke the Superman, Dallos and most importantly Ninja Boy (in Greece known as Kabamaru)were also important.

Dragonball was when I was introduced to the concept as opposed to the work.

Greek TV was weird, because of their just grab what one can grab I got the chance to watch some anime, that were very out of even the Japanese mainstream. Kabamaru for example is not mainstream in Japan. But for my generation it was a big formative experience. Also considering how socially progressive it was (homosexual couple positively presented) it was a big deal for 1990s Greece. Happy days, happy days.

Speed Racer.

Robotech in the 80s

The Sci-Fi channel used to run anime movies on Saturday mornings in the mid-to-late 90s. I vaguely remember a movie about a civil war on Mars? That was my first anime viewing.

Astro Boy when I was wee lad as well as Kimba the Lion. Of course back then we did not know it was Anime, it was just a cool cartoon.

"Speed Racer", then the "Battle of the Planets" and (my favorite at the time) "Starblazers". They only ran Starblazers for one summer – apparently, some overly protective mothers called the station and made them take it off due to violence. Which of course is what made us all love it so much. <shrug>

Later of course we got Robotech, which I video taped so I could watch it after school.

The first real (as in not converted for US markets) anime I saw was "Akira", in the late 80's.

Speed Racer and Gigantor when I was 4 or 5

Gigantor.

link

Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers) and Gatchaman/BOP/G-Force around 1982-ish.

I remember running up the drive way from the school bus so I would not miss the intro music to Robotech.

Gigantor, Speed Racer and Space Battleship Tomatoe.

BUT…when did I finally get into Anime???

Last Exile (on the Old G4 Network) which lead me to "Ghost in the Shell" and expanded thereafter.

Can't say I love it all, but I try to appreciate all of it.

Speed Racer in the 70's I guess, but it was meh.

Star Blazers in the early 80's, but again, I thought it meh.

Then I was stationed in Okinawa 1986-87 and was inundated, but nothing really stood out as worth remembering.

Akira and the various Appleseed offerings I like.

I think I much prefer anime movies to the multitude of series being offered; which would mean I guess I am not that "anime-art" driven.

Speed Racer

Gundum – the classic thing – back in the 1990's

Speed Racer and Kimba when I was a kid

Speed Racer as a kid in the 70s.

Battle of the Planets, circa 1977 or so. Then it was maybe another 20+ years before I saw any again. Knew about it via RPGs like Mekton, but no sign of it on TV. Not even sure how I saw it in 1977, must have been one of the Buffalo stations coming across the border. They always had the cool stuff.

Lupin III: Castle Cagliostro was the first I saw, about 1980. We made the trek down to the foreign movie theater because we had started playing the Top Secret rpg that summer.

Speed Racer and Marine Boy, too young to remember exactly when, early seventies.

Or course I didn't *really* see it till a friend played "Pop Chaser" on a VCR.

Star Blazers, Tranzor Z and Speed Racer were the first I remember seeing. I am 38 now so probably around 8-9 years of age.

Me and my brother dreamed of having Oxy-gum. Marine Boy rocked. Never even knew it was Anime.

I am not an Anime fan but my friend was. He died and I inherited hundreds of Anime DVDs. Now I have to figure out what to do with them :|

I had bought him Starblazers (all three seasons) and Tank Girls as Birthday and Christmas presents now I may be forced to watch them :}

Tezuka's Kimba The White Lion, early 70's on French Television. Followed a few years later by a flood of series like Grendizer, Heidi, Candy Candy, Captain Harlock etc …

Speed racer and kimba, though I thought it was simba back in 1970. We also watched a lot of lther live action Japanese shows, but those were not animie.

My list is similar to the Captain's but a good bit earlier. It's was the late 60s and it was:

Kimba
Astro Boy
Marine Boy
Speed Racer

and later – Eighth Man

When I first saw movie anime in the 80s with Nausicaa I was floored and have been a big fan ever since. When it's good anime is unbelievably GOOD.

gamershs I do know the feeling of losing a good friend so I feel for you.

If you would like some help with the DVD's with regards to deposing of them maybe I could help.

Michael

I saw Robotech on it's original syndication run back in the 80's, but years before that caught bits of Starblazers in the late 70's. Although I could have sworn I remember something before that, some anime movie called Jack and the Witch.
I liked anime and watched it, but it was not until I found my green haired, tiger striped bikini wearing goddess I was hooked.
[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/arhes/media/animated/lum_dance.gif.html]

@ Dynanman, Pop Chaser? That was a cream lemon, there's a whole series of them.

I mostly watch mecha now. Try to avoid hentai, because that's just weird.

Generalstoner49 I also remember Tranzor Z but it's real name was Mazinger Z and believe me the dubbing for Tranzor Z was very bad but I do like the Giant Robot shows like:

Grandizer
Getta Robo
Getta Robo G
Great Mazinger
Gaiking

I have seen some episodes of most of the above.

I also saw Battle of the Planets aka Gatchaman but I hated the dubbed version and that stupid robot which I won't mention.

And nazrat I guess you somewhat older than me since I was born in 1958 and when I saw these shoes I wish I had a VCR but they were around $1,000.00 USD or so.

Michael

Astro Boy when it first ran in the 1960s. I was a kid in Queens at the time and was hooked immediately and watched everything in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Right now every night my son and I are rewatching Legend of the Galactic Heroes, all 165 episodes. Then moving onto its sequels. This is interspersed with a nostalgic trip through the complete Pokémon series.

We have shelves of anime vhs, dvds, blurays, and art books. Not into manga though.

@ Sargonarhes

yup, Cream Lemon is a whole series but Pop Chaser is the first one I saw and it is the best of the lot by a wide margin – it is almost a good story in its right.

Robotech in the 80's. I remember being mad because it would come on at 8:00 and I would have to leave for elementary school at 8:15. I would get to watch the most awesome cartoon I had ever seen at that time before my folks chased me out of the house to get to the bus stop. This was pre VCR so there was no recording it to watch later.

In high school I started hanging around with a new group of friends who introduced me to Fist of the North Star and Akria and a host of other movies.

Started with Speed Racer weekday afternnons from WSNS out of Chicago. They also ran Ultraman, The Space Giants, and Spectreman (not as good as Ultraman though) Later on I fell in love with Space Battleship Yamato and more or less it stayed there until after college when a co-worker of mine who was into anime introduced me to Akira, Ghost In The Shell, and the Patlabor movies. Good stuff there. One of these days I'll get the Patlabor TV series. Oh, just for the record I'm a big Kaiju and Japanese Sci-Fi fan as well.

The first one I can remember is Gigantor – and it had to be 1969 or so.

YouTube link

I watched Speed Racer later – I think.

Wyatt

"Can't say I love it all, but I try to appreciate all of it."

Probably not advisable. Anime is just as subject to Sturgeon's Law as anything else. This realization is one of the contributing factors to the collapse of the anime bubble in the last decade.

For me it was Robotech and Starblazers in the mid eighties.

Back in the late 1960's.

Gigantor

Eighth Man

Speed Racer in the early 1970's.

Then many more since then.

CPBelt that is sooo cool. The first volume of the book series it is based off came out, and there is a re-imaging of the sorts.

About 90% anime is bad (IMHO). But the 10% that is good, is phenomenally good and curb stomps a good deal of live action tv and film in themes, stories and characters. Anime first introduced me to the idea that not everyone in the other sides has to be evil.

Does Battle of the Planets count? If so, the 80s. If not, then watching Akira in the 90s.