I felt Kenshin was pretty underwhelming too, Samurai X was better but still not amazing, but they were for niche fanbases that I simply happened to not be part of.

There are a lot of shows that I had used to adore that I "Grew up on" that I can't stand now, so I don't like to see that argument. Part of what makes great shows great is their ability to stand the test of time. It did absolutely nothing to effect the industry or the genre other than be a one-hit stand out for people who didn't even really like Japanese animation to begin with. If you don't believe me, look at the flop that was Samurai Champloo.

Again, I don't think that Cowboy Bebop was a bad show, I however feel that it is still extremely overrated. Let's face it, with it's episodic/filler nature you really only need to watch the first two episodes, the Ein episode (maybe?), the Fay episode (Note you don't need to even know who Edward is as the central plot is fine without her) and finally the last mini arc. There's no actual 'ride' to enjoy.

I tend to agree, though bebop is one of the few animated series I like, FMA Brotherhood, Trigun is flatout amazing if you have any interest in anime at all, the story from episode to episode is very lacking in bebop.

Gihbli, nausicca, spirited away, prinicess mononoke are amazing I don't know how you cant like them the story and artwork along with the music is just enchanting.

Flame on for using the word enchanting ;)

CB was one of the first well put together anime's that i have ever seen. Compare that to any of the Dragonball clones and stuff that was coming up at the time. It actually had mood, the storyline was messy due to the characters being messy, as in human messy not in characterization. Everything at the time seemed to be fighting robots and super powered bs. Since then they have repeatedly tried to take the CB formula and produce it for other anime, it just doesn't work. My sister tried to convince me that bacanno! was its successor. It just isnt.

The only thing that held any interest to me lately has been Gurren Lagann and the first run of Eden of the East. Gurren Lagann due to the abject SUPER META-ness. It is a complete deconstruction of the genre, and its excellent for it. Eden of the East actually does set a fantastic tone and mood, but even at the end of the first series it strained the concept a little too much. CB was the first anime I have seen to be consistent through its entire run. They hunt bounties, they have minor victories, they lose the money, they go on to the next adventure. Good anime.

Have you seen the Trigun movie they released only a couple of years ago, Rumble in the Badlands? Shit was pretty sick, managed to tie in with the story surprisingly well too.

I heard Brotherhood was much better than the first FMA show (terrible), though I never bothered to watch it because thanks to the first show I absolutely detest the characters.
Most of my distaste for Ghibli isn't Miyazaki's fault per-say. It's more of a combination of my automatic aversion to anything Disney (Which has softened since watching Wreckit Ralph, loved that movie) and the fact that his movies are mostly genres that are incompatible with my tastes. I will admit that I did enjoy The Borrowers though.

I did see rumble in the badlands and it was great.

Brotherhood is MILES above the original fma, the story goes way deeper and explains so much more.

it follow fma up until about episode 12-14 then takes a turn and its nothing like the next 30 episodes of fma, and ther are like 60 episodes to brotherhood. Its definitely worth the watch.

I know all of that, I've been told that by others as well. My queue is too big right now to fit another hundredish episode series into it though.

lol could be worse, inuyasha is what like 450 or something stupid along with 7 movies or some nonsense

That was only the first 26 (out of 52) volumes of the manga. It got pretty bad. On a positive note they did the last 26 volumes in 24 episodes (Inuyasha the final act) which amazingly enough had a better/clearer ending than the manga.

I don't even really like Miyazaki films.

Howl's Moving Castle and that's about it. Spirited Away was creepy.