Trigun and Ranma 1/2

Ranma is a good date show. And there are so many episodes to keep you busy.

If you have a girlfriend who likes Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon, you couldn't do much wrong watching these with her, in order of importance:

Azumanga Daioh
Fruits Basket
Love Hina
Chobits

But if you want some more action techno noir, hit these

Cowboy Bebop
Outlaw Star

Oh oh... and if you're an artist, or your significant other is an artist, Comic Party. That's a classic. You'll be officially indoctrinated into the club of slobs that make up the western anime fanbase.

There are so many animes that I started watching and never finished, so I'm afraid I cannot faithfully recommend them. But DNAngel looks exquisite, Prince of Tennis is a knockdown drag out of high school athletic fantasia, Noir looks pretty deep, do check out Record of Lodoss War if you're into drago-dwarven fantasy, and Vampire Princess Miyu if you want to be spookified in that young vampire school girl sort of way.

God help me I kind of like the two episodes of Cardcaptors that I saw. There's a whole theme throughout anime of powerful children. I love that. I loved it when I was a child, I loved it when I was a teen, and I still think it's great. Like Gundam Wing? Five teenage boys starting a secret war against an Earth government, which is itself being overtaken by young group of hotshots in their 20s? And no parents? I'm in. That's the reason why these shows are so successful. They play off of both the child's need for independence and power, and their fantasies about being in a world where they can act like adults, and interact with adults on a level where they are taken seriously.

I might start thinking that's an unjust, exploitative thing when I get a little older.