I want a show that makes me think a bit, but isn't a complete mental thriller, it has to have a lot of action. Sword/gun fights are a must, and they would have to be epic and use crazy camera angles and it has to be raining during every fight for some reason. The show would have to be modern, not necessarily futuristic, but nothing before the 20th century. I love shows that are episodic like mushi-shi, ghost in the shell, witch hunter robin and detective conan. They have some sort of story-line in there somewhere but there is a new theme/story presented with every episode, it keeps things fresh. Animation wise, I would love to see a good amount of detail into scenery and lighting effects (similar to death notes amazing use of lighting effects), and for gods sake no typical huge "stylized" anime eyes on any of the characters, not even the women...
Story-wise, I'd love to see something dealing with the super natural, but in a more serious, scary sense. I wouldn't even care if there wasn't a main character, just a team of crazy ass people doing the cool stuff they do, not getting too personal or focusing too much on one person. Ghost in the shell does a great job in that regard; even though motoko is the main character they usually focus on the team as a whole and they sometimes focus on a different characters outlook of the events of the episode or their backstory.
So as a checklist:
- Super natural psychological thriller
- Modern but not futuristic
- It has to rain....a lot...
- No main character
- Long life-span (not the typical badass 26 episode anime)
- Episodic roots, every episode should introduce a new event
- Epic sword/gun fight scenes with crazy camera angles
- Sexy production values, no expenses spared
- Widescreen