The "Moment" an Anime Series Finally Hooked You In

[Mog]

So for any anime series, what was the episode or that "moment" that finally made you go, "Wow, this series is one of the 'good ones.' I'm sold: I'm watching this series all the way through to the end!"

Sure, before that point, the series may have been interesting or something cool to kill some time watching. But what was the moment or the episode that finally made the series jump out to that "must see," "can't-miss-an-episode" level? When did the anime series finally have you commited hook, line, and sinker?

Instead of just name-dropping the episodes, please make sure to briefly (or not ) explain why the episode stands out so much.

And for those of you that say the first episode, make sure you have some strong arguments for your position.

I'll start us off:

SDF Macross - "Pineapple Salad"

The death of everyone's favorite sempai was the moment that (for me) elevated Macross to the upper echelons. Sure, prior to this point, the series had already shown some crazy battles. And people dying was a fairly common occurance.

But as a kid growing up on American cartoons, you rarely saw people dying. And you practically NEVER saw one of the major characters die, especially this far into a series.

But all that changed with this episode. Roy's death is still one of the most vivid moments from my childhood cartoons. And just as important, it marks the point when Macross really kicked it up a notch storywise.

So, what about some other anime series?

What was the "moment" that finally sold you on the series?

Edited June 24, 2007 by Mog

[ruskiiVFaussie]

first anime?

Macross (back then RT) The very first episode.

Pretty much all of it lol, i was a happy little chappy then.

I am pretty sure the first thing that drew me in was the SDF. The way they panned through it's construction stages,

the music was a huge factor then, oh those damn sexy Valkyries. Hik was cool, the fan jet i liked!

I'll think of more later.

Edited June 24, 2007 by ruskiiVFaussie

[eugimon]

the stand out memory for me was macross plus, the opening sequence with voices, all green soothing, and then watching isamu bayonet the zentran armor. Up until that point, I had pretty much given up on anime as being either too silly or just not worth the effort to track down. But Macross Plus made me remember how much I loved Macross as a kid, the lovely valkyrie violence.. but also just those fond memories of running home through the park after school so I could watch my favorite show.

[Mog]

first anime?

Actually, I'm thinking more along the lines of any and all anime series. (SDF Macross was just the obvious first example to start with ).

Sometimes an anime series starts off slow and then suddenly kicks it to another level after a certain point. Other times, the series goes from being just cool or alright to "Damn, f'ing good."

Maybe it's a major plot twist. Maybe it's a big reveal in the overall story. Maybe it's a change in direction or style. Or maybe it's a nice string of consistently good and solid episodes.

Whatever it is, there's usually some point where you say, "Yeah, I like where this is going. I'm glad I stuck with this series, and I really think this series is gonna pay off in the end."

So, any and all anime series are open for discussion and debate!

[eugimon]

heh. On that note, I thought Evangelion was complete crap until I saw the Unit 01 tear up it's first Angel. That brutal scene sold the series for me. And while all the pseudo religous stuff and pop psychology was interesting... I watched that series and the movies mainly for the eva on angel violence. Oh, I truly loved the gallons of spraying blood.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

... another great moment which lead to my devotion to a particular fiesty

german teenager was Asuka and Eva-02 jumping from ship to ship taking on

that water bound angel. That was bloody awesome. Eva before then was weird, and didn't appeal to me.

That was until Asuka came along! That's why i hope she will be there in the new movies.

That's where i started to love that show eugimon.

Shinji and Rei are dead boring (rei being the better of the 2).

Edited June 24, 2007 by ruskiiVFaussie

[wolfx]

Elfenlied....in I immediately liked what I was seeing when I see human soldiers getting decapitated left right center in the 1s episode. There was even a cliched klutzy be-spectacled girl which is made of the usual otaku moe template. It made you think she will be the main character, love interest or something. But no.....she gets decapitated shortly later and her body useds as a human shield against submachine gun fire. I was sold.

Code Geass, not sure what I was expecting. 1st episode, Lelouch gets his "geass" and laments that everyone should just go kill themselves. The people that were about to arrest him say "Yes....my majesty!" and proceeds to shoot themselves in the head. ZOMG COOL!!!

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Macross, seeing the VF-1D go into Gerwalk as Hikaru tries to save Minmei.

Gundam 0083 when Gato tears up the main character, as bad as he lost, he put up a worthy fight.

Turn A Gundam once they showed the Turn A in movement on its own with mist over it during night. It looked so angry. The stories are great so far too. I like how its episodic.

Gaogaigar once I realized how over top the entire cast is.

[Skullsixx]

Although I knew I liked anime, that opening sequence of DYRL just blew me away!

[Mr March]

As far as I can recall, every anime series I've enjoyed I've been hooked from the first episode. Frankly, I've rarely had much of a need to "warm up to a series." There has been the rare exception where I've disliked a series or film then become a fan later, but the vast majority of the time I'm either a fan from the start or nothing. If you keep watching a series after a supposedly lousy first episode you can't stand, obviously there's at least one aspect of the series you find interesting to such a degree you're willing to keep watching...or the power of boredom is the your motivation

*raises hand in guilt*

In the case of Macross, I was hooked from the word go. When I saw the first episode of Cowboy Bebop, I knew this was something different that I would adore. When I was first exposed to Escaflowne even via a lousy edited, dubbed version on TV, there was no doubt I'd watch more. Correspondingly, nearly every anime I've disliked I have hated since the start. Trigun, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bubblegum Crisis, Lodoss War...everyone was convinced I'd love all this anime if I'd just keep watching more. And so I did...and they never got any better. Gundam Wing carries the distinction of the final anime series I disliked from episode one that I watched all the way to episode 49 plus an OVA and a movie. If trying to entertain myself, I will never do that again

Roy's death was also very important to me in Macross, though I was a diehard way before it got to that point. Much like yourself, it was a revelation, a point at which I gained much more respect for anime as a medium than traditionally western animation (though even at that age I was already long since bored with Saturday morning cartoons and refused to watch them unless I could play with my lego in front of the television). That respect was reaffirmed when I caught Macross Plus in the 90's and largely reintroduced myself into anime (even though I owned a couple anime films prior to that). WHen I finally got the original Macross on DVD, Roy's death was even more emotionally jarring in the original. It was almost like experiencing it for the first time again.

I guess one of the aspects of Macross that I really appreciated early was the proper depiction of warfare and real losses. The mecha would fire upon each other and explode, even the "good guys". I really enjoyed that because it made so much sense to me. One of the reasons I hated most children's cartoons was the ridiculous depiction of warfare. SOmehow even at that young age, I knew that you weren't knocked over by a gun and no one ever fired at the feet of their enemy The progression of a real story was also very important to me. Even in the first few episodes you can see the story progressing and it's not just some static show that resets at the end of each episode. That was a big hit with me.

[jenius]

I'm with Mr. March on this one, typically I can tell how well I'll enjoy a show by its first episode. There are many exceptions. I just watched the first seven episodes of Kissdum and thought it sucked until the 5th episode, now I'd like to see more. More often then not there are spots where a show LOSES me. At some point I lost interest in Champloo and Blue Gender.

[Vegas]

voltez V........it started my mecha obsession

[Star Dragon]

When I saw the Yamato/Argo break out of the underwater dock and escape into space, it peaked my interest...

"They got a friggen Space Battleship?!"

And then later when they first used the Wave Motion Gun it sold me 4 life.

"Eat it you Gamilon Bastards!"

Oh and G-force/battle of the Planets opening sequence. You know where Princess (Jun) is fliping over and over and you see her white undies...)

Always tuned in to see that and if she would ever get NAKED!@!!!

Hey I was like 7 or 8 give me a break...

Edited June 24, 2007 by Star Dragon

[eriku]

I'm a lazy anime watcher. If a series doesn't hook me with the very first episode I probably wont give it a chance. Macross, Eva, Bebop, Votoms Lupin, GIT:SAC, Champloo, Love Hina....they all hooked me from the get-go. The only one of those that didn't hold up to the first episode was Champloo, which got fairly uninteresting towards the end, unfortunately.

[Scream Man]

bEBOP WAS THE BIGGIE FOR ME. aS SOON AS i SAW sPIKE IN THE HAND TO HAND FIGHT WHILST WEARING THE pONCHO, i KNEW i WAS IN!!!!!!!

[gerwalk25]

When I was six years old (but didn't know it was anime then) and it was Ken's Henshin "Bird Go" or "Transmute" from Gatchaman/BOTP that got me hooked on the show. That whole summer I woke up at 9am just for BOTP and I don't think I missed an episode that summer too.

[Mog]

Eureka Seven

I'd say if you're not hooked after watching Ep. 20 ("Substance Abuse"), forget it. You probably won't like the rest of the series.

For me personally, I think the series hooked me in after Ep. 9 ("Paper Moon Shine"). The first of what would be many Holland beat-downs of Renton, the big reveal about why Eureka adopted the three kids, and Renton finally officially becoming a member of Gekkostate.

That marked the point for me where I went from "I guess I'll watch it; nothing better to watch" to "Hey, there might be some potential here."

[Dangard Ace]

Star Vengers: Ommacron beam!!!

Star Blazers/Yamato: We're off to outer space! To save the Human race!

Cowbow Bebop: "You've got to watch this anime! The main character is just like you, except you don't have the kick ass kung fu stuff." Bitch!

Macross: Real jets that turn to robots?! Woot!

Gaogaigar: Goldioooon Haaaaammmmmeerrrr!!!!

Gundam: Kill em' all Toshino. No ones sacred = thumbs up.

BGC: Girls in armor suits fighting cyber robots set to rock music.

Gunbuser: Gainax bounce. Hehe. Actually the first appearance of the Rose Queen.

Evangelion: 1st Eps. Pyscho robot was awesome. Asuka slapping Kagi after she flashed them was awesome. Then it all became psycho babble suck.

Kishin Heidan: Steam punk robots.

Riding Bean: ....wacked out bad guys. Out and out good guys....and my dream car.

Many more to come.