Prior to September 2001, what were some of the best known animes available in English translation?

Question

I'm trying to avoid having to look through hundreds of fan sites by appealing to people who have been following manga and anime for a long time and have the knowledge off the top of their heads.

People keep on recommending certain ones to me (their personal favorites) but when I try to verify when they first came out, it turns out they were not published or translated into English until much more recent times.

So, if a non-Japanese speaking, English speaking person was interested in getting into manga and/or anime in September of 2001, what would be available to them?

Thanks for all serious answers.

31 JULY 07, 0600 hrs, GMT.

Answer 1

try these:
trigun
ranma 1/2
transformers 1984
rurouni kenshin
akira (movie)
ghost in the shell (movie)
my neighbor totoro (movie)
kiki's delivery service (movie)
gundam wing
dragon ball
dragon ball z
yu yu hakusho
pokemon
digimon
neon genesis evangelion
escaflowne
voltron

Answer 2

Trigun
Cardcaptor Sakura
The Vision of Escaflowne
Ranma1/2
Orphen
El Hazard: The Wanderers
El Hazard: The Magnificent World
Jiro
Cyborg 009
Yu Yu Hakusho
Rurouni Kenshin
Outlaw Star
Akira
Dragonball Z
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Lain Serial Experiments
Ayashi no Ceres
Fushigi Yugi
Scyred
Fulmetal Alchemist
Saiyuki

Answer 3

There's a lot but I'm going a few I think you might like that are really popular:

Rurouni Kenshin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurouni_Kenshin

Cowboy Bebop
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=13

Princess Mononoke
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=197

Grave of the Fireflies
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=152

Neon Genesis Evangelion
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=49

Vision of Escaflowne
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=240

Berserk
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=328

Serial Experiments Lain
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=166

Hellsing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellsing

Robotech
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=71

Vampire Hunter D
http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,337,nhkjcy,vampire_hunter_.html

All of the titles above are both anime and manga. Try reading the manga first because it always comes before the anime.
There's so much more new anime series nowdays comparing to the past that it's hard to watch all of them. It's interesting how you like watching the older shows whereas most people just look at the newest anime shows that haven't even been translated. I should have answered this questions sooner Thanks for asking. ^^

Also if you're interested look at these sites with top anime/mangas:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/ratings-manga.php?top50=best_bayesian
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/ratings-anime.php?top50=best_bayesian
http://www.animenfo.com/statistic/top.php?type=anime