For anime itself, as in animations, I would recommend the Vampire Hunter D films, Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate, Code Geass, Nadesico for humorous mecha material, Gundam 00 if you'd like a dirtier and more socially focused Gundam series, and Busou Renkin. The last one was done by the fellow who did Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki, and it was a swift departure away from the norm of his to that point work. Entertaining, though, lots of humor.
If you have the time to read, I'd reading these instead of watching: Berserk, Basilisk, Rurouni Kenshin, Claymore, and especially Sanctuary. Sanctuary is about two middle-aged men (hurray for departing from the youth with special powers!) who work from the Japanese government and the Japanese underworld respectively to create their own ideal land and country. Very much a political, personal, social and inter-character relations based series.