There was such a limited number of anime released on VHS that all of us that were fans then tended to have seen the same things, so conversations naturally went to Akira and Vampire Hunter D and Bubblegum Crisis and Ninja Scroll and Hellsing and so on.

Unless you had connections to the VHS fansub scene, in which case you were able to get your hands on stuff no one you talked to had ever heard of. Except that it could take years for anyone to sub the next four episodes, because sub groups back then actually had to do their own translations from scratch, by ear, and then use an Amiga to burn the subtitles into the video.

(Also, Hellsing was DVD era—I’m not sure it was officially released on VHS, but I still have the DVDs.)