小泉純一郎 ウルトラマン

Well i wasn't brought up with it really but being chinese visits back to hong kong were filled with watching anime on tv as a kid stuff like sailor moon and doraemon was really my first couple that i really saw

I started out with manga at the age of 8~~then slowly discover anime with the subcription of internet~~

Ultraman x politician
wow i will watch this ultraman series

I have to say I got into anime when I was in middle school when the stations started playing shows like Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, and Tekkaman Blade. Funny thing is I remember watching shows like Voltron ans Speed Racer when I was younger, but didn't know they were from Japan.

It wasn't until Sci-fi channel here had there week of anime that I really learned what it was called and got hooked into it. Still remember she shows played: Armitage III, Ruojin Z, Tenchi Muyo in Love, Galaxy Express 999, and Iria: Zeiram the Animation.

After that I began buying anime on VHS (before the days of VHS), art books, and pretty much anything else I could get my hands on. I just emerged myself in the culture, and haven't looked back.

For the Ultraman King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oAv2RKRmwI

Indeed one of the first favorite shows of mine IS Ultraman. From back in the 1970s. Yes revealing my age and that is the point. I'm nearly 41, and I show no signs of slowing down on Otaku stuff. Not by a long shot. I have told some of my temp co workers of this and some laughed, some didn't.

Thats really funny because I got in to anime around the time most people stop watching cartoons. When I was 12 I begged my mom to buy me the Mobile Suit Gundam movies. It was over after I watched them.

was fortunate that japanese manga is quite widespread in Indonesia since the early 1990s, started with doraemon manga and eventually lots of other manga including shoujo manga

anime craze comes later along with internet... and I still enjoy both anime and manga till now and probably will, for the rest of my life :3c

Retired PM need a new job also, right?

Well, when I was small, being in HK, I watched a lot of Doraemon, Laputa, Totoro, etc. After moving to Canada, anime really wasn't that popular. I did watch a bit of dubbed Sailor Moon. However, it was around the time Pokemon came out that I started getting back into anime, with Cardcaptor Sakura (anime) and Love Hina (manga). Having been away from it, it still felt 'right' (possibly appeasing my Asian background). I think I'll never really stop watching it, although most likely the genres I watch will change as time passes.

I grew up watching some Sailor Moon, Gundam, and Cardcaptor Sakura without realizing it was "anime."

I've been into anime since around 1995. My old friend introduced me to Evangelion via some old VHS tapes which had copies of the dub. I was hooked! The characters pulled me into their world. The fight to save humanity from angelic invaders with huge biomechanical mechas piloted by teens around my age who were also trying to understand their place in the world in a sea of difficulties of getting close to others. Not to mention, Rei and Asuka were smoking hot, especially to a 13-14 year old guy at the time. Very much older now, and they're still hot. ^_^

Growing up in a Catholic family, Evangelion quickly became banned as they were fighting against "angels" who exploded into crosses when destroyed (among other things)... When something is forbidden, I only wanted to watch more. When I heard that the Evangelion Movie and Death and Rebirth had been fansubbed and was being distributed on fan made VHS, I just had to watch it.

Ever since then, I have always been into anime even though I am around 25 years old. Not because I need an escape from the real world, but because I genuinely like the characters, compelling plot lines, cute girls, and epic battles that you would be hard pressed to find nowadays in other media which has become overly focused on remakes, sequels, political correctness, and special effects.

i watched the news before i slept yesterday. such interesting news XD
i'd say i was brought up with anime/manga, as a primary school kid in indonesia, every sunday i'd watch the anime on tv, doraemon, dragon ball, or beg my parents to buy me manga ^_^;
and discovered more genre as i grew up =x
many friends/relatives of mine watch anime and read manga too, though most are not as intense

I think all reporters should get a minor in Anthropology to understand the concepts of culture and cultural relativism, would make everyone's life a lot easier.

I was sorta brought up on anime and manga. I mean I grew up watching American cartoons and they slowly started adding stuff on WB like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon. I didn't have cable as a child so I could only watch the Cartoon Network anime when I went over to my cousins. Thanks to the internet growing at such a rapid rate I'm now able to immerse myself more in this wonderful subculture :)

Was brought up partially by it...stopped for awhile before i found it again...

I watched some series like doraemon, ninja rantaro and such in television, also dragon ball etc in local stores manga back when i'm still in elementary, but didn't get deep into anime until a junior highschool friend lend me his anime collections, there is my starting point ^^

Was never brought up on anime or manga. However I always watched american cartoons such as spiderman, g.i.joe, x-men, animanics, and batman. Basically cartoons between 1985 and 2001. In '96 is when I got into anime and manga. I still watch it from time to time(mostly movies and afew tv series) and I'm 26.

I have always liked watching anime and cartoons ever since I was young but I didn't get to see anime as much as American cartoons because of where I live. My first anime experience was Dragonball Z. Man, I rember those days quite well ^_^ I never really did branch out as much in anime then as I do now. The only other anime shows I got into were Gundam, Gundam Wing, G Gundam, Rurouni Kenshin, Outlaw Star, and when I could stay up late enough, Cowboy Beebop. I have always liked anime but the local television broadcast never really had a good selection of anime.

I remember watching Ultraman for the first time when I was 5. Other tokusatsu TV shows when I was younger include Space Cop Gaban (Uchuu Keiji Gyaban and Masked Rider Black (Kamen Rider Black). As for anime, there were Tosho Daimos, Voltron, Robotech (aka Macross), Mospeada and Saber Rider, just to name a few. Can't remember the names of the rest ^^; And I loved Doraemon and Dragonball manga.

I didn't have access to the rest of the anime offerings (Ranma 1/2, Tenchi, AMG, Kenshin et al) until I got to college.

I injested anime before I knew it was anime in the form of Moomins when I was like 4/5/6 lol. But then when Pokemon came out in 98/99 in the UK, I became more aware aware lol. Thats when tooons more anime started been shown on kids TV, Cardcaptor Sakura, Flint the Time Detective, Digimon, Beyblade, etc etc.

And having a ex-government-type doing a voice in an animation is fiiine! Tony Blair's been in the Simpsons lol.

Well, I guess I've been slowly brought to anime when French theater started featuring Ghibli films.

Wow...don't see our old PM voice a character...Whish it was like that over here, but the narrow-minded gits you refer to are all over the place here...

Most of the current gen of reporters are still of the age where their childhood's cartoons were made for children and were wacky animated with 0 plot. I do think that the next generation of adults have been introduced to anime at a young age thanks to things like Toonami and such.

Japanese animation tends to be meant more for a teenage/adult demographic, and most have deep story lines and actually make one think. The reporters who think anime is 'weird' for adults to watch are being too narrow minded and thinking anything animated is made for kids, and these people are likely to have never watched anime ever if at all, so they really don't know what they're talking about. Hopefully this won't be a trend in the future, as anime has become more and more mainstream since the turn of the millennium.

Dragonball, Sailormoon, Doraemon, Ultraman and Kamen Rider...
I blamed them for having to stay up til morning finishing off my primary school homework XD

I have memories of '84-'85 tv series and anime.
They were the only things available to watch on tv.

Manga didn't arrive in the country I were living in before the 90's.
Was hard back then...

I grew up in Taiwan. Every kid read manga like Doraemon or Dragonball as part of their childhood. It was just something that all the kids do, so I guess I was brought up with anime/manga. I think in this respect, Taiwan is very similar to Japan in that anime mascots can be found on many different labels, signs, and such. In fact, I was never aware of anime as a distinct entertainment medium from other animation, such as Disney cartoons, comic books... etc. until much later when I moved to the US.

he will become more famous for ultraman :D

I was resisting anime/manga when I was little, yet little did I know I did watch some anime when I was a child despite my parents discouraging us from watching too much TV and neglect our home work? When I started drawing comic stuff, there were people who told me my art looked like "Candy Candy" (Which I to date haven't read yet ^^;) I got annoyed since I did not have too much influence from manga at the time and felt like I was being accused of copying :P Later I met my mentor who showed me the wonders of Japanese manga (He has a great collection and lent them to me and taught me a lot about drawing comics), and there's no turning back since then ;)!

I watched alot of anime in several differnet languages i didi'nt understand as i moved around alot as a kid but never actually realised it was anime, just grat action cartoons to me.

Watched toonami every day after school until it was moved to Saturdays and then sadly cancelled.;_;
First anime I ever watched was Tenchi Muyo at the tender age of 5.XD

I can relate to that Danny...
Started watching Anime and Manga at age 19.
Back then (I'm 29 now), the anime/manga "fever" was still in the beginning, but most of the anime/manga public in Brazil up 'till now is composed of kids and teens.

What happens here is that most of the material brought to Brazil is purposedly restricted to younger ages.
So this ends up reinforcing the "for kids" stereotype.

And also why I don't really keep up with the mainstream animes from my own country... despite having watched tons of titles, I almost know nothing about the stuff brazilian fans are familiar with.

While I heard tons of stuff just like you said, I also still try to explain.
I even keep a series of posts about anime titles directed to a more adult crowd (no, not the ecchi kind... xD).
http://xspblog.com/tag/anime-discussion/

What I try to explain is similar to what you said. We, from western countries were brought up watching cartoons and animations as something to be exclusively for kids and as comedy (rare exceptions), much like (in Brazil), red meat is always eaten with lots of salt.

So, when we go somewhere where red meat is eaten with a bit of sugar, it might feel weird at first. Doesn't mean that the whole world has to accept that salty meat is to be the standard or the only way red meat is to be enjoyed.

What I mean is, Anime - for all the adults who watch it - is more or less viewed like us westerners see Hollywood movies or TV series. Animation in Japan isn't just about light content (sometimes brainless) that serves as past time for kids. It not only has all sorts of genres (from drama to horror), but also has philosophical content that is rare even on live action movies.

The fact that it's a cartoon or animated doesn't get in the way, since the most important thing is usually a good plot.

Another interesting thing is the new trend of Hollywood taking up anime stories to adapt them to the movies. This only happens because western viewers can only accept movies as a "serious" mean of portraying adult stories. And even then, they keep getting the whole thing very very badly.

Still on that, it's interesting to see that the most "adult" western comics are also being adapted to the big screen... Marvel, Vertigo and DC stuff for instance.
For those in the know, can we really say Sandman, From Hell, Hellblazer and Sin City are "for kids"?

All it takes for some of these people with misconceptions is watch a couple of animes that are not the stuff they are sick and tired of listening about... like Pokemon, Sakura Card Captors and some others that can understandably be seen as for kids only. Still, it's kinda hard for some people because they created such an image that they don't even want to try, with an open mind.

Well, I probably started watching anime when it was 1997..A year after Pokemon started I believe. Also growing up, I watched some Zatch Bell, Mew Mew Power, Dragonball Z, and Yu Gi Oh. And here I am now, 13, and I have jumped back into the anime world a year ago.

I started watching anime when i was 12 too. An specific anime...hmm well i started with the Saint Seiya series, later the classic Dragon Ball Z. I always liked to see them but i get more interested in drawing them when i was 15, i started with the basics..but now i'm trying to find my own style to become more original in my arts.

Ahhh... those days of the Tokusatsu, well that's more deep. I started to see the American version of Kamen Raider. I heard of Ultraman, and i have a DVD of some episodes. They are so simple but funny at the same time.

Oh god...it's good to remenber those old days... xDDD

I grew up watching original Toonami, with Sailor Moon and DragonballZ, which is how I first got in to anime. I didn't even know they weren't American cartoons until I went online to look up Sailor Moon pictures to plaster my walls with!

Sailor Moon was responsible for my discovery of manga, too. I did hardcore Sailor Moon research back in the day and when I discovered there was a whole season of the anime that wasn't going to see an English release but the manga of that season would -- I was all over that. And I enjoyed the manga so much that I went back and tried some others... Manga started in middle school, but I was watching subtitled anime back in elementary school. ^^;;

The morning cartoons on every weekday back in the day :)

Well Danny, I guess you can't just ignore those interviewers, but personally, I'd avoid that kind of people the most.

I could try to make them understand what our little big otaku world is, but I'm not a priest so I've got no need of "converting" people around me (wether they are thickheaded or just don't know our hobbies).
I think it would better to save that energy for having an interesting conversation with other otaku folks, preparing JLPT, watching series, etc. :/

It may seem a bit a "hikkikomori-ish" mentality, but I think it's just practical.

Watched Sailor moon as my first anime...

Somehow it stuck in my head and years later I found more anime and continued watching it.

Now I cant stop.

Damn you internet for corrupting me.

I think the reason I continued to watch anime was simply because of my local video store. Every week my parents would take me there and I would rent pretty much all the anime they had, including the adult ones like ninja scroll :P This exposure to anime Is why I understand that anyone can enjoy it, no matter the age or gender, it's just unfortunate that people are too ignorant to see this.

well, it doesn't matter wether your'e young or old, what matters is the fun in every interest one indulges.

I was introduced to anime when Pokemon hit the states. I read manga once when I was little and it was the beginning of the Pokemon series. Then I was introduced again to anime via Naruto in high school. Since then I have been watching anime and reading manga. The reason i enjoy it to this day is just because its entertaining and sometimes more so than the stuff put on tv.

Hmmm I was introduced to anime on Cartoon Network here in the States, but that was pretty much the only place where anime was prevalent. Even now where I live we don't see much besides the mainstream manga in bookstores, but that area is practically empty and no one goes there often. My area is so dry; the only place where anime is everywhere is on the internet and this site :3

Man I discovered anime and manga in middle school. Probably in like 7th grade I think. Wow that was kinda a long time ago, but I'm so glad I kept watching, and reading xD

I was fed a steady diet of classic anime while growing up in the 80's. Battleship Yamato and Mazinger Z were after school staples. The most influential series was probably Robotech. Throughout high school I followed Dragonball, Ranma 1/2 and Crayon Shinchan. Bubblegum Crisis got me hooked on OVA's and started my VHS anime collecting.

I'm sure everyone's been introduced to Anime in some form. Like another person said, Pokemon is a big one for a lot of people.

However I think most of us considered it like any other cartoon.

Personally I was partially brought up with exposure to anime. Chinese people have their own connections in anime too.

However I think the actual interest that I have now comes from personal exploration of new animes online, and it probably stems from all that.

I agree with the statements about narrow minded people. Some people just can't accept the fact that people are different and will have different interests.

I was lucky to be at just the right age when anime was just being slowly popularized on American television. And this is way back: I was already attracted to Battle of the Planets, Speed Racer, stuff like that, when i was very little. Then Voltron was big, as were other cartoons at the time: G.I. Joe, Masters Of The Universe, Transformers... I was into all of that, too. I was 12 or 13 when Robotech came on tv (which is a quite altered, English readaptation of Macross and some others), and it cemented my attraction to what i would later learn was Japanese animation. I was really part of the earliest generation (in my area, at least) to resist the whole "cartoons are for kids" thing, (though i was told this quite often, and sort of kept my interest in animation to myself to avoid teasing), i never did stop watching action cartoons and anime, reading comics and manga, etc. I watched as anime and manga took off here, as science fiction became less of a joke and was more acccepted as something not oonly "nerda and geeks" or kids like, but i've been enjoying anime for a long time, before it was "cool", and you could go buy The T-Shirt and The Toy at the local Wal-Mart.

I couldn't do anything anime related until I was 12 (5 years ago) when I got my first computer with internet...

Well growing up we had Voltron, Speed racer, etc... that at the time we didn't think were anything but american. so I watched those, gobbled em up.. I always watched cartoons.. till I was around 17 when I discovered Anime. I was raised on American cartoons.. and the ones I didn't know were Animes originally. But I wouldn't say I'm inundated by the culture of cartoons. But when I turned 17 I fell in love with the art style.. Its good, Love the shows.. love the goods. I'm 31 now.. so thats a bit of time being an otaku.

以前、キングに髭が生えているので、ウルトラマンは裸で戦っているのか？といった議論を友達としたことがあるlol
小泉元首相もこれから政治をやめて、暇だろうから、色々と息子の援護をしていくのかもしれないネ・・・

I have been watching anime for as long as I can remember watching TV, Spaceship Yamato, Chojin Sentai Baratack, special effect shows such as Kamen Rider, Daitetsujin 17, etc. My connection to Japan anime is deep and it has always been part of my life. However, not everyone who grew up in my era feels the same way as I do, many of them have departed from anime culture and pursued other things.

In my case, however, I choose to continue to watch anime and pursue an ideal that cannot be found in any other media that are considered "real". Are the reporters in questions dissing the idea of anime because it is not real? Is "reality" all that great? Most TV drama/game shows/reality shows in these days and age rarely provide me with anything to look up to, most of them just aim to provide some cheap laughs and exploit on the audiences' desire to feel good about themselves. Good quality anime on the other hand has provided many more life lessons for me than the so called "reality" shows, obviously not every anime is like that for me, but one of my all time favorites is "Legend of Galactic Hero". I do watch TV from time to time, but only if English Premier League is on or History Channel.

Anime has taught me to become a man of my word, anime has taught me to become a better man than I was yesterday. I do not live in a fantasy world, nor do I need to escape from reality; I go to work everyday and have made a fair contribution to the society. I carry 2 United State Patents with another one in the making, this whole time I have been pursuing an ideal that I know it's not practical in the world we live in; but I pursue it nonetheless.

I usually frowned upon politicians here in our country who suddenly want to break in the acting industry, but I find this kinda cool. o.o

I was pretty young when anime and some sentai series (but back then I thought they were Power Ranger duplicates) started showing on local television -- Sailormoon and DBZ were my first anime.

Danny, I've found out that, asking questions as a reporter, you feel forced to side with the "general public" viewpoint, and in a way, there's a pressure for you to not act open-minded.If you do try to have some sort of open-mindedness, it's like the higher-ups chew you out for "not being impartial enough", or "editorializing". There's a certain way that's being forced on you to phrase questions, but at the same time it tries to force the "general public sensibilities" sort of bias.

i agree with him, most reporters are narrow minded gits.... if you don't conform, ur ostracized... ... welcome to 1984!

grew up watchin thundercats, robotech and voltron, so some anime, but didn't start really till i was 20, so a good chunk, but didn't grow up on it. and anime has more story and character development in the lamest series than in most "mainstream" hollywood movies and tv.. so...

I was exposed to anime at an early age without realizing it...didn't really get into it until high school...

As FifthDream, I think my first exposure to anime was Battle of the Planets, a heavily butchered Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. It wasn't until I was in my 20s that a friend showed me a Fan-sub of SDF Macross. After that, the first Anime I got was Gunbuster. It's been downhill ever since. XD

Before all that, it was un-butchered Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner. (and I turned out ok. Haven't had the urge to drop an anvil on anybody in weeks!)

I first started watching anime when I was in 6th grade when everyone was watching naruto about 4 years ago, then in 7th grade I watched seed destiny, and then I watched like nothing in 8th grade, and then I started getting into anime again in 9th grade, so I watched OO gundam, and now this year, I got really into it.

Well probably Zoids/pokemon was my first contact with anime stuff.

I think people think all anime and manga are childish just because they're drawn and they see the characters as little cartoons @_@ what their narrow minds don't get is that there are tons of genres for different ages and tastes.

My first exposure to anime was Dragonball Z/GT and Sailormoon on Malaysian TV broadcast, then followed by Taiho Sichauzo, Ranma 1/2, Slam Dunk and Rurouni Kenshin on AXN. Wish I knew I was an otaku that time X3

cant wait to heard his voice acting in the movie..!!! XD

Well i was an otaku since last year but i didn't realise i had been surrounded by anime and manga since a young age.

My attention to Anime/Manga was brought up during my Saturday morning cartoons. I also stopped watching around 12 but my interest in Anime only grew at that point.. ^^'

A lot of US adults watch the Simpsons, and seem to be able to differentiate that from childrens cartoons. I am not a Simpsons fan, but if you see that as a grownup program then what is wrong with anime being for adults too?

Koizumi sold out Japan during his LDP days, so I won't be watching that Ultraman series...

My first anime was Pokemon though on some level it doesn't truly count as an anime. From there I became an addict to Digimon it just seemed much more fun. I would get the digivices and my aunt would bring those japanese digivices back from Asia and I would love playing them forever. after that though I pretty much stopped anime until high school 2005-2009 where joining Anime Connection Club I learned about dubs adn a wider spectrum of anime. As well as acquired a love of Japanese Horror/gore films Battle Royale, and Suicide club FTW.

Lots of people here view anime as simply cartoons. They ask, "Why are you still watching cartoons?" and I sigh.

Doraemon was my first. (also known as 'ding dong' in the HK world
Weekday morning cartoons on 'Cheez TV' before school broadcasted Pokemon, Beyblade... all those shonen classics

Then i got 'into' anime in 8th grade with Love Hina, Evangelion, etcetcetc
Moved onto Bleach, MS Negima, Deathnote, etc and then started watching anime on a seasonal basis

wait they are gonna kill off ultraman? cool
the cgi's kinda terrible though...

up until i was 15 years old i used to collect american comic books... manga in in japanese wasn't available, much less translated in portuguese (i was living in Brazil that time)and internet was just starting, so no online satisfaction!!!!

In the 80s and early 90s I was raised watching all kinds of animation, American (He-Man, ThunderCats, Ninja Turtles, HannahBarbera, WarnerBros., Disney, etc. ), European (Asterix, The adventures of Tin-tin, Nateb - Princess of nile, etc.) and a bit of Anime too (Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Macross, Akira, etc.).

I remember that i started to lean more towards anime, when in 1989 I watched Akira in the theater, and funny enough, i came to realize that movie was japanese when i saw the kanjis on the credits (the movie was dubbed)!

Those reporters is not in our type of world and not willing to learn and understand us... so why bother... I have many friends who is also the same of those reporter... even at 30 plus now, I still craving for great Japanese anime and a big fan of Gundam and toys....

Nonetheless... it's great to see the previous Japan PM get involved into this anime and entertainment stuff... not many ex-PM or ex-President or ex-leader around the world willing to do the same...

Banzai... Koizumi sama...

I was fortunately born in an Asian country where anime shows were my main staple of entertainment XD From Voltes V to Ikkyu-san, and from Gyaban to Goggle V. Godzilla was my hero!

I didn't really think about what people say about me still watching "cartoons". I still find it some of the best source of entertainment because there are unlimited possibilities with animation.

Koizumi's now a seiyuu?? Will wonders never cease?

This is an interesting question, the source of my passion for anime. Now i'm 34 and i've been into comics world very early, when i was around 10 and batman & spiderman were my best night friends ^^

The thing moved me to manga/anime world was the first number of Akira, a totally blow-up for my mind. From that day manga and anime entered strongly in my live as they are now. Honestly the time i have for them is very little but i simply can't live without them!

i can still remember my first cartoon was felix the cat, the TV way back then has only three colors (black,white,gray)....and the size of TV is as size of oven. manga nowadays is valuable as a book.

So if a seven year old kid drinks beer and watches porn he/she's 'mature'? Can't understand how those people's mind work sometimes.

I am in anime world since I was a little child: my first series was Captain Tsubasa (renamed in Italy "Holly & Benji") when I was about 4 or 5 years old, then Dragon Ball (first series I saw with original opening & ending, and without censorship, on a regional channel!), but I litterally fell in love with anime when MTV created Anime Night, and they broadcasted some of the best series I've seen, like Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Slam Dunk, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

About the article, I can't imagine Berlusconi doing the voice in anime, cartoons, movies or tv series, but if it would be possible, he would exploit the situation to do his own propaganda -_-

I got my first hit of anime from subbed dragonball, dragonball z, and pokemon. This was all back in elementary school, and even then other kids judged you by what they watch. That's why i really like how you said people judge others by what they themselves do, because it's really true. Anime and manga - where i live in Canada is still seen as a really nerdy and odd kinda thing, which really subjugates a person from everyone else. Just because others don't have a clue about it, they make you feel awkward for liking it. But up till recently i've stopped worrying about what others think, because it's really a big waste of my time. I'm a full on otaku, and i plan to enjoy it... Just bought my first figure the other day too. ^^,

Just like the regular american guy here. DB/Z was the first anime series for me and a few others. I wasn't really able to get into anime until I started high school in 2004 because...well i come from a low class family and it was hard enough for the bills and family was big too. yes, most humans over here have this sense of prejudice against the ones who likes different things often classes them in the all too familiar category of being a "(input here)freak." But as life goes its the one being made fun of that will become the boss of the ones making fun.

I just started watching anime almost two years ago! But I got in to the figure blog scene like, a year ago, and only recently did I start trying to buy them... thinking back it's like... wow. The only old school anime I can remember is Sailor Moon! didn't know it was an anime when I watched it though, I just remembered loving it to death!

i was not brought up on anime but i stared to watch it when i was about 12 or 13
and when i was about 14 I started to read manga

My dad used to rent anime movies every Wednesday for us to watch in the era of the LDs since we used to have a projector. My first anime movie, I think is dragon ball...

After renting almost all that is available, we move on to the series. And then other series, something that almost like saint seiya.

My grandma also rented transformals for me to watch to.

My first exposure to anime was similar to that related in other comments: I grew up on stuff like Voltes V, Daimos, Candy Candy, etc. without realizing they were anime. The local TV stations continued to import a lot of the Nippon Animation World Masterpiece Theater shows as I grew up, so I got to see stuff like Dog of Flanders, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Trapp Family Story, etc. etc.

Finally, in high school, someone turned me on to the Viz translated tankoubon of Ranma 1/2 and the rest was history. I've checked out almost every single genre ever including the porn and the mindbending stuff. My favorites remain certain of the Gundam shows, some CLAMP, Cowboy Bebop, etc.

I continue to watch anime and read manga until now, and I just turned 27. (The same holds for my BF, who is 31.) People don't ask questions on the caliber of "why are you still watching kid stuff?" much nowadays, since Voltes V ad a handful of other series have become ingrained in local pop culture. Got lucky, I guess, now that my generation (which was raised on local translations of anime) are the ones getting ready to take charge.

I gotta watch that movie! It's been a long time since I last watched Ultraman.

Anime is kinda part of the pop culture here. My parents grew up with Voltes V, Daimos and all those classic anime, I grew up with Gatekeepers, Dragonball, Gundam, Ranma 1/2 and Ultraman and now the newer generation is growing up with Naruto and Bleach! XD

I'm still waiting for someone to ask me that same question. I can't wait to tell them the exact answer and see the look on their faces :D

i grew up watching them too! at first i was into western cartoon then i completely leave it and goes all the way for the anime maybe the reason is the local tv station shows more anime than cartoons or i just loved the way, the style of how and what an anime is. just the word anime and the the catoons doesnt compare. i remeber when nadia the secret of blue water airs, i cut-classes just to watch this to ghost fighter, tenshi muyu, and evangelion and the rest are history but as of today im not that strongly into anime anymore, im into j-dorama now XD

I know that his son is an actor for J-Dramas, but I'd never have thought that he himself would be back for a cameo voice actor... o_O

But since he stated that it's not for anything related to political I suppose it's ok, since there are a significant number of people in China and Korea who are rather hostile towards him in general (because of his visits to Yasukuni Shrine).

I guess alot of people outside of Japan just see this anime industry as just another cartoon or kid stuff.... There are many animes with serious and even disturbing genre.. Ecchi and hentai ones are also part of this..hehehehhe
But anyway i guess a lot of people are just judgmental or just not too culturally open minded to accept this...

I still get a lot of ppl talking behind my back (negatively) about the Figmas i collect and display in my room..
Oh well i guess it comes with the title for trying to be "unique".....:P

I wasn't was not brought up with it at all. My parents are the type that think adults watching cartoons are weird, (I'm working on changing there perception), but when I was young I found some anime at the local video store and fell in love with it.

I'm 65 years old - I read comic books and listened to the radio - tha Shadow, etc. i watched cartoons at the movies, never watched much TV cartoons. BUT, I still like manga and some anime - Iron Man, Demolition Man, sci-fi. most Americans don't have a culture these days, they too busy watching sports and fantasizing bour being some kind star . . . no imaginations :P

While I watched forms of anime as a kid I wouldn't say I was really brought up on the stuff as it varies greatly from what I watched then. I don't think a lot of people really know the difference between a serious anime and an anime for kids -- with a deep plot and meaningful story line.

I think part of my appreciation for all things animated comes from growing up, and being a huge fan of, The Simpsons.

That and the internet which has all sorts of "open source" anime at my fingertips.

As a kid I really loved cartoons and grew up on it since before I could even remember, to which I have apparently seen some anime, the furthest I can remember is watching Samurai Pizza Cats, but apparently before that I had watched Ninja Robots (Tobikage Senshi). Though it's only until DBZ came out I learned about anime and its origins. I still love cartoon, though nowadays they don't make shows like they used to, all I find flooding cartoon network are shows with tasteless and gross toilet humour. So if I watch some cartoons they're mainly from the 60s-90s.