It's interesting... around New Years, I had gotten a couple of new anime series to watch, and nearly turned into an overall obsession. In the past four months, I've gone through at least 10 series... some good, some not, some that were complete surprises and I will probably watch again and again...
I'd have to say that my biggest 'surprise' was the one I finished watching last night - Shuffle. It was one of that that was advertised as a preview on another series and I thought 'what the heck' and got it to see. It was actually better than anticipated. I thought it was going to be one of the more 'cheesy' harem/fan service series, like Heaven's Lost Property or Cat Planet Cuties, but that's where I was surprised. Though it did have a slow start (took about 4 episodes to do all the character development, etc.), it had a few surprises and kickers in it that you definitely don't see coming.
Bamboo Blade was really good as well. It was more of a martial arts anime focusing on Kendo. It actually had a good story, believable characters, and even gave a good overview of Kendo and the discipline.
Haganai was another one of those surprises. It was definitely a story line that I could relate to, and it was well played out. Interested to see if a third season is forthcoming. Would be worth it to see what happens with Kodaka and Yozura!
Freezing was another one that I really got into the story line and the characters. Just the right combination of story, characters, mecha and fan service. I just got season 2 (haven't watched it yet - in the middle of another series) and will be interested to see where they took it after season 1.
Along similar lines was Sekirei. This was one of those 'it was a good deal' purchases and it turned out for the better. Like with Freezing and Shuffle, it had good characters and an interesting storyline (though somewhat weird). The downside is that although it probably needs a season 3, everything I've read says that it isn't likely to happen.
High School DxD were enjoyable especially after how episode 1 turned out, though I do have to say that was definitely higher in the fan service than others. The play between Rias, Akeno and Issei makes it interesting, as well as everyone moving into Issei's house (with his parents still living there). I just saw that english voice production started on season 3 of High School DxD. Can't wait for that!
I just started Date A Live yesterday. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Anyone out there have any others they would recommend or any comments on