Recommend Your Favourite Anime

I’m looking for some big time help here people! Almost every time I think about adding a new anime series to my watch list I run into a wall of options and I can never seem to find my way out again. So I’m asking for you help and recommendations on what series you think I should watch.

Here’s a few requirements…

Needs to be PG/PG13

Once of my biggest worries is that I’ll stumble into an anime that gets weird. The video rental system we get our movies from doesn’t really rate Japanese or foreign films correctly. I’ve been burned a few times already with films that started off OK and then went out of control. So I ask that you keep your recommendations in the PG/PG13 category :D

Needs to have decent art

My taste in art styles is wide, but I do like my anime to have a good production value and decent art. I’ve been blown away with the attention to detail and fluid body movement that you’ll find in some anime. I would prefer higher quality art if possible.

The above 60-80’s style art probably wouldn’t cut it unless…

The story has to be good

I’m not going to lie, a lot of the anime I’ve seen has had pretty bad story telling. Packed with clichéd characters and incomprehensible stories. It doesn’t have to be action packed, but the story has to be interesting and compelling.

Some examples

Here’s just a a few examples of anime series that I’ve enjoyed so that you can get a feel for what I’m looking for.

Cowboy Bebop

Good story telling, fun characters, perfect music and amazingly fluid movement. Cowboy Bebop is a classic.

Hayate the Combat Butler

Very fun and light hearted. It pokes fun at a lot of the anime clichés.

I’ve been looking around all morning trying to remember other series that I watched that were good, but I’m having a hard time recalling them. A pretty pathetic list, I know :) I think I remember Ghost in a Shell being good, but it’s been a long time.

There are plenty of “must see” series that I haven’t watched. So even if your recommendation is pretty well known, please let me know what it is.

So what do you think? Which anime should I watch? :D