I Just Got Mind-Raped...

[Gugabalog]

Yea, I read a bunch of the wiki.

But EVA 01+Rei Urges+Sinji= NASTAAAAAY

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Captain1nsaneo

Go watch Black Lagoon. No you don't have a choice.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is also mandatory.

Black Lagoon's good, but I wouldn't say it's required watching. It's just a solid anime.

TTGL...I wish I got the appeal of this one. The first half was average, then it shined for the briefest of moments before going bat-shit retarded.

[Captain1nsaneo]

TTGL is more like a ride than a show. The characters start at an extremely low point and end up throwing galaxies like weaponized frisbees. If you can't maintain a suspension of disbelief then I can understand not enjoying it. It's kind of a send up of all the anime that have the same plot of the underdogs winning through pure determination. It's at once mocking the genre while at the same time making use of it. They know it's silly and that's half the fun.
Hope that helps in that regard.
(Though since you bring it up it probably wouldn't be that good of an introductory show until other shows have been watched so the joke can be better understood.)

I'll agree that Black Lagoon isn't required, just that it's so out of line with what is normally considered an 'anime' plot that it removes a bit of the jading. Darker than Black is kind of similar as is Akira to some degree.

I notice you didn't have a complaint about Berserk. If you haven't yet check out the comic, its quality is head and shoulders above all of its competition. Trade off is that it runs on Valve time.

I'm nowhere near an expert on the stuff though and I'm pretty easy to please. I can really only talk about what I've enjoyed or heard about.

[Vancha]

I haven't actually seen Berserk. I know the anime ending is supposedly poor, but I'll probably watch it at some point.

If TTGL had been pure parody, I'd probably have dug it, but it included enough "serious" content that the ridiculousness became more of an irritant than entertainment. If I'm put in a place to respond emotionally to the subject matter of Episode 23 (trying to avoid mentioning anything specifically), you can't suddenly switch to frivolous whimsy, or you'll give people whiplash.