Back in the game

Shakugan no Shana is not the most amazing anime ever. It's very heavy with the paranormal fantasy and loads you up with plenty of crazy named characters and dramatic fates from the word go, and it looks like it's got plenty of the usual crappy combat that goes with these sort of titles lined up. The art's pretty good and I want to stick with it for the possibility of relationship developments and the such, but trawling through something I don't particularly want to watch is exactly what I said I'd avoid, and I don't know if I can hold with it for 24 episodes.
Although, due to the absolutely epic intro music I'm willing to give it another episode or two to impress me.

Watched the last episode of Ergo Proxy, and what a crazy series it is. It has so much philosophical subtext and references to famous philosophers that even with the added explanations at the end of each episode I couldn't keep up with it.
Individually most of the episodes were really brilliant, but overall the story was a little over my head. I was expecting to find a synopsis on Wikipedia, but it seems I need to leave it a little longer before anyone else understands it enough to write a thorough analysis of the story.

I've found my next title in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
4chan have been parading Yoko around as the next Konata, and I liked her design so I thought I'd give it a look. While doing my research I found the other characters designs to be very lack luster, but in watching the first episode I saw that this is entirely made up for in the very high quality animation. The comedy is absolutely brilliant, much like Samurai Champloo but more surreal. All the characters seem to have very defined personalities, Kamina especially being an absolute legend, and I can instantly see why so many people have been recreating his over-the-top one piece sunglasses.
The series has absolutely grabbed me and I'll be watching it with fervor.

Speaking of Konata, I've checked out Lucky Star for myself and have been converted.
The first episode was a bit slow, but the second had me lol-ing a lot. It's very much like Azumanga Daioh, but far cuter and with plenty of references to popular media throughout.
I'll definitely be sticking with this and Gurren Lagann, and with these two really good titles I think I have all the more reason to drop Shakugan no Shana, but we'll see.