Poll: What's the age of most anime fans here?

[Dr. Cakey]

Nineteen, and I've been a fan for about five years now.

If I may share a vaguely related anecdote: I mostly like new anime. Of my five favorite anime, one is from 1995, one from 2006, one from 2007, and two from 2011. For a while, I thought the obstacle was that 90's (and earlier) animation was too flat or different or whatever, but one day I realized something strange. It wasn't 90's animation I disliked, just good 90's animation. Ghost in the Shell and Serial Experiments Lain made my eyes bleed, but I don't have a problem with Dragon Ball Z or Evangelion (Eva's animation isn't bad, just inconsistent, but I think you get my point). Mm, now that I think about it, I have the same trouble with a lot of early 2000's stuff. Anybody have any deep insights into this?

22 here, and have been a fan for 2 years now, back when my brother recommend I watch a little something called Cowboy Bebop. I do feel in a couple of years or so I might be too old to go to anime specific conventions, so I'm making the rounds now while I still can.

You've got it all wrong: having adults at cons makes us kids feel classier by association.

 

[Edguy]

Does having watched just Pokémon and Cowboy Bebop + most of Studio Ghibli's films count as an anime fan?

 

[mitchell271]

18 here, been into anime for 5 years now. Funny story, the way I got into anime was because there was a girl a liked. She said she watched a lot of anime and read a lot of manga, so I tried it out so we'd have something to talk about. Now, I help people get into anime and manga. One of my favourite pass-times is the result of my grade 9 libido.

Same thing with one of my other big ones too, rowing. Girl I liked, who also liked me at the time but was being difficult about it suggested I try it and I figured she was on the team too so we'd be able to see each other that much more. Turns out she wasn't on the team, but we still got together for a bit anyways.

tl;dr my libido is the cause of everything.

 

[Amberella]

I'm 24, and I've been watching anime for some time now. xD My fiance is 29 and watches anime, too.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Grew up with the Ocean Dub DBZ (Best dub shut it Funimation) and way too many other shows back in the late 90s boom. I still watch the occasional series, but mainly I see films, since I don't want to invest the ridiculous time commitment to large series. I honestly wonder how the hell people who follow the anime season charts manage to cram enough time in a week to watch two dozen shows and keep up with all of them. And still enjoy them.

So I wouldn't call myself a fan, just an occasional watcher of things that catch my interest. I certainly don't get as invested in series as most people on the internet seem to. Mostly I just don't care.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I'm 25, so do I put my vote in the 18-25 or the 25-30? Should be 18-24, but hey at least you can add me onto the 25 slot

Started with Samurai Pizza Cats as a kid, loved that show.

 

[Abomination]

I've watched a few, I like some, but wouldn't call myself an anime "fan" because I dislike most of what the genre produces.

I think it's a matter of "I watch it because there's nothing else that even attempts the content"?

 

[Little Woodsman]

I'm 46. Yes you read that correctly.
I started watching anime with the knowledge that it was anime back in 1986 or so when
a friend and I were at a regular science fiction convention, and he suggested that we
go in to the "Japanimation" room. (Yes that's what many people called it back then.)
Was blown away & hooked within minutes.
My main problems nowadays are finding time to watch, and finding things that I can watch
with my kid.
If it counts, the first time I actually saw any anime was probably watching Astro Boy in
Spanish with my cousins in the Dominican Republic. I speak just enough Spanish to get my
face slapped, and spoke even less then. It was still better than most of the cartoons on
western TV. That would have been in '73 or so.

 

[-KC-]

I'm 19, and my first anime was Pokemon, followed by DBZ and currently Naruto and One Piece.

 

[ItsNotRudy]

Filled out <18, not because my age is <18 now, but that was my peak in anime watching. Lost interest in all of them besides the occasional movie with my girlfriend. And I still follow the Gundam Unicorn 7-movie series, but that's been going on for years now.

 

[RaNDM G]

I'm 21 now. Started watching when I was seven or eight when Toonami was hitting its stride. Gundam Wing was one of the earliest shows I remember watching, and I'd always try and catch Midnight Run when I could.

Getting into my teens, I was watching Adult Swim when that first came out. I remember watching a lot of old shows like Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Lupin the III, and Big O, but I never watched them from start to finish. .hack//Sign I remember was excellent. Yu Yu Hakusho was pretty good until it became more about fighting tournaments; I stopped watching after season 2.

I actually remember catching Evangelion and a bunch of other shows on Tech TV. I didn't think it was that great, to be honest.

[small]*is crucified*[/small]

Lately I haven't been watching much. The last series I saw start to finish was Samurai Champloo; that was a couple years ago. What they play on TV today doesn't catch my interest.

 

[ItouKaiji]

I'm 28 and I started watching when I was a teenager when I caught some episodes of Dragon Ball Z, although probably the first anime I ever saw was Vampire Hunter D or Ninja Scroll, but didn't really know what they were back then, DBZ was the first time I watched and really knew it was anime. From there I picked up on Adult Swim and Toonami, watched Bebop and everything those blocks had running. After that found the Funimation channel and watched a ton of stuff from there which is also where my taste started to broaden out as I watch romance stuff, action stuff, horror, mystery and just about any genre available.

Now a days I pretty much watch whatever catches my interest from wherever I can get it. I'm still pretty open minded to genre but my favorite anime are always going to be those dark, psychological anime like Kaiji or the very recent Psycho-Pass and Shinsekai Yori. Although I also love a good romance even if ones that suit my taste as pretty rare, best romance anime for me was Nodame Cantabile just the right combination of sweet, funny and cute with dumb misunderstandings kept short and to a minimum, although the recent Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun was also pretty damn near perfect. Also, I shamelessly love One Piece even if it doesn't fit into what I normally like.

 

[Manji187]

I'm 26 and I started with Samurai Pizza Cats (at age 9). Followed it up with Pokemon and DBZ a few years later and then "upgraded" to Gundam Wing and Teknoman (Tekkaman Blade). Later on I was introduced to Naruto and Bleach, both of which I followed for quite a few eps (150+) but then I just lost all interest.

Right now I'm really into Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Shingeki no Kyojin, Suisei no Gargantia and Uchuu Kyoudai. I also intend to check out FMA: Brotherhood as I really enjoyed the original FMA.

 

[ShipofFools]

Not exactly an anime fan here, but a good film is a good film, regardless of it's country of origin, or whether it's life action or animated.
I've started more diversity in my viewing a couple of years back, and anime was a part of that. I didn't like everything, and most left me pretty cold actually, but I did like Spirited Away, Paprika and other films like that where the animation is just... gorgeous.
(I am 25 now)

If you dig Asian films, go check out Hong Kong films. There is some good stuff there...

 

[SirDeadly]

I turned 20 yesterday and have been watching anime on and off since I was about 8. At the current rate I will be watching anime until I'm in my 30's. Bloody One Piece only being released once a week!

 

[Julius Terrell]

Sorry everyone! I totally forgot to log in and check the thread

I'm 46. Yes you read that correctly.
I started watching anime with the knowledge that it was anime back in 1986 or so when
a friend and I were at a regular science fiction convention, and he suggested that we
go in to the "Japanimation" room. (Yes that's what many people called it back then.)
Was blown away & hooked within minutes.
My main problems nowadays are finding time to watch, and finding things that I can watch
with my kid.
If it counts, the first time I actually saw any anime was probably watching Astro Boy in
Spanish with my cousins in the Dominican Republic. I speak just enough Spanish to get my
face slapped, and spoke even less then. It was still better than most of the cartoons on
western TV. That would have been in '73 or so.

Double Hi Five!!!

I decided to make this thread because I'm curious. It seems that most of the sites I go on most of the people are either high schoolers or in their early 20s. Me being in my mid 30s, it's so hard to meet people in my age range that are anime fans. I mean I've been watching anime well before it became well known. So most people I talk to have very little knowledge on the medium. Please share you're thoughts. Thanks!

I'm in my early 30s, and I've been an anime fan since before most people knew what anime was (ie, since the early 90s).

Actually, if you count the early 80s French/Anime hybrids, then I've been an anime fan longer - I just didn't know what I was watching was anime.

So... yeah. Hi. ^^

You get a Hi Five too!!

Voltron was airing in my area during the mid 80s They also mixed it up with Armored Force Daigrugger. What the fuck were they thinking. They were seperate series. I saw the complete series about a year ago. I knew instinctivly that voltron was DIFFERENT from everything. I just didn't formally learn about japanese anime until the mid-90s. It was most certainly called japanimation back then.

Once I knew for sure, I was renting movies fromt the local video store by the arm full. I think I watched EVERY title they had there.

I really do believe their is a generational gap between us older fans the kids today. I just wish there would have been more shows airing when I was a kid, but oh well. For the most part I just feel like it's next to impossible to relate to people considering that I'm a hardcore Otaku.

 

[Angie7F]

I am 29, live in Tokyo, and many of my friends in their mid twenty to early thirties all watch anime.
I guess we are the DBZ Sailor Moon generation so it comes as second nature to us.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm 23 and a fan since 11 or 12-ish (started with Pokemon, Ranma, Mikami, Kenshin, etc.).

 

[porous_shield]

I'm in my late twenties and I've been a fan since I watched Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Dragon Ball in my preteens. My interest was renewed with Inuyasha, Witch Hunter Robin, and Ghost in the Shell in my late teens and I've been a fan ever since.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

You get a Hi Five too!!

Voltron was airing in my area during the mid 80s They also mixed it up with Armored Force Daigrugger. What the fuck were they thinking. They were seperate series. I saw the complete series about a year ago. I knew instinctivly that voltron was DIFFERENT from everything. I just didn't formally learn about japanese anime until the mid-90s. It was most certainly called japanimation back then.

Once I knew for sure, I was renting movies fromt the local video store by the arm full. I think I watched EVERY title they had there.

I really do believe their is a generational gap between us older fans the kids today. I just wish there would have been more shows airing when I was a kid, but oh well. For the most part I just feel like it's next to impossible to relate to people considering that I'm a hardcore Otaku.

Indeed. Modern anime fans just don't understand how it used to be.

I too remember going to Blockbuster video (ha!) to rent tapes of Bubblegum Crisis. They didn't have all of the episodes - just 1, 2, 4, and 6. Dubbed. **shudders**

Technically, though, my earliest animes were "Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea" (if you count the Japanese/French stuff) and Transformers. **happy sigh** I used to watch Transformers back to back with My Little Pony (G1). I had such a crush on Optimus Prime. He had a sexy voice. ^^