> Tonari no Totoro was the first anime I saw that I recognized as anime.
> (ie. I saw Robotech/Gatchaman/Speed Racer/Voltron back in the 80's, but I
> didn't know that they were classified as anime until later) Totoro still
> holds a place in my heart as one of my favorite movies.
> 
> AMG was the first manga I ever read. Isn't that swell? The first exposure
> I had to anime and manga was Miyazaki and AMG.

I really love Tonari no Totoro. It is to Japan what Winnie-the-pooh is to
England. It is even more all-appealing than AMG: I have shown my copy of
Totoro, in Japanese, no subtitles, to plenty of people, none of whom speak a
word of Japanese, and they still all love it. It's idyllic. There's no "bad
guy"; the crippling thing about American fiction in any media has always
been the need for a "baddie". (But I've had that argument here before, about
the AMG OVA vs manga. :)

My favourite anime/manga (sorry for being culturally insensitive but anyone
who objects to that lumping is being unrealistic) are AMG, Totoro and Maison
Ikkoku. I'm also very fond of Nausicaa and an American series called "Usagi
Yojimbo" by Stan Sakai.

Sam the man