As I have said numerous times I havnt watched much anime (or at least compared to everyone here) but this is what I got.
Also watch FLCL (aka Fooly-Cooly or Furi-Kuri) - only 6 eps, but one of the craziest series ever, and the animation style feeds straight into TTGL.
I once did a complete breakdown of FLCL. Each episode is about being a teenager and going through the changes of a kid to adult. Whether is going through competitive sports, girls, relationships, what it is to be an adult, etc. I'm not going to do episode by episode here but it was amazing.
As for the Gundams, anything in UC is pretty good. I have only seen Mobile suit gundam, 08 MS team, Stardust memory, War in Pocket, and Char's Counterattack. I will have to agree 08 MS team is by far one of the best because its pretty much a military show where as the original Mobile Suit Gundam is more about a coming of age tale for a kid in a war but pretty much explains the war. I also really enjoyed Star Dust Memory and War in Pocket. Char's Counterattack was good and a way to sum up the Mobile Suit Gundam story line (what happens after happily ever after kind of thing) but was far too focused on the "new type" space jedi pilots. I really like how all of the ones I've listed shows both sides of the conflict. Both have great people and evil people. War is never black and white with evil and good being one sided.
Gundam Wing is...interesting but also can get confusing with all the military coups. My brother loved it.
G Gundam (the world fighter one) was interesting on how they showed each great nation in a world fighting tournament.
Other anime I have seen that I can recommend:
Cowboy Beebop: Space western and one of the best shows ever IMHO. Former cop, former gangster, con artist, tech expert, and a corgi all team up as bounty hunters. The jazzy music is amazing! Never watch the movie though. Kind of like it that way based on how it ended.
I do kind of want to end up in a hospital and hear a nurse humming a song just so I could motion her over and tell her she's off key.
Outlaw Star: Another Space western, this one has magic and spacecraft with arms that uses weapons. Space combat was a bit wierd for my taste but the bounty hunting and treasure hunting was pretty good. Nice story, interesting characters. The main character's space phobia seem to clear out fairly quickly though.
I havnt seen much of FMA but I put it on my netflix list and will give it a try when I get the time.