The last few episodes do differ from the manga, but its not great.
I found it to be very lackluster.

Indeed, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo (Nujabes) and Ghost in the Shell SAC have really good soundtracks that I still listen to now and then. And It doesn't hurt that these are really fantastic anime series as well. :)

Bubblegum Crisis has an awesome soundtrack.

Just finished Kemonozume. Excellent anime, it has everything, and I ended up really liking the art style, even though it looked weird at first. Definitely a must-see.

Just finished GATE.
It's ok,not the best thing ever but it's nice for the weekend.

I know very late response - but if anyone was interested, I would say the only anime I have EVER watched / played is Brave Story (game is new traveler on PSP)

Movie - pretty alright, in honest opinion, you can tell its partially aimed more for children (And factually, had a advertisement for I believe 50% of the sales via tickets went to children in need (Or it was children with cancer) which is very fitting for the overall story.

Game - what introduced me, is pretty decent on all fronts, as an RPG its "a bit easy" theres not many times (especially if you grind and do very strategic thinking) you will find yourself in a tough spot. the only challenge I found was not using certain abilities because of how "imbalanced" you can make regular combat - But I would say its nice - dont expect everything from it, It certainly has my recommendation - Especially since the game got me to return to gaming.

Haha, these are all really great suggestions but I've already watched these! Samurai Champloo is actually one of my faves :D

Hmm, I've heard that Macross has some good tunes but I never really knew where to start with the series. Is it better to begin with the first one, the OVAs, or some of the newer shows?


100% agree! I love the look and sound of the original Bubblegum Crisis!

The Rolling Girls? but that depends on how much you like the THE BLUE HEARTS.

I started with the Macross Frontier tv series, and that seems like it was probably the best choice.

The franchise as a whole has a lot of rough edges, and the canon's pretty convoluted since there kinda isn't one. Well it's more like that many of the series/movies/etc. are considered in-universe a fictional adaptations of "historical" events with plot differences and such chalked up to say directors taking creative liberties or that "historians" don't really know for sure what happened anyway (or are trying to cover things up). So you have characters in 7 talking about watching DYRL, or Macross Zero being filmed during Macross Frontier.

SDF Macross has some interesting points, but hasn't aged particularly well and the tone/pacing is kind of wonky. The movie version, Do You Remember Love is a classic though and is what most of the future series call back to - though it kind of helps to at least read a summary of what happens in the first couple episodes of the tv series since it starts out after the Macross launched.

Macross II isn't considered canon, and kind of felt like a rehash anyway.

I liked the general idea of the rivalry driving Macross Plus, but in terms of actual execution the main character had about as much personality of a block of wood, there were some plot points I didn't particularly care for, and the final battle felt tacked on for an excuse to have action scenes. (and for the record, I think people prefer the movie cut of the series, since the OVAs are a bit padded out to make them the same length)

Macross 7 is by far my least favorite, as it feels like a dated 80s american saturday morning band cash in cartoon version of Macross despite being made about 94 or 95. It's pretty shallow and repetitive, and probably could have been done in half as many episodes.

Macross Zero isn't terribly like the other series in terms of tone/story.

Macross Frontier's probably the best overall Macross tv series, since it has a bit of everything (while some of the OVAs are pretty narrow in focus). Though it's an anniversary series, so there's a ton of references/callbacks to every previous series (you'd probably get a bit more out of it at times if you get the references, but there isn't all that much that's absolutely essential, maybe know a bit about the Zentradi and how the war with them worked out in the original series). The movies are an alternate retelling of the series with a higher budget (as the tv series had problems with the budget from time to time). I thought the first movie was a little bit better than the equivalent part of the tv series, but also that the second movie was a little bit worse.

If you're looking for soundtracks, it would probably come down to Plus, 7, or Frontier as those have the most focus on music and insert songs.

This great thread grow so much that it takes too much time to search each individual post to get every recommendation... I think its time to make a master list but I wonder: who will be that "brave soul"?

I will butt in with some recommendations:
Rurouni kenshin
Princess mononoke - Movie
All the macross series except macross 7
Monster - Highly recommend this one
Galaxy express 999 - Movie
Locke the superman - Movie
Plawres Sanshiro - Old but a good one if you are into fighting robots
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
Evangelion
Steins;Gate
Attack on Titan
Hellsing - The OVAs are better,but the anime is not lacking either
Getter robo - I've seen the original and Getter robo G,dunno about the others
Taro the Dragon Boy - Small,folk tale movie
Area 88 - Preferably the original,not the remake
Triton of the Sea - Oldie but great
Fist of the north star
School Days - Saw this accidentally.Typical harem with a dark variation
Mazinkaiser - This one has alot of variations
Card captor sakura - Ok,i'm a guy but i liked this one,don't judge me
D.Gray-man
Andromeda Stories
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Movie
Paprika - Movie
Techno Police 21C
Ninja Senshi Tobikage
Gall Force: Eternal Story - Movies and a few episodes
Lupin III
Igano Kabamaru - Goofy,but it's a personal favorite
The last ones are a 'special' category,if you like the videogames,you'll probably like their animes too
Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Inspector
Super Robot Wars Original Generation: Divine Wars
Star Ocean EX - It's star ocean 2
Utsurowazarumono - Breath of Fire IV - Ok,this one is a manga,i post this just because it's breath of fire 4...and i like it...and it's awesome..and you must like it too.
Hope you enjoy some of them at least!

i think its impossible to make a master list since there are difrent tastes.
But i remember years ago i read on a forum of animes one shoud watch if a person coud say he was pretty knowledgeable in Anime works or something like that.
It included allmost all genres and styles.
Only thing i remember from that list was something like this :

Meccha : Gundam or macross
Theres alot of gundam and macross
but one shoud have watched at least some of it.
Peronal recomandation is the oldest gundam movies or OVA
Some of the macross series is really good as well.

Old style Action/something : Akira
Kinda have a special artstyle

Modern :
Gangster/mercenary for hire
Cowboy Bebop
Gungrave

Dont remember more of it. way too long since i hang out regulary in anime forums
Not even sure if the little i remember is that what were written for that list.

Well perhaps the right word is "compilation" and no master list, which will include all recommendations done so far.