I think for me, it was actually my older brother that made me intrigued about it all.. Like a lot of younger siblings, I tended to follow him around and try really hard to like what he liked. (Though, when confronted about being a copy-cat, you just say "nuh uh! I've liked it for forever!" ) Anyways~ He was about 15-16 at the time, and was making his own comics and stories... And also watching a lot of different shows that I would try to watch with him. He was also really into Pokemon, especially the card game, which he tried to teach me and get me into, but I just never had much interest in it. He was actually the first person to buy me anything anime related. He got me my first Cardcaptor Sakura cards * 3 * And they were so pretty and my prized possessions.
After that, I pretty much self indulged until I joined my anime club at my school. I went to an all girls private school, so really no perverts at mine, I guess... Except maybe me ... Anyways, I started going to the anime sleepovers, where we would discuss manga, anime, games, etc. It was really nice because for a while I didn't really know anyone who liked Japanese culture. My parents thought it was strange, and my friends were more into sports, dudes and makeup. Lol... But I remember going to my first sleepover and we watched 'I my me! Strawberry eggs' all night
It was around that time that my little cousin, Rachel, got heavily involved in Japanese culture.. even more so than me. She is always telling me stories or teaching me things. She studied abroad in Japan and Germany... and she got offered a teaching position in Japan. But I think she turned it down for some reason.. Whatever the case, we spent a lot of time locked in her room watching a show or seeing who could finish a manga first. Good memories.
So, I guess it was always anime and my older brother and cousin