Ahh, anime's heyday. I remember borrowing Samurai Champloo on VHS from my friend around that time when I was in high school... good times!
Sure you’re not thinking of Cowboy Bebop?
I find it quite amusing what many people (including myself sometimes) have a pretty blurry memory about when we moved from VHS.
But I think it mostly contributes on what for some people VHS were a dominant media for quite a while, because they didn't had the means to see the digital media.
It's easier to understand what the first [commercially] successful DVD player was PlayStation 2, which became available ~2001. Before that DVDs were quite a costly[0] endeavour.
But at the same time people with the access to a computer (and a local 'everything for $15' totally-legit-shop) had the benefits of DivX ;) releases on a plain CD-ROMs, which every home computer had.
Some anecdata: I first seen Blade (1998) on VHS, but The Matrix (1999) on DivX rip, yet (I think) Spirited Away (2001) on VHS. I frequented a local VHS rental (because a friend worked there and so it places it up to 2002? 2001?) so I had seen a lot of films on VHS, but again, by 2002 it was a meme how people searching for XXX on DC++ got XXX (2002) instead.
[0] https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/your-1st-...