Thought the Street Fighter Movie (except for the HORRIBLE grunge dub of the soundtrack) and the Fatal Furys were better than SFV, myself. Mostly cause Geese and Krauser were cool. 
Berserk: Amazing series, despite the sub-par first episode and gawdawful opening song. But for the record, Guts is pretty obviously both the intention and the actual pronunciation of the main characters name, in the long anime tradition of western names that aren’t quite names. (Roy DeVice? Mint Rubble?) If we’re going to change it to sound cool, we can defiantly do better. How about Goetz, with a scary German accent?
Actually despite the fact it was a late-night anime series, some of the darker stuff from the comic that was cut out of the series. Gambino sold Kid Guts for a night to that giant bald guy from one of the flashbacks, which is presumably why he can’t stand to be touched for the first half of the series. And that weird spirit that warns him of danger in the beginning? Well that’s . . . no, that’s too big a spoiler.
People who only measure quality of animation by weather it’s done in the twos should be forced at gunpoint to watch this show. Not only are the character designs VERY complex and colorful, (anime characters almost always have five to seven times as many colors as western animated characters) they’re constantly changing clothes, hairstyles, and equipment. (Guts goes through four swords throughout the series. They’re all different, two only very slightly)
There are whispers of Berserk 2 floating around in pre-production. Pray very hard.
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: A fairly unpopular early-to-mid-80s robot show, with very realistic (think Heavy Gear) mecha. Arguably the most influential SF, defiantly the most influential Robot show ever, with except maybe for the original Gundam. It’s all plot. No filler, no character episodes, just plot. Well, and a little competent but not particularly well directed action. Little bits and pieces of VOTOMs are still showing up in SF shows today, and ideas it played with and discarded are explored in almost every robot show since. (What, you surely didn’t think a genetically engineered albino mech pilot with a disturbing fixation on the hero and an inability to relate to people was ORIGINAL? :))
Almost unheard of by western fans, who were understandably reluctant to pick up a crudely animated 80s show with no nostalga value and ugly character designs with so many flashier shows available. And it’s a hard series to love. Only a couple of characters are even vaguely likeable, and it’s worldview is utterly grim. And with no character episodes, all the characters seem shallow. The most realistic mechs ever.
I did like it better than it’s 90’s upgrade, Gakarasi, though.
Devil Lady: An update of breasts-and-asskicking master Go Nagai’s signature story, Devilman, with the gender of the main character reversed. Combines excellent writing and good direction with the WORST monster designs ever. (where’s Yoshiki Takaya when you need him?) Contains the most fucked up main character ever. EVERY SINGLE relationship she has is based on thinly veiled sexual tension.
A disturbing power exchangy thing with the boss lady of the monster hunting division. A disturbing vaguely incestuous thing with her kohai roommate. A disturbing bitterness, resentment, and lust thing with her old schoolmate. Another disturbing power-exchangy thing with her professional rival. A kinda disturbing domme-y thing with her younger co-workers. An only slightly disturbing understated thing with her boss lady’s male bridge bunny. An at first not disturbing but ultimately borderline nc thing with a male devilman. A by-comparison-not-disturbing-at-all either potential or recently ended thing with her modeling boss. And that’s JUST IN THE FIRST 3 DISCS.
And despite all this, no one has actually consummated anything. (Well, the rival thing, but that doesn’t really count)
Makes the cast of Eva look like a mental health success story by comparison. The dubs not very good, though.
Macross Plus: Note to George Lucas. THIS is how you make a sequel to a beloved 20 year old show. Everything that made the original great, with a more mature storyline, more complicated characters, and spectacular animation.
Everything Sunrise consistently does right. Subtle direction (Well, subtle by anime standards. Subtle in an over-the-top way) fantastic music, just a bit larger-than-life characters, angst, spectacular dogfights and mech battles. And like most of the Sunrise shows, it’s very accessible to American audiences, even people who don’t watch anime. It even got a great dub, (the notable exception being the female lead, unfortunately) Getting hard to find, unfortunately, though the ‘movie cut’ got a fairly recent release. Though I liked the OAV version a bit better.
You’re Under Arrest: A lighthearted mid-90’s show about cute policewomen, that feels more like an 80s show for some reason, even down to the sorta-implied-but-never-quite-acknowledged lesbian overtones between the main characters. Made buy the same guy who did Oh My Goddess, so it somehow manages to be totally cute without causing saccrine nausea. Put out by AnimEigo, who I thought went out of business years ago, with a surprisingly good dub, though some of the slang is starting to sound dated. Very hard to find, though unless you go online.
His & Her Circumstances: Another gem from the insane basement-dwellers at Gainax. Eva was meant to be the giant robot show to end all giant robot shows, this is the high school romance to end all high school romances. And as of what I’ve seen (about the first half) I’d say it’s better, despite the fact it’s about a third ‘what happened last episode’ flashbacks.
Vandread: A fun, episodic space mech series. Uses the Sailor Marionette ‘Planet containing only one gender’ concept, but instead of having three girls surrounded by men, we have three guys surrounded by women. They follow the male Charlie’s Angel rule, one’s a whiny dip, ones an utter jerk, and ones incredibly cool. Might have more female character designs than any other show in history. Fun, (how can you NOT like a series who’s tagline is ‘WOMEN ARE MONSTERS!!’) but writing and continuity are REALLY sloppy. One of the characters’ romantic rival is an orangutan. Poor girl.
Key the Metal Idol: The best direction I’ve ever seen in an anime, possibly the best direction I’ve ever seen, period. Almost unheard of by fans, unfortunately. Vastly superior to the more popular Lain, in my opinion. Eva fans should definitely check it out.
Ruroni Kenshin: Take all the good parts from Ranma, add all the good parts of DBZ, a well done backstory, likable characters, great character designs, and put it all in an interesting historical context. The first season is fairly lighthearted episodic adventure and fighting, the second a considerably darker series of interconnecting story arcs. (Season 3 is best ignored completely) Contains some of the coolest villains and ‘rival’ characters ever. At times, it almost seems like a wrap-up for anime in general of the 90’s.
Oddly, the spectacularly animated and directed companion OAVs are MUCH darker, with no humor at all. Excellent as well, but in a different way, and not very ‘animelike’ at all.
Wow. Three pages. I really need to get a life.
‘Live action is no substitute for the real thing.’
Plus I liked the look back at Kurama’s previous incarnation. He’s such a hunny bunny 