I've been into anime,not counting the stuff that was on when I was a kid like Tranzor Z(Mazinger Z),Robotech,Starblazers,Voltron,and Battle Of The Planets,since the early 90's.
I usually prefer the full length movies over most series.Never got into any of the Dragonball series or the like.And with the exception of Ghost In The Shell,I think that pretty much all of Masamune Shiro's stuff is pure junk.
I usually don't like overly silly anime either,but I did like what I saw of Trigun.
My absolute favorite is Akira,and it's safe to say that it's the benchmark for all anime as we know it.
My other favorites are as follows.
Giant Robo
Macross Plus
Perfect Blue
Spirited Away
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Fist Of The North Star
Ninja Scroll
The Big O
Wings Of Honneamese
There might be a few others too,but this,for me at least,is the cream of the crop in anime.