Anime Recommendations

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, I'll admit it.  Peg and I are way way way behind on watching new anime.  But we have a history of -- and kind of a standing order for -- giving box sets of anime, usually one series each, to Peg's brother, his wife and their two sons (both college age) for Christmas.  They've enjoyed just about everything we've given them, from Ranma and Tenchi to Stein's*Gate, RWBY , SAO and Black Lagoon.

So -- help out a brother.  What series (available in box sets) are there new that would make good gifts?

EDIT:  Here's a (partial) list of what we've already gotten them over the past few years:
Cowboy Bebop
Ah! My Goddess TV Series Season 1
Full Metal Panic
Nadia: Secret of Blue Water
Evangelion
RahXephon
Summer Wars
Fullmetal Alchemist
Mahou Shoutengai Abenobashi
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue
Serial Experiments Lain
Gasaraki
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (first 2 OVA series)
Samurai 7
Hakkenden
Samurai Champloo
Sword Art Online
Log Horizon
Black Lagoon
RWBY vols 1 and 2
Psycho-Pass Season 1
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Dartz]

There's Kill La Kill - which is a bit fanservice heavy, but is awesome.
There's Panty and Stocking with Garter Belt - which is butt-fucking foul but hilarious in a South Park Way

Actually - maybe you shouldn't take rec's from me.

I've the mind of a sewer.

[Bob Schroeck]

Actually, they might get a kick out of both of them... they're not terribly prudish. Thanks!

[SelfCloak]

Here's what I found that's available in boxsets:

Comedy
Space Dandy - From Shinichiro Watanabe
Food Wars

Action
One-Punch Man
My Hero Academia
Mob Psycho 100
Knights of Sidonia

Other
Ping Pong The Animation
Ajin (action, horror, mystery)

My favorite out of all of them is One-Punch Man, it's insanely fun.

[DHBirr]

Azumanga Daioh (a box set of 5 DVDs)

While they're not exactly what I'd call "box sets," there're also:
Girls und Panzer (3-DVD case), which should almost certainly be paired with the Girls und Panzer OVA DVD (in a separate case)
Girls und Panzer OVA 7 and Girls und Panzer der Film both come in cases that hold a DVD and a Blu-Ray 

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (3-DVD case)

Maoyuu (2-DVD case)

The Aria series (1 4-DVD case and 3 5-DVD cases)

[robkelk]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Magical girls, using so many of the pre-Sailor Moon tropes that many new fans think it's a deconstruction.

Blu-Ray box set currently on sale at RightStuf.

[Bob Schroeck]

Thanks, everyone!

[Shepherd]

They're not exactly new, but two series I own that I really liked are:

Magic User's Club, which is targeted at a somewhat younger audience than most of your recs, but which has an interesting if simplistic storyline and decent animation.

Genshiken, where a college freshman joins a campus otaku club. A great realistic slice-of-life series. Also cute that each of the three DVDs in the set comes with a bonus episode of the fake kid's anime the club members are always watching.

I'd recommend Baccano!, but it is out of circulation and you can't find copies anywhere for a reasonable price.

[robkelk]

Seconding Magic User's Club. The show has enough Parental Bonus content that everyone above tween-age can enjoy it. Also, it's directed by Junichi Sato (Aria, Kaleido Star, Princess Tutu, first-season Sailor Moon, many more), and IMHO everything he touches is top-quality work.

Which of course means, if box sets are available, add Kaleido Star and Princess Tutu to the recommended list.

[Bob Schroeck]

I know we gave Kaleido*Star to someone -- it's in our order history for videos, but I don't have every year's Christmas gifts documented, so I can't figure out if we gave it to my brother-in-law and his family, or to Nina Avins (who I know I gave the first box set from the rerelease of Revolutionary Girl Utena a few years back). Maybe I should consider Utena, too...

[ECSNorway]

Hmm. Recentish anime with box sets available. With quick summaries for those who might not have seen them.

Last Exile - a steampunkesque saga of a couple of courier-plane pilots trapped in the middle of a war, a church, and secrets beyond their imagination.

Durarara!! - teen gangs and a dash of urban fantasy in the underbelly of Ikebukuro

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - The adventures of Misaka Mikoto, Level Five Esper, and her friends, in Academy City - a laboratory disguised as a city of schools.

Girls und Panzer - Cute girls doing cute things WITH TANKS. And a tournament arc.

High School Fleet - Cute girls doing cute things WITH BATTLESHIPS. (I often call it "Girls und Panzerschiffs".)
Musaigen no Phantom World - Light-hearted and fun schoolkids-vs-monsters with one of the more interesting premises for "why monsters now?" that I've yet to see.

Danmachi - Bell Cranel is a young beginner adventurer in the city of Orario, home to The Dungeon, where Adventurers blessed by the returned Gods go to fight monsters, win trophies, and entertain their divine patrons.

Kotetsujo no Kabaneri - Japan has been overrun by a zombie apocalypse, and its people have retreated to walled cities linked by armored trains. When one city falls, its survivors take to the rails in search of aid, a young man invents a powerful new weapon, and powerful nobles plot and scheme.

Tokyo Ravens features a young student suddenly dragged into the occult world of the Onmyouji - Japan's warrior-exorcists - by his cousin, who is believed to be the reincarnation of a powerful legendary wizard whose followers still lurk in the shadows today...

Coppelion - 20 years after a nuclear accident irradiates Tokyo, three schoolgirls are sent in to investigate signs of survivors still living in the ruins.

[robkelk]

...
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - The adventures of Misaka Mikoto, Level Five Esper, and her friends, in Academy City - a laboratory disguised as a city of schools.
...

Which you will find in any North American store in two box sets as A Certain Scientific Railgun. I'd recommend getting A Certain Magical Index first, since Railgun is a sidestory to (and assumes familiarity with) Index.

Viewing order: Index box 1, Railgun boxes 1 and 2, Index box 2, Index movie.

If you must romanize the Japanese, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun is more accurate.

...
Kotetsujo no Kabaneri ...

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. If you must romanize the Japanese, Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri is more accurate.

[Bob Schroeck]

Thank you, everyone! This is more than enough for Peggy and me to start picking and choosing from. I'll note that I actually know about a fair number of these, but as is sadly usual for me when I tried to think of things, none of them occurred to me.