A couple of school friends were obsessed with Bubblegum Crisis. It took a long time for them to get me to watch any anime – the Patlabor movie was the first thing I saw – but I'd been hearing them talk about it (and post on forums, and maintain Geocities fan pages, and draw and draw and draw) for so long that I was practically brainwashed by their enthusiasm.
And yet: it was years before I saw Bubblegum Crisis itself. 🤣 I think the first fansubbed series I got around to watching was a terrible DivX copy of Angelic Layer, which still has a place in my heart. (The first e-sports anime! CLAMP! A toy tie-in you'll wish could be real!)