Your Most Influential Anime

[KookyKonata]

There are a few for me, but I'll pull out 2 that come to mind right away. 

The first is Cardcaptors (as it was called in the states at the time). I remember being obsessed with it back when it was on every afternoon on Toonami, and would sprint home to watch it once I left the bus. This was well before I knew what "anime" was, and I loved how the main character would have a different outfit every episode unlike most cartoons of the time period. It really blew my mind. Pair that with the amazing character designs and fun "monster of the week" episodic format, it really set the bar high for me for a long time. I am still in love with the show today, some 26 or so years later. 

The second is the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The anime came at a pivotal time in my life. I had just graduated boot camp and had moved to my first base and was finally living on my own when I got the first DVD of it. The story grabbed me right away, and I was immediately immersed and wanted more. I watched that first DVD probably 8 or 9 times before finally getting the second one, then third, and so on. It filled a void in my life that I really needed at the time, and to this day it still hits hard for me. I wind up coming back to the series and the amazing movie at least once a year. 

[Unbroken Experiment]

Easily Dragon Ball Z since I was a kid growing up, some of the most impressionable years of a person's life. In particular, I always loved how Android 17 and Android 18 were just 2 siblings against the world. I suppose in particular that'd apply to The History of Trunks, but the story of that puts a fairly dark spin on their personalities. There's pros and cons to that, but it reminded me of how close my big sister and I were. That's what it felt like when she was still around. Sadly, she passed away in early 2008. Ever since then I've missed her like crazy, especially with every year passing by again and again. Now there's a hole in me that I can't seem to fill no matter how hard I try. Sorry, I'm straying off-topic. The most influential anime in my entire life has been DBZ. I dare say it might even be the reason I started standing up for myself when I was being bullied at school every day.