movies: Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka) Ghost in the shell Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Whisper of my heart Laputa: Castle in the Sky Nausicaa Rôjin Z Jin-Rô tv-shows: Naruto One piece Haibane Renmei serial experiments lain Ranma 1/2 Slayers Elfenlied

The La Blue Girl series is a surprisingly good if you can look past all the sex.
La Blue Girl Returns is a guilty pleasure of mine

If you're over 18 it might be worth checking out.
Seriously if they wanted to make a non-hentai version of the series they easily could.

 Beat me to the punch, but the first true anime was Astro Boy (or as known in Japan "Mighty Atom"), based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka and aired around 1963.

I've only just gotten into anime over the past year or so. The best of what I've seen for TV shows are:

Godannar
Basilisk
Chrono Crusade
Samurai 7
Samurai Champloo
Full Metal Alchemist
Gankutsuou: Count of Monte Cristo (just finished this one last week - very good)

For movies:
Grave of Fireflies
Akira
Ninja Scroll
Princess Mononoke
and a couple others that I can't think of the name

Ah thanks for reminding me of that one blindsight.

Grave of the Fireflies is really good and really sad. That scene when the girl was so hungry she was eating pebbles because she thought they were candy got me so upset.

It's about an orphaned brother and sister trying to survive near the end of World War II in Japan. It is so real. My mom and sis's cried during that movie, that's how much it can get to you. Found this at wikipedia,

Some critics (most notably Roger Ebert) consider it to be one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made. Animation historian Ernest Rister compares the film to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and says, "it is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen."

Grave of Fireflies is an extremely powerful movie and very sad.
Definitely one of my favorites.

 Yea but it Seed Destiny also released the strongest Gundam ever created. Strike Freedom. I think Strike Freedom could kill the Dark Gundam by it self..

 Also, while SF may not be as strong as Devil Gundam (it can indefinitely regenerate as long as it gets a 'pilot'), it always win as though it have god mode on, or so many people kept saying that.

WOW i get down with all sorts of anime....my best anime of all time at what got me into this genre was Fullmetal Alchemist!!! i also like Bleach, Sailor Moon, Mobile Suit Gundam, and all sorts of other franchises the list goes on and on!!

 I know its called Devil Gundam I just wanted to lower myself to use the English show's gundam names. But I think the SF could give and win against the Devil Gundam. Grant it Kira would even have a hard time but its Kira, Kira never loses on purpose. Plus the Devil Gundam cant because it would create the dark army mechs and Kira would just destroy every single one of them in like 5 minutes.