For me, I never really differentiated "anime" from "American cartoons" when I was younger; I really enjoyed both. I watched and loved Digimon, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc. without knowing that they were anime. When Inuyasha started up on TV, along with Gundam SEED and Witch Hunter Robin, I got a taste of "real" anime - by real, I mean non-Americanized. That was back in 2003-2004 ish and since then I've been completely hooked!