Anime

[Valkyr]

I'm looking for a couple suggestions on the series I should start up next. 

I've seen
Trigun
Evangelion
Chunks or Ranma 1/2
Gurren Laggan
Blood+
Hellsing

I'm looking for something that has over the top action and a nice mixture of comedy and seriousness.

[Rhapsody]

Ranma 1/2 is awesome for comedy.  As is Trigun.  Every time I see "Neo Genesis Evangelion", I can't help but think of that 2 rant I heard, wherein he referred to it as "Neon Jello Evangelist".  I don't know if that counts as comedy.

If you're looking for some really decent drama (with a side of incest and mythic backstory), I recommend Angel Sanctuary.  The complete story was in manga form, and only 3 OAVs were ever made, but it's still pretty decent storytelling. 

It's also where I snatched my avatar. :)

[Mathim]

I liked the manga of Ranma 1/2 better, more sight gags and less room for filler so they force more jokes in.

But I really like Saiyuki, that's got to be one of the best action/comedy series out there; just the first series, though. The plot and stuff in Saiyuki Reload and Gunlock are just really crappy.

Yu Yu Hakusho is a lot of fun if you're into anti-heroes, they do some amazing fight scenes in there and it's hilarious to boot.

And Dragonball is a great one, before it turned into a mindless brawlfest in Dragonball Z.

[Caeli]

I really, really recommend Code Geass. :P It's very recent, and the character designs were done by CLAMP. It's a very unusual story, because the "protagonist" isn't a hero in the sense that you might think of one.

There's also a sequel series that's currently airing for it. The manga is also quite excellent.

Hmm... I've heard good things about X, though I've never watched it myself.

I also happen to adore Full Metal Panic and Full Metal Panic: Second Raid. The second is a sequel series to the first. It mixes together seriousness and comedy, and has lots of giant mechas and believable futuristic war stuff. :) Characters were hilarious.

[WyldRanger]

Wolf's Rain = Greatest Anime Ever!    ;D

[Mathim]

You know what I've discovered is that Fullmetal Alchemist is totally overrated. People used to rave and sing praises to its name for the longest time and when I finally saw it I was like, "This is it? Whoop-de-frigging-do." But then, that happens a lot. Same thing with Cowboy Bebop; yes, it's well-written for the most part but it's also dark and there's lots of wasted time and convoluted plots throughout. I mean, it's the worst kind of sci-fi; the kind without well-defined rules. Yes, there's alien things that do impossible shit, but they don't do it often even though they could, making it virtually pointless to have done it at all when they could have easily given it some other explanation.

[HairyHeretic]

Just anime, or would you be interested in manga / manwha as well?

[Mathim]

Just anime, or would you be interested in manga / manwha as well?

Things are going kinda slow in here, so why not? Besides, some manga are really kick-ass and just never get made into anime. Or the manga are really kick-ass and the anime versions suck donkey balls (Samurai Deeper Kyo.)

[HairyHeretic]

In anime, I'm rather partial to the original Dominion Tank Police, and Ushio and Tora (which the first time I ever came across it, it was described as 'Calvin and Hobbes on acid').

Manga, I like Johji Manabes work ... Outlanders, Drakunn, Caravan Kidd. Ranma and Urusei Yatsura are also good reads.

[Rhapsody]

Vision of Escaflowne. 

[Chris Brady]

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi

[Valkyr]

Thanks all,  I've started Code Geass...  looks pretty good,  Thanks Caeli.

[Aiden]

GTO- Great Teacher Onizuka

and FMA- Full Metal Alchemist

[Nell]

for what you're looking for, full metal panic most definitely seems to be the best choice

[King_Furby]

Nijuu-Mensou no Musume is very good. I also have started to watch a new series called Casshern SINS. never knew that you could make killing robots gore lol.

Code Geass is pretty good as well, though first season is better.

A good one you might like that recently wraped up. it's D Gray Man, it's like 73 episodes. it's about demons. very fun and has some cool characters.

[Mathim]

@ Aiden: Isn't GTO really super-long? There's tons of volumes of the manga at the store. Is it like Ranma 1/2 where it's mostly just filler or is there a mostly stable running plot throughout?

[Chris Brady]

Mathim, the problem with Ranma, and everything else she does, is that Takahashi Rumiko has no idea what she's going to do next.  She draws and writes with no end in mind.  It serves her well when she wants to keep a story going, but ending it...  Well...  Inu Yasha, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma, Uresai Yatsura (AKA Lum)...  That should be proof enough.

[King_Furby]

Sucks when an anime just doesn't know when to end. But i still think its worse when there is a good anime that ends to soon.

[Mathim]

Well I thought of Ranma more like a newspaper comic strip, it's just supposed to keep going without needing to really further the plot. Like Calvin and Hobbes. That's why it's fun to read them over and over.

Oh, and if anyone hasn't read the Samurai Deeper Kyo manga, you are really missing out on something totally kick-ass.

[Hunter]

*digs into his list*

Let's see...
Bubblegum Crisis (the original had an excellent music score, the remake a decent plot)
Appleseed
Gundam.  The original Gundam (which was done in the ink and paper days)

Also try:
Martian Successor Nadesco
Sakura Wars

[Mathim]

Anyone see Trigun? I was really disappointed with that. It was supposed to be a sci-fi Western, I thought, which would have been an awesome combo. But no, it was more of a story about a guy than a sci-fi Western. Really a big letdown. And by the end, most of the struggle by the main character was all in vain, at least, that's how I felt. I really can't recommend seeing this one.

[Gerald Tarrant]

Code Geass and Deathnote

Both about geniuses and manipulators.

Truly wonderful anime's

[Mathim]

I'd have to argue about Death Note having geniuses. They both made a lot of dumb and presumptuous moves. Although I did enjoy the series, just not the ending; it felt cheap and anticlimactic and in the end, the wrong person ends up winning because the other was right all along; and they won for the wrong reasons anyway. I only read the manga though, I can't imagine the anime being any good. There'd be too much wasted time. Something more action-y would be better suited to be animated. Death Note was more of a drama, hardly any action at all.

[White lace]

Elfen Lied, I think it is the best anime ever created. Past all the violence and nudity, (which there is a lot of both), it has an incredible well written and sometimes emotional story. I would strongly recommend it to anyone.

[Mathim]

Has anyone here ever seen or heard of Desert Punk? That's a hilarious post-apocalyptic scenario and it's seriously the most perverted non-hentai anime ever created, I think. The main character's sole goal in life is to find large-breasted women and lose his virginity (he's like 15) and to wait for his little partner (she's like, 11 or 12) to grow up and get hot like her mom so he won't feel like a pedophile when he does her. And that's pretty much the plot, with his job as a bounty hunter/mercenary thrown in.