Does anyone else remember how mind-blowingly awesome Blood: The Last Vampire was when it first came out? (the movie, not the series) I'm sure it looks extremely dated now, but at the time I'd never seen CGI and animation mixed like that. There's apparently a live action film coming out later this year, but it's in English and it doesn't have a Japanese person in the main role. I'm not sure why that bothers me, but it does.
I was living in Japan when Mononoke Hime came out. It was the highest grossing movie ever in Japan at the time. There was so much merchandise everywhere you looked. Posters, books, comics, toys, you name it. I actually bought it on VHS in Japan (yes, that's how long ago it was), and it was one of the first DVDs I purchased as well.
I agree that in general, the Japanese track with subtitles makes a considerable more amount of sense. The English dubs usually feel like they have to make some ridiculous voice or over react to the "freak out" moments in Japanese animation, which always kinda kills it for me.