What do you often recommend to people interested in anime?
Why do you choose them?
Do you have particular favourites to recommend?
How does this change depending on the person?

Personally I have all my anime sorted into boxes. While most is sorted by genre I have a few with different conditions like Movie, Long anime etc. but one of them is the beginner box dedicated to series' people can pick up and enjoy with no prior knowledge about anime or Japan. I just let them pick from it.

Here it is:

-Angel Beats
-Bamboo Blade
-Baccano
-Black Lagoon
-Cowboy Bebop
-Deathnote
-Full Metal Panic
-Kurokami
-Samurai Champloo
-Soul Eater
-Shakugan no Shana
-Spice and Wolf
-Tiger and Bunny

1. All can be watched without any knowledge.
2. None I consider incredibly God tier as I believe one should see other shows to gain an appreciation for the best.
3. DVD for accessibility as crowding around a monitor with people is just bad and it is a lot easier than organising giving people files on a usb.
4. Easy to follow even if distracted.
5. Dual-Audio because reading subtitles with friends on a TV isn't fun + You can more easily miss things while grabbing food or checking your phone.
6. No ecchi but still some variety so I can match to the person.

To bigger fans of anime they are free to choose from any of the boxes to pick a genre they like.
Online I generally just hear what they like and pick something similar. Usually something I'd rate a 7 or 8.

For newcomers, I try to avoid recommending anime that contains content that seem weird and uncommon in western culture because we all know that anime has a shit ton of that. Therefore, my first recommendations for them are mostly anime with a western feel to it to ease them in and capture their attention with my highest recommendation being Baccano!
My first reasoning for choosing Baccano! is that it's not really old nor is it really new. Some people get turned off from watching old anime, a good example is the fact that newfags can't even bear to watch Cowboy Bebop or the original Evangelion series and their main reason for not liking is 'It looks too old'. But at the same time, it's not really new which gives it a slight feeling of authenticity and makes them curious as to what the animations of newer anime could look like. I also consider Baccano! to be really good and the only anime in existence that has never failed in keeping my utmost attention, not to mention the fact that it has a really great English Dub.

Following after that, I just ask them what kind of genres they like and I recommend them an anime that I consider from a range of decent to great while being preferably short. This allows them to watch multiple anime series in a shorter time and garner more experience, making them more accustomed to anime in general. For girls, I would mostly recommend dramas like Angel Beats or Anohana while for guys, I would mostly recommend something like Psycho Pass. For both genders I always like to recommend Ga-Rei: Zero for some reason probably due to the little bit of female to female tension that it has. You have to slowly get them into Yuri somehow. :3

I only recommend what I consider to be the best if they ask for the best. What I consider to be the best is entirely subjective; yes I can judge whether an anime is good or shit-tier but sometimes there are just some apples that fall too far from the tree and don't fall into the 'normal' basket . These anime are controversial and whether they are god-tier or shit-tier is always up to the individual; no one can just outright call them objectively shit or great because they're just 'different'. Furthermore, what I consider to be the best can also be affected by feelings of nostalgia. Anime that fall under this category include: Kara no Kyoukai, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin:Tsuiokuhen, Katanagatari and yes, the Monogatari Series. Back off me hoe.
I'd never recommend any of these to anyone normally with the exception of Kara no Kyoukai.

EneT wrote:

The Monogatari Series. Back off me hoe.

Season 1 is good. The rest drags its feet while building up with no pay-off.

Green Platinum wrote:

EneT wrote:

The Monogatari Series. Back off me hoe.

Season 1 is good. The rest drags its feet while building up with no pay-off.

True that, but anti-climactic endings were the cliche flare the series had after the first season. If you look at every 'arc' after the first season, every single one ended in an anti-climactic manner. That's what I liked about it since it was literally a big 'Fuck you, I'm troll' sign similar to what Hideaki Anno did with the End of Evangelion movie.