Mine was Voltron, or maybe Thunder Cats if that is even an anime.
I think I saw bits and pieces of Voltron, but the first I ever saw significant chunks of was Sailor Moon (and no, I’m not proud of it). The first anime movie I ever saw was FF: Legend of the Crystals (not exactly the finest specimen). The first series I ever watched from start to finish was X/1999.
And no, Thunder Cats is not an anime.
We have had many animes over here, most of them translated to Spanish without giving a hint that they were made in Japan. So for all I know I might have watched Sally The Witch or Speed Racer as a kid and not recall it. (My sister says she saw Astro Boy but I don’t recall it at all.)
The first show that I knew was an anime (or “Japanimation” as we called it in those days 
) and that I was a fan of was the Spanish dub of Mazinger Z. Though other animes running here at the same time included Captain Harlock, Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) and Mako The Mermaid (a modern, Japanese retelling of The Little Mermaid.)
my first anime was inuyasha
Either that one anime featuring various fairy tales, or that one show about the girl and two koala bears or whatever the hell else Nickelodeon was showing at the time.
Not totally sure. Somewhere between Voltron, DBZ, and Sailor Moon. Honesty, I have no clue.
Pretty sure Sailor Moon was the first I saw.
Let me think, I’m pretty sure the first anime I ever watched was either Sailor Moon, or Cardcaptor Sakura (or Cardcaptors as it was know over here, very glad we were spared the stupid episode order the Americans got, of course did mean had a really editted dub)
Yeah not sure which came first into my life really, since they were on around the same time period, as far as I can remember.
I’m on the same boat as Wil. Very likely to have been Speed Racer, but it could also have been Gatchaman (Named as “G-Force”). Later on, I have memories of an anime version of The Jungle Book (Which was actually very, very good) and the nut-crushing train of masochist drama that was Candy Candy.
The first series I watched subtitled and in its entirety was Tokyo Mew Mew. I watched all the Toonami and such shows before that though.
My first anime was either Ronin Warriors which was dubbed in English, Dragon Ball dubbed in Spanish, ranma dubbed in Spanish, or maybe Cutey Honey or Project Ako subtitled. I don’t really remember which I saw first since my dad showed my sister and I lots of different anime when we were kids.
The first series I ever finished watching was Blue Seed. The first movie was probably My Neighbor Totoro. I think I saw Project Ako before that, but I’m going to treat it as 4 very long episodes and 2 more episodes in an alternate universe and not 6 movies.
Maple Town, Belle and Sebastion, Noozles, The Little Koala, Cities of Gold, Maya the Bee, and Grimms Fairy Tales (or whatever that was called). I miss the old Nick Jr.
The first one I watched actually knowing it was anime? Sailormoon. First one I watched in a conscious attempt to get into anime? Key the Metal Idol. I watched it about half way in, and had no idea what was going on.
The 1980’s Astroboy, though back then I didn’t acknowledge it as coming from Japan, too young to even consider the possibility.
Interesting note, the 1980’s Astroboy had two major english dubs, one for Canada and one for the US. The Canadian one is now effectively lost, but there were voice and name differences in the two versions. (Dr. Elefun was Professor Peabody in the Canadian dub, for instance)
I think Dragon Ball was the first anime I started watching that I realized was from Japan.
Voltron when I was a kid, but I didn’t know it was made in Japan, and I’d be surprised if ‘anime’ was even coined as a term in the US back then. It was definitely my favorite cartoon. I liked both the car and lion versions, and didn’t really have a preference, but the lion version seemed to take over the airwaves. That was really the last anime I watched for many years.
I remember seeing part of a Sailor Moon movie subtitled on a big screen in some room at a Chicago Comic Con in '95/'96 or so, and that kind of got me interested. There was also the Street Fighter Animated Movie, but I can’t remember if that was before or after I saw Sailor Moon.
When I got home, I remembered seeing a ‘Jap-Animation’ section at Media Play. So I checked it out and bought a bunch of tapes: Sailor Moon (my first and last purchase of that series), Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, and Ranma 1/2 - Big Trouble in Nekonron China.
I loved Ranma 1/2, and ended up buying the first few seasons, movies and OVA’s. I would buy the tapes as they were released, up until the 4th series or so when it started getting unwatchable.
Other stuff I picked up and enjoyed in the late 90’s included Lodoss War (just outstanding), Ghost in the Shell (same), Ninja Scroll…and a bunch of other stuff not worth mentioning.
Some guy I talked to that had a Ranma Shrine on the Anime Turnpike webring (remember those?) told me I would love Rurouni Kenshin. So I set out to get it. I ended up sending a $150 money order made out to ‘cash’ to an address on some Geocities site, that claimed they would send me the entire series fansubbed.
Well the tapes never came, and I didn’t really have any way to get in touch with the site owner, except email. I figured I had just lost the money; I knew the risk going in, but was willing to take it. Sony had just bought the rights, and all the other tape trading sites that I knew of had pulled it.
A few months later, to my surprise, the tape trader sent out an email to me and about 50 addresses saying he was backed up and would get us our stuff. Another month passed by and nothing, but then some law firm in LA sent an email to the entire group and site owner threatening to go after him if he didn’t send out the stuff.
After about 6 months I came home one day and there was a box of tapes - the entire Kenshin series, sitting on my doorstep. I had just graduated, and so I watched all 95 episodes I think over the next two weeks. Best $150 I ever spent!
After Kenshin I lost interest in anime. Mostly because I didn’t think anything could match up to it. The only stuff I’ve really watched since is some cyberpunkish stuff: the GITS series and other GITS movies (great stuff), Lain (amazing), and Ergo Proxy (started strong but shit the bed big time). And of course there was the surprise release of Tsuiokuhen, the final Kenshin OVA, in 2003. So incredibly sad, but somehow refreshing, as things coming to an end is a simple reality of life.
The first one I saw was either Kimba the White Lion or Voltron. The first I actually knew was anime? Tenchi Muyo.
I didn’t even know Lion Force wasn’t the only Voltron until I was on wikipedia a few weeks ago.
Also, before I knew what anime was, when I read it I thought it said aneem(that is how I said it). I thought it was a disease or something.
Some of those that you listed were the ones I was talking about. Also I saw some of the other ones like Maya the Bee back then as well.
I think Speed Racer was the first anime I saw that I knew was an anime.
Locke’s story reminds me of my days as a member of the C/FO (Cartoon/Fantasy Organization) an American Japanimation fanclub back in the 80’s. They had a huge collection of Anime (dubbed, subbed and in Japanese) and they made copies for members for free, though you had to send them blank tapes. Sadly I did not take much advantage of this, mostly because my knowledge of Anime was still minimal then and I couldn’t decide what to order. Now I’m sorry, cuz they had some pretty obscure stuff. I did get two or three videos which I still treasure, tho.
I actually joined a GUYVER fanfic writing-by-mail circle (sort of the pre-Internet version of a Board Role Play) that was connected to the C/FO. However that ended badly when the group leader started taking the story in… disturbing directions, shall we say. I ended up quitting the club as a result, and I never found out what happened to those people. 
Did anyone initially have the impression that all Japanese animation was brutally violent and sexually explicit, thanks to the late night MTV ads and Sci Fi’s Saturday Anime?
It seemed like that’s how it was marketed on TV at first. I remember thinking there was just Japanese cartoons, which was anything non-violent or sexually explicit, than “Japanimation” or “Anime” which was the latter.
I thought that way about Aeon Flux when I caught that on MTV, but not with the SciFi movies (due to always coming in during the middle of whatever they were showing leaving me confused as to what the fuck was going on).
But then again after watching the stuff being shown on Toonami and Fox Kids I sorta developed a dislike of it as I was getting older and wasn’t being entertained by the stuff they were showing at the time.
It took years [STRIKE]and Rurouni Kenshin, Inuyasha, and DBZ[/STRIKE] the realization of just how similar video games I was playing at the time were to anime to get me to start watching the stuff actively again.