My interest in anime has come and gone since I started watching it. I'll binge, then I'll only watch a little here and there, and then I'll watch no anime at all for three or four months. Then the process will repeat. 2006 might end up being the year that I completely stop watching anime, however. Could just be in a long drought between interest right now, but I haven't watched shit in quite awhile, and the majority of what I've watched relatively recently has ranged between uninspired and outright awful. Not a whole lot of encouragement to go back.

That said, here's what I can muster as the best of 2006:

Metalocalypse
It might not be anime, but between this and the Brisco County Jr. box set I got for Christmas, my need for anime has pretty much been supplanted. Metalocaylpse is more funny, more brutal, and more fucking metal than any anime could ever hope to be. This shit is golden.

Mushishi
Mushishi is a very slow, moody, introspective show about a man that is, in essence, a wandering spirit doctor. It explores the situations created by the spirits, and the emotional and ethical conflicts that result. There's no fighting, there's no comedy, and there's no giant robots. Mushishi is slow paced, thoughtful, and wonderfully done.

Jyu Oh Sei
Jyu Oh Sei is a compact sci-fi epic. It's a well told story about likable characters in a harsh alien world. Like so much anime, though, it sadly turns to dogshit in the last episode.

School Rumble Season 2
School Rumble season 2 is certainly not as good as season 1, but more is always nice, I suppose. When they actually decide to forego the not-that-funny anime genre parodies and focus on the characters, the sequel is as good as the original. That's a rarity, though.