To continue my list, I'd like to mention the following:
NANAKA 6/17
You know, just by its cover this show seems to say: "adults, stay away".
And that's totally wrong because , aside that facade, there's something else. This anime focus a lot on psycological factors such as the problems coming while growing or the difficult of dealing with other peoples when we feel we are different from them.
The main protagonist is Nanaka, an high-schooler 17 yo girl , full of complexions, hated by most of her classmates for her icy attitude. Her only support, is the childood friend Nenji, whom is secretly loved by her.
One day, she has an accident and loses part of her memory. She conserves her memories until she was 6 yo, but she loses all what came after (here comes the "6/17" from the title). It's like she went back of 11 years, mantaining a body of a 17 yo. So you'll see a carefree adolescent behaving like a child, yelling here and there and enjoying a lot while watching an anime "mahou shoujo" show.
But it's incredible how the story creates bonds around this situation. You will soon notice that there's not going to be a hilarious show. You'll learn a lot about the characters, their indepth, and you will discover yourself being caring for them.
And at the end (which could have done better, by the way, since not all of the bonds are solved), you probaly may want to reflect a bit.
WHISPER OF THE HEART
Or
Mimi wo Sumaseba, if you prefere the japanese title.
A studio Ghibli Movie (1995), by Yoshifumi Kondo, a talented director who died of cancer a few years later.
It's basically the travel of a young girl, Shizuku, to the adult world (Miyazaki did the screenplay, and he loves this subject a lot) and how much her life will change after having met Seiji.
There's a lot of emotional envolvment and you will like the slow pace of the movie very soon, while some lines of the dialogues of the protagonists are very impressive, and mature.
It's undoubtfully one of the sweetest romance I have seen, and definitely my favourite about "not action based" anime movies.
Unfortunately this is not much spreaded, since i.e. Europe is lacking a dvd distro for it (although it should be out this spring in UK), but every person I know whom has seen it doesn't find a word to describe it if not.. "heartwarming masterpiece".