Finding good anime... is tough. I rarely finish what I start.

But everyone here has made some pretty solid recommendations (except maybe Gun x Sword and Blood+ – below average, that, though I admit Blood+'s opening were cool).

I think it's easier just to list anime to stay away from.

Naruto
Bleach
Dragonball (if you haven't already seen it, don't bother)
One Piece (manga only)
Inuyasha
Lucky Star
Full Metal Alchemist (I did watch this to the end, and it has some high points, like some pretty good characters, but it's pretty mediocre despite it)
Akagi (j/k, watch this, immediately)

Pretty much, if it's aired on Cartoon Network, you can probably stay away from it and be alright (though personally, I suggest you try Ruroni Kenshin, subs, if possible).

If you're interested in manga, here are some pretty good, less than obvious ones...

http://www.onemanga.com/Angel_Densetsu/ (fun idea, lags since it's so long, but I thoroughly enjoyed this)
http://www.onemanga.com/Hunter_X_Hunter/ (lags in the beginning, you'll doubt you'll care for this initially, but it's different)
http://www.onemanga.com/Vagabond/ (at points, it gets annoying by abandoning the protagonist, but otherwise enjoyable)
http://www.onemanga.com/Vinland_Saga/ (you will thank me)
http://www.onemanga.com/Mx0/ (pretty good stuff here. Protagonist can't use magic and is stuck in a magic school. He fibs his way through everything. Unfortunately, it got ax'd (it was popular too, no one knows why they decided to cut it). Read if you have spare time, it's pretty good despite the rushed ending)).

 

Mangas to check out.

Claymore.
My Balls.
No Bra. (IF you can find it in English. And links if you do, fucker.)


Animes?

Hmm. Love Trigun. Cowboy Bebop is still utterly awesome. Black Lagoon.

Not sure if they have an anime for Eyeshield 21 yet. if they do check that out. Hajime no Ippo, for certain. Girls Bravo is lulzy as fuck. The chick getting molested by octopus I had as an avatar is Girls Bravo.

Girlsaurus too. Air Gear.

OH! And another manga you HAVE to check out. Omanga scanlated it, check their IRC channel for it.

Sky High. Its utterly fucking awesome.

 

They do have Eyeshield 21 anime. It's up to like 50+ episodes by now. Hajime no Ippo is good stuff if you feel like watching 78 episodes of people punching each other in the face. Slayers and Ranma 1/2 are pretty good if you want some comedy with your fantasy and martial arts, respectively. One Piece's villains are some of the most bizarre I've ever had the pleasure of watching, but it's up to like 300 episodes by now.

Girlsaurus is an anime now? Awesome.

But the best anime that was ever and will ever be made: Azumanga Daioh. True story.

 

Azumanga Daioh is a good one. And Im pretty sure Girlsaurus has an anime... or maybe I'm mistaking it for something else.

One I forgot; The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. Its strange and lulzy all in one. Awesome.

Some old ones that I can remember...

Brain Power'd. Mecha anime, but its actually pretty awesome.

And if you can find Nazca, definitely check it out. Its about a group of two or three people who are re-incarnated Incan warriors. Fuck of a lot better than that sounds.

From Wiki

Sample of some of the artwork;



Also Martian Successor Nadesico is pretty awesome too.

 

Eyeshield 21's anime is very, very mediocre. Not nearly as fun, IMO, as the manga is. The anime just slows everything down too much. Football is meant to be fast. It is acceptable to have something short to have many panels, because the reader can still imagine it happening quickly. In the anime, a split second encounter can last up to eight minutes. It totally kills the flavor for me.

The manga, however, rules. I really wanna see how in the fuck it is going to end... it's going to have to go a whole nother season at this point...

 

Sometimes I am in the mood for simple entertainment, but not all of it is mindless television. There's plenty of high quality anime out there. Most of what's been mentioned in this thread are good examples.

 

Vash, a translated version of No Bra is on onemanga.com or you can download it from the Dynasty-Scans website.

I think the Slayers series is pretty good.

Also anyone who would enjoy Yakitate! Japan would also like Cooking Master Boy. It's the same idea, except about cooking in China.

 

This group is doing No Bra. It's up to chapter 11 so far. I added the OneManga link to the series below for those who are too lazy to download it. The recommendation is wholeheartedly seconded.

http://dynasty.evalpowar.com/
http://www.onemanga.com/No_Bra/

EDIT: I need to read.

I'll avoid giving recommendations, since my tastes are fairly offbeat, and I don't watch a huge amount of anime to begin with, compared to its paper and ink counterpart. I don't see how anyone could not like Paranoia Agent though, of those already recommended. If you watch any one of the series from this thread, let it be that one.

 

Really? Where?

Surprised I didn't think of this earlier, why don't you watch some of the other stuff that Gorō Taniguchi (the director of both Code Geass seasons) has directed? This is a fairly easy way to find new and cool stuff, just follow the directors.

 

I'm kind of surprised that (Gambling Apocalypse/Ultimate Survivor) Kaiji hasn't been mentioned yet.
Although I was happy Akagi was in here. KAIJI IS MOE!!!11!!!! <3

Anyway; obligatory list time:

Serial Experiments Lain (Mind Fuck and a half)
Black Lagoon
Akagi (Gah, Majhong >_<)
Kaiji
Outlaw Star
Ghost In The Shell (And to a lesser extent, Real Drive also has my recommendation.)
Hellsing
Gurren Lagann
Cowboy Bebop


The Good But not Epic(In no particular Order):

Kamen no Maid Guy (Kogarashi makes the entire series worth putting up with)
Baccano!
The Skull Man(I'm referring to the most recent anime adaptation)
FLCL
Great Teacher Onizuka
Gantz(Barely made it on here)
Gankutsuou(The Count of Monte Cristo....In Spaaaaaaaaace)
Monster
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi
Pumpkin Scissors(The main character takes out Tanks with a handgun. Whats not to like? Oh, wait....)


This stuffs just off the top of my head, so most of it's from the last couple of seasons.

 

They do... at least 80 episodes... not exactly sure how many. Go to Crunchyroll.

Anyway... The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of URUK is epic but the end will piss you off.

Also to add to all the Outlaw Star hype... you had better fucking find and watch episode 24. Don't fucking skip it like Adult Swim did.

Yak... don't judge an anime by its first episode... especially D. Gray-man. When eventually you see scenes like this. This is awesome once you realize he just cut a person in half to land like that.

Anyway... I'd just like to add to a few recommendations here.

Genshiken(which I'd recommend after you've watched a lot of anime so you get the jokes). It'll also try to convince you that being an otaku is an ok thing. Gives false hope. No fucking way there are chicks that hot who are otaku.

TOKKO but watched the subbed not dubbed because the dubbed is shit.

Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twin are nice and fluffy for you. Onegai Twin is on the edge of twincest for the longest time.

X/1999 is a good anime.

Actually anything by CLAMP is pretty good...

Amatsuki is good but I can't find a dubber that runs at a decent speed.

Kyou Kara Maoh is good if you can stand gay things... at least there aren't any graphic scenes... or kissing for that matter... just the general attitude.

Buso Renkin... its by the same makers as Kenshin and its humorous.

Ju Oh Sei is a good anime but... a little nonsensical...

I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned Darker than BLACK yet...

Amaenaideyo and Amaenaideyo!! Katsu!! are humorous anime about a monk who gains superpowers by seeing chicks naked...

I'd recommend all the Gundams except the new one...

Mazinger and Mazinger Z are good series. I also recommend you watch the movie Mazinkaiser: Shitou! Ankoku Daishogun.

Other than that most things that were on Adult Swim were good. Besides Wolf's Rain, Inuyasha, and Blue Gender(epic fail).

Lucky Star I wouldn't recommend unless you know a lot about anime.

If anyone EVER mentions Vampire Knight to you ignore them immediately.

Ouran High School Host Club if you want more fluff.

Shakugan no Shana is good.

Karin is pretty funny.

Whoever say Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei I completely agree. (Main character is a guy who consistantly fails to kill himself.)

Other than that I agree with what most of the people here have already posted.

 

Favorite Anime

Escaflowne (the movie)
Blood: The Last Vampire (much better then +)
Slayers
Samurai 7
Outlaw Star
Cowboy Bebop
all of the Full Metal Panic releases (the novels are ten times better though)
Nadesico (movie was awesome)
Gundam Wing
Trigun
Hellsing (ultimate)
Black Lagoon
Akira
Rozen Maiden (the manga is better)
Ghost in the Shell (the movie)
Kami Kazi (manga)
Those who hunt Elves
Afro Samurai
Excel Saga
Venus Wars (old anime)
M. D. Guist (another old anime that Vash would like)
Devil Hunter Yoko (old anime)
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Origin
anything by Miyazaki
FLCL
Key the Metal Idol (old anime)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor (only seen OAV)

Anime that was pretty good

E's Otherwise (didn't really live up to its potential)
Blood+ (not as good as the movie)
Bleach (mindless ass kicking is fun to watch)
Genshiken (funny but got kinda boring)
Elfen Lied
FMA
Love Hina

Anime that fails

DN Angel
Tokyo Underground
Ninja Nonsense
Kiddy Grade
Inuyasha
Blood Trinity (I'm probably going to get flamed for this)
Raine: The Conquerer
Any of the .Hack anime

There are probably a bunch that I haven't listed, but thats what comes to mind right off the bat.

Sadly as anime grows more and more popular it gets harder to find quality anywhere.

 

Did Kamen no Maid Guy and the second season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ever get completed by their fansubbers? I've never seen more than the raws of the later episodes.

Also: The Tower of Uruk is gonna have a second season, so they'll clear up that crap ending.

 

​

They finished Zoku if I remember correctly, but Kamen no Maid Guy's only up to 9 of 12 unfortunately.

 

It's not an anime series, but the anime bit in Kill Bill is pretty cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URNEy3zT9kk

I don't watch anime personally, but if there was an anime series with artwork as good as the above, without all the stupid anime things like sweatdrops, with a decent story, set in a good world, and involving magic, then I'd watch it.

So I'm pretty much looking for Harry Potter in anime form, with amazing artwork and animation.

Unfortunately, this has not yet occurred. Thus I do not watch anime. Black Lagoon is the closest I've got to being interested, but even that only lasted for one episode.

 

.....I blame my inner nerd for doing this but someone pointed out that Fate/Stay Night anime was no good in his opinion.....which is undestandable if you only watch the anime, as it takes one of several routes from the original game and mixes in things from different routes and so on....

The game however is quite simply epic and awesome in digital form. Short of the sweatdrops it would even fit with Taure's description.

And I apologize if someone already mentioned it but I would nominate Baccano.

 

CBA to read every single suggestion, sorry for repeats.

Dragonball+Z - ITS OVER 9000!
Darker than Black - Haven't watched that myself, but got good reviews from my friends.
Cowboy Bebop - Best intro music ever?
Samurai Champloo - Lol sunflowers and gay dutch people
Samurai Jack - Not strictly anime, but I still love it.
Full Metal Alchemist - Mmm... metal people.
Bleach - Lots of asskicking with huge swords.

EDIT: And Black Lagoon.

 

Fuck yes. That is all.