Figured a thread where we can name Animes we recommend or ones that we don't advise people to watch would be fun.

Animes I highly recommend:

Angelic Layer - Oh my god is this anime funny and fun. The story revolves around a junior high student named Misaki Suzuhara who joins in the popular Angelic Layer game. It involves a Deus (controller) and their Angel (a "doll"), which they control and use to fight each other. It's 26 episodes and overall it is very light hearted and upbeat throughout. I've watched it through twice and I've currently been catching the dub eps on Anime on Demand. The dub is okay but I recommend the original more. Great characters, excellent story, very good soundtrack and lots of humor, this is a great Anime to watch if you want something fun and that isn't too serious.

Chrno Crusade - Now on the opposite end of the spectrum there's Chrno Crusade (not to be confused with the Chrono Trigger/Cross games). The show starts off relatively upbeat, the first episode is mostly comedy and unfortunately does not set up the story very well. However with each progressing episode the show gets a lot darker, though it still adds some very welcome comedic moments that give you a good laugh when you need it. It's 24 episodes and once you get into the later parts it gets VERY dark. The ending is incredibly sad but I highly recommend watching this as the story is phenomenal, the characters are fantastic and the soundtrack is great.

Gungrave - Based on the PS2 game, this anime is incredible. It is very serious throughout all of its 26 episodes with barely any jokes (you can count them on one hand). The show is centered around two young men: Brandon Heat and Harry McDowell. Both start out as street punks but soon join a massive crime syndicate, Brandon as a hitman and Harry as a behind the scenes planner. The plot is incredibly well written and even though it may seem slow at times, stick with it because when there are action scenes they simply kick ass. Though this is from the same guy who created Trigun you really can't tell except for some of the character designs. The story and characters are nothing like those in Trigun so those who didn't care for Trigun should still check this out.

Love Hina - A great Romantic Comedy anime that will have you almost falling out of your seat laughing, yes, it's that funny. The story starts with a young man named Urashima Keitaro who made a promise with a girl 15 years ago that they would both get into Tokyo University together...he is one of the lowest scoring people in the area. After failing, again, he is summoned to his grandmother's Inn to find out that it is an All-girls dormitory and he is needed as the manager. The show is 24 episodes (I think, it might be 25), with a Christmas Special, a Spring Special and then three larger "episodes" under the title "Love Hina Again." Personally I like the original parts more than Love Hina Again due to some of the weird plot points and different animation style but it does finish the story. The music is well done too (the intro song is very funny). I highly recommend watching this as it is just too damn funny.

Fullmetal Alchemist - A very well done Anime that spans 51 episodes with very few filler or wasted episodes. The story mainly revolves around Edward and Alphonse Elric, two young alchemists who are searching for the Philosopher's Stone. They are searching for it because after an attempt at bringing back their mother through alchemy Ed lost his right arm and left leg while Al lost his entire body and is now a living suit of armor. The show has its share of comedy and drama and it also has some very cool action scenes as well. The characters are well done and story will keep you on the edge of your seat the farther you get. There is also a Movie which is a sequel and is also very good as well.

One Piece - Okay, this is a GIANT anime (I think it's at over 270 episodes now) but from what I've seen so far (I just finished watching episode 61) it is VERY good. DO NOT judge this based on the terrible dub, 4Kids raped this anime very badly. The original Japanese version is very good so watch that instead. The story starts off introducing Luffy D. Monkey, a young man who wants to become the Pirate King by finding the infamous treasure: One Piece. It is soon shown that Luffy is not a normal person, he ate one of the legendary "Devil's Fruit" which turned him into a rubber man. He can stretch his body to great lengths and he is incredibly strong...as well as very simple minded at times. The story is very good and the main characters are very likeable and cool as well. Roronoa Zoro is my favorite of the group, he wields three katanas: two in his hands and the other between his teeth. Though it is very long and there are movies too I definitley recommend it if you are willing to dedicate yourself to watching a long anime.

Fooly Cooly/Furi Kuri/FLCL - A very short (6 episodes) but very funny and very wacky Anime. If you want a good laugh and want to see some crazy animation check out FLCL. The music is also VERY good and I highly recommend buying the soundtracks as well. Also, the Dub is incredibly well done with extremely good voice actors that are on par and sometimes better than the original Japanese ones. It's short, it's sweet, give it a shot.

Cowboy Bebop - Do I really need to say anything? The show is very popular and for good reason, it is very well written and very cool. It focuses on a group of bounty hunters who really don't get that much bounty. But the characters are very interesting and the actual story episodes are incredible. The soundtrack is amazing as well and I also recommend seeing the movie too.

Animes I either don't recommend or I am on the fence with:

Ranma 1/2 - This is another long anime, over 100 episodes, 2 movies and 13 OVAs. This show kind of rotates between really good and terrible. There are some extremely good episodes but a lot of them aren't until Season 5. The show centers on Ranma Saotome, a young martial artist who carries a curse that makes it so whenever he is splashed with cold water he turns into a red haired girl. He got this way because he fell into a cursed spring in China, along with his father, who turns into a Panda. Ranma, due to the meddling of his father and his father's old friend Soun Tendo, is forced into an engagement with Soun's youngest daughter Akane. The problem with this? These two do not get along at all. There are A LOT of characters in this show but a lot of them don't get very much screen time, plus there are some that are just f*cking annoying as hell. The major problems I have with this anime are these:
1: There is almost NO character development except in the VERY late episodes and OVAs (mainly in the OVAs) and even then it's not enough. It is evident by the second season that Ranma and Akane like each other but neither admits it.
(Okay the next part is a spoiler that will make or break your want to see this)


2: There is NO ENDING. NOTHING is resolved at the end of the show or at the end of the OVAs. No one ends up together and nobody is ever cured of their curses. This is a huge disappointment due to the long length of the series.
3: A lot of the characters are either too annoying or you just don't give a damn about them. Of the side characters the best one is Ryoga, he gets more development than the others and is easily the most interesting character in the show. He's one of the few "good" people and actually has a lot of depth if you really read into his character. Unfortunately he gets less screen time than he deserves but he actually gets one episode that only focuses on him and it really does a good job with his character. Other than that though, a lot of the characters are just too stupid and annoying and you'll probably want to skip some of the episodes that feature them, yes it gets that bad.
Overall Ranma 1/2 gets some really good points (there are some extremely good episodes in Seasons 5 and 6, one of the episodes in Season 6 is my personal favorite) but it also has some extremely low points as well (Happosai is the WORST F*CKING CHARACTER IN THE SHOW, I f*cking hate him and the show would've been better off without the little bastard). So it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to watch it.

Hellsing - Don't watch this, the plot freaking disappears after episode 6 and it just goes downhill from there. Events will happen and then get ignored, characters get killed and are never mentioned again, it is an utter mess. The first few episodes are good and Alucard is a very badass main character but other than that this anime is just a waste of time. It's as if the writers tried to cram the entire manga into 13 episodes. The one thing I recommend doing though is downloading the intro and ending songs to this show, both are very good.

Azumanga Daioh - A funny and highly weird Anime that is entertaining for a little but eventually just gets too repetative and the plot just doesn't go anywhere. For this one I suggest just watching it until you tire of it as it is very funny at times. The music is pretty good as well.

Excel Saga - Same problem as Azumanga Daioh except AD had better writing and actually made sense for the most part. This show is just too random and the poor excuse for something resembling a story just doesn't go anywhere. I got sick of it after 5 episodes...and there's 26 of 'em!

Gun X Sword - I'm on the fence on this one right now. It's a cool show but I can't seem to fully get into it and watch it regularly. Ah what the heck, check it out, if you like it then that's awesome. The story centers on a man named Van who is searching for someone with a claw on his hand. Oh and he pilots a giant freaking robot too.

Trigun - I guess I'm kinda on the fence for this one. The show has some kick ass parts and some low points too. The major problem is that it starts off as a comedy and then just pulls a total 180 halfway through and becomes very serious. Overall it's pretty cool and has some good characters but it's kind of a love it or hate it anime.

Alright that's all I got for now, hope you find these comments helpful and post some of your own preferences too as I know there are those that either agree or disagree with me and I definitley know that there plenty are Animes that I haven't mentioned. ^_^

Recommended Viewing:
Great Teacher Onizuka: This is an anime about Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year old bachelor who was part of a gang called the Onibaku (Exploding Demons or Demon Explosion, can't remember exactly how it's supposed to be translated) who was very famous in Japan. He is a rather perverted one, though, and decides to become a teacher based on the stories of male teachers wooing female high school students and the like (let me just say this before you say "Devin, this is starting to sound like something NSFW..."; it isn't. There is no nudity; there's usually a conveniently placed object, and if there isn't, there's ALWAYS a censor bar. And, of course, if the nudity's taboo, there isn't any sex or anything even close). However, trying to become a teacher when you're a former gang member with a rather poor education is rather difficult. Onizuka eventually starts to like actually, for-real teaching, as opposed to teaching for his original reason, and begins to interact and build friendships with his students, whom he often helps througout the course of the show. Again, his past comes into play here, as you learn a bit more throughout the show about his gang in the past and other gangs they were connected with and the like. Sometimes, Onizuka's ways of helping his students are a bit... extreme (in the first episode, a girl is concerned about her family being too apart from each other, so Onizuka comes into the house and breaks down some walls with a sledgehammer, to the surprise and horror and confusion of the girl's parents). There are some great running jokes that go throughout the series, but I shall warn you of one thing; there are some moments where it's good to know Japanese culture (jokes and references about some anime, mostly well known ones like Gundam, but sometimes ones a bit more obscure like Initial D and Fist of the North Star, and Japanese pop culture, like a joke around episode 26 about Ganguro girls). Overall, as far as I've seen (I'm at episode 26, there's 43 episodes), this anime is excellent, hilarious, the characters are great-- WATCH IT!
Not recommended/On the fence about:
Slayers: Don't worry, I can wrap this up rather quickly this time. Personally, I found Slayers to be a bit... boring. I dunno. I just was not able to get into the characters and/or plot, even by episode 6. The humour's not good enough to make it a comedy, and the action and drama's not really good enough to make it an action or drama show. Overall, I don't really find it BAD, just... eh. Not good enough to watch much of.

I'll probably edit this post or post again here, because there's 2 other animes I'm thinking about recommending, just have to think about them a bit. (One I'm not 100% sure if it's work-safe enough to recommend to the Krib, and the other I only saw 2 episodes of, but it seemed AWESOME in those 2 episodes.)

Just to make another comment about Azumanga Daioh, while the show may tire out after a little, some of the AMVs based off of it are freaking HILLARIOUS! So watch it and then watch the AMVs, I've been laughing my ass off today from some of them.

Here's one I forgot about:

Kikaider - When this first started on Adult Swim I didn't really pay any attention to it...then I actually watched an episode. This is one of the best animes I have seen, period. The storyline is simply amazing: Jiro, or Kikaider, is a robot created to be more like a human than any others before him. He was developed with something called a "conscious circuit" which influences his personality based on his decisions, and allows him to tell the difference between right and wrong. However, he never learns about himself right away as his creator is killed; he is found by his creator's daughter and her younger brother. They take him in until the daughter finds out Jiro is an Android when he transforms to save her from another Android.
The plot really takes off from there and it is one of the best I have ever seen. The music is really good as well and the animation is phenomenal! The show is 13 episodes long, and then there was a continuation made up of roughly 5 episodes but it just wasn't as good until the end. I highly suggest watching the initial 13 episodes, you will not regret it.

This is one for those who remember a simpler time, when having robots and fighting was an excuse to forget things like "deep storylines" and "character development". I speak of The Guyver, an interesting, fun-to-watch, and relatively simple anime about a boy living in Japan who finds a thing called a "control metal", something a corporation called "Cronos Corporation" is looking for. There are 3 of them, and each gives a suit of "Bio-Booster" armor called a Guyver. The hero, Sho, uses the Guyver I, and you eventually find out who uses the Guyvers II and III, as well as what things the Guyver suits can do besides make blades come out their elbows and blast giant lasers out of their chests. The show isn't completely focused on the fighting, though. Like, at the part at we're at in my school's anime club (I'll word this as vaguely as possible so there aren't spoilers), something really bad just happened to a relative of Sho and it was actually sad. Just... don't go into it expecting your views on the life, universe, and everything to change, or to cry from a deep or sad story. It's old-school 80's stuff. Although there is a newer-animated version that's still in production even in Japan, which has some minor changes, but unlike some remakes, it's still fairly close, so it's not like you're missing out on anything with the newer version (intro song's not as cheesy-cool, though).
I'll probably be posting again here soon with something else to recommend.

Are we counting Mangas? too?

Join Hamel and his 'faithful' sidekick Flute as they travel to defeat King Kestra (pronounced 'oh kestra' in Japan ;)) and his Demon Generals, Bass, Drum, Guitar (fangirl squeal), and Sizer (see the theme here?).

Overall, this is one of the most hilarious mangas I've ever read. Hamel is a egotistical, drama queen/king while Flute is the steadfast, loyal sidekick, and Oboe, well, he tries to give them advie but Hamel never listens. Oboes mostly there for historical background. There are many interesting, and mostly comedic, characters that join our three adventurers and I highly recommend this to anyone with a sense of humor. There are puns, sight gags, pictures that'll make you giggle endlessly, nosebleeds of biblical flood proportions, neverending running jokes, and more. The illustrations are lovely and easy to follow and read the traditional way manga way. The characters, good and evil, are all likable and will want you to read on and on. Each character differs widely from the others with gives a nice, well-rounded cast to this manga. The plot advances more as the books progress and becomes quite deep and intriguing towards the later books.

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I don't like this translated version as well as this one, but seeing as how the latter one only has the first six books, the first link is probably better to use. Always thought the first link was more childish than the other with all the silly -samas and -chans interrupting the flow of reading.

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There is also an anime of Violinist of Hameln and my advice on it...

Don't. Watch. It.

There's a reason it's mockingly called 'The Slideshow of Hameln'. Made cheaply, there are no action scenes, just pictures with action lines drawn on them. Alone, action lines are nice, but not for epic battles with demonic overloards. The anime tends to quickly fall from the plot and is about 98% drama, 2% comedy. Overall, not very good. Just go read the manga.

Revival.
If you like giant robot shows, go watch Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann.
Kamina is one of the best characters ever in a robot show, ever, period.
"YOU MUST PIERCE THE HEAVENS WITH YOUR DRILL!"
"Don't believe in yourself! Believe in me, who believes in you!"
Even the fanservice is done better than in a lot of shows.
Rather original setting, too, for a giant robot show.
By the way, there's only one episode out so far (yeah, it's a REALLY new show), and you WILL have to illegally download it to get it, sorry.
I believe that's okay to be mentioned since I'm not pointing out WHERE to download it, right?
Anyway, yeah, it's awesome, go watch it, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, from Gaianx Studios.

*casts revive*

Got some new comments and shows to add.

New Anime I'd partially recommend:

.hack//Roots - As an extension of G.U. games, Roots covers a large portion of events that happen in a period that was skipped over in the first game, Rebirth. It covers Haseo joining the Twilight Brigade, his relationship with Ovan and Shino, as well as his descent into madness and transformation into the PKKer "The Terror of Death." Storywise it is a very well done show and has dramatic and comedic moments as well. Also the soundtrack is very well done and adds a lot to the show.
That being said, it is also very slow and unless you have played .hack//GU Rebirth and Reminisce, and plan on playing Redemption then it won't have as much value for you.

Comments for previously mentioned animes:

One Piece - As with most super-long shows, this one runs out of steam later on. The Arabasta story arc was so long and well done that the next major story-arc just seems boring in comparison and the filler ends up being more interesting that the main plot. Later on the characters start to lose their charm and the quirks that made some funny early on get annoying later and overall I just can't recommend this show unless you're used to watching super long animes that contain story-arcs that take FOREVER to develop and get moving. The show has its moments but like I said, after Arabasta only the filler was interesting for me.

Hm. Do you read the manga? I don't know anything about One Piece, but what you described happens to most super-popular, long-running anime. The animation studio starts dragging eveything out and it can get quite boring to watch, even though the manga is still very interesting. That's what has happened to Naruto recently. Usually the best way to go about it is by focusing on the manga and watching the anime only for your favorite scenes or major plot points.

I've never really read manga, just looked at a couple of pages of a couple of books, no real reason, just didn't feel like it. Closest thing was the two Love Hina novels I picked up that (somewhat) follow the manga. I also snagged up a Fullmetal Alchemist novel which I'll get to.

Oh and speaking of manga, I checked the final manga chapter for Ranma 1/2 and even THAT has NO ENDING! Ugh.

"Oh yeah, for any of you out there who are complaining that you can't stomach the anime, just do what I do. Read the entire series fan-translated in a few days online, then only watch the episodes that have the good parts in them. *nod nod* All the story for very little hassle."

The plot and characters in general just stopped being interesting.

I'm just tired of the shonen animes: fight, fight, talk about fight, poor plot movement (if any), shallow villains (though a couple of One Piece villains were good) and no character development (*cough* Goku, Luffy! *cough*)

That's true. Most modern shonen anime have evolved past such simplicity, but it's still usualy best to watch shonen along with other types of anime to prevent your brain from going numb.

...Though I haven't watched any modern shonen anime with shallow villains.

True, it is nice to watch something less intense after being thrown through a rollercoaster of emotion (which is the reason why I wish I had watched Angelic Layer after Chrno Crusade instead of before) but I enjoy the shorter, more story and character centered shows than the overly long, drawn out and shallow shows.

As for villains, watch Gungrave and Chrno Crusade, aside from a couple of the side-kicks, the villains have WAY more depth (Harry McDowell, in GG's case) and in Crusade's case, much more sadistic than the average shonen villain (Aion is one twisted and controlling sob).

When I'm finished with Death Note, I'll try to watch those, but as far as shonen villians go, don't underestimate Aizen.

Meh, all he does is beat up the heroes.

Believe me, Aion from Chrno Crusade is way better. He barely lifts a finger throughout most of the show and causes more pain and suffering than anyone else by doing so. And when he does actually do something besides either pull the strings or talk, he doesn't so much as fight as he just waves people away and continues his mind games through physical actions that go WAY beyond just slashing someone with a sword.

Yeah, that video just shows the one time he took action, but that was after decades of manipulating everyone around him and making himself appear as kind and mild. Plus his "absolute hypnotism" allows him to put countless people through mental anguish and confusion while he just sits back and smiles.

Of course, I can't very well compare him to the person you're talking about, as I know nothing about him.

I'd give a summary but it would have to contain spoilers and I don't want to spoil the story for Chrno Crusade one tiny bit.