Inspiring Series

I used to be a crazy avid fan of anime.  Dragonball and Sailor Moon were the main catalysts in my future love for anime and manga, and Japanese culture and tons of other stuff art related.  At the present time my favorite series are slim and few but help continue to inspire me to create great stories and characters.
I'd like to share those with you.

1. Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi: Many know of the story of Sailor Moon and her fellow Sailor Senshi.  Aside from all the life lessons I've learned from it, Sailor Moon inspired me to pursue making female heroes.  Most people told me that she was always saved by Tuxedo Mask but when it came to the big fights at the end, it was mostly just her.
2. .hack by Project .hack and the .hack congolmerate: Most of the recent generation is unfamiliar with the beginning of the .hack franchise but I've been with it since the beginning.  I got into .hack from the music written by Yuki Kajiura for the first anime series.  Since then I've followed every anime, book and game till its most recent end with the movie.  Though its gone through many incarnations, I love the psychology of the online game especially in Sign.  If Omega got anything from .hack, I want it to be a fantastical world.
3. Fullmetal Alchemist (Studio Bones) tops my list of action/war based anime.  FMA, if not for it's wonderful stories and characters, delves fairly deep into human motivation.  Everytime I watch it, I'm constantly reminded that humans have a spirit that is not easily quelled.  It also deals with concepts of war and how blind it can be sometimes, the motivation behind it.
4. Haibane Renmei: Words cannot describe how I feel about Haibane.  It's like a coming-of-age story.  Rakka's struggle to fit in is similar to high school.  I love the soft art style and muted tone that helps make Haibane a little more realistic.
5. Sword Art Online: Similar to the earlier .hack series, I've fallen in love with SAO.  SAO is like a combo of .hack//Sign and .hack//Liminality.  Though the characters aren't as broken, they are constantly faced with the possibility of losing their life in a game.  What I like is Asuna and Kirito's abilities to learn to live with a new situation and make the best of it.

All of these series have amazing plots and complex characters, and fantastic art and worlds.  I hope I can emulate that wonder when I begin to lay out Omega.