I recommend Seirei no Moribito and Haibane Renmei.

Thx these look like great suggestions - I'll check them out.

no one recommends OreGairu yet?

Season 1: Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru
Season 2: Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru Zoku

aka My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as Expected / My Youth Romantic Comedy SNAFU

awesome story. they actually give commentaries on real life situations - why people do this and that.

that is one I'm considering

just got the new release of Robot Carnival today. While a clearly a product of the 1980's IMHO it still is fun experience overall

Go for it.

Started watching the Kara no Kyoukai movies . Half-way through the first one, and I have a good feeling about the rest of the series .

I started to watch Πλανητες due to repeated suggestions, and I'm pretty disappointed by the first few episodes. Both the characters and the plots so far evoke a very kids-oriented show (the naive young girl who gets hysterical on every moral pseudo-issue, the intrigues that don't get much farther than entitled-rich-heir-is-arrogant-but-gets-a-lesson-the-end, etc).

So, is it just a slow start building context and exposing character before real stuff begins (after all even the 1st cowboy bebop ep was a bit basic compared to the rest) or is it already the cruise mode of the series, offering only more of the same ?

I need motivation to carry on, the nice setting and semi-believable physics will not suffice for long...

Great choice and ideed, Kara series is one of the better anime from the recent decade. It share the same universe with Fate/Stay night, Shingetsutan Tsukihime and Carnival Phantasm (Tsukihime was quite good, i still have to watch Carnival).

As for good/great shoujo, i could probably compile a list (yeah, i know, shoujo is meant for the ladies, but when you get good/great stories, i could not give a damn:))

Fully recommend Escaflowne as is almost equal in quality with Evangelion.

I would recommend them to make season 3 for Infinite Stratos.

Seriously, I can't say it is a good one or it is that fun and enjoyable, but it is so light. Back then I watched some more deeper animes, actually all the 8-9 anime I watched was over the top serious creations. The Infinite Stratos just fresh with nothing deep behind it. I like it because it requires no brain to understand.

It is nothing, but perfect for its genre.

Just went through mobile suit gundam and zeta gundam

on to ZZ i say

No. Just no. Escaflowne was nice but I'd never compare those two in any way. Completely different setting, story and sophistication.

When it comes to anime series (not movies) I always recommend:
Monster (1995) - the most brilliant criminal story I've ever encountered, it's basically a 24h long crime thriller / detective story if you don't count the intros+outros
Ergo Proxy
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Ghost in the Shell (especcially "Stand Alone Complex")
Death Note
Tokio Magnitude 8.0 (highly underrated)
Shigofumi
Mushishi
Guardian of the Sacred Spirit
Hakaba Kitarou
Kemonozume (although it's REALLY weird)

Finished Kara no Kyoukai . I liked it, but some parts seemed quite forced. Animation was excellent though, as were the fight scenes.


Gonna watch Escaflowne next, since I had no idea it even existed until recently .

I'll suggest GTO (a very good one )

Strongly agree. More people need to see it .

2 amazing films by Tomm Moore, the Irish Miyazaki:

trailer)

The Secret of Kells (trailer)