How and when did you realize anime is important to you

[sugiken]

Then the war started in my country and we didn't have any channels anymore but thankfully I had first 15+ episodes on my tape.

Where do you live, my brother?

[atchikotchi]

The first anime i watched was pokemon (back in 2002, the second or third season i think), and some other mecha anime which i don't have much memory of (can't even remember the name of it) but i guess i didn't realize how much i loved anime/became important to me until about a year ago, i couldn't really sleep so i just pulled all-nighters watching toonami (when it got revived last year) and i just watched the airing animes (Deadman Wonderland, Bleach, Casshern Sins) and months later i watched elfen lied and clannad, which is what really got me into anime

[Rairu-kun]

When I realized that some anime was changing the way I lived my life and they way I acted I know for sure anime was a great influence and of great importance to me. Lots of anime has changed me for the better I believe. Honestly I think I act a little to heroic at times because of certain protagonist that I've seen. I took in every good quality of every character and tried to use it in my own life. Without anime I probably wouldn't be who I am today. I'd probably be a self-praising jerk that didn't give a damn about other people. But certain anime touched my heart and made me a lot softer and more sympathetic. I'm not going to say anime is my life, because it isn't, but it is a major part of me and I'm pretty thankful that it's around.

[Mikel]

For me it probably was after watching Elfen Lied, which was my first anime in Japanese. After that I thougt "guau, açò mola un munt" which means "wow, that's so cool", but at the time I thought it in Catalan, so that's why it isn't in English xD

Anyway, after that I kept watching anime in Japanese and when I noticed I couldn't stop watching it. Whenever I look back, it had to start with Elfen Lied, after that, I couldn't stop watching anime, and it still goes on.

[vibrantblade]

Ive been watching anime since August of 2012. And when I started, I thought it was interesting and a fun thing to watch. But for months, I never would have called it "important" to me. Anime was just another type of entertainment that I enjoyed which I mixed in witch other TV shows, gaming, and reading. But it all changed when the Anime-Haters attacked.

It was one early March morning, when I went out with a group of friends to hang out. We rented a movie, forgot what it was, but it had traditional Japanese themes in it. Needless to say, I got into the movie (Girls in Kimonos, come on, nothing sexier than that). Then my friends, joking around would start to make fun of my fascination with the movie. And throughout the movie, I hear quirks like "Hey Vibrantblade! A girl in a Kimono! Oh wait, isnt she underaged? Like those Anime shows you usually watch?" stuff like that really, joking around, not really meaning it, just trying to get me heated up.

They started to make fun of anime in general and the people who watch them, stereotypes really. But every time they remark about anime in general, I found myself a bit...heated? I started to aggressively defend anime and other Japanese Media (like JRPGs). I didn't see it as one of our usual fun arguments, I took it personally. But once they noticed I wasn't taking things as jokes, they backed down.

Once I went home that day, I looked at my anime, looked at my small collection of downloaded shows, and that is when it hit me...Anime isn't some medium I use to enjoy my time. It was more than that. It was important to me. It started to become a lifestyle. Something that will take hours of my free time. And that is when it ultimately hit me...that I am an Otaku.