Buster...on drugs. ;)

Actually, that kitty is adorable. I love anime cuteness!

Wait until you see my backpack on Bats Day!

Wait until I see pictures of your backpack on Bats Day :(

I keep forgetting you're not going to be there.

Dang - we need to start seeing some DVDs!

Ghost in the Shell is a good start. Personally, I could not recommend Akira as it was not my cup of tea.

Hmm...it sounds like you wish to stay with feature length anime. In that case I would also recommend Appleseed.

Ah! My Goddess - The Movie. Very touching story with incredible animation. Before seeing that it is worthwhile to hunt down the Oh! MY Goddess OVAs from Animeigo.spot

TV series:
If you wish to see some silly comedy - THose Who Hunt Elves. Two Discs for the first portion - 12 episoded (the DVDs are titled "Ready, Set, Strip" and "Elf Stripping for Fun and Profit".)

Mecha/Giant Robots - Macross was suggested, and it IS an excellent series. For first time mecha watchers who wish to see how mentally invasive anime can get, however, I would recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion. If you wanted a "lighter" taste you could pick up the "Death and Rebirth" and "End Of Evangelion" DVDs. These cover, in a different perspective, the last 3 or 4 TV episodes. The TV ending is a very different flavor and it is worthwhile to see both.

Soap Operaish - Fushigi Yugi. Very fantasyish, the characters have a lot of depth, and the series gets emotional. X is also incredible.

Samurai - Rurouni Kenshin. The Wandering Samurai arc is a great taste.

Incredibly cute - I thought nothing would ever top Cardcaptor Sakura...until I saw "A Little Snow Fairy Sugar". Amazingly, amaingly cute. The openning is enough for a sugar rush.

Not Afraid - you mentioned Trigun. Before that I would highly recommend Cowboy Bebop.

Blood and Guts - Berzerk. The story is top notch and there is A LOT of blood. Towards the end it becomes extremly dark.

Secret Agent - L/R

Someone said The Secret of Blue Water. Stay away from the movie and, for the TV series, skip episodes 23 - 30 or so. THey were tacked on to increase the episode count, and the story and animation in them suffers. The rest of the series is pretty incredible. And I would say Atlantis is a much based on Nadia as Nadia is 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

Hmm...I had better stop now. I could list series such as .Hack, Wolf's Rain, Kiddy Grade, etc...all of which have their own special pieces.

[quote=Tref]I thought Atlantis was based on retail projections, formulaic storytelling and no one that knew the difference..hmmmm

[quote=Boss Angeles]Boss knows.

Yesterday I watched, The Cat Returns. It was so wonderful! Hilarious and witty and fantastical. Definitely one of my favorites.

I loved that one as well! It took me completely by surprise. Tim Curry cracked me up!