I’ve already mentioned my dislike for vampire/gothic stuff, so no on Hellsing. And I’ve heard FLCL is even more insane than Excel Saga, which I don’t think I can take. -_-
I’ve always had Miyazaki’s stuff in the back of my mind but I can actually go rent them, as opposed to the stuff I have to download. Most anime doesn’t exist at the rental places near me and I ain’t shelling out the amount of cash necessary to buy them.
Shinryu: As regards SMJ, I’ll wait till someone else recommends it. ^^; You yourself have painted yourself as a bit of a fanatic, meaning I’m not sure you’re entirely unbiased when you talk about it.
I’ll look into the others, though, and if anyone has more suggestions, feel free.
Don’t dislike me if you don’t like them, but I’d recommend Samurai Champloo and Gungrave. I have money, I’m just very dedicated to my pennypinching ways, so I can only watch stuff on TV if I want anime. Which sucks, since I really want to know how ROD turned out. Ah well.
I suggest you watch Giant Robo, as it a pretty good anime…plus it only six episodes long. The characters are pretty likeable, and the story is pretty good too.
I thought there was a whole discussion here where people said the OVAs were pretty awful. And note that the story isn’t exactly what I liked about ToP (not worse than most RPG stories, but it wasn’t particularly memorable).
I’d like to say, “Watch Tsubasa Chronicles, it’s the best!” But, since I haven’t even seen it yet, I can’t.
Plus, big fan of the manga, so I’m biased.
Anyway, I also recommend Samurai Champloo. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable anime, it gets even better as the series goes on.
And, Ghost in the Shell was pretty good too. Although, I’ve only watched it on [adult swim], so I don’t know what the unedited version is like.
I’ll throw my two cents in for Samurai Champloo and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (but not FMA, since you’ve seen it already).
I’d also recommend Rurouni Kenshin in either TV series or Samurai X OVA form, but I don’t know enough about your tastes to know whether you’d get into it. I’ve watched through the Legend of Kyoto arc for the TV series (after this season, the TV series departs from the manga), and I’ve seen all of the OVAs, and I enjoyed all of it.
Ragnarok the Animation are pretty good. Also, I have to throw in .hack//sign, and the GITS (mentioned by Vicki) are pretty good. The Stand Alone Complex has two seasons that I know of, the 1st GIG and 2nd GIG. The only other one I can think of are the Record of the Lodoss War series.
