Favorite Anime...
I'm an overall horrible person to talk to about favorites but I'll split it into two lists
My Current Favorites;
Kids on the Slope, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Psycho Pass, Nagi no Asukara, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, and Noragami.
My "Will-Never-Be-Forgotten" List;
Samurai Champloo, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, Flowers of Evil, Wolf's Rain, Natsume Yuujinchou, Psychic Detective Yakumo, and Gundam Wing (how could I forget Endless Waltz?) A mix of a new and old in there.
What do I like about Anime...
Hm. That's a harder question to answer. I love rewatching certain anime as I get older because I always capture something new and what appeared to be so light hearted and simply "good vs evil" was, in reality, philosophical and more "gray". And more often than not I'm going, "HOW DID I MISS THAT" while shaking my head at myself and to me, that's the best part. It is a constant process of rediscovery with most anime having a great balance of lighthearted fun and more serious undertones.
Favorite Characters...
Yoko Kurama & Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho. Shinya Kogami from Psycho Pass. Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara from Durarara. Yato from Noragami. Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing...
The bottom line is this: 90% of the time if a character has a pretentious, confident, borderline arrogant personality and if you might want to punch him/her in the face, that's my favorite. It's something that actually disappoints me and yet I can't shake it off. Or as a friend of mine said, "95% assholes, 5% nice guys who are actually just pretending to be nice but are actually assholes."
Recommendations...
I CAN'T. PICK ONE. I'm sorry, I can't. I can probably recommend an anime once a day for a month and still have some left over.