My first exposure to anime (though I didn't know it by that name) was in the late 80s/early 90s I was 8 or so and I would generally get to rent a movie from the local shop each weekend. I can't remember what exactly they were at the time but I imagine they were dubbed mecha anime such as Macross/Robotech or Voltron or similar. I can't imagine my middle-of-nowhere rental shop having anything particularly rare or interesting back then, but I loved whatever I was watching at the time.
Early 90s and getting more interested in console gaming I was finding that many of the games I liked originated in Japan and I started connecting the dots and seeing the influences. Around this time Sailor Moon was on TV every morning, along with Samurai Pizza Cats and I enjoyed both, though still wasn't associating them with the term "anime".
Later on mid 90's I think it was the then SciFi channel had a week every summer dedicated to japanese animation, I remember seeing the Fatal Fury movie there, and I think Armitage III and similar stuff. Somewhere around then I went to EPCOT on a family trip and the Japan pavilion there had a large store with a variety of stuff I had never seen before (my first exposure to gunpla), and subbed/dubbed official VHS releases could be found at local stores like Media Play and Suncoast. At some point Toonami started. Still played mostly Japanese games, got into JRPGs with PS1, and somewhere around there it coalesced. Later on I studied Japanese in college.
I don't watch much anymore because young kids/work/life in general takes up most my time. Been picking up most of the Gundam BDs, which have mostly been good. Surprised so much makes it to Netflix.
