[Maerskian]

Woah ! ... thanks to everybody for your answers, to be honest ... didn't expect so many quality answers

@Sackett

Well, first of all, if you liked "half of" the Fullmetal Alchemist anime, then I suppose you didn't care for the ending (like many people).

You should definitely watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood which follows the manga and has a much better ending. The first... oh 17 episodes or so are very similar to the first anime (though a bit rushed in my opinion), but once you get to the Lust vs Mustang scene... oh man, it just takes off as one of the best anime ever.

Watched FMA Brotherhood as well; what i don't really like about FMA series is the first half ( 25-30 first episodes or so ) since is comprised mostly of small stories that almost develops in one episode.... even if some of 'em connect with the general plot in the end, doesn't carry too much weight from those first too-quick episodes... lucky enough, it gets better towards the end

I haven't seen it myself, but from everything I've heard I think Steins;Gate matches up well with much of your list. I thought the first episode was a bit slow, but everyone who continued watching it seems to think it was great.

First name to my list ! Thank you very much. I definitely skipped this one.

After that... well the huge recent hit was Madoka Magica (barely edged out Steins;Gate for first place in the AnimeSuki Choice Awards this year). Yeah, yeah, I know, you're thinking "magical girl anime- no way" right? Well I'll tell you now I haven't watched any other magical girl anime, they just don't interest me, but Madoka was incredible! In my opinion it's right up there next to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Give it a full three episodes and see if it doesn't hook you.

I know what you just said but.... seriously ? Guess this is one of those cases where you shouldn't judge a book by the cover. Thanks again, this could be a nice find... specially, considering the looks of it.

Evangelion + ovas is on my OK list as well; it's a title that would be much higher if it was just a 10-12 episode anime with one black screen in the middle summarizing those IMHO boring-to-death repetitive battles ( fillers to me) and more air time towards the end of the story.

Let me know what you think of them and I'll see if I can pick some others based off of what you thought of them.

Well, 2 for my list for the time being; will appreciate more suggestions. As we all know, once you catch a nice series.... next thing you kno.... it's gone

@Obelisk ze Tormentor

Thanks for your help

For general anime (some with action), by any chance, have you seen Fate/Zero, Steins;Gate, Baccano, Phantom: Requiem for The Phantom, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Planetes, Darker than Black, Beelzebub, Moribito, Sword Art Online (on-going), etc?

Out of those, just missed "Beelzebub" & "Sword Art Online" .
Will add "Beelzebub" to my watch list, how many episodes should i go through before deciding it's fate ? usually i was extremely patient, but One Piece ruined that since i gave it 550+ episodes to start running since i got tons of nice reviews from all type of people.

"Sword Art Online" .... maybe will give it a try, although must confess those character designs are quite discouraging.... not sure how many anime series i've already seen on my life ( a few hundreds... that's for sure ) ... but usually, this type of designs + weapons + online environment equals poor action scenes with no weight at all... but that's just a guess, will give it a go anyways.

Fate/Zero & Phantom .... aren't exactly my cup of tea ...
Planet ES was quite ok, although i just watched it when it aired ...
Darker than black... is watchable; one of those i won't keep but it's entertaining enough... would me more than happy with more series like this one right now.

Baccano: Will talk about it later.

If you like the older Saint Seiya, you might also like Fuuma no Kojiro and BT’X.

Fuuma No Kojire : Yay!!! Looks great. Straight to my watch list.

It's funny, but in the end i always end up watching all those animes with the seiya-like design even though i dislike the main character (Seiya) design, CASSHERN SINS for example, another series i liked.... battles aside ... and that other boxing series with two seasons ( can't remember the name right now ) ... that was awfully bad .

BTX : Wow !!! At this point it must seem pretty obvious i really like Masami Kurumada designs... so even if he always seems to be doing the same thing.... i'm all for this one. Straight to my watch list. Thank you sir !!!

If you like Death Note, you might like Eden of the East and Ghost Hunt. I don’t say that they’re alike but they have the “strategy/solve the mystery” aspect which is pretty engaging.

Ghost Hunt... already had his try, but didn't like it too much....
Eden Of The East.... not 100% sure if it was another one of those discarded titles, but must check it first.

What i liked the most about Death Note/Kaiji/Akagi/One Outs/Code Geass ... i basically is, obvously, those ( hate to use this type of words ) "smart" main characters and the way they deal with things.... not that those aforementioned titles are exactly equal, but are the ones with the strongest feeling around that role... couldn't find more at the same level, in fact "Code Geass" is barely standing among 'em, considering his actions are kinda pre-determinated, not to mention the series itself also focuses on battles and other events that feel like fillers to me.

@gsilver

Thanks for your time

You're a hard one to recommend shows for, with many similar shows on both the "liked" and "hated" lists, many of which I consider to be good.

Yes, that's true, that's why i'm also focusing on commenting on those series i dislike as well, since it's not that easy to guess what i'm guessing for based on series names alone.

Mawaru Penguindrum: Skipped this one; will give it a try

Paranoia Agent: Watched it as it was aired buck then; it's on my favorites list ( didn't want to post my entire list on my first message ), and probably the only Satoshi Kon anime i really liked ( Disliked Perfect Blue & Tokyo Godfathers; Millenium Actress had some remarkable visuals, but the plot, once again was too soft for my taste... Paprika had some nice visuals.... but didn't strike me as it was supposed to ... it was like he tried to reach Masaaki Yuasa levels but failed miserably at that )

Dennou Coil: Already watched as well; Nice animation, nice background designs... story had potential... but looked to me they didn't dare to cross the line ... so the plot remained like a child's story and lost all of it's interest... Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, etc... aren't exactly best sellers so i guess they got scared of being labeled among those.... on the other hand, IMHO this ruined the whole series since it wasn't as disturbing as those names they tried to avoid nor visually striking (or just charming) as some ghibli's movies... in the end, it remained in no man's land.

Kaiba: I considered myself a complete devote to Masaaki Yuasa until this one... it's ok.... but just that, nothing to write home about; for such a creative mind that's quite negative..... Tatami Galaxy was even worse; guess his goals are different nowadays, although his short at "Genius Party" omnibus still has traces of the earlier Yuasa.

Mind Game (Especially since you liked Kemonozume) : Absolute masterpiece; of course i loved that . To be honest, i hardly like anime "movies" ... just those (very) few ones that are truly one of a kind ( Tamala 2010 , Tenshi no Tamago )... the rest of 'em ( Will save some Ghibli's , mostly for his striking visuals & animation .... something i can't do with Otomo's films even if they have top notch animation, etc as well ) ... just bored me to death.... and tried mostly each well known anime movie until recent years.

Kino's Journey: One of my all time absolute favorites i failed to mention on my initial list. One of a kind.... never found anything like it; time ago was told that "Jin, King of Bandit" was in the same vein .... but it was hardly one episode that looked similar... if anything.

Shiki: Seen this one mentioned everywhere but ignored it for some reason... guess it's time to give it a try.

@SeijiSensei

Thanks for your recommendations

Black Lagoon: Already watched. It was nice and enjoyed it... although these aren't exactly the type of titles i feel comfortable with, i must admit it was quite entertaining.... but one title i find hard to write on a personal favorites list. Quite similar to Gunslinger Girls ( first season only ) for that matter.

Claymore: I stopped watching this series when they aired... not sure if i should try again. At this point, must confess i have a real problem with most female anime characters involved in violence/martial arts series or even most real action movies&series ... not all of 'em for the very fact of just being female ( that's not my point), but for the approach anime/movies/series creators have on 'em that usually focus more on their sexual image rather than what it's worth for action: dynamics. This applies to many childish-look characters as well even if they are males... but oh well... this whole view would need a thread of his own, so will just stop here.

Seirei no Moribito: With what i just said previously.... this is one of the few exceptions where the main female character is nice. Nice series, nice animation & almost cinematic; i enjoyed it very much.... although for my personal taste, this type of pure "adventure" series have poor or zero re-watch value ... so find it hard to put it higher on my list.

Twelve Kingdoms: Already watched it back then as well; it had some ( few ) interesting points, that aimed to be in the league of "Legend of galactic heroes" ... but it's like they were scared to be too boring or adult-oriented at some point and backed off. Legend of galactic heroes is much longer and even OVAs are worth watching.... almost each episode was saturated with information and/or relevant facts ( i hardly recall any other anime series with so much relevant content per minute, they could 've easily made 400-500 episodes slowing the pace ) ... on the other hand, twelve kingdoms ( that aimed to show us a view on politics similar to legend of galactic heros ) left me with quite the empty sensation.... like i could perfectly could cut tons of unnecessary scenes and events & leave it the same way... not to mention that it takes too much time to develop. One title that needs to be watched.... but can't say it left good memories..

Baccano! : Already watched ... one of those titles i'd have a hard time explaining why it was entertaining while it lasted.... but that's the best i could say about it.... nothing to write home about....
Welcome to the NHK! : Highly acclaimed back in the days ( mostly due to the manga version ) .... although absolutely disliked it; hard to stand voice actors on this one ... plus found this approach on hikkikomoris way too superficial & full of topics.... could have been great with a different view on it... that wasn't the case.

Dennou Coil: already commented it earlier

Ghost Hound: Another one of my favories not listed on my initial post

Real Drive: Already tried ... but had to cancel it since it was too so-so... not going anywhere.... not too psychological ... not too-anything...

Kurenai : No idea, will give it a try.

House of Five Leaves: Tried & cancelled. I love slow paced anime & even real-action extremely slow movies ( i love classic Russian cinema, with Aleksander Sokurov among my favorites... that's to say i don't even mind a still take of 20 minutes on somebody doing&saying noting if it fits the movie ) ... but this was way too much... it looked promising at first... but in the end, the word "nothing" seems to find home here.... it's like nothing happened ... characters way too empty....

Nijuu Mensou no Musume: Never dared to try... guess it's time to go for it.

Shion no Ou: Never noticed this one... will add it to my watch list. Surprisingly enough, liked Hikaru no Go back in the days ( can't stand sports animes, although wouldn't fit Go into sports to be honest ) ...

If you're open to a show with romantic overtones, I'd suggest

These are probably the ones i have a hard time confessing i ejoyed 'em , but what the hell ? i'm anonymous here

Nodame Cantabile: Definitely enjoyed it.... although the whole series is just watching Nodame being Nodame ....
Toshokan Sensou: Didn't knew this one; dislike everything about it ( military+romance) but oh well.... one never knows
REC: This doesn't appeal to me that much.... but can't say for sure without trying


Also, on this "hard to confess" series section i could count:

Karekano and Hachimitsu To Clover and even Meine Liebe that isn't straight romantic

You might like the recent Lupin III/Mine Fujiko series as well.

Lupin has always been on my "Can't stand it list", along with One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho and some others ( Great Techer Onizuka for example ) .... not sure anymore how these type of animes where called ( Shonen maybe ? ) ... i mean, those like Dragonball, Hokuto No ken, Naruto, One Piece... etc...

I'm the first one to admit that this "genre" is full of nonsense & stupidity and even bad taste & kinda retarded at times .... and even if all are kinda similar, each person can't stand this or that particular stupidity covered on one show or another.... then, you have character designs... not everybody is happy with the same designs, etc.... guess it's the same for everybody as i'm fully aware that Masami Kurumada designs have been criticized as being far from "masculine"


Also, kinda desperately looking for slice of life/(soft)comedy animes .... in the last weeks i watched (again) Lucky Star , Nichijou, Hidamari Sketch & Azumanga Daioh ... even planning on re-visiting series that weren't that great ( Pani Poni Dash, Minami-Ke , School Rumble ....

Missing more radical-comedy animes a-la Sexy Commando or even Urayasu Tekking Kazoku, Gyagu Manga Byory ... although those aren't that usual....

More names from my OK list would be:

Samurai 7
Samurai Champloo
Wolf's Rain
Arjuna
Boogiepop Phantom
Niea Under 7
Gilgamesh
Noein
Soul Taker
Yakitake Japan ( with exception of the last "season" )
Raxephon

Also love short films like:
Diary of tortov roddle
Franz Kafka by koji Yamamura
Nekojiro Sou

Or movies like:

Tenshi no tamago
Tamala

.... what the hell... i even love traditional japanese animation by Kihachiro Kawamoto & Tadari Okamoto and a select list of experimental animators ( worldwide, although specially those from Eastern Europe )

.... now i look at my message.... not sure if submit it as it is or..... well, there it goes.... so sorry for such a looooooong message