What got you hooked

The first anime I watched was probably Voltron (Go Lion) but I was a kid and had no idea what anime was or even that it wasn't originally in English. I actually watched tons of anime with my brother as a child, which probably explains part of the draw to it, even though I was oblivious then that it was anything other than cartoons with really big eyes.

I got into anime purposefully in high school. I had a friend who's family owned a mostly adult video store in Chinatown. We had to swing by there after school one day for him to get money from his Dad, and while we were there he grabbed a video called Akira and said I would like it. I was skeptical because of the nature of his Dad's store. He assued me I would love it. He was right. :)

I didn't get into cels until I saw Fushigi Yuugi. It was the first 'series' anime I purchased as fansubs. I fell in love with the story and after doing a random search for it on EBay, stumbled upon a cel of Miaka. I wasn't sure I really wanted the cel, but it was like $20 so I figured why not. Of course that was my introduction to bid sniping, the final price was more like $60. I was fuming, but intrigued. I didn't realize how much I wanted it until I lost it.

I did some web searches for 'anime cel' and found the internet guide to anime cels (does that even exist anymore?) and some online cels shops. That was it, I was gone...