>>263918740Like a lot of people, it was Toonami. I think it was the first show I became aware was "anime", even though I had seen Sailor Moon and Pokemon before it. I knew something was different about it at first watch, but I thought it was by WB or something because the eyes vaguely reminded me of Looney Tunes. But as I kept watching, I realized it was extremely different.
I remember it blew my little kid mind that they actually fought. I was so used to retarded American cartoons where a "fight" is just a dust cloud with goofy sound effects, so to see actual punching/kicking/martial arts, fully animated, with blood and deaths and actual stakes to the fights was fucking mindblowing. I also wasn't used to shows with a continuing story outside of Pokemon, and it's the first show I can really remember wanting to catch every single week (again, outside of Pokemon).
It really can't be overstated how mindblowing it was seeing anime for the first time as a kid in the 90s. Going from Dexter's Lab and Ed Edd 'n Eddy (which are great for what they are) to fucking Dragon Ball Z was insane. Seeing a cartoon that actually took itself seriously was amazing.
