It's a long story, but... i basically noclipped past the mainstream dubbed children's gateway anime directly from "American cartoons" to "anime that isn't on television." I didn't grow up with Pokemon, or Sailor Moon, or anything on Toonami. I didn't watch them until I was already an adult, actually. No, my first middle school anime was...
...Ok, one of them was Yugioh, but specifically the "season zero" anime that never got localized, which I went straight to via the gateway of Yugioh Abridged. That's right, I never watched Duel Monsters proper - not the 4kids dub, not the fansubs. I figured LittleKuriboh was "abridging" those card battles for a good reason, and I also found Duel Monsters just kind of ...ugly, in a boring way, compared to Season Zero's softer hair and faces, its more saturated colors, its deep dark shadows and painted skies.
But my other first anime was Princess Tutu, because it was uploaded onto the same youtube account that I watched Danny Phantom and Avatar on, and someone on Livejournal recommended it for people who enjoyed The Last Unicorn.
People compare it to Utena, sometimes, but I find that pretty much always makes people who watched Utena first become disappointed with the show when they finally watch it. Frankly, I understand some of that disappointment, because there are ways in which Tutu... augh, I don't know how to put it conscisely. Just know that I'm far more frustrated with Rue and Mytho's "happy ending" than Duck and Fakir's "bittersweet ending."
But when I watch other magical girl anime aimed at the same age demographic, from the 2000's, I definately remember why Princess Tutu is considered a masterpiece of the genre - at least in western anime geek spaces; I have always gotten the vague feeling that it is not as strongly remembered among magical-girl-anime otaku in Japan, but I have no idea how true that feeling is.
There doesn't seem to be much activity for the show in the tag. But I'd love to talk to people about it. Please, comment on this post if you'd like to converse about it.