Definitely watch Clannad and Clannad: Afterstory, shit gets emotional man. As for Attack on Titan, it's a pretty solid series that's been getting lots of praise and I agree with it for the most part. 

I'll check out Steins Gate when I get the chance, thanks for the rec.

That shit is supah kawaii 

Don't watch that stuff Unitron!! 

I take it you don't like Anime 

I like Pokemon still so I guess I do . Just clowning you 

I enjoy the original Pokemon still as well, but play the card game and games more then I watch it 

That's the one I am talking about the OG, the rest not so much. When Misty and Brock left I left with them . I enjoy the card and video games too 

Baccano! is one of the best anime ever. I'll have to watch it again some time soon.

What is it about anime that gets people?

Same here.

There are girls with huge boobs?  No wonder 

I think there's a lot of anime fans just like you (me included). I don't really watch that much anyway but I still think anime "industry" is much healthier in general than western live-action movie/tv industry. Even though there's a lot of crappy anime, there's also a lot of very ambitious and intriguing ones, produced every year. I think Japanese people are bolder when it comes to controversial/philosophical themes and they somehow succeed at combining them with accessibility (the most recent example for me is Attack on Titan, hyped as hell all around the globe). Something that Hollywood doesn't even try to do anymore with their brainless blockbusters (except maybe movies like Inception, both extremely popular and ambitious).

I agree on the problems you mentioned, but again, there's a significant number of animes that managed to avoid or at least reduce their presence (Steins;Gate and Code Geass are good examples of character driven anime)

Also, the reason I watch anime is that... it's animated. I generally don't like live-action movies that much because you can literally turn off your imagination - you have everything on the screen: real people, real places. With anime, however, your imagination still has to process what you see and to me it's amazing. 

I'm not an expert on anime but based on my limited experience I can recommend:

Steins;Gate 

Bakemonogatari 

Never heard of it, what's the gist? Like, what kind of anime is it?

I've finished Kill la Kill a couple of days ago. It's been getting better with every episode and I ended up loving it. Great and unique series and a clever, tongue-in cheek cultural commentary too. As far as I know it was the second most hyped anime of 2013, along with Attack on Titan. I feel tempted to say I liked KLK better, but they're very different so it wouldn't make sense. 

Also, an interesting analysis of the series:

Sounds cool. Have you watched Paprika?

Pretty cool psychological horror + the ridiculous auto-tune metalcore opening, still better than most.

I'm not sure what to watch next. I usually get tired of anime quite fast and need several months before I start watching again. Oh alright, I still haven't finished Texhnolyze.

For the soundtrack alone, Terror in Resonance is worth watching. Also, the show is a meaningful commentary on the modern Japanese (not only) society.

I don't know about the theme music for every new arc. I'd have rather the electrifying intro to the first episode be the main one. It would have set the mood better. But I guess this has its own charm too.

To me, the structure of this anime is very postmodern in a way many writers (like Murakami) structure their books. Not just formally, though, but also in the way its magical-realism story is handled. 

I definitely haven't seen anything like it. It does remind me a little bit of Tatami Galaxy (the dense dialogue, the magical realism, and the sexy minimalist visuals, though Tatami is much less serious) and Mushishi (the reliance on Japanese mythology and a protag with hair covering one of his eyes solving problems related to spirits of some sort).

Never made it past the fourth episode. Not sure why, it seemed pretty good. What do you think about it?

I didn't know this going in, but I'm pretty sure it's the writer's take on a fan service anime. It isn't just that there is lots of fan service; it's that there are entire episodes devoted to fan service with nothing regarding the plot whatsoever. The long dialogue sequences are used for humor and fan service instead of mystery and character development. The dialogue was clever enough that I didn't get bored while watching it, but the aimlessness was frustrating. The two episodes in each arc that actually had anything to do with the plot I liked, but elsewhere it felt like the series was just a long filler episode.

Secondly, there are several things in the series that are just morally not okay. Araragi's character is lecherous, pedophilic, and incestuous. He routinely fondles Hachikuji, almost has sex with his sister after arousing her by brushing her teeth (which, along with its setup, takes up an entire episode), kisses his other sister and grabs her breasts. Then complains that their complaining about it could be heard and "taken the wrong way." There is no character development to make sense of this and seems to be utterly for the sake of cheap thrills.

I could see how the writer, as the writer of a "smart" show, was going for kind of a Tarantino-esque parody/celebration of a "low brow" style. But, in my opinion, not only was it badly executed, it just wasn't a good move to attach that concept onto a pre-existing story. It only managed to be a very skip-worthy series. You could watch the last couple of episodes in each arc and get the gist of the plot. Otherwise, it feels more like an OVA Special than an actual installment of the series.

I watched the prequel Nekomonogatari (Black) as well. There were still some bothersome remnants of Nisemonogatari's style, but it was better. There were some writing issues I had, namely that the dramatic dialogue sequences made little sense and the way they solved the problem was a bit contrived. It was mostly information relayed more effectively in Bakemonogatari anyway, but its worth watching, I suppose. There are some scenes that are very good, though its not as good as Bake. It felt like what they were trying to do with this was accomplished in the first part of Monogatari Series Second Season, Nekomonogatari (White).

Neko White was absolutely fantastic. They really stepped up their game on this one. They finally really pulled off Hanekawa's character (though the last arc of Bake did a decent job of it) and the visuals are better than ever. It's %100 worth watching. Solid character development, foreshadowing, not oversimplified yet logically coherent dialogue. 

I found that there was an anime series of Lupin III that aired in the late 70's/80's directed by Miyazaki. I'm thinking of giving it a try, has anyone here seen it and if so know if it's any good?