In the past year or so I've been trying to watch more anime. For whatever reason for most of my life I've just kinda ignored it. No particular reason. But given that "anime" is such a ridiculously vague term that covers a ton of different genres and styles, I've been kinda at a loss as to what to watch. So I've been mostly watching things that were recommended to me by friends. So far I've seen...
1.) Cowboy Bebop (absolutely loved, through and through)
2.) Black Lagoon (loved it)
3.) Full Metal Alchemist (loved it)
4.) Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (absolutely loved, through and through)
5.) Neon Genesis Evangelion (thought it was okay; probably not something I'd watch again)
6.) Full Metal Panic (love/hate; wish it would make up its mind as to whether it wants to be action or comedy. It's decent at both, but terrible at blending them)
7.) Area 88 (interesting to see where my beloved UN Squadron for the SNES came from, but it felt slow and kinda aimless most of the time)
8.) Tokyo Ghoul (mostly liked the first season, didn't really care much for the second season; the supporting cast stole the show from the lead)
9.) Parasyte: The Maxim (mostly enjoyed; got a good laugh out of a scene where like twenty police officers with AA-12 shotguns opened fire on a guy at close range and did no damage - reminded me of the AA-12 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which I refer to as the "confetti cannon")
10.) Attack on Titan (I mostly like this one, but it has some serious pacing issues)
11.) Future Diary (didn't like it)
12.) Cromartie High School (loved it)
13.) Trigun (didn't really give it a fair shot - watched like four episodes, couldn't get into it, gave up; probably deserves a second chance)
14.) Akira (mostly enjoyed it; didn't really get it until the second viewing; still not really sure I got it)
15.) Lily C.A.T. (disliked it, but probably due to overly high expectations; it was advertised to me as a mash-up of Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing - two of my favorite movies)
16.) Elfen Lied (disliked it; unlikable characters and lots of edge for nothing beyond the sake of being edgy without any of the charm of a show like Black Lagoon)
17.) GATE (guilty pleasure, loved this one. The premise is charmingly lame, and it's kinda amusing seeing mostly obsolete Vietnam-era military equipment kicking the crap out of a generic fantasy world)
18.) Death Note (loved it)