Need some GAF recommendations.
We've just watched Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood for the second time and we're still blown away by how well animated, funny, scripted, epic, and all-round awesome this series really is. Are there any recent shows that match (or at least get close) to FMA:B's level of awesomeness that you folks would recommend? It's really hard sorting the crap from the jewels when it comes to anime. I'm told that the Gurren Lagan series is the bees knees so I guess I'll watching that show next.
You might find Gurren Lagann a bit "over the top" - it's got a fair bit of fanservice and wacky anime-isms in it - but it's very well animated and definitely quite epic.
Looking at your other favourites, a couple of suggestions might be:
The Vision of Escaflowne - it's not particularly funny, and you might think it's a bit old, but it's an excellent fantasy series with a lot of cross gender appeal (I'm guessing from the titles you've selected and the use of "we" that there's more than one of you watching these shows) and great action sequences.
Darker Than Black - avoid the second season (it's not awful, just very disappointing), but definitely give the first season a go. A show about super-powered "spies" in Japan with great animation, interesting characters, and a lot of "all round awesome". Also has a few "comedy" episodes.
Other shows which are pretty damn good but may not necessarily fit the bill:
Eureka Seven - great animation and a decent balance of comedy and drama, but I'm not sure how you feel about mecha outside of the "weird" shows like Eva and Rah.
Wolf's Rain - VERY depressing but very moving drama about a pack of "human" wolves searching for Paradise, written by the creator of Cowboy Bebop. Excellent animation but there's virtually no humour in it at all I'm afraid.
Blue Exorcist - I kind of see this show as FMA "Lite" - it's not as epic as FMA but it has a very similar tone and look.
The Twelve Kingdoms - if you liked Moribito, I think you'd like this show, a big epic fantasy with some really in-depth world-building. Not much action, though, and very little humour.
While there are loads of great shows I could recommend these are the only ones I really feel comfortable suggesting based on the list you've given us. All of these have at some point been available on DVD in the USA so you should be able to buy copies if you want them.
