Anime for a noobie?

[Carmilla]

Ok, ive seen pretty much the entire Trigun series on the Cartoon Network and i loved it. It had such a charm to it that made it enjoyable.
Ninja Scroll was awesome. Vampire D was simply ok.

Ive seen Fooly Cooly and was.... confused. I didnt care for that too much.
And Cowboy Bebop was ok but not as good as ive heard.

And thats my list of anime that ive seen...

So what else is good out there? Ive heard of Kenshin and Neon Genesis being good? Akira and Ghost in the Shell as good as they say?

Id like some 'adult' and 'dark' anime if possible. Oh, and please no romance anime or excessive girly ones like Chobits or Love Hina.

Thanks in advance

[Shoden]

Try Hellsing for dark and adult.

[LunarWeaver]

Watch Elfen Lied and enjoy all the yummy murder and gallons of blood.

[Roto13]

And boobs.

[edczxcvbnm]

Kind of dark you say? How about Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone complex 1st or 2nd Season. That is a good series(bad movies).

[Tasura]

ummmmm Chrno Crusade, Gunslinger Girl, Blood+, Black Cat. The last three have a fair amount of blood and killing, the first is about demons and such, so those are good ones =D

Edit: also Ayakashi-Japanese Classic Horror, Jigoku Shoujo and Ergo Proxy could fit the dark and adult line.

[Roto13]

Watch Serial Experiments Lain for a good mindsmurf.

[Tasura]

Watch Serial Experiments Lain for a good mindsmurf.

Or Paranoia Agent.

[Slicksword45]

Full Meatle Alcamist.

really good. and dark. and bloody. and funny. and sad at times.

[escobert]

Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, .HACK//sign

[Lilliputian Hitcher]

Id like some 'adult' and 'dark' anime if possible. Oh, and please no romance anime or excessive girly ones like Chobits or Love Hina.

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rahxephon, Serial Experiments Lain and Elfen Lied spring straight to mind.

Also, staying away from romance anime is going to deprive you of some of the best anime out there. I would recommend you rectify this as soon as possibly by watching His and Her Circumstances. Staying away from girly anime will almost certainly keep you from Azumanga Daioh as well, which is in itself a crime on the scale of treason.

[starseeker]

You're also depriving yourself of Tenchi Muyo which is well good. DN Angel is also kinda cool.

[Zeromus_X]

If you like fighting anime, give Yu Yu Hakusho a shot. It's like DBZ, but with significantly less yelling, better characters, and great theme songs.

And Kurama.

[Ishin Ookami]

Rurouni Kenshin is a good series, the first season was hit and miss with a lot of filler and maybe half the episodes being taken directly from the manga, the others were filler, and often questionable. Also the first season did tone down the darker and more gritty tone of the manga considerably, also cleaning up some of the jokes. When we first meet yahiko in the anime, he kicks a good for insulting his parents in the junk. In the manga, he bites him in the junk just to be nasty.

Also, for a really good mindsmurf try evangelion. The series starts out normal, but gradually becomes really freaky. Just try to watch end of evangelion without feeling nauseous.

Also Hayo Miyazaki is a name you should know. The guy that made Spirited away, Princess Mononoke, Howls moving castle, and the like. He's pretty much king of the world as far as anime is concerned, and just about anything he's made is considered solid gold. Even light and breezy fare like Kiki's deliver service.

Ghost in the shell, the movies have their appeal. They are very intellectual and thought provoking. The series offers more laughs, and character development along with CSI style crime cases with a cyber-punk spin.

Witch hunter Robin is also a pretty good series, not outstanding, but worthwhile. It could have been great, but the final episodes do sorta drag and lead more to a anit-climax then a climax. But at least the journey was cool.

I'd also recommend Read or Die. The OVA starts out the series with a grand style that's a bit john woo, a bit x-men, and a bit james bond with a literary twist thrown in. Then comes the 26 episode animated series which starts out a little slow, but halfway through becomes the anime version of chocolate chip crack, you just can't stop watching it.

Great Teacher Onizuka is also a great 43 episode series. It's absoloutely hilarious with arguably the biggest and most lovable goof in all anime, Echiki Onizuka. Third degree black belt, first degree hoodlum, and world class clueless clown and lecher, deciding he's gonna set his life straight as well as meet and marry a hot and legal teenage girl by becoming the greatest teacher in the world. How could this series NOT be funny with a setup like that?

And if you want mecha, I'd check out the original mobile suit gundam series (you know, the one that features a guy called amuro ray). It was the first and it's largely considered the best for a reason. Other good gundam series I'd reccommend would be Zeta, War in the pocket, and stardust memory. And while your checking out mecha franchises, get around to viewing the actual maccross series that ADV is (finally) distributing and see just how much this series craps over Robotech.

Another good mecha series that I recommend would be Vandread. It's a bit Star Trek: Voyager with some gundam and Adams Rib thrown in. It can be very fluffy at times with all the scantly spandex clad women running around, but It does have it's charm and more dramatic moments that have made it a cult favorite.

Excel Saga I would recommend, but only after you have some more anime experience under your belt. Excel Saga is basically a parody series of all anime that has come before, except for the last few episodes where everything becomes very dramatic. Alot of the jokes will fly over your head if your an anime noob. But if you do get the jokes, then it is incredibly funny.

I think I'll stop with the exposition here. But other series you should check out follows.

Macross Plus
Record of Lodoss War (start with the 13 episode OVA, then move on to the 27 episode TV series)
X (I actually like the movie better then the series, but the series is pretty good too)
Street Fighter V
Street Fighter the Animated Movie
Fatal Fury I & 2 (stay away from the motion picture, it's mostly crap).
Ninja scroll: The series
Dragon Ball Z
Yuyu Hakusho
Vision of Escaflowne

[Mirage]

Anime is just like live action. There are a ton of different genres. What kind of movies do you usually like?
-edit- I better read posts fully before replying -_-.

I'll recommend Scrapped Princess regardless of genre though, it's just amazing. It's not a romance/schoolgirls series, it's pretty mystical and has a decent amount of fighting in it. I've used this series to turn anime-haters before, and it's always worked.

Fullmetal Alchemist is another good anime. It's got action, humour, and a good story. The only bad thing about it is that it's a bit slow towards the middle of the series.

The 60 episodes I've seen of Bleach are also really good. I dunno how it has turned out now though

And remember; everything is better in its original language.