Well, I have a few recommendations. They honestly don't have much to do with what you've seen, but they're both in my top ten list and I recommend them to everyone who asks for recommendations. So here we go:
Crest/Banner of the Stars I, II, and III: A late 90's, early 2000's anime about a human Baron, an "alien" (Actually an Abh, a genetically modified human built to function well in zero-gravity) Princess, and their extremely conservative interstellar empire that is fighting a race war against a bunch of allied human democracies (and what is almost certainly the Soviet Union IN SPACE). One side is trying to subdue the other, while said other just wants to conquer the enemy (and thus the rest of the galaxy) and establish a peaceful government so that there won't be a need for war ever again. The latter happens to be the extremely conservative interstellar empire.
The storyline focuses equally on the relationship (which can, at times, be subtle enough to make fanfiction writers act like it's not actually canon) between said human Baron and said Abh Princess, as well as the war between the interstellar empire in which they live against the rest of humanity. Neither side is "right" here, while the humans see the Abh as a rouge state that rebelled against their human masters in cold blood, the Abh also consider humans "lesser" in a way, as in the Abh are for space, humans are for land (they refer to humans as "landers"-they consider themselves human as well). Why do I recommend this? Because it manages to balance the story of a relationship with a wider story of war and politics, as well as some damn creative ideas (the sole purpose of battleships is to launch a shitton of missiles and then do absolutely nothing else for the rest of the battle). If you aren't bothered by talking heads, I'd definitely recommend this one. It also has a pretty good dub, but I DID watch the dub first, so there's probably some bias there. Don't go into this expecting to hate or like the protagonists' side, or else you'll probably just end up feeling either dirty or think you judged a book by its cover. Both sides of the war do things you won't like, and that has to be accepted. It's realistic like that, which is another reason I like it. This also has a pretty good manga going for it.
Planetes: This is about a bunch of garbage collectors doing their daily jobs, with a little bit of romance and more than a little bit of social commentary on the side. Also, there's a threat of terrorism. And they're in space. Collecting space garbage. With spaceships. IN SPACE.
Planetes has a great story, with a consistent, good pacing. The characters are all well developed, and you can definitely find yourself liking them. The plot goes somewhere too, with a particularly badass scene involving the terrorists taking place, and a two-year mission to Jupiter in the near future (did I mention the entire thing is 100% hard sci-fi?). It also has a great commentary on modern business culture (which, amazingly enough, can actually be applied outside of Japanese business culture), as well as a good discussion on how progress, commercial advancement, and benign political organizations affect people around the world (and how it doesn't always make things better). The only reason you shouldn't watch this is if you hate realism in sci-fi, or happen to have a deep-south-American-redneck love of NATO. Mainly because the social commentary includes how NATO doesn't always make thing better in the form of INTO (which I like to think stands for Is Nato, Totally Obvious). It's both subbed and dubbed, and the dub is absolutely incredible. If you've heard people gust about the Cowboy Bebop dub, this is ont he same level.
Sora no Woto/Sound of the Sky: This story follows five, moe-styled girls who do absolutely nothing aside from occasionally play instruments, while also maintaining a vague semblance of a military setting. As surprising as it sounds, this isn't just K-On Goes to War. That's what I expected, I thought I'd just just make fun of it then leave. Then you find out that it's a hell of a lot more than K-On Goes to War.
I decided this was the case in the first scene, when (I shit you not) there's a girl sitting in a little hut in a war-torn village, crying. Then a soldier looks at her, sheds a tear, and plays amazing grace on their trumpet. I didn't know what I was in for, but I knew it was worth watching. After some slice of life fluff, and PLENTY of talking about how great music is, we get to the episode where I realized this was absolutely amazing. Not gonna spoil anything, but there's a war orphan, a nun, and a box, and I cried. I cried a lot. The next episode is about dealing with PTSD, and the fact that the world itself is slowly dying and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
Oh yeah, the world's dying. That's a thing, this is actually post-apocalyptic. You wouldn't guess from the WONDERFULLY drawn town that's literally ripped right out of Spain, but a giant war made 80% or so of the Earth into a lifeless desert filled with ruins. It probably involved aliens (see: GIANT WINGED SKELETON in the river), but that doesn't matter. What matters is that all life in the ocean is dead, dolphins are mythical creatures, the world is slowly dying, and there is explicitly no way to stop it. This entire backstory exists so that the creators could discuss existentialist philosophy.
That isn't a joke, this anime is literally a discussion of existentialism. It also manages to be a love letter to music (it has sound in the title, what'd you expect?). The soundtrack... the soundtrack is absolutely unparalleled. The only pop in it is the ending theme, everything else is the calmest music you can imagine. The battle theme is a slow song in french about how nothing is futile and all things have a meaning. Amazing Grace on a trumpet halts a battle (not as outlandish as it seems; a dude playing Bach on a violin made both sides stop shooting at Stalingrad).
Now there's the bit you've been thinking about the whole time: I'm not a damn pedophile, Keyguy. Five girls in the military? Sounds like something for kinky uniform fetishists (shut up, let's pretend you're thinking this for the sake of bringing this topic up). Well, there's exactly four episodes where I noticed fanservice (3 out of 12 or 4 out of 13 if you count the OVA, which isn't serious at all and is an excuse for comedy and fanservice). I'm asexual, so there might be more. Point is: there isn't a lot. Surprisingly enough.
Now, the characters. They're drawn in a style that makes you wonder of Kyoto Animation staff were secretly kidnapped by these producers. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, I just don't have an opinion on it. They have an odd dynamic going on where this five-girl tank platoon is practically a family. The two oldest ones (whom, while teenagers because it's an anime with a mostly-female cast, look, act, and talk like a married couple) are like parents to the three younger ones, whom act like sisters, aside from the girl in my profile pic, because she has blue hair and all girls with blue hair are Rei Ayanami expys.
This is my favorite anime, as you already figured out because 99% of this post is about it. And that's saying something. I watched and adored Code Geass, same with Space Battleship Yamato (the remake), and Legend of the Galactic Heroes. And yet, this one is my favorite. Because it manages to be so much more than what its cover has you believe.
But it's not dubbed.
For some reason.
