vakarthi

My first anime was either Inuyasha or Card Captor Sakura. They were telecast simultaneously on Animax and Cartoon Network (as it was called then) during the 2000-2006 period.

I did not know the difference between "Cartoon" & "Anime" then and even to this day I still think we ought to be allowed to use the terms interchangeably without people putting on a tantrum. I don't think the Japanese would be offended by the "travesty".
Later, Cartoon Network introduced me to Pokemon and I amassed a large collection of Trading Cards. I later got hooked onto the Gameboy versions of Pokemon starting with Gen3 and I kept the craze up until I finished Gen4 as well before saturation set in. Looking back, I think I remained obsessed with Pokemon well past an age I am now comfortable with. The Pokemon GBA gaming phase led me to explore many other Japanese RPG games that I still recall fondly such as Fire Emblem7 & 8, Megaman, Astroboy,  Advance Wars 2, Breath Of Fire 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 6 Advance, Legacy of Goku series & Legend Of Zelda series to name a few. I still prefer the simplistic GBA graphics to those that are around nowadays. 

Digimon & Yu-Gi-Oh! also caught my interest briefly when they were aired in India. Never was a DBZ fan but ended up watching most episodes on TV anyway. It was Beyblade that I couldn't stand though. Naruto didn't make a good impression on me either.

All this time I did not know I was watching Japanese Anime' except for ones that were glaringly Japanese (such as Inuyasha) or were being telecast on Animax. One of the major reasons I failed to realise this was probably because they were dubbed in English (Many characters often sounding so American or Canadian that it made it seem all the less likely to be Japanese).

Later, there was a spurt of Hindi dubbed Kids Anime such as Doraemon, Ninja Hattori, Kiteretsu & Shinchan that began to dominate Indian Channels meant for "Kids". I watched them too, when returning from School, although this time I was aware that they were Japanese shows.

I did watch a few anime on Animax such as Gakuen Alice (~2007), Kyo Kara Maoh! (~2008), Yakitate! Japan (~2007), Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (~2010). But these are infact exceptions as I mostly stayed away from Animax throughout my childhood. The ease with which mature themes were incorporated into them scared me.  It was only in College that I mustered up the courage to give Japanese Anime' a chance again since I was more "Grown up".This time I was introduced to an entirely different world where Hostellers would give me Terrabytes of Anime from their Harddisks and I began to watch Episodes online. It started off with Studio Ghibli Movies which were so magical I was drawn into the world of Anime within a few months. I have come to realise I enjoy Anime best in the original Japanese with English Subtitles as the English dubs rob  the anime of many aspects. For example - in Asian culture we do not address elders directly by name. Important suffixes such as -Kun, -San and words of respect like Sensei are dropped in the English dubs. It may seem like a silly point but I believe the subs help me understand the context and culture better. Of course even now there are things like "Nosebleeds" that makes me uncomfortable. I was also shocked to learn how popular the themes of "Harem" & "Ecchi" were. Although I have watched many Anime with these tags they do not rank very high on my list of "Good Watches".

I look for good Plots and character development when rating my Anime on Anime Planet.

As a rule Anime' that I perceive to have unnecessary "Panty Shots", "Nudity" & "Sexual Content" are rated only 2.5 Stars or lower.

How I rate my Anime on Anime Planet

• 5 Stars     -  Movies/Anime that were thought provoking or affected me emotionally.
• 4.5 Stars -  Those that qualify as above but had some plot-hole/loose-end or flaw in my eyes. "Nearly Perfect"
• 4 Stars     -  Anime that were thoroughly enjoyable &/or had a good concept/theme/animation 
• 3.5 Stars -  Above average. Enjoyable watch but nothing striking. Anime that had potential but mess it up in my eyes                            might also end up here.
• 3 Stars     -  Fairly average watch with some redeemable qualities like maybe it being beautifully animated. It may                                have been a struggle to complete the series.
• 2.5 Stars -  Average/ Had many flaws in my eyes/ Was boring/ Was interesting but had too much ecchi 
• 2 Stars     -  Relatively worse than those rated 2.5. Very likely to be those with no plot and/or with Profanity
• 1.5 Stars -  Tend to be those that that are very violent &/or blur the lines between Anime & Hentai. Very likely an                                  anime I dropped. 
• 1 Star       - The minimum rating (Because no matter how much I hate an anime, I acknowledge that it still had effort                              put into it)

I do try to maintain a Gaussian Curve by periodically updating my Star Ratings with respect to new ones I add to the list.