I figured a good place to begin was with an inventory of my current manga and anime titles.

I’ve only recently got started in this, so my collection is still growing. These are what I currently have on my shelves:

Manga
Banana Fish (my favorite artwork)
Comic Party
Eerie Queerie (my favorite story)
Fake (the one that started it all)
Gravitation (overall favorite)
Hikaru no Go
Kare Kano
Mars (truly romantic and riveting)
Rurouni Kenshin
Tokyo Babylon
Wedding Peach

I’ll be adding: Kizuna (comes out starting in August)

Anime
Angelic Layer
Azumanga Daioh
Comic Party (awesomely funny)
Fake (OVA)
Final Fantasy: Unlimited
Gravitation (the one that started it all for me, and an awesome series—I’ve got an “eBay Dub” of the OVA too)
Hikaru no Go (unfortunately, a Chinese dub with mediocre subtitling—don’t know if/when it’ll get a US release)
His & Her Circumstances (a totally incredible series!)
Kaleido Star
Kizuna
Rurouni Kenshin
Samurai X
Wedding Peach (so goofy it’s funny—”I am the love angel—I am Wedding Peach—And I am EXTREMELY angry with you!” Tee hee!)
Wolf’s Rain
Yukikaze

Things I might add: Gundam Seed, Happy Lesson, Last Exile, Pretear, Shingu (if/when Right Stuf actually announces it and doesn’t just tease me with an awesome trailer), Tokyo Babylon OVA.

You notice that the lists pretty much correspond, though I didn’t necessarily buy the Manga before the Anime or vice versa. As I discover new things, read Shonen Jump or Newtype USA and most importantly view more and more trailers, I discover new things. You can probably tell already, though, that my tastes are rather eclectic but lean toward the romance side especially Shonen-ai—I guess I’m just an old romantic! But I’ve seen some cool things so far and learned a lot.