As PinkShippuden suggests (and 狂気 helped add some options), we all had to have started somewhere to get into this fandom of the anime/manga world. So of the media choices, which was your first introduction into this world of delights? My first would probably have to be the original Pokemon TV series, which started getting popular around my 3rd grade.

Started from the bottom and now we're here. Not that Pokemon was the bottom. Far from it. Ah, memories...

You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related)
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Do you use an ad-blocker on your browser?
Choices:
Yes - votes: 8586 (78.2%)
I used to - votes: 509 (4.6%)
Never have, but might consider it - votes: 1029 (9.4%)
Never have, never will - votes: 318 (2.9%)
What's an ad-blocker? - votes: 534 (4.9%)
There were 10976 total votes.
The poll ended: October 11th 2014

Dang, seems like a lot of us are savvy enough for that ad-blocker!

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

Maybe I can say Dragonball Z on television?
Or was the adventures of the yellow mouse the culprit...

It's rather logic that anime was first, anime was free and legal on TV, before being dragged in the scanlation industrial.

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Even after dead, we raise from the ashes for the sake of manga.

first i saw a bunch of anime toonami but that's not what really got me into the fandom; what eventually lead me to manga was the Ranma 1/2 anime. As i only had up to akane loosing her memories I went online to find more and found the Ranma project (which sadly is a hentai site now). Still I'm willing to bet Toonami was the introduction a lot of people had. RIP toonami dubbed anime is dead without you

It's Certainly "Anime(and other cartoons)" for me and many others...

why Cartoons as well ?
Because, I started to watch the when I was just a kid, when I couldn't read, nor could I write obviously...I used to sit the before Tv like a good boy and used to watch Cartoon Network or AniMax or. whatever my parents choose for me...I probably didn't understand a thing, but, it was fun in it's own way...^^

First Anime was probably Dragon Ball Z, then some others like Dragon Ball, Kochikame...after sometime One Piece, Naruto and Hundreds of Thousands more...ya

And Still Watching...And Will Watch Till Death...Till Death Do Us Part, Babe

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[img]https://i.imgur.com/ERg8slD.gif[/img
[img]https://i.imgur.com/HphHlPh.gif[/img]
Tv Tokyo - Anime & Manga ~ MinatoAce

Wanted to go with anime at first, since watching Record of Lodoss War on television had a really big impact on me, and I usually consider it to be what got me into watching into anime.

Decided on the Japanese RPGs though. I grew up with Gameboy and SNES, and games like Mystic Quest, Secret of Mana, the early parts of Final Fantasy, etc, go back way longer for me.


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Well, I guess technically it was Pokemon on TV when I was a kid, but I didn't know it was called anime, and to be honest, it didn't really introduce me into the fandom because I never looked deeper into it or tried to find more of the same. If anything, they kinda gave us more of the same with shows like Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh. It wasn't until I found a Yu-Gi-Oh manga online, which had a link at the bottom saying "read more manga at onemanga.com!" that I properly got into the fandom and from there everything spiralled out of control and here I am today, still a fan. Not as much as I used to be admittedly, but still a fan XD

So I chose manga for the poll, because that is what made me think "I need to read more of this"

Well technically it was several shows that were shown on TV that I watched before going to school when I was 8-10 years old. Then those shows kinda stopped, and then a new channel appeared on TV around 2008 which would show a lot of popular ones, like Ghost in a Shell, Hellsing and Berserk. Then I kinda liked Berserk, but something was really of in anime, so I decided to try and read original, liked manga a lot more than anime so continued reading other titles, and stopped watching anime at all when I got a full time job, anime just requires too much time too, compared to manga which I can read relatively faster, though some of the anime titles I still do like, but manga and light novels are my favourites now.

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I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

I mean, the first Japanese TV show I enjoyed was undoubtedly Speed Racer (the dub of Mach GoGoGo), which was still having re-runs from the 70s when I was a very young child (I was born in 1991).

The first thing that got me _really into_ Japanese media was Pokemon Red, which I got before I started watching the anime.

The first thing that made Japanese media My Hobby Of Choice, Period, Even Before Video Games (which, I do play English-originating video games as often as Japanese ones) was the One Piece manga (which is way better than the anime, and yes I mean the Japanese version of the anime, not just the 4shit dubs).

I would say I had a pretty long evolution getting to this point, though, and I'm not sure which one really answers the question. I don't even watch anime anymore, except for the occasional *highly*-recommended anime-original series (so, not based on a manga or light novel).

I picked "anime" in the poll because of speed racer, though.

I voted RPGs since I remember playing Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior on the NES, though in retrospect I probably should have gone with Other Japanese TV Show because Power Rangers.

Euhm wut?
Weirdly phrased and very vague question. (also poll title doesn't correspond with poll question)

First fandom: I think it was Forgotten Realms (D&D).
"Japan" fandom: Not sure if it was any single thing. I simply like good quality stories and don't really mind how they are presented (book, comic, or tv show).
Since the anime/manga industry has something (in spades) for all audiences and ages, it's a much more attractive place to look first for something to read.
Not to mention that thanks to sites like MangaUpdates and AniDB it's much easier to dig through all the stories and filter out what you definitely don't like.

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Who they, what are, and why?
- Manga Cover Database -

Agreed!

My friend introduced me to anime, but it feels weird to answer anime on the poll.. The poll question makes it sound like: "I found anime through watching anime"

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:3

I was first introduced to anime when I watched Sailor Moon as a kid. But at the time I had no clue the series came from Japan. I watched anime intermittently throughout my childhood but I didn't become an actual fan until I was in college. That was when I decided to re-watch Sailor Moon (this time the Japanese version). It's also when I found the Death Note anime and realized that anime could be more than just fighting shows aimed at younger kids.

My very first anime was probably Pokemon, then CCS and Digimon. I used to watch them when I was six years old and I still remember those beautiful times. I rewatched them later when I was fourteen and never stopped after that. Thanks Pokemon.

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朝露の少女。

“The longer we live, the more weight we carry in our hearts.”

i voted "other" because it was music that got me into all this ^^ anime OSTs are really something else...

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WEBTOONS ヽ( ★ω★)ノ

My friend first introduced me to this anime and O got hooked on it. Later, I went to Barnes and Noble for something and found a manga and started reading it. I looked up the manga and discovered that I could read it online. I haven't stopped reading manga since! But then I guess I have been exposed to the manga and anime industry waaay earlier with Pokemon and Naruto and whatnot.

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"The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." - from Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson