Anime

[tensorpudding]

Also: Haibane Renmei, Dennou Coil, and Cowboy Bebop are all on my "to watch" list. Haven't heard of the last three, although if they're anything like the first three they'll soon be on that list as well. ^_^

That list has a wide variety of shows. I'll describe the ones you haven't heard of:

Azumanga Daioh is a slice-of-life story about the high school years of an eccentric group of girls. It retains a lot of the format of the popular manga it derives from, being split mostly into "strips" which each have their own title and punchline. But the strips are all grouped into a single episode, although in first broadcast I understand they were separate. It's very cute and heartwarming, sometimes with an offbeat indie humor.

FLCL is a very strange, short and surreal coming-of-age story involving teens, robot angels, and an alien that rides a vespa, with weird forays into absurdity. It's not serious at all, doesn't make a ton of sense, is rather funny and has an amazingly cool soundtrack by the pillows. Not for everyone, and has some risque bits.

Gurren Lagann is a "mecha" anime, If I were to hazard to distill its theme, it's about ridiculous optimism in the face of grim odds and achieving greatness. Full of emotions, fighting, very cheesy and over the top. The running gag is the inconceivably massive size of mecha, which reaches astronomical proportions before the end. Has a possibly disagreeable amount of fan-service near the end of the beginning, but that quickly ends when the show starts getting really serious. "Believe in the me that believes in you!"