What're your favorite anime and why?

well..........

To Aru Majutsu no Index
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
Ore no Imoto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai
Kaicho wa maid-sama!
HighSchool of the Dead
Infinite Stratos
AngelBeats
Fate/Stay Night
Ano Hi Mita Hana No Namae wo Bokutachi Wa Mada Shinranai
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Fairy Tail
Hidan no Aria
Elfen Lied
Baka to Test Shokanju
Spice and Wolf
Shinryaku!Ika Musume

As i like almost all anime(Not so picky as long as i feel liking anime) I will suggest some anime that is not on the list:

Story:
Hokuto no Ken
Ashita no Joe
Konpeki no Kantai
Zipang
Kaiji
Major(The greatest baseball series)
Gundam Unicorn(3 times faster=Full Frontal)
Giant Killing
Tytania
Sky Crawlers(Movie)

Gag:
B gata H Kei
School Rumble(Harima Kenji is pro)

(Will add more after i remember others)

Hard to narrow it down, but here's a partial list of my favorites:
* Flag - about 2/3 through this, very unusual in story and style of animation. Very Good so far
* Darker than Black - what I look for above all else is a good story and good character development, this has both. One of the best drama IMHO.
* Black Lagoon - another drama with a great story and good characters, besides it has the three most dangerous women in anime.
* Highschool of the Dead - I'm not really into zombies, or horror so this one surprised me by grabbing my attention right up front and keeping it.
* Elfen Lied - it's a one of a kind, I loved it and it has the best OP of all anime I have seen.

Hard to say, favorites change along the years. If I had to pick one that I can rewatch 100 times, has to be Code Geass. Had a ton of elements of animes I love the most (and giant robots can never go wrong).

Perhaps I am a bit of a Narutard. Not as much as I used to be, but still sticking with the series.

EDIT: Thank you wcsinn, totally forgot the amazing Darker Than Black!

Too much! Well, I guess some would be Fairy Tail, Bleach, Naruto (I prefer Shippuden more than the younger Naruto), Mahou Sensei Negima!, Love Hina, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kuroshitsuji, Death Note, School Rumble, Azumanga Daioh, ToraDora!, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge and of course, Lucky Star.~ ♪

well imma try to really slim it down

-> Neon Genesis Evangelion- will forever remain one of them,I don't think I will ever let an anime get me so emotionally invested and heartbroken as it did but will love the death out of it

-> Gravitation- (...yes really...) Despite the fact it's a pretty generic formulated series, it was the first I saw of a series that invloved man-on-man relationships and made me into the whole Bl thing (never going back) and the musical aspects of he series were a nice and rare added touch to the BL genre.

-> Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - i thought my heart could never be so broken after watching Eva but it did. Beautifully well scored and animation that runs smooth and let's the story unfold is well executed could not ask for anything more

Would definitely have to be Death Note, the story is just amazing and light is so diabolical. I have re watched the anime several times and its always great, although i start to get mad when i get to the end of the series because its so disappointing to see

Chromed Shelled Regios = i liked the element when the protagonist tries to hide or doesn't want to show his true power then at time he showed it everyones in a state of shock. It has elements of harem and action also

Kurogane no Linebarrel = from a stupid, hated by everyone, and play hero of justice to a real hero and is loved by everyone(especially the girls)

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann = i wish Kamina's my aniki too

Macross Series(frome SDF:Macross to Macross F) and Gundam Universe Series (ALL EXCEPT G)(i remembered last year that they uploaded the Gundam 0079 to Gunadam ZZ) = I love mecha+action+romance

Bakemonogatari = mostly the story especially the bake-neko one

To Aru Majutsu no Index = i just like the idea of not holding back a punch when the last boss is a female and Touma is a good protagonist

DETECTIVE CONAN - A MYSTERY ANIME AND ITS SO LONG I CAN WATCH IT FOR A MONTH.. i have watched it from 1-550+(now 600+) every 2-3 months

I'm not really sure if I have favorites, but I'll name a few that I love.

Mononoke - Such great visual appeal, cinematography, love the quirkiness. It was just beautiful to watch. A creative masterpiece. (And No, I don't mean the movie)

Welcome to the NHK! - Hilarious yet heart-warming and a pretty sad reality check. I loved everything about it. I love how it touched up on so many genres in just one small series. It was a great rollercoaster ride.

FLCL - Easily the awesomest 6 hours a person can experience. I'm eternally grateful to this anime for introducing me to The pillows. The soundtrack was CRAZY good. And it was just an amazing anime with chockful of life lessons in between a lot of hilarity.

Gurren Lagann - A great satire to the usual mecha shuonen genre. I actually really dislike mecha anime with the exception of Outlaw Star, bebop and Eureka 7. But TTGL worn me over. Absolutely amazing animation (with the exception of episode 3, were they high that day?) Great, lovable characters, awesome battle choregraphy, I love how it just continually got more and more ridiculous but it still reeled you in and you still rooted for Simon. Awesome series.

Dokuro-chan - Another short series. I love how it was such immature humor in such an adult content, it made me laugh so much. Easily one of the funniest things I've ever watched. Again, great animation. Love the story-line, so unique. And just an overall fantastic series.

Jigoku Shoujo - This is an old favorite from my early freshman years. I lost touch with it by the third season but my love for the first two still remains. Such an amazing dark series. It was somewhat repetitive since it had the same premise per episode but as the seasons progress there's always some sort of interesting story twist, so it managed to keep me interested. The art and story is fantastic in this.

My favorite anime is Shugo Chara because it is a great mix of Shoujo, Cuteness and just all around plot. There was about 30 episodes of filler, but hey, I can't complain <3

Boogiepop Phantom. Nothing has ever appealed to me as much as that one. The themes, the arrangement of the story.

2nd and 3rd places would be given to Serial Experiments Lain and Ghost in the Shell, movies and TV.

Wow I'm super surprised that this topic is still here. Thank the gods for the Notifications feature, eh?

Anyway, while I still do really love BECK, it's truly hard to say what my favorite is anymore. I've seen so much in the last 4 years it's ridiculous. If I had to pick an anime I recommend to people most often though, it'd be Clannad.

1 Clannad
2 Darker Than Black
3 Spice And Wolf
4 School Rumble
5 Kaze no Stigma
6 Death Note
7 Shuffle!
8 Bleach
9 Strike Witches
10 Kiss x Sis

1, Naruto or Code Geass,Naruto cause i just like that it can be serious and funny at same time and at different times and Code Geass I just like Lelouch and that his big goal is to kill his father cause of his mother dying, then he finds out he and his mom set it up and she's still alive. 2, Seitokai Yakuindomo, I like that it's silly, like kiddy funny, but the jokes are like really pervy at times or all the time.

Fooly Cooly is my favorite anime because a so random, it's funny, and it make no sense.

Ghost in the Shell.
Because i just love the whole idea behind it.

Then Highschool of the Dead.
Zombies and cute girls. Whats not to love?

GTO

It just has that "fuck yes" feeling that just got me almost like a big chunk of motivation hitting me square in the face and chest and everywhere else on my body. It was just 40+ episodes worth of great.

Suzuka. It left a hole in my heart. I was down right impressed and in loved by every bit of that manga. It made me happy and sad at the same time. I loved that manga its the best one on my list. Up till now to all the shitloads of anime i and manga i watch and read suzuka still is number one.

I need to finish this anime ,donno why i droped it but everytime i watch an episode i feel just so good . He's the kind of teacher that i always dreamed to get :( + i had difficult times at school and seeing all what he do with the kids make me wish even more that he was there in my childhood ...

But for the subject , even after watching 50 other series , its still ghost in the shell , in second dragon ball+z because i grew up with it , it was my first anime i liked and i will always be gratefull for making me discover this awesome world of animes !

For me, I think Gintama is my favorite. I'd spend most of my time laughing every time i watch it.