Let's start at the beginning with the very first Anime show I have ever watched and became a fan of. The year is 1996 and I happen upon Sailor Moon early in the morning, preparing for school and actually looking for the morning news. Serena and Luna (her talking cat) had me from the first episode, although not the series premiere.
Sailor Moon centers around Serena, a middle school student with blonde hair and blue eyes, who I always assumed was an American, which was part of the allure. Serena is a sailor soldier that fights evil villians, guided by her wise talking cat Luna. The Serena/Luna relationship definitely gave some Sabrina/Salem vibes at a time when Sabrina the teenage witch was at it's height.
We are soon introduced to Sailor Moon's 4 Sailor Soldiers. Each with a unique personality, power, and uniform color. We see our gang attend school, grow together and fight increasingly dangerous dark forces. Then when Serena is in high school we are introduced to Tuxedo Mask, her love interest. I don't want to give too much away, but expect great writing along with multiple plot twists which made Sailor Moon one of my favorites.
Around the same time, I remember my younger brother watching Pokémon and DragonBall Z. I would consider both geared to a younger audience and he had his own reasons for liking them. Including the story line, action scenes, interactive nature of Pokémon cards. Anime in general is a very broad term to describe Japanese animated shows and movies. What I think we can agree on is the Japanese invasion began with Power Rangers.
