I've been a fan of anime, ever since a friend of mine at Colorado State put on 3x3 Eyes. It was amazing-- a cartoon that looked like a horror movie (except, of course, that it was better than most horror movies)! What a concept!
Mind you, the fact that the next anime I saw was Arion probably didn't help. That show is confusing even to the Japanese, and we didn't even have the luxury of a translation! We did, however, have lots of fun making up our own plot to it.
I went on to see several of the more licentious anime my friends preferred-- including Cutey Honey and some of the more action-oriented, like Devil Hunter Yohko and Dirty Pair (er, Lovely Angels).
But the thing that really caught my attention was the first of a series of character-oriented dramas that would cement my fandom: Oh! My Goddess! (known in Japan as "Aa! Megamisama", so you may see it called "Ah! My Goddess" in some places). It was a really sweet love story, and the animation quality was excellent! (Check out some stills if you don't believe me.)
"Wow", I thought to myself. "I never knew you could do stories like this."
So I went out and bought the translated manga, which was translated by Studio Proteus, and brought out by Dark Horse Comics. While I was at it, my friendly neighbourhood comic shop owner, Marshak, of Marshak's House of Fantasy, handed me a copy of Maison Ikkoku, and I was hooked.
Next: Part 2: The Manga Lives!