Man, that is just too dope.
Ya cant even think about running off a list of top anime without starting with the work of Miyazaki and Ghibli Studios.
Yeah, although you don't hear it mentioned nearly enough, Laputa is probably my personal favorite in the Miyazaki cannon.
Followed closely by Lupin III/Castle of Cagliostro (TMS, not Studio Ghibli).
Kiki and Totoro are tied.
Loved Porco Rosso.
Loved Spirited Away.
Not crazy about Howl's Moving Castle or fan favorite Princess Mononoke (the themes of which I felt he tackled better in his earlier Nausicaa).
And if you wanna dig a little deeper, look for Miyazaki's late 70's tv series called "Future Boy Conan", which has a lot in common with his later Laputa.
You can probably find a DVD set on the Bay for cheap.
Unheralded classic anime series...
Same with the half dozen or so episodes he directed of "Famous Detective Holmes" (aka Sherlock Hound).
Check out one of his episodes before you dismiss it as a cute, talking animal cartoon.
Very sophisticated, incredibly animated stuff from the early 80's that doensn't look dated in the least.
(just make sure you watch any of the six or so that Miyazaki directed as the others take a drastic dive in quality)
Lastly, while Miyazaki's Lupin III film Castle of Cagliostro is easily considered to be the best there is of that anime series, he also directed two episodes of the 2nd television series from the late 70s, made around the time Caglisotro was in production.
Of those two, "Wings of the Albatross", is perhaps the finest contained half hour anime ever made.
Fuck the dubbed cartoon network bullshit though.
Seek this out with subtitles if possible.
It's so amazingly directed and put together, that you wonder what this man could've done with live action.
(Kurosawa once even lamented that Japan's best directors were working in animation. He was referring to Miyazaki.)
