Here's my list, and yeah I spent a long time on it :3 (and cheated and looked up what I remember seeing but forgot the title lawl)
Closed series (for the most part):
Trigun - definately a must see for any anime fan. Anime meets westerns and basically no incredibly annoying characters.
Neon Genisis Evangelion - probably the best series ever on so many levels; you'll need to watch it at least like three times before you understand anything about it. Be sure to see the movies for it too otherwise the last two episodes of the 26 ep series will leave you suicidal.
Ghost in the Shell/GitS: Stand Alone Complex - I think the series is better than the movie, and it's one of the few animes with the great English and JP voices. Basically futuristic Japan that follows special crime fighting units; I managed to follow the series through adult swim for the most part, saw the movie off torrent.
Cowboy Bebop - Nuff already said. Go see the movie for it if you haven't already!
Full Metal Alchemist - Long series, about 54 episodes iirc plus a movie that goes on at the end of the story and some manga to finish it off; pretty good but a big time investment. You'll like it if you like classical plays like the Odessey and such.
Escaflowne - Decent series; it's kinda like ffxi meets mech anime meets 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.' So if you're into any 2 of those 3 it's worth checking out; the movie that goes with it is basically a synopsis of the entire series only less drawn out, less explained, and fewer characters/emotional ties.
Blue Gender - A mech series of 26 episodes set in a post-apocolyptic future with giant bug like creatures having taken over almost every inch of ground and humans are essentially forced to flee to space stations. I kinda wanna watch it again now but a friend has my dvd collection and he's a few hundred miles away lol.
Berserk - Medieval fighting fantasy series; I haven't seen the last episode yet I think because I couldn't find it and gave up lol. It's pretty leet and the main character is a total badass.
Desert Punk - I got it off itunes this summer and I'd say it was worth every penny. Hilarious series with some serious moments and a good story; the name kinda says it all and I'd definately check it out. It's got a lousy start, almost too childish, but it moves on quickly and has a great ending.
Outlaw Star - A solid series; one episode was completely banned from cartoon network, and if you see it you'll know why LMAO. Space action and comedy with a bit of dramma too.
Last Exile - Sort of similar to Eurkea 7 as far as I can tell; watched it a long time ago from torrents and it was a really good storyline with some strong characters. Takes place in a future sort of world with flying aircraft carriers and big flying battleships and fights and wutnot, good stuff. Ending gets more abstract iirc, dunno if I ever finished it. Worth checking out.
.hack//sign - I'm aware it goes on in different parts and videogames and wutnot, but the 26 base episodes are pretty good; gets very abstract and wutnot but meh. It's decent if you don't intend to dive in head first to all the other crap that goes with it and are content with the base story.
FLCL - Fooley Cooley; there's probably like 9 episodes of it ever made, rest were cut cuz of funding iirc but there's a lot of magna on it. It has possibly the best soundtrack of any series I've seen though and it's an incredibly cheap buy almost anywhere you look.
Open series:
DB/DBZ - lol... moving on...
Naruto - Anything before episode 160ish is good with a lot of exceptions lol; after that [seen up to about 220 iirc] the writers pretty much are clinging to any little bullshit irrelevant idea in order to postpone the actual story (see: DBZ/One Piece rly). Best episodes are when Lee gets a lilttle booze in him... (drunken boxing
) but that's not until like episode 104 at the earliest iirc. I YouTube'd it all about two years ago in the summer when Naruto first came on cartoon network and kinda flopped. [side note: totally dropped it when some asshole started showing up to my math discussion classes with a naruto headband he made for himself. i could no longer be associated with that on any level].
One Piece - Completely butchered by cartoon network so I've only seen limited pieces of it that were all horrendously shitty. Even so, never seen anything good about it.
Yu Yu Hakusho - Another series that takes the DBZ formula pretty much stride for stride, but it's got its moments and I remember liking it back when I first saw it in 8th grade or so. Wouldn't bother if you totally despise DBZ though.
Gundum Anythings - I've seen like 20 episodes of maybe six different series; could never get into it. The one I saw the most, not by choice but b/c it was on cartoon network when I got home in like 7th grade, was the one where they had the tournament that was non-lethal and incredibly lame. That probably turned me off the series forever; I think it was called Gundum Seed or Wing, not sure though.
Inu Yasha - Girl version of DBZ; only saw what cartoon network showed and even when it's just playing in the background while I do something else it's incredibly boring and easy to follow.
Movies:
Spirited Away - Awesome movie.
Akira - You already know.
Ninja Scroll - There's a series too; never heard anything good about it though. Movie is pretty badass and follows the Trigun formula almost exactly except in ninja style instead of western.
Princess Mononoke - I vaguely remember it, but it's a pretty big one. I think it's sort of like Blue Gender with respect to the bug stuff but very different otherwise; no mechs iirc.
Blue Submarine No. 6 - I remember seeing it once on cartoon network a long time ago, back when toonami was actually running and worth watching. It's got a bunch of weird stuff in it; good from what I remember. Sort of similar to Last Exile with respect to the giant ships.
Idk if these count as anime but they are very jp and very gewd:
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within - I liked it. Not really related to 7 or any other ff I can think of other than there's the giant mothercrystal sort of ideaology and wutnot.
Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children - who hasn't seen this five times already?
Classics:
Lupin the 3rd - Pretty funny series if you can get past the 1960's animation.
Speed Racer - If you haven't seen at least 10 episodes of this you're not a true anime fan.
Astro Boy - Just watch whatever cartoon network gives you, that's enough lol.
Stuff I've only seen 1-6 episodes of:
Wolf's Rain - Good but only followed through CN and they never showed it all.
Eureka 7 - character was way to whiney, dropped it.
Serial Lane - Haven't seen it all but it's kind of like a cult classic for anime.
The Big O - Giant mechs; 26 series I think. Only seen about a third of it and wasn't too drawn into the story: everyone in a city gets amnesia 20 or 40 years ago and this guy is an investigator and uncovers shit and wutnot. I'm probably making it sound worse than it is, but either way I wouldn't make it one of the first series you check out.
Chobbits - Robots with on switches in their vaginas, what's not to like?
Love Hina - Thought it was hentai, muhbad. Not rly but I don't remember what it was about other than a clusterfuk of pussy chasing.
Excel Saga - Strangest shit ever, too weird for me. Main character dies like 6 times in the first five minutes iirc.
Samuria Champloo - Only seen about half the episodes myself, but it's a great series just based off that. Friend of mine has watched it over probably four or five times when he first got it too.
Azumaga Daiho (sp?) - Incredibly funny from the first few I saw.
That's all my memory can stretch to think of atm, but that's probably everything I've ever seen, which is probably fail compared to like anyone else that just listed their favorites but owell; I was bored so wuteva.
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and Misa suiciding at the end was also sad. 
lol
