The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, needs no commentary but “AWESOME!” Serial Experiments Lain (it’s like the Matrix, only everybody is cold and miserable) Earthgirl Arjuna (it’s like Captain Planet with a major in Asian studies and tripping on Salvia)
Evangelion is a show i give a lot of flak- and it deserves every bit of it. It’s a hugely flawed show with a lot of problems, the main one being that in the end characters have major personality issues and psychological problems JUST to have major personality issues and psychological problems.
However, it’s also one of my favorite animes of all time, and with good reason. See, while it deserves every bit of complaining it gets, it also deserves every bit of praise. In a time when Gundam was getting to it’s angsty teen drama stage (Gundam Wing- not a bad show, however) NGE had the good sense to totally deconstruct the giant robot genre. There’s action in NGE but it takes second bill to showing just how tortured and shitty the pilot’s lives are (in fact, the pilots were chosen because the ones with issues are more likely to be better pilots).
TL;DR: NGE takes a bunch of Christian mythology references and throws them face-first into Sigmund Freud, and ends up asking it’s audience “who are you, really?” That’s why it’s a good show.
My friend really enjoys them, so I’ve watched the odd anime and enjoyed it.
Higurashi no naku koro ni
Umineko no naku koro ni
Dragonball Z (my brother and I watched it during it’s complete re-airing years ago)
and… the only other one she’s gotten me to watch is…
Girls Bravo.
facepalm
…
But seriously, it’s so stupid, it’s funny… but not so stupid that it’s bad. Other than those four, I have not liked a single anime. It’s just not my thing.