This is basically how I got into manga and what I've seen of it.

I'd liked anime before but I didn't know it by a title until about 1995, when my fave Sega magazine, Megazone, started having articles about it. They talked about how manga (referring to animation, btw) is blowing away the idea that cartoons are meant for kids, how it's sophisticated and how lotsa Sega games are in that style, also being from Japan.

The first anime I got into, knowing what it was, was probably Streetfighter. I used to be a big Streetfighter fan. ^_^. When I found out there was an animated movie about it I just had to see it, and eventually I did. The series was released in Australia later, but I'd lost much of my interest (and cash ^_^.) in SF by then.

Sailor Moon came soon after. In mid to late 1996, my friend Sarah mentioned a show called Sailor Moon that she thought I might like. How right she was. ^_^. I caught and taped the last three episodes; Enemies no More, Checkmate and Sibling Rivalry, I think they were called. I watched them about ten times, tried to copy the style by drawing (very, VERY bad drawings, I might add) and it probably would have died down quickly, but for...

Priss. ^_^. A new girl at my school found out I liked Sailor Moon a bit, and told me about other elements to it. I was on the edge of my seat (literally, if I recall) as she told me about Queen Beryl, Serenity and the moon kingdom, and stuff about the Sailor Scouts. Later, she managed to score about fifty more dubbed episodes and we watched them happily. We wrote fanfics and drew pictures and went shopping at Chinatown bookshop for SM posters and cards and stickers, with Sarah too. We even named ourselves after the Scouts.

Anyway, Priss grew out of it and we sorta drifted apart. She started hanging out with the 'popular group', and she still sorta liked anime, but we didn't talk or go to each others' houses any more.

This was the first half of 1997. Near the middle of the year, I got the internet. This helped a lot. I was a fanatical Sailor Moon websurfie. So many pages to visit! So much info to learn! And there's a Japanese version? I read and surfed and heard about other anime, mostly from Archen's anime page, which has now become huge and brilliant and you should check it out on the links page. ^_^.

Then in, I dunno, about September, I found out about AJAS, an anime club in Adelaide. My mum took me, AJ (a guy in my class who I also found liked anime) and Sarah there. Six different anime episodes a night, one night a week. I went for several weeks. All the anime was subtitled and in Japanese, and I learned to love it and got used to it. The first anime I saw in Japanese was Yu Yu Hakusho.

Rurouni Kenshin

Then my dream came true - I got to see Japanese-version Sailormoon, a video borrowed from a guy at anime club. It was cool, although the American video was incompatible with my Aussie VCR. I could still read the subtitles (just) and hear everything. What else mattered?

That video was what ruined everything. -_-. I had to return it 'cos it was the last AJAS meeting of the year, but none of my friends could go with me and Mum didn't wanna leave me there by myself. So she sat in on a meeting and saw the anime. And of course, that was the ideal night for them to play episodes with characters raping each other, boys kissing boys, people getting bashed to a bloody pulp, sorcery and all the other stuff that horrified Mum and ruined any potentially positive opinion of anime.

From then on, I've sorta been an anime fan in secret (at home; in school I stick things over my books and in my locker), although Mum still knows I am one - unfortunately - and disapproves, although we don't really talk about it. I hide merchandise in my closet and minimise my web browser windows when someone comes in, etcetera.

It also means I can't order anime from the 'net. The only way I can get a hold of any is via TV, people sending me some for free (such as prizes in competitions) and downloading anime. Downloading is where I've gotten a lot of stuff from in the recent year or so.

Anime appealed to me from the moment I saw it. As I saw more, I was able to establish likes and dislikes instead of blindly loving every title I saw just because it was anime. I learned a bit more about Japanese language, culture, and anime itself. I surfed a lot, made my own sites, basically had fun and learned a lot.

Titles I've seen

Some titles I haven't seen a lot of. If the title has a * next to it it means I've seen at least twenty episodes of it.

Dubbed Pokemon* Sailor Moon* Digimon* Dragonball Z* Teknoman Robotech Astro Boy Twins of Destiny Bubblegum Crisis Bubblegum Crisis - Tokyo 2040 You're Under Arrest! Dangioh Moldiver Gunsmith Cats Evangelion* Samurai X Card Captors* Subbed Gundam Wing* Love Hina* Card Captor Sakura Serial Experiments Lain Bakuretsu Hunters Maze Martian Successor Nadesico Kodomo no Omocha* SD Oh My Goddess Magical Stage Fancy Lala Recca no Honou Himechan no Ribbon All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nukunuku Nurse Angel Ririka Hana Yori Dango Akachan to boku Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo I'll Make a Habit of it Rurouni Kenshin* Akazukin Chacha Tenshi ni Narumon! Da! Da! Da! Neighbourhood Story Saint Tail Wedding Peach Yu Yu Hakusho Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon* Lupin III Fushigi Yuugi Evangelion Master Mosquiton Saber Marionette J Tenkuu no Escaflowne Magic Knight Rayearth Key the Metal idol Marmalade Boy Lamunes 40 & Fire Yawara! A fashionable judo girl DNA^2 Mahou tsukai tai Raw Sonic Pocket Monsters Di Gi Charat Digimon Tamers Digimon 02 Sailormoon Hana Yori Dango Fushigi Yuugi* Movies Ranma 1/2 - Big Trouble in Nekonron, China Mahoujin Guruguru Like the Clouds, Like the Wind Wings of Honneamise Streetfighter Battle Angel Alita Ghost in the Shell Akira Castle of Cagliostro Slayers movie Wrath of the Ninja Samurai X movie Rurouni Kenshin movie Sailormoon R, S and SS movies Manga Yol Adolf Rurouni Kenshin Sailormoon Pokemon Ranma 1/2 Tenchi Muyo Gundam Wing Back