[kupoartist]

I've only been an anime watcher for half a year now, so I know what it feels like to be confronted with lots of names but no idea what to start with. Personally, I'd start with Movies before you go onto actual anime serieses... Even if you find you have no real love of anime whatsoever, you'll almost certainly derive some kind of pleasure out of some of the better films: Anything by Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke probably have the most appeal) works magic on just about anyone i've tried to get interested. Akira and Ghost in the Shell are pretty classy, but probably more limited in appeal. I can also say that Memories and Metropolis are worth watching, though they didn't really do that much for me...

In general when approaching anime series, you should just go for the kind of genres you usually like in non-animated films, like the types of things Meryl listed above. Do experiment a bit though - you may end up liking stuff you didn't think you would