Here's one that actually did the job for me and made my interest in anime come rushing back all over again.
(I always seem to reuse the saaaame old recommendations again and again... why? This is the nth time I've recommended this...)
Bakeneko from the show Ayakashi ~Japanese Classical Horror~.
It's licensed now, though the DVDs will take some time to come... Bakeneko is the last 3 eps, and don't worry about watching them on their own because they're completely separate in terms of staff and story from teh rest of the show. It's self-contained.
It's extremely refreshing and packed with creativity and just plain, sheer talent. When I say it is very low on anime cliches, I seriously mean it in all honesty. It stays fresh and tightly-produced throughout due to it only having 3 episodes; basically it's about
So in just three episodes we see the masterful execution of the story as information is peeled off in layers until we come to the mindblowingly well-directed and intense finale.
This featured truly great directing pretty much throughout; no scene was wasted and indeed the level of visual detail makes it seem like no
space was wasted, either. Needless to say, the animation was excellent even though it may seem that the faces are badly drawn. Take your words back when you see the fight at the end.
You might think 3 eps is way too little to really build up something solid, but I think otherwise. I even feel that the portrayal of characters by careful consideration of their words, actions and designs (as well as the animation)
in these three episodes does what entire 13-episode series simply fail to do...
Anyway, take it from me, this really was an invigorating little gem. I hope you find it someday and get refreshed by it too. I don't think you will ever feel like you're forcing yourself to watch it - unless you hate Japanese-culture sort of stuff.
The one disappointing thing is that you'll be hard-pressed to find many more anime like this.
And to stop sounding like a broken telephone, er... let's see. Watch this somewhat older anime - Infinite Ryvius. It's like Lord of the Flies in space, except I felt it actually succeeded. Very well.
Not phenomenally, but as an anime I still remember genuinely enjoying it all the way and being completely taken up by the stories and characters. It's quite a serious story and can get a bit depressing in some parts, but I felt it did a great job with the synergy among the various characters as well as the space setting. You could really feel the situation getting worse when people had to start living in worse conditions and things like that... if you could like Mai-Hime, I'm sure you could enjoy this too.