oh wow this might be tough:
movies:
1. Princess Mononoke - Out of everything that ever came out of Studio Ghibli, this would hands-down be my favorite (I have the DVD, the OST, and the hardcover artbook!)
2. Ghost in the Shell - Futuristic sci-fi action with cyborg cops and giant mechanized tanks... just awesome.
3. Interstella 5555 (okay technically it's just a video companion to Daft Punk's "Discovery" but the way the music and the animation just go together (watch the latter half of 'Digital Love" to see what I mean!) its just epic.)
4. Ninja Scroll - Violence, mature content, ninjas fighting... what more do you need?
5. AKIRA - While not the first anime I ever saw (that honor goes to 'Venus Wars' on Sci-Fi channel back in 1993) it's just required viewing, although you might need a strong stomach, just FYI)
series:
1. Sailormoon - From its humble beginnings on a crappy timeslot on USA (back when they still showed cartoons) I did eventually amass a huge collection of fansubbed cassettes and music CDs of this show.
2. Yu-Gi-Oh! - Don't look at me like that... in the late 90s/early 2000s I was really into Magic: The Gathering (no way I could go back to playing now wayyyyy too much has been changed/updated) but this show had intense card battles with powerful creatures and awesome magic spells
3. Thundercats 2011 - Well it IS by an anime studio.... I did hear rumblings that they wanted to pull the plug, fucking depressing IMO
Anyway its a reboot of the classic 80s cartoon, the debut ep even co-stars the original Lion-O's VA as his dad, Claudus!)4. Panty & Stocking - almost forgot about that one! The animation (for the most part) reminds me of something you'd see on Cartoon Network here in the US... though the mature content puts it later on at night something you'd see during [adult swim] (HINT HINT)
5. GitS: Stand Alone Complex - I believe these take place between the first movie and GITS2: Innocence... great series if you like the movies!
6. Initial D - The music (original subbed version not the (c)rap in the first Tokyopop dub), the racing... it's just awesome.
