Anime that had the biggest influence on you.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm sure the film/song/tv show versions of this topic will sprout up shortly but since I feel TV is largely shitty and music and Film are too broad let's just stick to anime, don't like anime, then this isn't your thread and you may kindly leave. For the rest of us, what anime's had a profound affect on your life?

[KentaRawr!]

Fullmetal Alchemist, for sure. I love FMA. :D

Edit: You know, maybe .hack//Sign.

[qwertysaur]

Digimon Adventure. It was my first. :bigsmile:

[blackmage_nuke]

End of Evangelion and the Evangelion Manga.
The anime series was also mildly enjoyable

[Ayen]

Pokemon for informally introducing me to anime since I still didn't know what it was or how it differ from American cartoons at the time.

Ranma and Sailor Moon for formally introducing me to anime, and Sailor Moon for being a large part of my childhood in general. I saw a lot of myself in Usagi and that always stuck with me.

And Hellsing for being badass.

[Forsaken Lover]

Inuyasha which i consider my gateway anime. I saw DBZ and Pokemon first but they were so heavily Americanized I never recognized them for what they were. Iy kept the original score and had a more faithful script and started my love affair with Japan.

[Colonel Angus]

ドラゴンボール

[Mirage]

Lain, Ghost in the Shell, and the whole evangelion stuff, it's been so long that I can't tell them apart anymore. Maybe I should watch that stuff again

[Shorty]

Bebop-Bebop!

http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz9lokZpZe1rn95k2o1_500.gif

Also possibly potentially Rurouni Kenshin.

[The Man]

Yeah, gotta be Cowboy Bebop.

[Agent Proto]

Azumanga Daioh, Tenchi Muyo were some of the earliest anime I've watched. However Sailor Moon would probably be the one that got me into it, I think.

[Vyk]

Oh wow, thanks Proto. I was scrolling through this thread thinking "Oh God, I'm gonna have to say Tenchi Muyo, and nobody's gonna understand".

Not the most profound anime by any means. But it was my jam back in the day. I think sadly it was the first real anime I watched like ... everything in. There's been 2 or 3 additional varieties since that I've never bothered with, but the original series/ovas/movies, mmm. Good mix of humor and imagination

Also glad Ranma 1/2 was mentioned ^_^

Voltron could actually also be my answer. I probably saw everything from that show. But it's some weird frankenstein of two animes. And I wasn't old enough to realize what anime was or that that was what I was watching

[chionos]

Ronin Warriors. The elements, the baddies. And hot damn mother fucking bad ass super cat White Blaze. (I love white tigers. Love, guys. I love them.)

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Pokemon, Yugioh, and DBZ were the first ones I watched. DBZ is probably the most influential in actually being the thing that made me interested in looking up other manga/anime. Paranoia Agent was one of the earliest animes I saw that really blew me away though.

[Lonely Paper Star]

Fushigi Yuugi!

[Forsaken Lover]

Out of curiosity, how did you watch FY? I don't think it was ever broadcast outside of Japan. I only ever found it online or in DVD format.

[Quindiana Jones]

Probably Naruto for being my gateway anime. xD

[Vyk]

Out of curiosity, how did you watch FY? I don't think it was ever broadcast outside of Japan. I only ever found it online or in DVD format.

I can't remember any specific, but it had to have been 2000'ish when I rented it on VHS. So I don't think it stayed in Japan for more than a few years

[Nate]

I only watched one anime to completion in my life, and it was because my roommate in college wanted me to get it for him. It's called Love Hina, and since it's the only one I've seen, it had no influence on me, whatsoever. It's all I've got.

[Vyk]

That's actually a really good one. I enjoyed it a lot. It is the first manga that I bought and read to completion. So it had a pretty good influence on me. One of the few anime that I watched to completion as well

[Nate]

That's actually a really good one. I enjoyed it a lot. It is the first manga that I bought and read to completion. So it had a pretty good influence on me. One of the few anime that I watched to completion as well

Seriously? I was beginning to think I was the only person that had ever seen it.

[supernaps]

well let's see

nge fucked up my brain when i first watched it
code geass too fucked up my brain and my heart
and lagann made me appreciate the fine art of GAR

so yeah, those 3 especially, left an impression much more intense than any other anime i've watched (and i've watched lots of sht)

special mention for Monster, which too messed up with my brain, but dammit if it isn't the most flawless-structured story i've ever watched

[escobert]

Gundam Wing and .HACK//sign

[Dat Matt]

http://static.tumblr.com/itdlh6a/lUWm8prgo/eliee.gif

Rave master was the first "anime" anime I got into and it set me off towards buying manga. I should probably finish up that collection considering I'm missing 2 volumes.

I now mostly watch light hearted anime, "Gochuumon was Usagi desu ka?" (Is your order a rabbit?) stood out for me from last seasons. Mostly because adorable.

http://media.tumblr.com/6eeb6ae5451a66951027d40a466ac993/tumblr_inline_nafntxVBEc1sfn20k.gif

[Shauna]

I watched a lot of Dragonball Z and that's kind of when I started to recognise anime as a thing, I suppose.

Sailor Moon (although I watched it when I was a kid) was what really got me into the anime scene when I was around 14 or so, and it was a gateway into the weird and wonderful world of this particular medium.

Azumanga Daioh got me further in, and probably was my first anime love.
Air TV (although I had no idea what was going on) got a massive emotional response from me, and it's kind of what made me go "Wow, anime can be pretty deep".
I think the first series I kept up to date with from week to week was K-On!!, which has unfortunately got me watching anime from week to week alongside other rubbish TV I watch.
Hikaru no Go showed me that although I like anime, much like television shows, there are going to be ones I don't like, and similarly Evangelion showed off that popularity in anime doesn't necessarily mean quality. Obvious lessons now that I am older, but as a young teen, I could have been swayed into weirdo weeaboo zone who loves anime for being anime.

I have also watched Love Hina, I thought it was pretty great.

As a dumb soppy aside, without any anime in my life, I probably would not have met Matt, so the entire medium as a whole has had that profound affect on my life. So yeah. xD

[Vyk]

Air TV have the puppet guy and the sick blonde girl that says "Gau" a lot? If so I totally agree. I watched one version of the series that stuck with me for WEEKS. And I can't bring myself to re-watch it because it was so profoundly impactful. It was gorgeous though. But I had also acquired the OVAs and movie and have yet to ever see them because I've heard they have the same thing going on lol

[Shauna]

That is the exact one, yes.

I can honestly say I do not have any clue what went on throughout that entire series, something I have learned that comes with the territory with Key Visual Novel anime adaptations. I thought I had it for a while... but then the girl was an alien and then the guy becomes a crow(??????).

[Vyk]

Er what? lol Must be a different version than what I watched. There was some reincarnation touched on, but I don't recall any alien/crow thing. But the one I watched was just called AIR. Maybe I saw the OVA series and avoided the TV series. If so, it's nice to know they managed to capture the same effect in both. Though the one I watched made a lot of sense, it just held its reveals until towards the end of the series

[Balthier29]

Bebop-Bebop!http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz9lokZpZe1rn95k2o1_500.gif

Also possibly potentially Rurouni Kenshin.

Bebop, yesss!

Also, Samurai Champloo
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Scrapped Princess
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and Azumanga Daioh (still watching) too :)

[Lonely Paper Star]

Out of curiosity, how did you watch FY? I don't think it was ever broadcast outside of Japan. I only ever found it online or in DVD format.

It was licensed here in the US. I rented it on VHS tapes. We used to have a local game/anime rental place. :D

[Forsaken Lover]

That's pretty neat. I didn't learn about FY until long after the days of VHS. I'm surprised it took hold so well with just that level of exposure. But I guess it just shows you can't keep a good anime down.

[Wolf Kanno]

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[Ayen]

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OMG I remember these. My brother had the action figures of the latter I used to play with all the time.

[black orb]

>>> Hard question.. Probably "Saint Seiya"..:luca:

[AssassinDX]

Fullmetal Alchemist for sure, I watched the original series first and thought it was fantastic, followed almost immediately by Brotherhood which took it to the next level and showed me just how good anime can be.

[Karifean]

For me, there could only be one answer.

http://www.anime-contemplation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/OP-Title.png

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hzn9yBD2k1k/T3BxOHw6eWI/AAAAAAAAAog/4CVVhwPrTJY/s1600/531877.1020.A.jpg

Simply put, this anime changed my way of thinking. I didn't even know I could be so passionate about a work of fiction; not even Final Fantasy came close to producing this kind of reaction from me. It introduced me to Key, who are now easily my favorite story writers in any medium, and was basically my introduction to the world of visual novels. While I did read Ace Attorney before, I never followed up on it.

Now Shauna made a good point with Key adaptations typically not making much sense, and overall being far more confusing than the original visual novels. Clannad however is a special case - the anime adaptation is great. Absolutely wonderful. It expands on the original, ties everything together more neatly than I'd have ever thought possible, and still has that spirit of the original. Much more than can be said for certain other adaptations (*cough* Little Busters *cough*).

While I also contemplated putting Elfen Lied, as it was my introduction to anime in general and without it I'd have never gotten to know Clannad, it didn't have as immediate of an impact on me as Clannad did. I feel so enriched having watched this anime and could not imagine my current situation without it.

[Tavrobel]

Boku no Pico was pretty impactful for me.


something about air

The girl was the reincarnation of an angel who got herself cursed by monks that feared her power.

The guy is the descendant of a family of puppet masters who served the girl.

The show is about love, people.

[Dat Matt]

Boku no Pico was pretty impactful for me.

"Don't watch an anime called Boku"

"Yooohhhhh what the fuck"

I understand though. Boku no pico is like a rite of passage for 4 chan users. Deep shame follows.

[Forsaken Lover]

I've seen worse.

Then again, I have no scruples about hentai.

[Vyk]

Devil Hunter Yhoko was probably my first legitimate anime. Also probably my first legitimate hentai. And as a 12 year old I actually stumbled across it. Purely on accident. With no ill intention

[Noire]

I could name Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Digimon or Monster Rancher as influential to me, but I don't really consider them so...they're shows I grew up with; I didn't even know they were anime until several years after the fact. I still don't consciously think of them as anime, to be honest. So I am going to go with...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Princess_Tutu_DVD_Cover.jpg

Princess Tutu! A show I decided to watch out of sheer boredom and ended up loving to pieces. I watched Tutu for its story, not for flashy action scenes or humour, which was all I had looked for in anime previously. But I genuinely cared about the characters, and that fantastic blend of the familiar (the fairytale characters and classical music pieces) with the unfamiliar (the twists in the plot) kept me hooked right to the end. I guess it was with this show that I started to see anime as more than just Japanese cartoons, I guess? An art form in its own right which can tell a captivating story just as well as a good book or video game can. There have been other anime that have had this effect on me since, but Tutu was the first, and I still consider it one of the best.

[NeoCracker]

My earliest rememberd anime, though I didn't know of the term at the time, was 'Samurai Pizza Cat's' followed by Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. I loved all of those shows.

Though what hooked me was the Adult Swim block with Trigun and Bebop.

So those five. :p

[Shiny]

Definitely Cowboy Bebop. No other anime has been able to captivate me since. I've tried so many but just couldn't stick with them. I would have liked if CB had more episodes.

[DMKA]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jBvhzxfM5Gw/UAzJSYghYDI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/kQt4NT5CQp4/s1600/sailormoon.jpg

[Flaming Ice]

Elfin Lied I am now scared of woman :onoes: Gundam seed series....people seem to think it's awful but I really enjoyed it with fma. Naruto would be up there but it's wasted potential...it could have been 100X better.

[noxious.sunshine]

Sailor Moon, obvs.

Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 didn't have a -profound- impact on my life, I wouldn't say, but hot damn the vocal soundtrack is just awesome.

Spirited Away, while not a series, really impacted me a ton. A still does. I still struggle with being okay with growing older and figuring out adulthood and how it's all supposed to work- especially now with all the changes I've gone through and continue to go through.

[Night Fury]

Haibane Renmei had such a gorgeous, yet tragic story that I fell for. It was wonderful and very memorable for me!

http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/anime/9/13134.jpg

I also really liked Bleach however I haven't read/watched it in about 6 years.

[Shauna]

I also really liked Bleach however I haven't read/watched it in about 6 years.

Don't bother with it now, it has gone to hell, and I am speaking as someone who thought it was pretty great! :(

[Dat Matt]

Tite Kubo should have given up when he reached a logical stopping point. He's still going.

[Wolf Kanno]

He probably was forced by his editor and fans to keep going, same thing happened to Yu Yu Hakusho where the Chapter Black/Sensui Arc was the original intended end.

[Dat Matt]

Yeah, the ending part where he leaves for 3 years to go and fight in the underworld seemed unnecessary. At least that only lasted like 4 or 5 volumes.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah, I feel Kubo is in the same boat, the ending to the Aizen/Fake Kurakaru(sp?) Arc felt like a real ending and technically brought the series back to where it started. Such an ending would have left a few loose ends but frankly I feel Bleach shows that Kubo is an artist first and a writer a very distant second.

Hey at least Naruto is finally wrapping up right? RIGHT? :(

[Shauna]

I agree about Kubo being an artist, however I can't help but feel like the art in Bleach has just gotten worse over time.

I have been saying that for like 3 years about Naruto. It is bordering on finishing YET IT KEEPS GOING.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

There are many that were already mentioned that I grew up with. Macross, Robotech, Voltron, Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon, Devil Hunter Yohko, and so forth.

There's lots of others that I've really enjoyed. My favorite series will probably always be Evangelion, but I've seen some other good mentions like Here is Greenwood.

However the one that really got me excited, caught me off guard, and made me want to sit there and really watch it over and over again has always been this one.

http://k11.kn3.net/627738D39.jpg

Lot's of people hate it, but for me, it blew my mind as to what film could be in many different ways. I think it's fantastic.

[Dat Matt]

There are many that were already mentioned that I grew up with. Macross, Robotech, Voltron, Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon, Devil Hunter Yohko, and so forth.

There's lots of others that I've really enjoyed. My favorite series will probably always be Evangelion, but I've seen some other good mentions like Here is Greenwood.

However the one that really got me excited, caught me off guard, and made me want to sit there and really watch it over and over again has always been this one.

http://cdn.3oneseven.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/akira-bike.jpg

Lot's of people hate it, but for me, it blew my mind as to what film could be in many different ways. I think it's fantastic.

I had to quote this post to see you were posting about Akira. Stupid dead link.

Apt that I'm wearing this today

http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/gamerculture/finalfantasy/akira/cloudakira_610.jpg

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Whoops! I added a different shot, and it matches your shirt.


Since that's the theme, I have this shirt!

http://comics.imakinarium.net/archivos/homenajes_otros_tebeos/homenaje_akira/0_boba_fett_akira_b_a.jpg