Disclaimer: This is going to be a bit of a personal one for me,and it will take a bit of a long time to read.If you can't read something for an extended period of time,(Jesus Christ,why are you even watching anime?!) i suggest you bail,now.Although to be honest,i never got the "T LR excuse." Have we really gotten so addicted to text and tweets,that we can't even sit down ,and read a book anymore?! However,i suppose i'm going on a bit of a personal rampage.Also,this thread has alot of pictures.If you don't enjoy that,also bail now.Do to this,my layout will be turned off.See yah in the end.*Waves*

"Every Comic is someones first."

Stan Lee said this a very long time ago.When i was extremely into comics along time ago,this was my favorite quote ever said.And to this day,it stands as one of my favorite quotes ever.Not just because of how interesting a quote it is for just comics,but because of how true it is for every medium in general.

Every Video Game
Every Book
Every Movie
Every Show

And of course,every anime.And by now you have most likely guessed what i am going to talk about,on one of my favorite days of the year.But anyway,lets exercise the grumpy out of me so i can try have fun on Christmas day.Speaking of grumpy-

My god,i love this cat...Anyhow,onto the discussion.


You know,whenever i look on reddit,crunchyroll,and even Vizzed,i constantly see people asking questions like, "How do i get my mother,brother,girlfriend." Or whatever into anime.And over the years,it seems like everybody already has there own special variety of answers.

There are people who show someone there personal favorites in the genre.
(Just some of mine.)




There are those who try to show them the most critically acclaimed shows.(Evangelion,Fate/Zero,Madoka Magica.) And there are of course those who stick to showing them,what alot of people call,gateway anime.You know what i'm talking about.

The Bebops


The Death Notes


The Fullmetal Alchemist


(Also,any battle Shonen series ever created.)

Yeah,those guys.You may be able to see where i am going with this,correct? Now i don't believe those shows are bad by any stretch of the word. (Bebop is a slow burner until Ballad Of Fallen Angels.Death Note has a great start,dissapointing middle half,and very good ending,in the anime,and manga.And the ending to FMA 2003 is just..Weird.) And if one of these shows have gotten one of your friends into anime,good job.You have done your part.But lets look at that phrase i said at the start again.

"Every Comic is someones first."

Now i would like for you,the reader,to try your hardest to remember the first anime you watched.And i'm not talking about Pokemon,or Digimon,Or Beyblade,or Yu-Gi-Oh.I mean anime you knew was actually anime at the time.Something you knew was its own unique art form,and not just another cartoon.

Now especially those who believe in the gateway anime myth.(Yep,that's what i called it,you will know why by the end of this.) Think to yourself,do you think the show you grew up watching would get anyone into anime? Or did it just make you slightly interested enough,to give the rest of the medium a try?

The thing is,when i hear someone recommend a series to people,i notice that it's mostly always series that are mature,serious,and grown up.And i can obviously see why people think that way.Especially if you're trying to get an older person into anime.Specifically,older people who have a mindset that anything animated is deemed a "Cartoon."

If you feel like your parents will not enjoy something light hearted and fun such as,um..The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya.Or down for some Kishin hunting awesomeness,like in Soul Eater.You could stick to showing them something like Monster for now.But that's where i start to have a problem.You see,i'm not specifically talking about showing your parents anime.I'm talking about showing normal people anime.I don't mean your parents are not regular people,i just mean..Um..Moving on.

I mean teenagers,and young adults.I've heard things like,"You can't show noobies something like Kill La Kill.It's to over the top,and they wont get it." Or "You can't show new people Serial Experiments Lain! They won't get it!"

And i constantly get annoyed with people saying things like this.I mean..Why is it up to us,the people who are already in the "Cool Kids Club." To get other people in? If you have someone you want to share anime with,thats fine.And there is always the Metal Assessment Approach for that.
(A.K.A: Figure out the person's interests,and pick a show based on that.)

But otherwise,why not let someone have there first anime? Let everything,be someones first.You can't hold a childs hand forever.And here's a question for you,what happens when there done with bebop?



Alright,good answer.What about when there done with that?


Ugh..What if they want to see something a bit more modern.In the 2000 era perhaps?



*Facepalm* You know,you can't keep this up forever? Sooner or later,they will have to jump into there first Ecchi Harem.


Or there first mecha
(PFFT! It's so small!)


Or there first overated shonen


Alrighty,for anyone who knows anything about comics here.This is sort of like showing a fan of the Dark Knight Batman films,who REALLY wants to get into the comics,Batman: Court Of Owls.(Which is a freaking masterpiece!)


Then showing him/her,All Star Batman And Robin.*Cringes*


No one here knows comics..? Which makes that entire gag and metaphor a failure..? Fine.Let me tell you something about myself.I consider myself an expert in manga.I can tell you close to everything about the art form.From series,to genres,to art styles,to different techniquies of writing,and design.And chances are,if you show me something i will most likely know about it.The first manga volume i ever read,was the first volume of Soul Eater.And guess what? Soul Eater is F*cking stupid.I'm sorry,it really is.It's just mindless fun.It has a few interesting concepts it likes to throw here and there,but in the end,theres not much of a deeper concept to it.(Although,i should note that anyone can get a different message,out of anything.See my previous discussion- https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=82596 -) This is what got me into manga.And i still have that volume sitting in my collection.Granted,it smells awful now and the pages are yellow.But,that will always be the most prized thing i will ever have,because it got me into the medium.

You see,things like this are what got me into manga.And what made the Shonen battle genre,my favorite genre in anime and manga.And i would have never seen it,if someone was holding my hand.Listen,this is a VERY weird world,that we're in love with.Anime,is F*cking crazy.You cannot deny it.There is so much variety in this medium.New concepts are coming every single season.There are literally hundreds of thousands of anime,that anyone can start with.Any one anime can be a gateway anime.Because a show can mean anything to a person.Even if it does suck.

Well..I mean statistically.As it's near impossible to define something as bad.As anyone can get anything out of a certain way of telling a story,or concept.Now get your thinking rifles ready boys.As this is where things start to get a bit complicated.
You see,Stan Lee used the quote as a Double Edged Sword.It was stating that any comic could be someones first,but because of this comics should not be so obsessed with trying to appeal to as many people as possible.Anime has had this problem,for quite a while.Every single year,more anime is beaing released that appeals to statistics,and not trying to be to unique.

Explaining this can be a bit confusing.And if you have read my threads enough,to know my likes and dislikes,you may be like "OH NO! He's getting the moe,and Battle Shonen hate rifle out again!" Eh..Yes,and no.Shows like Lucky Star,and One Piece,are actually pretty harmless series.Is it completely stupid beyond belief,and is a drug ridden mess? I'll let you guess what i think.

The problem i am seeing with more recent anime right now,is not a lack of quality.And its not like i am saying nothing good has come out in the past few years,but over the past few years,there have been a rise in cash grab,Moe Blob K-On clones.And more Shonen that are built for hormone crazed teens,that love fighting and big breasted woman.
In my eyes,there are two big issues with trying to get people into anime.First of all,people are to scared to show noobs the bare bones of the medium in fear of driving them away.And makers in Japan are to set in there ways,with making things that appeal to as large of an audience as possible.

In my opinion,you should not care what specific show gets someone into the medium.Neither should you care about those,who would not give it a chance in the first place.Why try your hardest to show them the best thing you have possible in the first place? Even if they like what they see,they  most likely will not go watching some other series,because its just anime,that's the way it is to them.

In fact,would you like to know what got me into anime? Comics..May have been able to guess that by know.But allow me to explain.When i was a kid,me and my cousin would often go to our local library,and rent dozens,and i mean dozens of comics.Most likely a little bit over a hundred,and read them constantly.I don't really know why,but i have always been attracted to great villains,with an interesting psychology,and psychosis.People who's minds are just completely screwed up.Someone who has a reason for doing all this,while not aware of the reason itself.Characters like the Joker,The Ridler,and many others.Those characters make want to become a psychologist.In my mind,every persons mind is like it's own unique puzzle that i can solve.

But eventually..I got tired of comics.Not completely though,as i still buy newer comics monthly.And i still enjoy them,while also retaining most of my knowledge about the medium.But i eventually longed for something more.Something similar,but a bit more creative.And with the extreme amount of characters in anime,that have interesting psychologies in there own right,are one of the reasons i still read manga,and watch anime.

"Every Comic is someones first."

To the artistic girl,who watches Madoka Magica,and is blown away by the elegant artwork.


To the son of a family that see's Soul Eater,and is blown away by the care and respect the weapons have for there meisters later on.


To the two brothers in the living room,who see One Piece.And try to emulate Gomu Gomu no Gatling...Or whatever that attack is called.


To the teenager that is blown away by every twist and turn of Bleach's Soul Society Arc


To the lonely teen who witnesses Light Yagami's crusade on the wicked.


To the group of friends,that try to understand Serial Experiments Lain.


To the young woman who sheds a tear in a tragic moment,in Grave Of FireFlies


"Every Comic is someones first."

And hey,maybe a comic wasn't meant for the person in the first place.

Anyhow,i think i got all the grumpy out of me before Christmas day.Thank you for reading my extremely long wall of text.See yah in January,and enjoy the holiday.*Waves*

..WAIT! I forgot to ask the ending question.What do you think,about this topic? What do you think of the mindset,of a gateway anime? Anyhow see yah.*Double Wave*

And finally,this is who i will be talking about in my next discussion.Oh man,the Naruto fans will know why me talking about this character will be tough...

What do I think about gateway anime? I honestly don't know because I got into anime mostly on my own. I didn't have otaku friends who tried to get me to like it or show me anime for beginners. I saw a forum avatar about two or three years back that looked really neat, so I found out where it was from and watched the anime.

So the first anime I watched was Kill La Kill. It was over the top like you said but come on I've been playing video games forever and would people claim none of those are a bit crazy? I can accept a totally whack scenarios so long as they are consistent and the story makes sense inside the world they present.