Forgot one(non-adult) suggestion: Parasyte

It is originally/mainly a manga/graphic novel, but very good....about organisms that hid inside host bodies and essentially look like John Carpenter's The Thing style creatures under the skin.....some good, but most bad/evil/etc.....a good read/watch, imo.

Here's a few with links to small videos showing what they are.

Super Dimensional Fortress Macross - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aspSFPVPh1k

Ninja Scrolls - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaXJI339uQs

Blue Gender - ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5RMwWxEsbc

Angel Cop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g90BHWjS5iE

Vision of Escaflowne - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK38WzlNvfk

Have you also watched Fullmetal Alchemist (the original, not Brotherhood)? It has a darker mood and I prefer it.

Have you ever been at, or god forbid participated, into an anime cosplay event? Especially the ones abroad? No shorties there. Not even one.

The entire/rest of the, world isn't USA you know, where 9 year old kids mail politicians, to "help them come out of the closet + gieging buts". Or R_gees who say that they are minors, yet when examined, are at least 30 years old.

Yes, I've watched it. And I've indeed liked its ending more.

To be fair, there ARE parts of Brotherhood that I liked more than original FMA. And there are parts that original did better. To me it's like "equivalent exchange" rule - one anime has certain high points and another traded those for other high points.

"Short bus" is a term for the bus that carries that mentally deficient/"special" kids to school(not short people in general).....so now knowing that you can likely see what I meant by that bit.

(i.e. Even if some like it, I personally think Naruto is a dumb show full of annoying characters that I find a pain to watch, and don't know how anyone with good taste could like it)

Yeah buddy. Maybe your taste isn't as good as you made it out to be, or something. No shame in that. There is a sheetload of different types and genres of anime/manga/visual novels regardless and all that stuff, so it's only natural that everybody's appetite on them differ.

Taste and personal taste, though, are two entirely different things. I don't find Bleach good to my tastes, for instance, or One Piece, but general taste says they are good, popular and mainstream. Maybe you accidentally boarded the short-bus of short-sightedness, or something? The world doesn't revolve around our very own, tiny, personal tastes, only we individually do. That is why statistics, reviews, opinion exchanges and ratings, exist. ^_^

Maybe yer right...I DO like Daikatana and Diablo 3 and such, after all. o.0 :D

That said, I still find many animes today to be uninspired cliche and trope filled messes, but some have their bright spots/aspects I suppose. :)

Agreed, but imo they are still too trope/cliche filled nowadays due to wanting to pander to such for money...I remember when anime had "soul"...good plots/worlds, and less falling to tropes at the time(or so it seemed)....ah the good old days.

Amen to that. And good old days without CENSOR, plus politically correct BULL!

Yeah, when they weren't scared to show a titty(an ACTUAL TITTY, not just panty shots and cleavage) or two(or MORE) on mainstream anime or swear up a storm, and people could be all sorts of UN-PC as they wanted without fear of someone on social media rallying a bunch of "basement dwellers" with chips on their shoulders to get them cancelled.

Shows like:

Foolie Coolie(might be misspelling a bit)

The classic Lupin the Third(when Lupin was more an Unrepentant Lech on women[especially Fujiko] and there was more stealing stuff and less "noble Lupin trying to be an act of justice for all around him" type stuff like there is now on the new installments)

Ghost in the Shell

Cowboy Beebop

Sailor Moon(a bit girly, yet not afraid to push some boundaries.....like the uncut unchanged stuff where one was a lesbian and when she wasn't added to virtue signal and they change her anyways)

etc

I think you are wrong. Pretty much all anime focus on emotions. And since emotions are very personal, they can be very different for different people. And that's why pretty much none of the anime shows or movies have universal appeal.

I.e. Neon Genesis Evangellion a lot of people consider most complex and phylosiphical, delving into depth of human psychie with it's characters. But there are also many others, who think that NGE is just a pretentious harem with mecha battels, infuriatingly dumb protagonist and writers smoking shrooms on occasion.

Maybe Sailor Moon pushed some boundaries and had interesting creative choices (and I'm referring not just lesbian representation), but at heart it is still just a Super Sentai for girls with most silly characters I've seen on the screen.

And even if you can't watch Dragon Ball Z without desire to punch TV, a lot of people (me included) find its most epic fights incredibly entertaining. (Though I must admit the series really tries audience patientce with entire episodes dedicated to some character charging his "energy dong". Honestly, with Dragon Ball Z: Kararot game (not on GoG) released there is no reason to watch anime now.)

So you see, even most popular and well-known anime can be interesting only for specific audience. That's how it was back than and is today. That's btw, why I asked OP a few comments back what exactly was his preferences.

They overdo it a ton on some of the newer animes, though....when you see a character acting over the top in being scared when it's a minor or non issue, amazed at something when it's nothing special, or otherwise overly emotional you can tell they are doing it to play to cliches/tropes and pander to those that love that junk.

Most(not all) older animes were a bit more restrained..they showed emotion when needed or when it was the right moments, and usually in the right amounts to not be over the top.

Eh, I included it somewhat because "eye candy" and it was also silly and fun to watch....I also grew up with it being on all the bloody time as well, so that played into it a bit.

It has it's moments early on & even later on here and there, but the same old "growl and grunt and punch stuff till a certain number then beat bad guy, rinse and repeat" gets old pretty quick.

Also(like a YTer explains on one channel) they go too "ambitious" by going after x/y best/toughest foe in every area......and now they are on the multiverse.....where's to go after that? They've essentially painted themselves into a corner, so to speak.

I get that some stuff isn't for everyone, BUT I also can see how annoying some of the protags of newer stuff can be, and how cliche/trope filled some stuff is nowadays.

When there are entire sites online that mock/criticize current animes(series or in general) for certain things you can sorta tell it's not just personal taste entirely at play.

okay. gonna follow the fashion.
- FLCL. the original one.
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya + The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. kinda Hyperion-lite, Japanese Edition.
- Ghost in the Shell (1995) + Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (1998). Stand Alone Complex series + Solid State Society are good as well.
- puella magi Madoka magica. TV series + the third movie (the first two just retell the series). didn't touch the new series, sorry.
- Last Exile. again, the original one.
- Excel Saga + Puni Puni Poemi. (ES is kinda promo for PPP.)

...and some mind screw:
- Serial Experiments Lain.
- Tatami Galaxy + The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl.
- Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. (only watched the 1st season. was great.)
- Satoshi Kon's works. all of them.

of course, forgot something.

UPD: and indeed I did.
- To aru majutsu no Index + To aru kagaku no Railgun. aka RailDex.
- Jin-Roh.
- Akira. but of course!
- Welcome to the NHK!
- One Punch Man. sheer awesomeness.
- Higurashi no naku koro ni. the first season is amazing. the second one starts off good but ends in some Naruto-ish zone. and then there're OVAs with some eps being plot-related, while others - not...

Heavy Metal (1981).

Not actually anime or Japanese but the closest you could hope to get from the west.

Edit: maybe look to check out Aeon Flux as well, very anime like in plot and style.

You mean except Fire and Ice. Or Heavy Metal 2000.

Or if you're into more kid friendly stuff - Avatar, W.I.T.C.H., Exo-Squad, Gargoyles, and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. :P