Some interesting/fun animes I have been discovering lately:

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: series of 22-minute episodes based on the movie. Action is sparse but very slick.

Hellsing: royal vampire hunters. A bit heavy on the gothic imagery...

Hoshi No Koe: beautiful short story, apparently a one-man project.

Read or Die: superhero librarian girl saves the world!

Wolf's Rain: wolves with attitude disguised as humans in an undetermined futuristic city. Also some mythological stuff going on.