The Strange Origins - How I Got into Anime/Manga

Ask any anime fan, "what was your first series?" and they will collectively say, "Dragon Ball Z", "Sailor Moon", or "Pokemon." Very rarely do you have anybody say an obscure anime - unless that person is 35+ years old and still enjoys anime. Now, if you ask me this question, I always freeze up and start thinking - almost, like calculating rocket science - about what my first anime was and what series truly got me into the medium. 

I've thought up this question all of 2021 and I have come up with the answer; this answer was in plain sight the whole time. The plain answer is "Transformers: Armada" but why this series, especially when it aired in 2002 on Cartoon Network. The landscape of Cartoon Network was vastly different than today - diverse programming in the form of no cartoons repeating itself and every Friday night were new episodes. 

Ringing in the new millennium, my relative got me into the original Transformers (1984-1987) series and toylines - to the point of always making sure I knew which character was with which faction (I.e.: Who is Optimus Prime? Is Starscream an Autobot? et el) . In a stroke of luck, within the next year, Cartoon Network began advertising "the newest Transformers chapter - Transformers Armada!" At this point, I was engulfed in the warring alien robots; I needed to watch it, every minute of it. 

The day, August 23, 2002, Optimus Prime and Megatron arrived on Cartoon Network and I was hooked! Even to the point of needing the action figures, yeah it was an addiction. One night, the same relative noticed that I was watching "Transformers: Armada" and said, "You're watching anime?" I asked, "what's anime?" - keep in mind, I was around the age of 7 or 8 years old - and he said, "Its animated shows from Japan." Whelp, that hooked me onto anime for life!

From "Armada" to watching Toonami on the same channel - anime became a huge part of my life but the other part of the title has "/Manga" in it, so how did I become an avid manga reader and collector?  

I can't actually pinpoint the exact year though I will say, it was around 2004 as the very first volume of manga I had received was "Dragon Ball Z" volume 17 (or in Japan, volume 33). From there, my family bought me "Megaman NT Warrior" manga, only 2 volumes. From there, my manga reading fascination started and hasn't stalled at all. 

So that's how I got into anime and manga.