Sid, I tend to think of him as Kon!Ichigo, but I suppose the more correct term would be Ichigo!Kon, wouldn't it? Because it's still Kon we're talking about here. That porn is made for you Sid, go to it.
Death Note is mental good. If you are spoilered for it in any way, it halves the goodness in a stroke, so avoid avoid avoid all fandom if you possibly can. The Wikipedia page ruins everything, and so does every other deviation.
To sum up the basic premise, an extremely intelligent student happens by the notebook of a Shinigami, which will allow him to kill any person whose name and face he knows in any way, without leaving a trace. Death Note is the story of his fight to rid the world of evil and wrongdoing, and of the detectives who struggle to solve the mysterious deaths. It's an extremely intelligent and involving series, and L is the single greatest fictional detective ever. Even cooler than Miss Marple, and that's saying something.
I recommend Death Note like woah. It's more intellectual and better animated than any anime series I have ever seen, and even better than most OVAs and one-shot films. It's got a crazy budget it seems, great music, awesome character design, a fascinating theme and it really is unpredictable. God. Whatever you do, don't get spoilered for Death Note.
Brian, so Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress are all directed by the same man? Crazy. I've heard people raving about Paprika at AnimeNewsNetwork (great place to look up minute production details- much better than Wikipedia). I saw Millennium Actress today, and I might have bought it if I hadn't already bought a bunch of manga. (Battle Royale 8 and GTO 1 for me, and Dramacon 2 for a friend. Yay for BOGOF!)
Lily, Wolf's Rain is meant to be extremely good. I borrowed the first disc (actually it was forced on me) this afternoon. I know the dub has Johnny Yong Bosch (Sid, that's Ichigo) and Crispin Freeman (who the rest of the world likes) so that's a good sign.
Oh jeez! I just looked at the box, and Yoko Kanno is credited for music! Watch this anime!
BTW, I still haven't watched Excel Saga. I guess because I've watched Pani Poni Dash, and I presume the two to be similar. (Not that I didn't enjoy PPD vastly). If you're looking for something silly and strange, try PPD.
*~Pips~*