Top 5 of all time...

[Rental Daughter]

Hm... My Top 5 in no particular order are...

- ef - a tale of memories
- Shuffle!
- .hack//SIGN
- Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
- Kanon (2006)

Air is somewhere up there too... But I liked Kanon more. XD And now Clannad After Story is taking over. xP

[iuliathe3rd]

You know, this topic could be a whole lot more interesting if people actually explained why said anime are their top five (or more) choices.

Escaflowne - This one is listed first for a reason. It has an excellent score, great and enjoyable story which takes something that's not so original and makes it into something spectacular, and Van gets me hot and heavy. Also, no filler whatsoever; gotta love that.

Planetes - To me, this has a pretty unique scenario, what with the whole "space exploration has developed by 2075, but it's also dangerous with all the debris out there, so we need someone to pick up all that crap". Going from there, we also get a more realistic view of technological development, although that's not the highlight of the show. No, the character relations are, which I believe they pulled off quite well.
Also, the opening "Dive in the Sky" is possibly the best opening song ever.

Eureka Seven - One of those series that'll get you emotionally involved very early on and take you for a ride the rest of the way. That's honestly the best way I could describe it, so I'll leave it at that.

Gurren Lagann - Very similar to Escaflowne in what it accomplishes: taking a not-so-original plot and turning it into a masterpiece. Also, like Eureka Seven, it takes you for a badass ride the entire way. One of those things where I teared up at the ending simply because it was over. Best mecha anime ever, in my opinion.

.hack - Yes, I'm inserting .hack at the very end. I decided not to choose a specific anime however, since I feel all of them (minus LotT) were able to do the same things: Give us some good to decent character development - or at the very least enjoyable to watch characters - and a darn nice score to boot. Of course, the story is interesting too, the main thing that has kept me into .hack all these years.

[Erranty]

I hate you so f*cking much right now.

I've broken the emotionless hate machine... nice.

[Erranty]

And Paranoia Agent was amazing, Erranty.

If that's the case then you must think Onegai Teacher was epic!

[TheEnigma]

Cowboy Bebop
Gundam Wing
.hack ( all of them)
Samurai Champloo
Darker Than Black

[Haseo{Terror of Death}]

And Paranoia Agent was amazing, Erranty.

If that's the case then you must think Onegai Teacher was epic!

Comparing two completely unalike things is a horrible way to win an argument.

You can make an argument out of anything, but to win an argument, you'd need facts 'n' stuff

[AuraTwilight]

And Paranoia Agent was amazing, Erranty.

If that's the case then you must think Onegai Teacher was epic!

....dude, the two have **** in common except that they're both anime. What's next, comparing Serial Experiments Lain to Naruto? Denno Coil to Gakugan?

[Erranty]

And Paranoia Agent was amazing, Erranty.

If that's the case then you must think Onegai Teacher was epic!

....dude, the two have **** in common except that they're both anime. What's next, comparing Serial Experiments Lain to Naruto? Denno Coil to Gakugan?

Who? IchiGoku?

[S1lentOp]

And Paranoia Agent was amazing, Erranty.

If that's the case then you must think Onegai Teacher was epic!

....dude, the two have **** in common except that they're both anime. What's next, comparing Serial Experiments Lain to Naruto? Denno Coil to Gakugan?

I'd rather we compare Naruto to Ulysses since they're both stories written by people.

[Horokeu]

Hmm, I think my list would be:
1:.Hack//ANYTHING
2:Death Note
3:Great Teacher Onizuka
4:Nerima Daikon Brothers
5:D. Greyman/Steel Angel Kurumi

[Admilu]

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion (Best and first. It's what got me into anime and then into .hack so I reall owe it)
2. .Hack
3. Full metal Alchemist (YES! I was first to pick FMA... there may be a reason though o_o)
4. Flcl
5. Elfen Lied (I know this one's a bit off but I like the depressing feeling it gives)

[kai the pkk]

1) Katekyoushi hitman reborn

2) D.gray-man

3: school rumble

4)Detective Conan/Caseclosed

5)Darker than black

yep thats mine

[Dimitri]

In this order:

1. Death Note
2. G Gundam Moble Fighter
3. Code Geass
4. Yu Yu Hakusho
5. Full Metal Alchemist

[azureknightkite]

Code Geass

Gundam Seed

all .hack//

Fullmetal Alchemist

Bleach

[SunfallE]

You know, this topic could be a whole lot more interesting if people actually explained why said anime are their top five (or more) choices.

It's a pity that your advise is being ignored Miss A. Lists are pretty much boring as hell if they have nothing to back them up. With that in mind I'll list some of my all time favorites. I have many more of course, but these were among my first to hit that all important favorite list.

Sailor Moon: You heard right. Sailor Moon, unedited of course. Why? Because it's the series that upon seeing it unedited drew me back into anime when I had grown up and left it behind. So silly sailor outfits and all... it will always be one of my favorites.

Pretear: It's one of my favorite versions of Snow White. Anime style! Short and sweet and to the point. That and I enjoy the music. The main lead having seven Knights instead of Dwarfs is wonderfully fun with the character interaction between them and the lead character.

Crest of The Stars: It's more slow paced and relies on conversation to build the story, but that just really comes together at the end, making those moments when things do get filled with action more alive. No super flashy battle scenes, just the story of two very different characters caught up in the changes caused by a war between their respective races.

Detective Conan: I enjoy the mystery aspect to this, how tiny details in the show itself are clues to what's really going on. Along with the circumstances surrounding the main lead... it's just fun to watch.

Lovely Complex: It's a romantic comedy about a tall girl falling for a short guy. It's just full of all sorts of fun moments and it's augmented by just how lovable the lead, Risa is.

[Rental Daughter]

Hmm.... Okay I'll explain why these are my favorites. D: I know I could just edit my previous post but I'm just stupid this way. D:

ef - a tale of memories :: I really loved this series not only for the animation but for the story. While the animation is rather odd (and artistic in a way) I do enjoy it, whilst a few others simply hate it and bash about how all these "amazing scenes" are simply a million photoshop layers here and there. Even if it's just a simple effect, this is the first anime I've seen to use them to such an extent. Not only that, the two stories truly captivated me. I prefer Chihiro/Renji's arc over Miyako/Hirono/Kei's though.

Shuffle! :: This series... is what made me have some kind of odd respect for harem anime. I started watching this series because I heard the opening theme and really enjoyed it. The animation is pretty good and it surprisingly kept me amused enough to get past the more "ecchi" episodes and into the real story. While I don't particularly love harem series, I've learned to stop judging them right off the bat. That and Kaede is love... and Asa too. ^^

.hack//SIGN :: Ah... .hack//SIGN is pretty much the only anime that I have all the DVDs for. XD I enjoyed watching this series way back when it used to air on Toonami (and I used to complain about how Tom never said the "/"s because I was silly back then.) I never understood a thing since I started in the later episodes but the character designs blew me away. While I always had to change the channel every time my parents came into the room because of Mimiru's and Subaru's outfits... I still liked it. A couple years later I bought the DVDs and fell in love with the series all over again, especially since I know knew what the heck was going on. (My impression of Tsukasa was waaaay off.) The story is definitely original and it truly got me into watching more anime than usual~

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu :: It's Haruhi. Need I say more?

Kanon (2006) :: I've yet to see the 2002 version so... From the story to the animation, I simply loved Kanon. Each character's story caught my interest (as opposed to Air's...) and really got me attached to them. I think this is the first anime to make me tear up a bit which is a definite plus. ^__^ I'm still searching for an anime that'll make me cry. D: It was kind of slow-paced in a way but that's what I loved about the series. It kept the whole "school" setting (which I tend to lean towards) while still keeping things interesting. ... And I think Mai's awesome.

SunfallE> Yay! Lovely Complex. XDD I haven't seen the anime or finished the manga yet but I love that series. I have seen the live action movie though. ;>__>

[iuliathe3rd]

Ahh, so you've seen Lovely Complex too, Rental Daughter?
I just started it recently. I don't think I typically lean towards that genre, but it's been enjoyable so far. Just the idea of a tall girl falling for a short guy is kind of cute. ^^

... man, now I feel like revising my Top 5 post and adding in some more details.

[Kuukai]

I feel obliged to crank out the most obscurist list, but I have a lot of other, more popular favorites too, and I find it hard to rank them:

G-On Riders - Every girl in the show wears glasses, enough said.

Himitsu Kessha Taka no Tsume - Not really traditional "anime", but the fast-paced comedic dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny. They get in a lot more gags-per-minute than most shows.

The World of Golden Eggs - I like this for many of the same reasons as Taka no Tsume, but it also has a lot more characters, running gags, and puns.

Dr. Slump - It's not really quite as funny as the above two, but it still makes me laugh, and I'm a huge fan of Arale. Since she's pretty much Dragonball canon, I really want to see her in Budokai... Head toss ftw!

Gunbuster - Best. Anime. Ever. Like I said I find it hard to rank them but, wow, this show has everything. Einstein's theory of special relativity, the universe trying to kill us, Norio Wakamoto. In addition the show pioneered fanservice, Gainaxness, and I believe they slayed more kaijyuu than anything else ever shown on a screen, all before digital computing machines!

[SunfallE]

SunfallE> Yay! Lovely Complex. XDD I haven't seen the anime or finished the manga yet but I love that series. I have seen the live action movie though. ;>__>

And here I've seen all of the anime but I've yet to read the manga or watch the live action movie. I really should fix that. And since I'm in here again... I'll list some of my more recent favorites or rather shows I watched within the last year that were added to my list of favorites. (that list gets longer all the time I swear)

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo: I enjoyed this not just because it was loosely based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, but because of the approach taken to animating it. The photoshop textures along with digital animation and 3D backgrounds just blended really well with classical music that was also woven into it.

Black Lagoon: It wasn’t the action or more mature themes that resulted in it becoming a favorite; it was how it did a good job of weaving existential themes into the plot without making a real distinction between right and wrong. This made it easier to see each character for who they were.

Full Metal Panic: I’m not big into mecha shows so what made this a favorite was how it blended in a lot of humor with the relationships between the characters. It was a good way to basically get away from letting the fighting overshadow character development.

Fumofuu: The second season to FMP and why the first was so fun. It kept it from the pitfall of adding too much slapstick humor by sticking most of that into this middle fluff season that was all the more fun for being short side trips into those moments.

Lucky Star: A nice slice of life show about a group of high school girls. The characters each have their own quirky little habits and the ending Lucky Channel show is wonderfully wacky. Heh.

[Kuukai]

I find it interesting that those are all made by either Kyoto Animation or Gonzo. (Heck, there are even more connections than that. FMP started out at Gonzo, Fumoffu took the series to KyoAni, and then Lucky Star by KyoAni cameoed Fumoffu in it) I have to say that even though I usually love shows like that (e.g. Monster, Bokurano, Red Garden), I didn't watch Black Lagoon for the philosophy and soul-searching. My favorite arc was Greenback Jane, and I felt Fujiyama Gansta Paradise was too depressing, or slow, or something. The manga is actually ongoing, it's possible Gonzo could make a third season... (if KyoAni doesn't snag it!)