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magical girl lyrical nanoha i deiced to watch it because i had nothing better to do and it turned out to be one of my favorite shows an the movies made it even more awesome :D

Cowboy Bebop

I never really like any old west type of bounty movies or shows so when I heard about Bebop being one of those just in space i didn't really think it would be that good. After starting it, the pact that Spike was just so bad-ass and awesome made me just love the show. It was also pretty funny.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0079. I thought that the art would be so old that I couldn't wait for it be finished. One of the finest series I've ever seen. Worst thing I can say (aside from the art not aging well) is that it got rushed near the end with Newtypes and Lala, but still, a very enjoyable series.

Spice and Wolf. I thought I would creep out my friend by watching a furry anime while he was in the other room, but then a badass named Kraft Lawrence shows up and then my friend thought it was cool and my joke was ruined, but it became one of my favorite anime.

Hajime no Ippo. This story is even better because this became my second favorite anime ever (behind Berserk.) I thought that this anime sucked because the character was kind of childish looking. However Takamura defending Ippo in the first episode got me hooked and then I watched this nonstop until I finished Hajime no Ippo 2... Ganbarre Ganbarre TAKAMURA!!! The original intro song was amazing too I recommend it.

Kore wa Zombie no Desuka?

I thought it was going to be some stupid, lame fanservice show. Technically it was, but i enjoyed every minute of it. Also Mawaru Penguindrum. I recall reading the synopsis and thinking "Hm, this sounds like a slice of life drama....meh, i'll give it a shot." It turned into one of the best Anime i've ever seen.
There's a couple more like Oreimo, whom i was wary about because of my lack of experience with Slice of Life at the time and it's incest-sounding plot, but decided to give it a shot. It lead to my new interest in watching Slice of Life shows like Kimi to Boku and School Days. Nazo no Kanojo as well, Seikon no Qwaser (watched out of curiosity and ended up liking the first season quite a bit) and the mother of all of them- Chihayafuru. That show was so surprising to me. I loved every episode.

Clannad, i never really liked that kind of genre but hell, it's an amazing anime

Tsuritama by far is the biggest surprise I've had. At first I was only watching it because I heard the art style was pretty good and I was looking for some inspiration for my sketches. I came into it thinking that an anime about fishing wouldn't be very interesting. After the first couple episodes the depth of the characters personalities and the imagery had me hooked! I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the finale to come out this week.

The only other surprise I've had is Death Note. I've been told by so many of my friends to watch this anime but the idea of watching some kid write in a notebook was a turn off for me. I was running out of anime that looked interesting and finally decided to give it a chance. I'm sooo glad I did after watching the entirety of both seasons! I was a little bit disappointed at the end of season 1 because I thought the story could only go downhill after the "climactic event" but when it came time to watch the final episode I was filled with so many emotions in the last 5 minutes it was like everything had been building up to an ending I'll never forget!

Baccano! sounded like some sort of overrated anime that everyone seemed to talk about and hold in the highest regard. And after the first episode, I was more than a little confused. Then I watched more, and more, and now it's easily in my top ten.

I initially stayed far away from One Piece due to the insane length and it being a member of the infamous "big three". Then I heard some good things about it and got a lot of recommendations for it. I even asked the anime board on Reddit if watching One Piece was worth it, and the answer was an overwhelming yes. About two months ago, I finally sat down and watched it. It started out fairly decently, but got better and better. After the Arlong arc I knew it was something special. After the Alabasta arc it became my third favorite. And eventually, after over 500 episodes, I realized that it had become my favorite anime of all time. So yeah.

Nana
Story of Saiunkoku

Clannad and Clannad After Story. I went into Clannad thinking I'd probably drop it after a few episodes. Now while making it through the first few episodes was hard enough, I ended up rather enjoying it, actually somewhat eager to hop into After Story. Long story short, I got owned and ended up loving every bit of it.

Wasn't quite sure what to expect from Mawaru Penguindrum, either. Was kind of expecting to drop it, as well. It ended up working it's magic and pulled me in around episode eight, and I marathon'd the rest of the way on home. I found it very metaphorical and deep, when thought was put into it's meaning. I loved it.

Madoka Magica. At first when I started watching it, I was really turned off by the art style when they entered the witch's realm thing. It was just really grah and I almost quit it. But I stayed with it, and it grew on me a lot. It really complemented the witch's themselves, and I ended up liking it, and the whole series!

I would have to say School Rumble had that anime on hold for so long and decide watch pass ep 2 now i really love it.

NANA. I thought it would be silly and melodramatic, but it was probably the best anime I've ever seen.

Angel Beats. I just can't believe I watch it after one year pass from its airing. At first, I'm kind of confuse on how the world in this Anime works, but as soon as I watch the next one, it leaves me with deep impression.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn - hell lot of episodes and the phase of the story was quite slow in the first part. I remember almost giving up on the show but tried to convince myself to watch more. It was worth it!

Even months after watching it, I still flail over the sight of its characters XD

Second is Kuroshitsuji

I just watched it out of pure boredom and was immediately hooked :)

Probably Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and I'd say Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi for an honorable mention.

I'll be honest, my first impression of TTGL was...it was cartoony, zany, not particularly well animated and seemed like your typical shonen mecha anime...by the time I was finished, I could not be more wrong. The zany characters made this bleak world/situation they lived in quite bearable and the overall story was pretty rock solid.

Hoshizora surprised me a lot because I'm not particularly fond of harem animes and this appeared to have harem written all over it. Luckily for me, the harem content wasn't particularly strong and wasn't the main focus of the anime. Granted, there was a little bit of a love triangle (or diamond to be more specific) but you could tell that Kazuma was really only attracted to one character in the series...the direction of the anime made that very clear.

For me, it was No. 6.
Went in thinking "Eh, another futuristic show"
Came out bawling my eyes out.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica. A few of my friends can distinctly remember me chastising it as another magical girl title when looking at the Winter 2011 season chart, and I in fact ignored it for the first few episodes. I then was told by a friend to watch the first three episodes in one sitting. The rest is history.

I'd also throw Toradora! and Shiki onto this list, as well. Toradora! seemed really generic when I first tried watching it, so I gave up. I then marathoned it after much convincing, and it's still one of my favourite rom-coms. Shiki started off really slow and with unlikable characters, and while it continued to have just that, it only further cemented its place as a horror piece that manages to be cerebral, being a commentary about horror without taking a side on the issues it presents, allowing the viewer to decide for oneself.

Top wo Nerae! 1 + Top wo Nerae! 2

Being really cautious of older series and not the biggest fan of mecha, I wasn't sure what to think of the first one. Once I saw the ending of 2 though, my jaw just dropped, and it made seeing the first season just that much better.