Good anime for people that don't like anime in general

[Julius]

So... you are a pretty big nerd but somehow anime always seemed stupid to you and you never got into it?

Well you are right... most anime is crap (flamewar starters and trolls please forget this sentence )

Especially those that run on western TV channels. Oh and English (not to even talk about German) dubbing is so horrible that it takes all the fun out of watching it too (subtitles are fine though).

Yet there are soo many fans... something must be good about it right?

Well yes... some (as in very few) are amongst the best TV shows/movies ever made!

So I decided to give you a short primer into the really good stuff (but don't blame me if you get hooked and your productivity is ruined ).

Lets start with the very light and family friendly movies. Basically everything the Director Miasaki and Studio Ghibli have done is up there with the Disney and Pixar classics. Yes it is mainly for children, but it is very enjoyable as an adult too. Some of it is really fine art! If you have children YOU MUST SHOW THEM THIS STUFF NOW!

Then there are the Sci-Fi masterpieces... e.g. mainly Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion (edit: Akira is great too, but a bit aged now)
The former one has two movies with the second one a bit too metaphysical for my taste and also some spin-off series which are okeish to watch (and which have been condensed into movies too).
The latter one (aka Evangelion) was original a series which was a bit messed up (as in mind fuck and bad script) and the same time one of the best Sci-fi ever done! It shows its age now so don't really bother watching the original series any more. Go directly to the movie remakes (part one and two are out, part three and four should follow this or next year).

For TV series the awesome Sci-fi series Cowboy Beebop is a must see (and has a really nice jazz/blues sound track too).

A bit more standard anime but still very good (but maybe not as a start, as it required having gotten used to anime), I would recommend the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya TV series and movie. This one is a "high-school" comedy, but with a quite awesome sci-fi plot and very likable characters.

A non sci-fi series with a very serious and sad under tone (focusing on social isolation and suicide), but still some comedy elements is Welcome to the NHK. But this one is only for advance viewers with some Japan affinity

Well and there are a bunch of also good, but less recommendable series Just stay away for the magic girl and "beautiful boy" series Oh and the harem series are cool for the lulz, but a rather good reason why most people hate anime

If I forgot some really good show, please feel free to add it!

P.S.: Everything that has more than 26 episodes, aka never ending series like Pokemon, Inuyasha etc is crap too

[Arthur]

Still not convinced. Will probably keep watching the awesome cartoons from the 30s to 60s (Warner Bros, MGM, Universal, Disney) instead. (Some of the recent spin-offs are OK too, but the quality varies greatly. Duck Dodgers for the win; Loonatics Unleashed for the loss.)

[Julius]

Meh... what ever.

Maybe this awesome anime music video (AVM) of the Evangelion Rebuild convinces you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElW7OGBgajI

EPIC WIN times 27

[Julius]

Ohh... just finished watching a recent one:

Stein's Gate

It's about time travel and so one... pretty good one too!

[KIAaze]

Those topics keep coming up regularly. It depends what the person is interested in. Everybody has different tastes.
That being said, there are 2 I've watched recently, which are relatively unknown but really good:
-Serei no moribito
-Planetes

And among the well known, really good ones:
-Monster
-Death note
(only read the mangas for both of them, but I heard the corresponding anime were good)

Planning to start reading "20th century boys" soon.

Welcome to the NHK was really good too, but yes, not for people new to anime.

For sci-fi manga:
-Gunnm
-Blame (haven't read that one yet, but had a look and the art is fantastic!)

Then there is Berserk, the extremely violent, but also very good one...

For comedy: FLCL, "Janguru wa Itsumo Hare nochi Gū". And excel saga which I still have to fully watch.

In general, it's probably best to start with movies though. That's how I started. With the excellent Kenshin OAVs (Tsuiokuhen). Only read/watched the series later.
(In fact, I think I may have started with "Ishin Shishi e no Requiem", but the OAVs are definitely better and left a stronger impression on me, although it's only after the series+manga and reading some japanese history that I understood most of it.)
[edit]A bit late, but I like to be correct: technically, the first one I remember seeing was "Princess Mononoke", but it's only years later that I really started discovering a lot of anime/manga. [/edit]

your productivity is ruined

You have just succeeded. But it was my fault for coming here in the first place. :/
Hopefully, it will remain limited to those few minutes.