Anime: the 'cartoon' version. Manga: the 'comic book' version.
My anime addiction came in an innocent enough way. Cartoon Network was doing "Adult Swim" and on Saturday night, in the line-up was Inu Yasha, Yu-Yu Hakusho and Cowboy Bebop. I was hooked! Inu Yasha was by far my favorite as I have never been into gun fights and flying about in space, or in supernatural demonic plots. Everything was put on hold so that I would be home by midnight Saturday and not miss a single episode. That worked for several weeks, but our natural need to roam kicked in and I went camping and missed 2 weeks in a row.
My husband casually suggested I check to see if I could download them. That was all it took, I had all 87 episodes out at that time within a matter of weeks. To balance out the manner in which I obtained the anime, I bought the manga in Japanese and I have bought other translated anime from Viz, but Inu Yasha really should only be watched in the original Japanese with fan-subtitled English across the bottom. I later bought the translated manga, though I prefer to muddle through the Japanese version as the translated version pictures are reversed.
My next anime addiction was Fruits Basket. Excellent little story about a girl and her animal friends. LOL, Actually it is set in modern-day Japan and is a very complex and still-going manga about a girl, Tohru who lost her mother and was living in a tent until her Grandfather's house was repaired. She runs into Shigure one morning on her way to school and sees him setting out the 13 zodiac animals that he has painted on stones to dry. She discovers Yuki, a classmate, lives with Shigure, who is is cousin. They walk to school together and that night she returns to her tent and is discovered by Shigure and Yuki who are walking home from town. She is very sick, so they take her home with them and she ends up living with them, after the appropriate amount of delay and plot twists.
I have not looked into it at all, but it seems that in Japan, not only do colds hit very suddenly, but they are very serious and require a good bit of drama.
The anime for Fruits Basket is 26 episodes long, following the manga in a basic way, but the manga is MUCH better. The English version of the manga is now available in the U.S.
A similar 'girl' anime that I really enjoyed was Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou or Kare Kano. Again, 26 episodes long, it seems they ran out of funding before finishing. It is still a very sweet and wonderfully done series. It captures falling in love so well, I was staring at the back of my husband's head thinking I needed some wooing after watching the series. The manga is still on-going and has gotten in pretty deep, following the characters all the way through high school.
I have seen:
*movie the rest are series
Love Hina
3x3 Eyes
Inu Yasha
Fruits Basket
Kare Kano
Cowboy Bebop
Wolf's Rain
Spiral
Scrapped Princess
Witch Hunter Robin
Last Exile
Those Who Hunt Elves I and II
Final Fantasy Unlimited
*Grave of the Fireflies
The Mermaid Series
Neon Genesis Evangelion
*Metropolis
*Kiki's Delivery Service
*Spirited Away
*Laputa (Castle in the Sky)
*Ghost in the Shell
*The Cat Returns
*Princess Mononoke
*Narissica and the Valley of the Wind
*Porco Rosso
And I have to mention my first 'Japanese cartoon'
love-Monster Rancher. : )