Okay, time for me to give a pretty off-the-wall answer to question 1.
The first anime I ever watched was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_War ... ld_Lightan]Golden Warrior Gold Lightan (Ogon Senshi Gorudo Raitan). An early '80s show about a giant robot that transforms into a cigarette lighter. No, no, really. He transforms into a cigarette lighter which is then carried around by a kid sidekick too young to smoke. One wonders if teachers at school ever busted his ass for carrying his robot pal. =D
Of course, I was too young at the time to understand the concept of cigarette lighters, and to me he was simply a small yellow box. I also watched the Mandarin Chinese dub, mind, and the fact it was dubbed anime was totally lost on me until adulthood...when, logically, I realised it must have been dubbed anime and looked for information about the series.
Lightan is in the recent Tatsunoko vs. Capcom fighter, which caused me to totally geek out in an arcade not too long ago.
Friend: "Hey, just a sec, I wanna go in here. They've got that new Capcom game."
Me: *noncommitally* "Enh, okay, whatever. Capcom game?"
Friend: "Yeah, versus characters-from-some-manga-company."
Me: "The fact you don't know what company or who they are isn't a good sign, is i---HOLY SHIT."
Friend: "What?"
Me: "IT'S XIAO DAN SE!!!! HOLY SHIT WE HAVE TO PLAY THIS NOW!!!"
Friend: "...what."
Me: "Er, you know, the badly translated Chinese name for..."
...yeah.
First fansubs I've watched, ennh, I'm not sure. I wanna say Houshin Engi, but it might be Excel Saga. Possibly Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Honestly it's all a blur; when I actually got into anime proper between...hell, I dunno, 1999-2004, I did so in a big way. I blame my friends, and the fact I dated anime fangirls.
First fanfic I read was almost certainly old Sonic the Hedgehog stuff. First anime fanfiction I came across, however, was probably Evangelion material - the one that sticks in my head is Neon Exodus Evangelion from the Eyrie crew, and that early Eyrie exposure directly leads to me being here and posting on these boards. =)
-- Acyl
The first anime I ever watched was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_War ... ld_Lightan]Golden Warrior Gold Lightan (Ogon Senshi Gorudo Raitan). An early '80s show about a giant robot that transforms into a cigarette lighter. No, no, really. He transforms into a cigarette lighter which is then carried around by a kid sidekick too young to smoke. One wonders if teachers at school ever busted his ass for carrying his robot pal. =D
Of course, I was too young at the time to understand the concept of cigarette lighters, and to me he was simply a small yellow box. I also watched the Mandarin Chinese dub, mind, and the fact it was dubbed anime was totally lost on me until adulthood...when, logically, I realised it must have been dubbed anime and looked for information about the series.
Lightan is in the recent Tatsunoko vs. Capcom fighter, which caused me to totally geek out in an arcade not too long ago.
Friend: "Hey, just a sec, I wanna go in here. They've got that new Capcom game."
Me: *noncommitally* "Enh, okay, whatever. Capcom game?"
Friend: "Yeah, versus characters-from-some-manga-company."
Me: "The fact you don't know what company or who they are isn't a good sign, is i---HOLY SHIT."
Friend: "What?"
Me: "IT'S XIAO DAN SE!!!! HOLY SHIT WE HAVE TO PLAY THIS NOW!!!"
Friend: "...what."
Me: "Er, you know, the badly translated Chinese name for..."
...yeah.
First fansubs I've watched, ennh, I'm not sure. I wanna say Houshin Engi, but it might be Excel Saga. Possibly Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Honestly it's all a blur; when I actually got into anime proper between...hell, I dunno, 1999-2004, I did so in a big way. I blame my friends, and the fact I dated anime fangirls.
First fanfic I read was almost certainly old Sonic the Hedgehog stuff. First anime fanfiction I came across, however, was probably Evangelion material - the one that sticks in my head is Neon Exodus Evangelion from the Eyrie crew, and that early Eyrie exposure directly leads to me being here and posting on these boards. =)
-- Acyl