I started with Saber Rider back in the day not knowing that it actually was anime. It was when Sailor Moon aired when I really got into it. The next thing which actually showed what anime could be was when a private TV station aired Neon Genisis Evangelion in the middle of the night around the end of the 90s.
They aired it in a really weird way, though. Like every monday 5-6 episodes merged together into a movie for 6 weeks. They did this with a lot of classic anime (Lodoss War, Macross and more) for a few years. They were in japanese with subs, too. I really loved that time, monday nights was special because of it.
hnnng. Nostalgia hits me now. Dx