what got me going as an otaku was my older bro. he itroduced me to DBZ while it was airing as well as the gundam series while I was a wee little laddy. when I was just about to go into grade one i watched DBZ and a couple other aime's at the time but wasn't to sereios about it. a couple years passed and i figured out that although I get along with the kids in my class I don't realy have any common intersts with them, but one day when I was feeling a bit lonely from being left out of a conversation at school because I did not know anything about the topic they were talking about I searched youtube for an amv not sure what to finde but hopefully something. what I found was an amv to the anime Elfen Lied; curiose about the show I looked it up online and started to watch it. After watching and fininshing that I just couldn't get enough of anime and have been going hardcore on it ever since. At first it was a way for me too feel like I connected with some one all be it was just a made up charecter it did make me happy and then I found another in my school who share the same interests as me for anime.

 I have to agree with NeNe I really get a nervous tick in my hand when people say things like Anime is great just because they saw those over populized Anime such as Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and so on. Death Note on the other hand isn't that long and is very enjoyable! I won't go into details. But we can't hate those shows to much as they attract people into the Anime World and possibly get people more into the Otaku World. I my self would never watch Naruto or things like that as their plot was lost on their 50th episode.

By... "TheAwsome"
 

I used to avoid some of the mainstream series when I was first getting into anime. But now a days I'll watch whatever is good. And even despite Naruto and Bleach's filler the actual canon episodes are really good. The episode with Naruto's mom was one of my favorite moments in anime. There is a reason these shows become popular after all.

 I'd have to say most of my closest friends were because of anime. Always helps to have something in common. Also helps to find a group of people just as weird as you are. lol

 I don't know about Bleach or One Piece, but Naruto has maintained their storyline right on. I agree with WestNyorai, these series are popular for a reason, they are not just overrated. I know for Naruto many fans, such as myself, feel emotional connections to the series and some of the characters specifically because of the topics it deals with and the experiences some characters go through. I heard that One Piece is all about family, which to some fans is a big deal because it had helped them realize true friendships from the false and whatnot.

edit: I mean fairy tail, not one piece. yeaaah...

Perhaps that is true Complex I have found a lot of my teachings from Anime. I guess the main reason I stay away from Anime like Naruto and Bleach is due to the amount. Frankly there are way to many episodes for me to handle but that is just me. Perhaps I will take a peak at Naruto, so Complex what is about?

 I didn't even realize I was crying for a good few minutes lol. But it was so cute the way they were interacting with each other. Giggling and poking each other, complimenting each other. They were cute.

 Lol, it's about this boy, Naruto, who strives to be the highest ranked ninja in his village basically. Then Shippuden is about him setting out to "rescue" his best friend Sasuke, three years after the first series Naruto. There's a lot more to the story than that, but this is basically the plot. It's great really. Skip the fillers.

I kinda had a stupid moment when I became an otaku...

It was in the fourth grade and I was nine years old. This was actually when I had my first "girlfriend" as well. We promised to marry eachother two years before, and my family had moved here a year before that. It was not actually a relationship, we just spent our time together as we always had, but this time we were carrying the labels of "boyfriend" and "girlfriend". We grew bored and tired of one another and she promptly ended the relationship, and we stopped hanging out as well. When the sadness hit me, I was extremely bored, so I went on YouTube and watched videos. When I grew tired of that I turned the TV on and watched cartoons; re-runs to be exact. I went back to YouTube and browsed the net for better cartoons that I have never seen. After a while I stumbled upon a thing called Anime and discovered that it was a foreign kind of cartoon. When I finished learning what foreign meant, I looked for some of this "anime". I came across Vampire Knight and proceeded to watch it and got hooked. Since then I have been watching anime and I have become an extreme otaku as well. I love those moments when I watch and episode and start giggling uncontrollably as well as have strange urges to roll around on the floor while hugging a pillow.

Anime helped you get over a break up. 

 If it didn't happen then, I've been through other break ups where I could have became an otaku afterwards. My brother became an otaku after I came home from the last footbal game I played in during sixth grade and asked him if he had ever watched anime.

Things like that make life fun, FunnyCop.

My introduction to anime was 'Saturday Night Anime' on the sci fi channel. They would show off shows I had never heard of after midnight. There I was introduced to things beyond Dragon Ball Z or Sailor Moon. I remember watching.... Iria: The Zieram Animation, Vampire Hunter D, Tenchi Muyo: In Love... And a couple others I can't remember. But then it was cancelled.

After seeing those I didn't care to research more about the anime style until my sisters invited me to her Anime Club at school. After watching a couple episodes of Ranma 1/2 I went with her to the Anime Cafe. It was a tiny shop where four major anime-heads hung out and let you rent VHS tapes. I can't even begin to count how many I watched there. 1.50 per VHS? 3 day rental? That's nuts-o. And that's where I saw Evangelion which really turned me into an anime lover in which I have not looked back from.

I think I remember it on the sci-fi channel. Though it may have been the Action channel to. They used to always have mature anime on Saturday like Bio Hunter and Baki the Grappler. I really need to finish Baki. I love the old school B rated horror series. Modern anime just doesn't do horror justice.

 I thought Elfen Lied was a very good horror....

By... "TheAwsome"

 I think what helped older animes a lot is the style of artwork. I mean, there's something way creepier about a 1880's clown vs a Xenomorph from the Alien series.

 Indeed darn clowns, evil toys, and blobs. I find the Xenomorphs as a great topic of study. I'm the kind of guy that wishes to experiment on them and create new things from them.

By... "ReadThis"

 Yea but that's 2004 and it still included the cute girl. I miss the old horror series where the focus was on the monsters and not making them cute looking. Modern horror tends to be more focused on the characters. I'm all for character development but sometimes you just want to relax and watch a movie with mindless blood and gore. I used to be a Godzilla fan as a kid. Horrible plots but fun to watch for the monster battles. 

 Hmm I see a lay-back and enjoy type of Anime. Well I think Hellsing covers that while holding a plot as well.

By... "TheAwsome"

Too bad I've seen it. lol

 Yai, yai. Godzilla is being remade again by western studios.

But I do understand. The monsters now a days lack the creative impulse of just instilling fear and terror. I rarely find horror and terror competing just from what a monster looks like. A monster should not only terrorize you but should horrify you by the very sight of it. Far beyond that of grotesque methods of murder, it should chill you to the bone.

Often what scared me the most, or creeped me out, is the white face on a black body. Zeiram from Iria, Larva from Miyu, whatever the heck the bad guy was from Tenchi Muyo: In Love. Hell, even the Kaonashi from Spirited away.

There's something that's just creepy about him. Not to mention that normally these figments give the sense that they are very powerful. But the anonymity of them. The unknown. The fact that it wears a mask and I cannot visibly discern any other part of their bodies, most the time.

I want the three Steven King levels of fear which is not received in most entertainment today. The gross-out. The horror. And the terror. But to actually involve all three of those it does take a lot of development. You need to be scared not only on a physical standpoint, but a deep emotional and mental view.