WTF dude?! No anime before 2000? I do not approve.

I forgot about Gantz I loved it though had some really bad pacing...

How..can..YOU NOT LIKE GURENN LAGANN!?!?!?!?! It's a superb anime.

Sure, the first 5 episodes may be boring, but pass that, it's epicness reincarnated! The OST that plays during some parts is crazy.

For Example: 

Next up, I recommend FMA Brotherhood. Sure, the hardcore FMA fans may not like how the story develops at the start, but believe me, After the recap ( Like 1-20 eps) it kicks off and gets pretty epic. It is more action, comedy and fast paced but less philosophic, dark and gritty. 62 episodes( 2 left to go), with no fillers.

I also recommend Monster as others mentioned.

I recommend Naruto also...maybe weird but it's actually a very good anime, except that like Bleach, it's infested with fillers( lot less boring than bleach, though). There's about 100 fillers episodes before Naruto Shippuuden.

Samurai Champloo is a must also.

Afro Samurai

I think that's it...Hard to find good animes nowadays =/ No more ground breaking animes like Naruto, One Piece, FMA, or Bleach. Although there is Fairy Tail...but that anime lacks blood.

Good Luck.

I wanted animes with just a few twists on our own world...

Code Geass is our world with three twists...
1 - France Defated Britian, leaving britian with no other option but to fully control NA
2 - A special mineral that is very powerful exists
3 - Geass Powers exist

FMA...
1 - Unverse where instead of science and tech advancing, alchemy advances and tech slowly advances

They both fit perfectly... :P