Most of my exposure with anime was whatever was on Toonami and Adult Swim in the 2000s. I've not watched stuff like, Ghost In The Shell, Cowboy Bebop (only disjointed episodes out of order), Neon Genesis Evangelion, which I know are highly regarded.
I've seen just about every Miyazaki movie at this point. I've seen Akeria.
I'm sure there's more mainstream shows and non mainstream shows that I'm missing and would enjoy.
Thoughts?
Grab a big box of tissues and watch Grave of Fireflies. Hard pressed to name a piece of cinema that's made me a bigger anti-war guy.
For lighter stuff - Full Metal Alchemist (I'm partial to Brotherhood over the original, but they're both good). Avatar: the Last Airbender is Amerime and a bit young, but a genuinely great story. I've got a special place in my heart for "Scraped Princess" and "Escaflowne" as well.
Two of my favorite new anime, Delicious in Dungeon and Frieren, also great stuff. They're just not finished yet, so you can't binge them.
I just caught up on Delicious in Dungeon, it is such a fun anime. I've never bought a magna before, but I just had to get started on DinD so I bought the first two Volumes from a local book store.
I've heard of Grave of the Fireflies. I'll put it on the list but having two young kids makes watching stuff like that very hard. You become very sensitive to kid stuff once you have a kid heh.
FMA is definitely something I'd like, caught random episodes over the years. We just finished watching ATLA for the dozenth time, this time with our kiddo, she liked it, but definitely over her head at this age.
I'll look up the others you mentioned! Thanks Comrade!
Gotta watch Full Metal, far and away my favorite of all time.
The original came out while the Manga was still being written so it suffered the same way Game of Thrones did, to a much lesser extent but the ending is just waaaay out there. Brotherhood doesn't tell all them same backstory, but it starts and never slows down.
For first time viewing I always recommend Brotherhood. There is a fan made viewing order that starts with the original then switches to Brotherhood, but it would be kinda confusing as some plots that weren't from the Manga get laid down that just get dropped after the switch.
The Mimic scene was a meme that was running around a year or two back. Once I recognized the show from that, I was hooked.
Oh sure, but that's what's good. It hits on multiple levels.
I third? fourth? Brotherhood! I actually have a tradition of every few years watching A:TLA and then watching Brotherhood because it was how I introduced a late friend of mine to anime. They're both really good stories about leaving your life behind and finding yourself on a journey.
Scrapped princess mentioned!