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I started watching anime with science-fiction (and still believe Shinsekai Yori to be the absolute best piece of SF I've yet known) and expanded my horizons in every direction.

My favorite anime are absolutely not the anime that I think are the 'best,' and are simply the ones that appeal specifically to me the most. Impeccable writing and direction are definitely something I'm drawn to, but it isn't a requirement for me to absolutely love something. In some cases, my profile top 10 anime are chosen because they are the best of a small collection of anime that I love, but I made sure to include ALL the types of anime I love in the scope of the top 10. Here are my unabashedly loved anime, that may be flawed but loved nonetheless:

Shinsekai Yori
It's hard to imagine a more perfect anime for me. It parallels themes that I found in my favorite science-fiction novels, a grounded female protagonist, and some of the best execution of elements rarely found in anime, mustering up many of the best sequences I've ever felt while watching. This is my absolute favorite by a large margin, and sadly, it is unlikely to ever be topped because anime like it are simply not produced--it sold horrendously, and the chances of another anime like it happening are low enough, and the chances of one resonating with the non-anime media influences I identify with are virtually non-existent.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica
On the other end of the spectrum, PMMM is one of the best selling anime of all time, and for good reason: I believe it is the most perfect anime ever produced, earnestly, and without my personal preferences in tow. It has a complete mastery of the most compelling elements of anime, and never misses a single beat. It is beautiful, it is compelling, and it pushed the ceiling for great anime higher and changed the industry.

The Idolm@ster
Do you hate fun? Do you hate large casts? If so, this is probably where you stop reading, because Idolm@ster is just pure fun with a large cast that bounces between over-the-top excitement and energy and very easily relatable struggles through the everyday. My affinity for the type of J-Pop Idol music that (in my opinion) isn't featured enough in this series helps bring it up to this position: it's simply the best of the idol anime.

Special Mentions: AKB0048, Love Live!
I absolutely love these idol anime, but Idolm@ster does it's anime the best. If I were to do an absolute top 10, all 3 idol anime might make it in there--but I want to represent the full scope of my love for anime in this top 10, so they get relegated to the backseat of Idolm@ster. I like the characters and music of Love Live more than anything, but the drama in the series just didn't go well with me. AKB0048 is really, really great--Idolm@ster is just that bit better.

Hyouka
Oh man, KyoAni. In a true top 10, KyoAni would occupy almost all of it--the studio just oozes brilliance with every pore of it's being, and Hyouka is their crowning achievement. Flawless direction, art, writing... if it wasn't for Madoka, Hyouka would take the crown for being the most perfect anime ever made by every metric I care to describe. Some of the most frustratingly relatable sequences ever take place with Hyouka's characters. Hyouka doesn't pander to the things I like, but does everything so well that it earns my unabashed love all the same.

Hibike! Euphonium
On the other hand, Hibike! Euphonium is (as of yet, this will be changing soon, Season 2 on the way!) a more concise drama with less breadth but much of the same mastery of life that Hyouka has. As a newer work, it exceeds Hyouka's heights with brilliant animation sequences. Unlike Hyouka, it does pander to me a bit more with it's female protagonist, yuri currents, and musical focus. I wasn't in band past elementary school, but all of my siblings were, and living among them I felt many of the things they felt. Euphonium nails these feelings.

Special Mentions: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Nichijou, Kyokai no Kanata, Amagi Brilliant Park
KyoAni is amazing. I love their work, and the Haruhi movie is one of the best animated works ever. This is another case of sacrificing a spot on my favorites list in order to make space for the breadth of love for anime I have, but make no mistake: The Disappearance Haruhi Suzumiya is a brilliant must watch.

Shirobako
Even if you aren't making anime, Shirobako relates to you more than any other anime can because it just 'gets' life. It 'gets' the struggles you have with living, it 'gets' the troubles you work to overcome every day, and it just 'gets' people. Shirobako explores what it means to live, to struggle, and the rollercoaster of life we all live on.

Bakemonogatari and by extension, the Monogatari Series
Bakemonogatari here represents the entire scope of the Monogatari series. Wildly divergent from normal story telling in anime, wildly divergent from normal aesthetics and the constraints of plot, Monogatari builds the best character dynamics in anime while experimenting wildly with every facet of the medium. My favorite exchanges between characters in any anime pretty much all happen here.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
This is the most 'made-for-me' show out there. Self-actualized magical girls become adults and work in a paramilitary society to develop more magical girls? I love it. I love every part of it. It's too perfect. Aesthetic, action, characters, and even the plot's thematic underpinnings hit every resonant chord within me. It's... perfect.

Girls und Panzer
Instead of ripping girls out of their normal lives and putting them into the military, lets put the military into the girls normal lives. Girls und Panzer is so perfect. You have strong female characters living their 'normal' high school lives with tank battles. HOW COULD YOU GET A BETTER PREMISE FOR AN ANIME? That's right, you can't. World of Tanks is a great game, too.

SYMPHOGEAR
This is pure, unadulterated fun. It is idols, an underground paramilitary society, and magical girls all in one. It doesn't worry about things like 'emotional resonance' or 'compelling plotlines,' it just throws everything and the kitchen sink at you and has fun doing it. This is SYMPHOGEAR. This is an anime that announces Season 4, and then announced Season 5 the next day just because it can. This is the anime that decides that suplexing a space shuttle is the best way to start a season. THIS IS SYMPHOGEAR. It's at the bottom of my list because it contains the elements of all the other love of anime I have on the list. In reality, I probably enjoyed this anime more than any other. It didn't change my life or make me love anime like Shinsekai Yori and Madoka Magica did, but it's pure fun.

Non-Top-10:

Yurikuma Arashi, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mawaru Penguindrum
There are few things I love to think about more than Ikuhara's works. They are as brilliant as they are insane. Ambitious and pretentious, the best attributes of any anime. Nothing is better than an anime that tries to be everything that it can be--sometimes they don't quite reach, but that's fine.

Maria-sama ga Miteru
Once you realize that I have a ridiculous yuri affinity (most notable by the fact that I've read thousands upon thousands of pages of yuri manga and effectively zero non-yuri) my list starts to be reflect a slightly different, cherry blossom pink tint. Maria-sama is yuri melodrama at it's best.

Notable mentions: Blue Drop, Strawberry Panic, Shoujo Sect
Blue Drop is a weird sci-fi yuri drama slice of life and couldn't be better suited to me. Strawberry Panic is yuri melodrama set to 11. Even if Shoujo Sect is basically hentai, it still has that yuri melodrama in spades.

Regarding Manga:
I might have a bit of yuri affinity. Or a lot. This might've seeped into my favorite anime list, as all but Hyouka, Bakemonogatari, and Shirobako have yuri goggles fully engaged on.