I am a loyal Naruto fan. I started watching it in 2004. I am so behind in Naruto Shippuden though.
I really skimmed through this thread in case there were spoilers. I almost fell into the Bleach Spoilers that were in the beginning of this thread, I only got up to season 2 and took a long break from it. (I know I'm really behind).
I've seen a lot of short series. but the ones that come to mind because they made a profound impact on me are Elfen lied and Full Metal Alchemist.
valkyria chronicles was the last anime I finished. So good!
I prefer anime over manga, but I like collecting manga art books just to look at. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was a book, not the manga one though, I tried to get into. but I thought it started to get a little weird and haven't finished it.