Gateways (or, how I got tricked into liking this genre)

[blkmage]

Anime is a very diverse medium and there are many stories of people getting into anime one way or another. I was watching Card Captor Sakura over the holidays and thinking about it. I really liked CCS, but it's something I never would have thought about watching even just a few years ago.

Something that blogging and keeping track of what I've watched and when has allowed me to do is to take note of which anime were instrumental to introducing a new genre to me and how I got roped into watching something that I wasn't really inclined to watch.

Some gateways are fairly obvious. Ouran High School Host Club is a pretty common entrance into shoujo romance, because the first chunk of it is played off as self-parody. By the time you're halfway into the story in the manga, it's become a shoujo series again and it's too late, because it's already got you.

Some gateways are not so obvious. Clannad is probably my favourite show, but it was in a genre that I absolutely refused to watch. What got me to watch it? It was because I watched 5 Centimeters per Second. Even though 5 cm/s isn't the same kind of anime, the association between that and nakige was pretty strong for me.

Some gateways are dumb. How did I start watching magical girl shows? Because people were hyping Nanoha as an atypical, explosion-packed magical girl show. But even that wasn't enough for me. What finally pushed me into it was Masaaki Endoh's (from JAM Project) cover of the Nanoha A's OP, ETERNAL BLAZE.

What were the gateway anime that opened up an entirely new kind of anime for you? What are the shows or movies you would make other people watch to trick them into liking things they might not like?

(Also, this is not for talking about how you got into anime, because I'm sure we've beaten that horse into the ground already.)

[Beau Soir]

Baccano! is probably the biggest example of gateway anime for me. Mafia? Me? Are you kidding? I also despise bloodiness and gore. But thanks to my cousin who also likes anime and manga, she introduced me to Baccano! and told me not to be freaked or anything, but to just watch. We watched almost the entire show in one night, and I was hooked.
Baccano! is so much more than the gun and knife fights- the characters are complex and intriguing, and the music and art are incredible. I'm fascinated by that time period now. I still don't like the extremely bloody scenes, but they're not the entire story nor are they the point of the story. I discovered a great story thanks to my cousin, and I'm sure I never would have watched it on my own because of its face value.

I tricked my brother into watching Durarara!! because I knew he would like it but he didn't think he would... he wouldn't watch Baccano! and I had told him it was by the same author. So we did an episode exchange... I watched an episode of Sora no Woto and he watched an episode of DRRR!!. He loved it and finished the show. 8D

[Atria35]

^ I think it's just Sora no Woto by now.

Anycase, I'm the same with Baccano! and action anime. I'm really not big into live-action action shows- at all. But I thought anime was full of the stupid harems that my friend was into, so when I saw this I wasn't just only 'Waoh! There's people dying and getting shot in it!" but the storyline was also just so very engaging. I wanted to know what was going on in the Flying Pussyfoot. No, I HAD to know.

That anime was also my intro to horror genre, because a lot of horror anime are also bloody. I discovered that I could totally handle blood and gore if it was animated, and that led me into trying out a few horror series. And now that's perhaps my favorite genre.

[Kaori]

Fruits Basket: This could potentially have been a gateway into genres that I don't typically watch--school life, drama, shoujo-type anime--and I suppose it's an ideal anime to introduce people to those genres. If for some strange reason I wanted to convert someone into a fan of school life anime, I would undoubtedly choose Fruits Basket to introduce them to the genre, since it's good and it also has supernatural elements that give it additional interest (also, I haven't watched any other school life anime). So, some friends persuaded me to watch Fruits Basket, and I thought it was reasonably good, though of course the manga is better.

However, it totally failed to suck me into school life, drama, or shoujo-type anime (manga is a slightly different matter). In other forms of entertainment, like books and movies, I tend to like sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure; in anime, I like sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure, and historical stuff (e.g. the Samurai X OVAs). So, I guess my tastes really have not changed.

Also, now that I live in Japan, I hardly ever watch anime.

[rocklobster]

some of my gateways:
-Boogiepop Phantom got me into horror anime. I tried it out when it was on G4Techtv and although it was confusing, I watched it twice to see if I could get a clue as to what the heck was going on. It didn't work, but I found the story interesting nevertheless. Now, I've watched Claymore, Blood+, and Trinity Blood.
-Galaxy Express 999 got me into Leiji Matsumoto. I liked how Tetsuo's character developed over time, and even though the style was different from what I was used to, I thought it was neat for its time. It's a long series, but it's much more enjoyable than other shows that are in triple-digit episode counts. *coughBleachcough*
-Last Exile got me into Gonzo Studios. The steampunk airplanes, the beautiful landscapes, the great violin music in the BGM. This was all it took for me to enjoy the show. I've heard this title get some bad press on here. I suggest to everyone to try it for themselves and not listen to the bad press.
-Angelic Layer got me into Clamp. A guy watching something like Clamp? Well, I like stories that focus more on character than on plot. Plus, the girls looked so cute that I kept watching. Granted, I haven't watched much Clamp since, but I am interested in picking up more, so I guess it counts.

[Falx]

I used to think the only good anime was something with a lot of action.

Then after saving up a bit of money I stopped by San Diego for a little thing called Comic-Con a few years ago. While there I wandered the anime theater and bounced between the rooms trying to find an interesting show to watch. After a few hours something that I was interested in came up and I sat down, except the previous show wasn't finished.

For five minutes straight I near died laughing at the the insanity that was Miu in Strawberry Marshmallow. They were also showing Azumanga Daioh, which I'd heard of but never felt like watching, which I then rectified and the rest is history.

[Lynna]

Naruto for shounen
Inuyasha for all anime
Tokyo Mew Mew for shoujo.
Fruits Basket for Drama.
Aria for Slice of life
I think that's all...

[rocklobster]

Another gateway for me was Millennium Actress, which got me into Satoshi Kon. I tried this title thru rental and was blown away at how beautiful it was. The story was excellent too, and I fell in love with it. Then I watched Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, and Tokyo Godfathers, and instantly became a fan.

[ShiroiHikari]

I didn't expect to like Kon films because I didn't like Perfect Blue back when I saw it at 17 years old, ahahaha. But a couple years ago I watched Millennium Actress and that sealed it. Not sure if this counts though since "Satoshi Kon films" isn't really a genre.

I don't really have anything else to add but I do like this thread.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Well, I fell for the Ouran trap as well. Not only was it my first shojo, but also the first thing I watched that wasn't action.

Death Note, even though I hate it now, was probably the first thing I liked that wasn't standard fighting shonen. Before that, I was only interested in Naruto-like stuff.

Soul Eater is kind of interesting, because before watching it I was pretentious and scoffed at all shonen fighting anime, but then I watched it and really liked it again.

I'm kind of realizing that I didn't have a ton of gateways though, since all the early recommendations were from people who didn't like the stuff I was into at first, so I got recommendations for stuff I didn't normally watch.

[Nanao]

Hellsing got me watching vampire anime. i still really don't care for vampires in general, but i liked hellsing so much i went on to watch Trinity Blood. Miyazaki's movies were my gateway into anime across the board.