Most of my exposure with anime was whatever was on Toonami and Adult Swim in the 2000s. I’ve not watched stuff like, Ghost In The Shell, Cowboy Bebop (only disjointed episodes out of order), Neon Genesis Evangelion, which I know are highly regarded.
I’ve seen just about every Miyazaki movie at this point. I’ve seen Akeria.
I’m sure there’s more mainstream shows and non mainstream shows that I’m missing and would enjoy.
Thoughts?
don’t watch more than one big shonen, just go for one and if you like it maybe check out others. all the ones listed are hundreds of episodes (minus the modern ones, which are all kinda bad. many of the others are also kinda bad). check out yu yu hakusho, which is a very solid classic action series and is “only” ~100 episodes compared to naruto’s 700 or one piece’s 1000+. hunter x hunter is a little longer but is also great, though it’s much less of a traditional shonen fight story so it won’t give you the best idea of what others may be like
yuri on ice isn’t gaybait, those men kissed! if you want gaybait check out hibike euphonium, or the movie liz and the blue bird. i know you put hibike in the general romance category, but that is a lesbian anime where the girls get with guys at the end. idk that liz and the bluebird is gaybait but the girls are never explicitly interested in each other
you really shouldn’t watch zeta gundam without watching first gundam, it’s a sequel that is building a lot on what was already done in the first one. i’ll second ibo though
anti-recommend all of the trapped in a video game ones. they’re bad. log horizon starts good, but it kinda just spins its wheels forever and never does anything with the things it sets up
it is INCREDIBLY unfair to put madoka magica and berserk (which are good, and not fascist) together with attack on titan and goblin slayer (which are bad, and also fascist). madoka is not nearly in the same league in terms of edginess either, it’s genuinely a very hopeful and uplifting show imo. anti-recommend attack on titan and goblin slayer, but i am pro-berserk and madoka
anti-recommend the isekai. they’re bad, and tanya is really heavy on the lolicon and nazi imagery together to a VERY uncomfortable extent