thanks all. Going to go for a FF next to see if I like it...

Robotech, just been reading your rpg thread and that helps too (and shows that I know bugger all about this genre - I played some on the C64 years ago (Bards Tale III and Pool of Radiance) and M+L Superstar Saga on the GBA but that's it)

Chrono Trigger out here on Feb 6 so might look at getting that too. How similar is that to TWEWY?

Final Fantasy 4 DS (3 as well, but is a tough sob)
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest 4 DS

If you get a Final Fantasy, make sure it's IV! III, by all accounts, is not as good.

Since TWEWY is quite radically different from most JRPGs, I would go with another game that was quite different in Chrono Trigger. It's also very newcomer-friendly. If you can't get into something like Chrono Trigger, depending on the reasons for feeling that way you may want to avoid traditional JRPGs.
And don't get FFIII DS. I try to give games a fair judgment but in FFIII DS I cannot find any redeeming factors other than the visuals, which are now surpassed by FFIV DS.

You looking for leveling or a semi-weird game, with an interesting story.  If you want the story, consider checking out Shadows of Memories (Shadows of Destiny):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_Memories

(Spoilers at the bottom)

No stat-building, as it is an adventure game, but it does have an unusual storyline involving time travel.

you mention not liking the long cutscenes, and to that end I think Valkyria may be a good one to try. I believe all of the cutscenes in that are fairly short. This is assuming you decide to go with a console game of course.

Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. :) It's a great game, no matter what some people say.

The obviously easiest recommendation is to point you in the direction of Paper Mario on the Virtual console. The other painfully obvious game to get is Paper Mario the thousand year door for the Gamecube. Both were excellent games, many times better then the DS adventure.

Sadly you probably won't like what a lot of other JRPG's have to offer as they don't offer much comedy (usually) and have a lot of grinding to move up levels.  They also tend to have very long cutscenes and don't offer the amount of gameplay that a Mario and Luigi game does when fighting.