Ah, c’mon, KK–dubs can be hilarious, especially when the censors have been at work. 
Last year I played in a fantasy LARP game on a team possessed by the Tenchi Muyo characters (I, the big, hairy male, played Washu-chan). One of the NPCs made the mistake of giving us tea, and we all got roaring drunk. After all, the “tea” in the Cartoon Network version of Tenchi gets them drunk…
I just went to the local arthouse theatre, & saw the anime version of Metropolis.
WONDERFUL!
Art Deco backgrounds, mixed with things that could come from modern Tokyo.
Life & Death, compassion vs. the heartlessness of power politics, innocence & awareness.
And, hope.
Go see it on the big screen. Anime in a theatre is mind-blowing! 
I suspect our taste in anime differs a bit, but here goes, Gr8Kat:
Slayers is a complete riot, very funny stuff.
I’ll second Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki is God.
I don’t like the original Vampire Hunter D very much, but Bloodlust I really enjoyed. It’s worth seeing for the art direction alone, and I found the story involving enough.
Evangelion is great stuff, just be warned that a little moody is an understatement. It gets pretty heavy, but brilliant work nevertheless.
There’s a Ruruoni (however the heck you spell it) Kenshin OAV called Samurai X that I like a lot. Again, very heavy, but a good story.
Stuff that I’ve been forcibly unimpressed with:
I saw some rendition of Armitage III: the third that was laughable. Animation was decent, but the dubbing was so heavy-handed (and the story was fairly silly) that I couldn’t take it seriously. Lots of anime isn’t meant to be serious, but this one evidently was trying to be.
Anything with the words Dragon Ball in it’s title. Feh.
I dunno, the original Dragon Ball was quite cute and quite funny, often in an exaggerated Loony Tunes kind of way if you like cartoony violence and explosions and whatnot. Even the butchered/censored English release managed to retain a lot of the humor. To each their own, I guess.
(Oh, and in the original script it wasn’t her belly button that Kamesennin wanted to see. 
)
I think the closest word we have in English to the idiomatic translation of “otaku” (literally “fan”) is “troll,” and I would never want to admit that it was a big smelly blob of yuck that wallowed in his own filth, lived under bridges, and ate small children…
… but yeah, those guys are all over Project A-kon.
Yeah, can you say “yuck?”
I think it’s time we blow this scene. Get everybody [and] their stuff together…
If you like Cowboy Bebop, you’ll love Lupin III. Good luck finding it, though. Say, do you live in Canada? Maybe you ca find Lupin dubbed and edited as Cliff Hanger…
I do like Big O, even if the animation reminds me too much of the WB’s Batman: Beyond. Want retro giant robot action? Check out Giant Robo.
Mobile Suit Gundam is the premier giant-robot-as-a-vehicle series. It has lasted longer and through more iterations than any other series in Japan, inluding Macross.
The thing you have to realize about Gundam is that it’s so much more than “destroy the giant robot of the week,” although if all you get to see is Gundam Wing, you might not think so.
The political situation of the Gundam universe is very intense - there are some clearcut heroes and villains, but for the most part, everybody is pretty sure they’re on the right side, whether they’re Neo-Zionists or Federals.
If you want to see a good Gundam series that paints this perfectly, check out Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. It’s only six episodes long, but in a nutshell, it wll show you everything I’ve just explained.
To paraphrase Crow T. Robot, “This series is like Gunbuster, only, it isn’t very good.”
If you want to see humanity fight using giant robots in a desperate struggle with weirdo aliens, you must see Studio Gainax’s Gunbuster! Aim for the Top! After you thoroughly enjoy that series, you can watch Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Blue Sub No. 6 is great, although I get the feeling the movie glosses over so much of what the manga was supposed to be about. If you’re a fan of the magical/supernatural stuff, see if you can’t find Silent Moebius or Gate Keepers somewhere.
Well, if you want to be a really authentic otaku, you need to grow your hair and beard long, bulk up to 300+ pounds, and stop bathing. That should be a good start.
Seriously, though, if I were you, I’d check out the following:[ul][]I’ll second Drastic’s recommendation for Lupin III and the Castle of Cagliostro. It’s the best animated movie ever made, bar none. Like I said, if you like Cowboy Bebop, you should warm up to Lupin pretty quickly.[]Patlabor: The Mobile Police is another fine film, but the second movie and the series are just so-so.[]Sol Bianca is a great film, but the sequel and the series (“Sol Bianca: The Legacy”) are completely utterly awful![]Bubblegum Crisis is good; I hear the new series is just as good as the original, but I find that hard to believe.[]Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is Miyazaki’s best original work - I’d say it beats Mononoke hands-down. He also directed Castle of Cagliostro, but I need to disqualify it because those aren’t his characters.[]If you like totally weird stuff, give FLCL a try. This six-episode miniseries is as bizarre as they come, but it’s absolutely hilarious![/ul]I’d also advise reducing your exposure to Dragonball and Sailor Moon. Try and lay off the Card Captor Sakura as well - too many sweets and you could wind up in shock.
Oh yeah… here’s the correct link to Project A-kon.
Most of the series I’ve liked have been mentioned. But I didn’t see Martian Successor Nadesico.
Its a great series that mostly pokes fun at all those mecha shows. But that aside from that its an enjoyable watch.
As for what to avoid:
Big Wars. A friend loaned that to another friend and I and it was just hideous. I have no recollection of the plot, I probably blocked it out. I just have a vague memory of wondering who greenlighted that flick and if they had been subsequently dragged out in the street and shot.
You know, there is another hamster anime show you should be aware of. Oruchuban Ebichu was produced by Gainax studios, one of the best studios in anime, responsible for Wings of Honeamise, Neon Genesis Evangelion and others, but I doubt this show will ever be seen in America. Unless maybe Richard Gere is secretly an anime fan and decided to put some of his funds into the translation.
You know, there is another hamster anime show you should be aware of. Oruchuban Ebichu was produced by Gainax studios, one of the best studios in anime, responsible for Wings of Honeamise, Neon Genesis Evangelion and others, but I doubt this show will ever be seen in America. Unless maybe Richard Gere is secretly an anime fan and decided to put some of his funds into the translation.
Awww…there’s nothing wrong with CCS! It’s not that adorably sweet, at least once you get into the second major story arc.
Besides, it pales in comparison to the sugary cuteness that is Hamtaro. It could only be cuter if Hamtaro’s eyes truly took up his entire face.
jessica
Oh, I should mention this before anybody else does and gets the credit for it.
FLCL (aka, Furi Kuri, or the “please let that be a typo” version, Fooly Kooly).
It’s coming out on DVD sooner or later, but should still be readily available in fansub form.
It’s wacky, it’s weird, the animation looks funny (but really cool), and the characters are all on crack (think Evangelion-lite), but it’s one of the most entertaining things I’ve watched in ages. 6 eps, btw.
I know it been mentioned once, but check out Trigun. Its funny, adventurous, and along with Bebop and Outlaw Star makes up the Holy Trilogy of Anime Westerns.
Sorry, KKBattousai, but if you scroll up, you see I beat ya to it!
What I need now, though, is to find the FLCL soundtrack; I especially like the song at the end by The Pillows. I’ve scoured my local anime/import shops… maybe I need to take this search on-line…
A cowboy? Oh, come on. At least if he were dressed like a samurai it would be believable.
I’d like to second (third? fourth?) everyone who suggested Neon Genesis Evangelion – my favourite series. It’ll be a lot easier to understand, though, if you pick up a beginner’s book on the psychology of Carl Jung, though. And Sigmeund Freud. You might also want to brush up on your theology. And mythology. Biology. Theoretical physics.
I prefer my animé deep and/or twisted. Fitting into this category, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Serial Experiements Lain, and Angel Sanctuary. I love CLAMP’s manga, but they tend to be really bad at pulling off animé – the animation is great, but they either squeeze the story into a short movie – like X – or they forget to finish a series – like Tokyo Babylon and RG Veda. I’d still recommend these two. CLAMP is sort of the Anne Rice of Japanese animation – usually very Gothy and homoerotic.
I also liked the original 4 episodes of Vampire Princess Miyu. And the excellent YAOI Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki, which is only available in fansub. I recently saw a dub of something called Strawberry Eggs that was very funny.
Worst animés?
I’ve never seen worse than Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, though both Legend of the Overfiend and Boku no Sexual Harassment (imagine Ed Wood directing gay porn) came pretty close.
I have a love-hate relationship with Fushigi Yuugi. It’s like heroin – it’s addictive, it’ll take over your life, it’s very artificial, and when it’s over, you’ll wonder “What was I thinking?!”
I’d like to second (third? fourth?) everyone who suggested Neon Genesis Evangelion – my favourite series. It’ll be a lot easier to understand, though, if you pick up a beginner’s book on the psychology of Carl Jung, though. And Sigmeund Freud. You might also want to brush up on your theology. And mythology. Biology. Theoretical physics.
I prefer my animé deep and/or twisted. Fitting into this category, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Serial Experiements Lain, and Angel Sanctuary. I love CLAMP’s manga, but they tend to be really bad at pulling off animé – the animation is great, but they either squeeze the story into a short movie – like X – or they forget to finish a series – like Tokyo Babylon and RG Veda. I’d still recommend these two. CLAMP is sort of the Anne Rice of Japanese animation – usually very Gothy and homoerotic.
I also liked the original 4 episodes of Vampire Princess Miyu. And the excellent YAOI Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki, which is only available in fansub. I recently saw a dub of something called Strawberry Eggs that was very funny.
Worst animés?
I’ve never seen worse than Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, though both Legend of the Overfiend and Boku no Sexual Harassment (imagine Ed Wood directing gay porn) came pretty close.
I have a love-hate relationship with Fushigi Yuugi. It’s like heroin – it’s addictive, it’ll take over your life, it’s very artificial, and when it’s over, you’ll wonder “What was I thinking?!”
The definitions are pretty fluid. Originally, YAOI just refered to sex, but now it’s pretty much used as a catch-all category.
Shounen ai is a lot more common in mainstream animé than actual sex. But a lot of these romances get called YAOI anyway.
Male/male romance is very often censored from English translations, though the fans usually figure it out. There’s probably only two people left on the planet who’ve seen Sailor Moon and who don’t know that Zoicite was a man in the original, not a woman.
Most fans of YAOI are women, so I get some funny looks as a gay guy going to YAOI-related events. When I went to the YAOI panel discussion at Animenorth last weekend, the girls there kept asking me if I had the wrong room
When “deep and twisted” is equivalent to “causes your brain to be removed from your head, lightly sauteed with garlic and shallots, and finished with a white wine sauce”. (In a good way of course.)
Well, a white wine sauce might be fine for Angel Sanctuary, maybe. But I insist on red for Lain 
I watched Lain with my boyfriend. We couldn’t take more than three episodes in a sitting without breaking our brains. Eventually we had to cut down to two. I think he’s blocked out all memory of it. I just feel dizzy when I remember the series.
In other words, I loved it
I watched it one disk at a time the first time through. Then, three weeks later a party, we watched it ALL AT ONCE. FOUR HOURS OF LAIN. JESUS CHRIST. Most of us were gibbering incoherently by the end of it. One of us even cried in frustration. The host, of course, just looped the “Present day, present time” segment repeatedly until we fled. It was glorious. 
I watched it one disk at a time the first time through. Then, three weeks later a party, we watched it ALL AT ONCE. FOUR HOURS OF LAIN. JESUS CHRIST. Most of us were gibbering incoherently by the end of it. One of us even cried in frustration. The host, of course, just looped the “Present day, present time” segment repeatedly until we fled. It was glorious.