Ani-May: My Anime Journey

Happy Ani-May! 

For the month of May I’ll be making posts that focus on different topics related to Anime (along with my other topics~)! You can expect to see these posts on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the month of May ♡ To start off the month, I want to talk about my anime journey: how it started and how it continues! 

I started watching anime around the age of 5….but did not even realize until I was about 12. I remember being in Kindergarten and first grade, staying the night at my then-best friend’s home and watching Sailor Moon on VHS tapes. She had the episodes where Usagi and the gang faced off against Queen Beryl at D Point. We watched that over and over and, of course, I became obsessed..

Around the same year, my family and I were getting ready to move, and I spent my mornings watching Pokémon when I was at home. Once we moved, I started collecting the trading cards and hadn’t stopped. My collection still grows today. 

After the move I continued watching Sailor Moon every chance I got when Toonami showed it, and slowly added in other shows. I mainly watched Dragon Ball Z and Tenchi Muyo with my brother and friend, but Sailor Moon stayed my number one. 

Within those few years, I managed to earn a PS2 from my parents by having good grades. One of the first things I got was a Sailor Moon DVD. It was the first DVD in our home, and I watched it over and over. 

When we moved again, all we had for a while were my PS2 and Sailor Moon DVDs,

so my brother and I would rewatch them together. At this point I entered middle school and started finding anime DVDs at the store we frequented. I started collecting Fullmetal Alchemist (‘03) and Chobits DVDs every chance I got. I am pretty sure I had no business watching Chobits when I did, but I loved it and still do. Today I have my original print of the manga, as well as the German and English special hardcovers. It has become a huge part of my life and collection!

This period is also when I was online much more, so I finally learned that the shows I loved so much were identified as anime from Japan. So of course, I wanted to watch more! This was the time when anime was being put onto youtube-with an episode having to be split into four parts. My favorite show to watch in this horrid format was Inuyasha. 

I was also super into watching and making AMVs. I honestly got a lot of my taste in music from these videos...no regrets

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I slowly began collecting manga when possible, but it wasn’t until high school when my collection really began to grow. This was when manga and anime became a bigger part of my life, as I felt like it was all I had when we moved again. I discovered KEY anime and visual novels-I had never played a visual novel in my life until this point. I started with Planetarian and cried and cried. 

I attended my first anime convention out of high school. It was strange, but fun! I discovered so many different series…and spent so much money >ᴗ< I was ready to go to more!

Now I am in my 30s. My anime and manga collection have grown so much! I have over 1,000 volumes of manga and plenty of physical media to watch anime with-let’s not even get into streaming services. I am able to attend conventions with friends and enjoy my time with people who are like me. 

I have made so many friends with shared interests. Now that anime is watched by more people and enjoyed by many, it is a lot easier to talk about! I honestly love it. I love sharing things and learning about new shows to watch or series to read. My main issue is money, always.(‘’❛ ؂ - „)❀

I think anime has been such a huge part of my life-helping me make friendships, yet still being there when I was alone as well. It influences my hobbies-like art, journaling, collecting, reading, etc. It’s integrated into my daily life. I have posters at work and my bedroom at home is a huge collection room now. I am not sure if that will ever change, but I’ll be happy if it doesn’t ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

I know this was a bit of a ramble, and I tried to summarize things as best as I could...since...this is definitely not everything (・–・;)ゞ But I am just so happy to share!

I hope you enjoyed a bit of it, at least~

Please share your anime journey, or how it has impacted your life! I would love to read about it ♡

Your friend,

Cassy ˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗