Never heard of N&T,H&T, and I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, but it does remind me of the [game] Eternal Sonata in that premise, so perhaps I'll look into those a little later also, after I've watched some slightly more light-hearted stuff like the other shows mentioned already. 
and raise it my usual fare of
Actually, just thinking about how much sad anime there is makes me wonder if we're all closet emo's or something
And how much higher than the national average the suicide rate for anime fans is in Japan, and if there is a spike after the end of a really sad series
I also find I've been reading/watching far to many shoujo titles lately 
) .... right I'm off to watch some big mecha beat the you know what out of some other mecha (phew!)
well eureka seven has mecha but is more slice of life/love storyI've got Rahxephon on my Lovefilm list already so good to see its at least recommendable.
I'll take a look at some of that other stuff too and see what I like the look of, not adverse to mecha at all, so might see if there are any good mecha mixs I haven't seen (beyond Evangelion and the others mentioned recently in the thread - I would go look but this topic is HUGE), Gundam Wing and then a year or two later Full Metal Panic were my first anime, and both had doses of humour, although noticeably more in FMP's case.
obviously don't want to give too much away but the conversation at the very end between sabre and one of her soldiers shows she was content.I see what you mean about the ending of FSN, I agree it did show how central to the core those principles were to Arthuria, however given the emotions the writers had tried to add as the series grew, whilst sacrifice was also core to her character, a reward in death/slight glimmer of happiness in the epilogue would have been a slightly more...fulfilling ending IMO, whereas the normal ending almost implies that no matter what you sacrifice and how strong/wise/etc you become, it'll never be enough. The whole last episode thing for the PS2 edition carried that off, without interfering with the current ending. Guess thats just me though, a bit of a sap for a love story
obviously don't want to give too much away but the conversation at the very end between sabre and one of her soldiers shows she was content.
edit: As you've said about the dream - I was actually thinking of how bedevere says she can go back to it etc and also the fact it was insightful etc. It left it open ended enough for a person to think that she's gone back to the dream of a happier place not that she regrets her decisions. But then a good anime should leave the viewer with options/own opinions on the end outcome (also leaves it just open enough for a second season)
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Poor guts/casca.
