You need a choice even more enthusiastic for me, but I made do with what ya had...
I'm no great fan of the stuff I've seen. They seem to be cartoons pretending to be "high art".
Naw, that's just what their fans make them out to be...
Myself included...
The stuff I've seen seems to not be overly concerned with plots that make sense, or character motivation that I can understand.
How is this different from the vast majority of american cartoons and sitcoms anymore?
Oh yeah, and don't forget demons raping schoolgirls.
Ahhh yes, hentai... Animes bastard cousin that gets dragged into any debate. Most of us DON'T watch hentai, actualy... echi, sure, hentai, no.
Myself, I swear by Neon Genesis Evangelion. Ruined most other anime for me, since I can't find anything in quite the same vein to follow-up with.
A few you might try that should be out in america either now or very soon (Most are licesnsed and in translation, if they are not out yet)
.hack//sign - Any RPG geek should see this one
RahXephon - I'd go so far as to call this an eva ripoff, myself, but it stands on it's own merits anyhow.
Noir - Very cool... not for the little kiddies (The main characters are very cold-blooded (IE, not cutsey anime norm) assassins... not that it's hentai
)
Hellsing - This one I know for a fact is out. A very cool alternate take on Vampires, with some interesting notions about some of the major world churches too...
Witch Hunter Robin - Similar to Hellsing, kinda, but this one is about magic users in the modern day world
And I'd like to personaly give a nod to Hikaru no Go, though it might not be your cut of tea personaly... It's a GREAT show.
Personally, I think the majority of anime is crap. Some of it gets filtered out before it gets to America but still the crap / quality ratio is a little skewed towards the crap.
Yeah, anime has it's fair share of ho-hum or even down right junky shows... but, really, how is that different from america?