Dansen said:
After going through all the greats, I am now sad to realize that there is nothing left to really look forward to.
Nah, there's tons of good shows out there. You've just got to hunt for them a bit.
Lately I've been getting the first two or so episodes of a bunch of different shows and just trying them out. If they're good, then great. If not, meh.
Here are some of the ones I've been watching lately:
'Bakuman' is awesome. Two seasons so far, the third is just starting to come out. It's a behind the scenes look at the manga industry. Tells the story of two guys who want to write/draw manga for a living - and the horrifying reality of realising their dream. Seriously though, it's kickass.
'Seirei no Moribito' - Story of a hardass female bodyguard who gets given a mission to guard a royal kid. Consistently quality script and acting. Good ending.
'Full-metal Alchemist: Brotherhood'. If you've only watched the original series, is it worth checking out Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood? This version follows the manga (the original anime went off in its own direction).
'Kekkaishi'. About 50 episodes or so. Well scripted, well acted story of a kid with mystical (Buddhist) powers who has to guard his home from an assortment of spiritual monsters. And try to win the girl next door who still treats him like he's five.
'Sergeant Frog' - Your mileage may vary, but I thought it was hilarious. Make sure you watch the dub, not the sub. The sub is okay, but the dub has a revamped script and is completely awesome. It's the story of a crack team of space frogs who completely fail to take over the Earth (the lead character just sits in his room watching TV and making Gundam models instead).
'Genshiken' - If you liked 'Welcome to the NHK' then you might like this one. It's the story (across 2 seasons) of a mismatched bunch of anime/gaming nerds who hang out together in a clubroom at their University.
'Hikaru no Go' - This one is weirdly addictive. It's about a kid who finds a ghost and starts playing an old man's board game called Go. It doesn't sound like much when you explain it like that, but once you start watching its hard to stop. The Ghost is so good at the game (he plays through the kid) that they kick the ass of everyone around them, eventually the kid gets pissed off with this and wants a go at playing it himself, starts getting involved, develops an incredibly intense rivalry with another kid...
'Major' - My God I love this one. It's a baseball anime. I don't normally go for baseball stories, but this was awesome. It follows a kid whose dream is to become a pro-baseballer. The best thing about it is that it doesn't end when he finishes high school (like too many do). It actually follows the guy into adulthood - you follow along as he tries to get his career started. Words can't even express how great this show is. If you like it, there's well over 100 episodes to sink your teeth into.
'Nodame Cantabile'. Not everyone will like this one. I nearly didn't watch it because of the base topic - Classical Music. I am so glad I watched the first episode (to try it out and see what I thought). One episode and I was hooked. It's about a smart, cynical cold-fish of a piano player whose life is invaded by the weird girl next door who never bathes, cleans her house or leaves him alone. One thing I really liked about it was that it showed a realistic portrayal of the industry the characters were involved in - the difficulty of finding a job when there are hardly any openings, of trying desperately to find a way of making money doing what you love instead of having to pimp out your soul at the nearest corporate office job.
'Twelve Kingdoms'. Again, not everyone is going to like this one. It's a decent size (about 45 eps from memory) and is a pretty epic story about the old trope of person from the modern world being transported into a fantasy world and told they're now the King. The great thing about it is that it takes that trope and applies some common sense. If you've been in charge of the kingdom for the last however-many-years and now some snot-nosed kid is in charge - you're hardly about to welcome them with open arms now are you? Hardly, you'll do everything in your power to screw them over instead. The only bad thing about this anime is the first 10 or so episodes. The main character starts out as a whiny little ***** - its only later that she starts to grow a pair. I'd recommend flicking as quickly as you can past the first 8 episodes - just get a bit of an idea as to what's going on. Maybe have it on 1.5x speed or something (or just have someone explain the basic plot to you/read a summary online. Once it gets to episodes 9 and 10 then you can actually start to watch the show.
