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My first anime was introduced to me when I was only 9 years of age. "Sailor Moon" was shown, for the first time, in America on television and I happened to stumble upon the "pilot" episode. I was so enamored with the show that I made a point of watching it every day! It came on at 2:00 in the afternoon, just before my little brother's favorite show "Banana's in Pajamas." Because of the way the shows lined up, we would watch every afternoon.

It makes me kind of sad, though, because I had no idea it was even an anime. (At this point in time, very few anime had ever shown in America and most of them were not even recognized as a specific kind of animation by the American public. As a matter of fact, most Americans still called it "Japanamation".)

I loved that show, though. I loved the way the story arcs made me crave the next episode like it was some kind of addictive drug. (As my brother puts it, "Anime! Crack is cheaper"...) Less than a year later, "Dragon Ball Z" was released for syndicate in America and my brother began watching it, just as I was watching "Sailor Moon." I very quickly became addicted to that show, as well, and so my love affair with, what I now know to be, anime began. However, I was still not aware that it was anything other than a very well-written cartoon.

Shortly thereafter, Pokemon started showing in America and it was made clear that it was not an American animation. It suddenly dawned on me that the shows I loved more than I could any American cartoon were similar and were therefore, most likely, anime, as well. Once I knew this, it was easy to start watching other anime. I got my hands on "Neon Genesis Evangelion", the original "Dragon Ball" series, and "Dragon Ball GT" had begun showing in America.

There were all sorts of other shows on American tv, but I wasn't really into most of them, as they were really meant for a younger viewing audience than either me or my brother. (Shows like "Card Captors Sakura", "Bakugan", "Yu-Gi-Oh", "Digimon", etc., etc.) However, my interest in anime shown on tv changed when Cartoon Network begun showing what is now called Adult Swim. They showed "FLCL", "Cowboy BeBop", "Inuyasha", and "Trigun". These shows really helped me to understand that anime spans multiple genres and many animation styles.

After this, I started buying anime and became the true addict that I still am today. As a matter of fact, right now I am working on watching "Haibane Renmei", Yakitate!! Japan", and "Welcome to the NHK". I know it's strange, but I truly feel that anime helped open me to the geek world and started me down the dark path that I hope to never return from.

^_^