For me, I would have to say Inuyasha and Trigun.
I’d say Dragonball, for me at least. It had lots more characterization, humor and plot than DBZ. I’m also reading the manga.
A typical episode of DBZ would be a like this:
Goku: Hahaha, I have the power to destroy 5 planets when I power up to super ultra golden dosiosnsoksdkdoedko-asjhionashio mode!
::grunts and powers up while giant drops of sweat appear above face:
Kryllin: Haha, Goku! When I power up to super hasdokenryufireballripoff mode, I can destroy 6 PLANETS!!! HAHAHA!!!
::grunts and powers up while giant drops of sweat appear above face:
Cut to: FIreball being thrown from both hands
Then it shows Goku being blwon off into space
Goku reappaears
Goku: Haha, your puny effort failed to do anything
What will happen next? Find out next time in “Goku will never, ever be defeated by anyone. See ya next week”.
Suddenly, Kryllin shows Goku the one thing that he is afraid of…A NEEDLE!
I’m not much of an anime fan, but of the various series I’ve seen, my favorties are Lupin III and Ranma 1/2.
I also enjoyed Yu Yu Hakusho right up until the Dark Tournament series. Incredily long and, in my opinion, pointless storylines that are nothing but extended fight sequences are what turned me off Dragonball Z. Though I could certainly see that sort of thing going on in Yu Yu, I could handle it and was quite enjoying the show, but a 30+ episode story arc revolving around a fighting tournament? Blech.
I agree
Kaze to ki no uta (song of the wind and trees). But I don’t recommend it, because it’s a very particular taste.
???
Unless we’re talking about dubbed anime, I’ll go with Rurouni Kenshin.
And though exceedingly bishoujo, Fushigi Yugi does a remarkable job from a story-telling point of view. I mean one story spread over 52 episodes with no true “filler” episodes is really quite a feat.
Tenchi Muyo. Not Tenchi Universe or Tenchi in Tokyo, just Tenchi Muyo.
Oh, and hey, a slight highjack, has anybody here seen anime more intense than the Now and Then, Here and There and Berserk series? My wife and I have rented quiet a few Anime tapes, and I can’t think of any that get more dark and brutal.
I am a huge Neon Genesis Evangelion fan. Is it the best? Well, heck. Are any of them? I also totally dig Trigun and Cowboy Bebop.
Must…Have…Giant…Robots…
The whole Robotech/Macross opus works for me.
Don’t get me started on what version/edition is best. It still confuses me.
Sure its appeal is mostly nostalgia, but that works too.
Robotech taught me that as long as the Earth has giant robots and teenagers to pilot them, we need not fear any aliens.
For romance OAV, “Ah My Goddess: the movie”
Comedy series: Ranma 1/2
Weird Sci-fi tear-jerker: Chobits
Best Soap Opera: Mysterious Play
Robots: Evangelion
Best Samurai Anime: Ninja Scroll
I’ve only seen a few, but Metropolis has everything I look for in a show!
My favorites have to be **Princess Mononoke ** and Fist of the North Star.
Bleh. I saw Metropolis, and it was all I could do to watch it to the end. Don’t get me wrong, I like most anime that I’ve seen. It was just something about the artistic style that really turned me off.
Oh, that’s fine. I admit it is a little bizarre, the hand-drawn Tezuka characters on the art deco cyber-noir CGI cityscapes, but that’s what I like about it, I think. I wouldn’t say it’s a culty love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing, but of course, there’s no film that everyone likes. 
Gasp X-Slayer’s in the Cafe Society Board? Well, you guys listen to good uncle X-Slayer, he apparently knows what’s good animé
My personal favourite is Orguss 02. This one has got everything: It’s nicely drawn, it has got interesting characters, cool mecha action, was the best anti-war movie I have ever seen (and I’ve seen them all, mind you) and a message to boot. Seriously, it doesn’t get better than Orguss 02.
I really liked Princess Mononoke, and look forward to seeing other films by this guy- I guess Disney owns US distribution, and they just released a few of his films.
I really liked Ninja Scroll and perhaps the most impressive anime I’ve seen so far is Blood, the Last Vampire.
As far as series goes…I still get a lump in my throat when I hear the Star Blazer’s theme song.
Someone recommended Cowboy BeBop to me, I guess they play it on Cartoon Network. I’ll have to check it out.
IIRC, episode 26 was a filler flashback episode.
But you’re right, and the last five or six episodes felt kind of jammed together to me. I would have liked the show to continue so that the later volumes of the manga would have gotten better treatment than they did in the OVA’s.
I’ve been watching anime for fifteen years and Now and Then, Here and There shocked me. The only thing I can think is directly comparable in raw emotion is some of the other more direct anti-war anime like Grave of the Fireflies. Brutal, but not the same kind of brutal. There’s moments in other anime series that approach that same kind of emotional intensity (a few episodes of Evangelion), but that show pushed the needle off the scale.
Comparable to the brutality of Beserk is a bit easier to do since I see moments like those come up all the time, though most shows don’t push the line constantly like Beserk did. Trigun (especially toward the end), Ruroni Kenshin (particularly the Kyoto arc and the OVA series), and Evangelion immediately jump to mind.
Thanks for answering my little hijack.
Also, as to this thread, I really liked the way The Heroic Legend of Arislan started, the first tape was excellent. The second tape, while not as good, was still pretty good, but the third tape, episodes 3 and 4, just plain sucked. So if it wasn’t for each episode getting worse than the last, Arislan would also be in my favorites.