Sorry, sorry, interrupting this convo just to mention that not too long ago I was very "Ick! Anime! What am I supposed to do with that?" and for the most part I still am that way, but the one anime that I sat down and watched all the way through and got completely sucked into was an anime called Toradora. It stars a heroine that I'm pretty sure you'd adore, and the romance is both subtle and obvious and kind of fluffy and kind of angsty and the entire anime is just so darn beautiful and it managed to make me laugh uproariously one minute and then cry the next. So, for a first time anime watcher, I definitely rec Toradora! To this day it's still the only anime that I've actually enjoyed and watched all the way through. Haven't tried Ouran High School Host Club, though (honestly, once I saw that a live action version was being made, I was like, "Pfft, no need to watch the cartoon now.")

Oh, actually, I also highly enjoyed Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I don't think that really counts as anime. But it does sort of? Westernized anime, I guess.