When I was in first grade, I was so crazy about Robotech. I would go next door to my friend's house after school, and we'd watch Robotech, then wait a half hour for it to come on on the Spanish channel, which we didn't understand, but who cares, robots. Also, Transformers, Voltron, and Tranzor Z (Mazinger Z?). I didn't know it was called anime yet, but I knew they were Japanese, because I have an uncle who's always been super into Japanese pop culture (mostly kaiju movies) and he told me so.
I never had cable, so I never had the chance to stumble on anime on Sci-Fi or anything like that. When I was in high school, there was a comic shop where the owner rented out anime tapes. This was the mid-90s, when anime tapes were still pretty rare and expensive. Instead of renting out the original tapes, she would make a copy and rent that out. My friend was a regular customer who had two VCRs, so he had the privilege of making all the copies for her. That meant we got to watch all the anime for free. So the first anime that I got to watch and knew it was called anime (and also, was old enough to understand what was going on) was stuff like Ranma 1/2, Ninja Scroll, Bubblegum Crisis, and Dirty Pair.
This just reminded me of the Ninja Scroll episode of Fast Karate, where Dave said something about that part, because you're like 14 years old, and you're like "oooh, man, I hope my mom doesn't come home!". It was so true. My mom actually destroyed my Ninja Scroll tape.
If I go with the first anime I ever saw that might be Moomins TV-series, but I really don't like that answer and the series is based on stories by Tove Jansson. So as a real answer I like to think Silver Fang (Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin) as my first anime. Of Course I didn't know that it was an anime, I didn't even know the word anime at the time. That was one of my favourite cartoons as kid and only at later age I realised how violent that was (tought Finnish version was heavily cut, it still had dogs killing dogs and bears).
After I has learned the word anime first things I saw and knew that it is anime was Pokemon (Not sure about this, but I'm pretty sure I knew about anime at this point).
And the first anime series that I watched fully was Magic Knights Rayearth really liked the series at the time. ( I should sometime watch this again to see was it really good, or was that just me not knowing anything better.)
And first anime that I got from Internet was Naruto (Why can't I take all that time I wasted on Naruto and use it to watch a bunch of better series?)
Again, I have to go with Dragon Ball Z, like a lot of people. It was pretty important as a kid, because I learned to draw from that show, and I learned how lame fan fiction was. ("Goku just CAN'T have another brother! It just doesn't work!") And now that Dragon Ball Kai is out, I'm excited because I get to hear the Japanese voices!
Like many people who've already posted above my first anime were just the best looking and fun / exciting cartoons when I was a kid around 5 or 6 because I already had an Optimus Prime and Hot Rod toys. Transformers Thundercats Voltron Astroboy
By this time though I had been informed by my Mother that the "better looking" cartoons were Japanese in origin so I knew the cartoons were Japanese by the time I started watching. Astro Boy
The first time I sort of really understood that there was a term - "Anime" Was a random 10 minutes of a Gundam show and a whole episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the latter however didn't make much sense as it was in the last season some time!
The first anime I ever saw was actually Jack and the Beanstalk from 1974. I watched it again like 2 months ago and man, it's so bizarre. Sometimes the continuity of the characters doesn't match up, like when they first introduce the princess, one of her eyes is drawn about an inch higher than it should be. Either way though, it's a pretty original retelling of the story, and the music in it is really great. Unfortunately the only versions I can find of it are in English and German so sometimes the voice acting gets a little crappy(at least in English). I do recommend watching it though simply for the music (I forgot to mention that it's a musical).
More likely than not, my first actual anime was stuff on Cartoon Network that I didn't realize was anime at the time. Hence, I don't remember it much at all. The first anime I watched, knowing what it was, was Akira. Great way to start, IMO.
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I never had cable, so I never had the chance to stumble on anime on Sci-Fi or anything like that. When I was in high school, there was a comic shop where the owner rented out anime tapes. This was the mid-90s, when anime tapes were still pretty rare and expensive. Instead of renting out the original tapes, she would make a copy and rent that out. My friend was a regular customer who had two VCRs, so he had the privilege of making all the copies for her. That meant we got to watch all the anime for free. So the first anime that I got to watch and knew it was called anime (and also, was old enough to understand what was going on) was stuff like Ranma 1/2, Ninja Scroll, Bubblegum Crisis, and Dirty Pair.
This just reminded me of the Ninja Scroll episode of Fast Karate, where Dave said something about that part, because you're like 14 years old, and you're like "oooh, man, I hope my mom doesn't come home!". It was so true. My mom actually destroyed my Ninja Scroll tape.
So as a real answer I like to think Silver Fang (Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin) as my first anime. Of Course I didn't know that it was an anime, I didn't even know the word anime at the time. That was one of my favourite cartoons as kid and only at later age I realised how violent that was (tought Finnish version was heavily cut, it still had dogs killing dogs and bears).
After I has learned the word anime first things I saw and knew that it is anime was Pokemon (Not sure about this, but I'm pretty sure I knew about anime at this point).
And the first anime series that I watched fully was Magic Knights Rayearth really liked the series at the time. ( I should sometime watch this again to see was it really good, or was that just me not knowing anything better.)
And first anime that I got from Internet was Naruto (Why can't I take all that time I wasted on Naruto and use it to watch a bunch of better series?)
And now that Dragon Ball Kai is out, I'm excited because I get to hear the Japanese voices!
Transformers
Thundercats
Voltron
Astroboy
By this time though I had been informed by my Mother that the "better looking" cartoons were Japanese in origin so I knew the cartoons were Japanese by the time I started watching.
Astro Boy
The first time I sort of really understood that there was a term - "Anime"
Was a random 10 minutes of a Gundam show and a whole episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the latter however didn't make much sense as it was in the last season some time!
However, the first anime I ever watched, knowing it was an anime, was either .hack//sign or Love Hina.
My descent into anime at a young age was quite rapid.