I guess my first Anime wound up being Pokemon. But like most people said, back in that day Pokemon was just another cartoon. There was nothing special about it being imported from another country at the time. So I went though the Pokemon + Digimon + Yugioh + a little bit of Dragon Ball Z when my step brother wasn't around to complain about how boring it was just like his mom told him childhood type deal, but eventually dropped them all together because my parrents got so strict with the TV I was essentially sealed off from Cartoon Network.
Fast forwards 5-10 years, and my Dad says he bought some Anime. I didn't exactly understand what he meant at the time, but we watched Howls Moving Castle and Spirited Away with the rest of the family. At that point, I was under the impression it was an art style, which generally evolved to what I know today that these cartoons where imported from Japan. Then I realized that my old Electric Tale of Pikachu comics advertised to be Anime and Manga. Okay! Educated!
Then… my first actual dive into Anime. Of all things I watched Kampfer as it was coming out. It was probably my fascination with magical gender bending at the time that drew me towards it, and then the "barbaric" humor and yuri romance that kept me coming back to it.
Kampfer had the most god-awful ending by the way, so I wasn't satisfied at all. I went and watched Tower of Druaga. Then Ghost Hunt. Then Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach. Then the Holy Grails of Anime at the time Haruhi, Fate/Stay Night, Gurren Laggan, Nanoha, and a few DOZEN other animes I am too tired to list off at the moment. I was getting addicted pretty quickly, and my childish delusions of grandeur still lingered from my early childhood well into my teen years.
Then over the years I had restricted internet again, and my dad nearly killed it for me again. However… it was a bit late to stop it. Any anime I bought or watched had to be worth my time, so my standards got raised several notches. I pushed aside Harems and Shonen as soon as they arrived on my plate. And to top it off, 3 anime suddenly topped my top favorite anime of all time.
Madoka Madoki, Fate/Zero, and Jojo's Bizzare Adventure.
So for about a year and up till now, I have been in an eternal state of "FUCK IT, I will NEVER be able to find ANYTHING better than those three anime!" But now that thirst has come back to me… and I got some catching up to do.