Artwise, something I would like to recommend is Mushishi. A slow, thoughtful show featuring some of the more beautiful art in recent anime. It reminds me a bit of the nature-themed Ghibli movies, such as Mononoke hime.

Too bad there isn't a decent blu-ray available, as I believe even the japanese release is just an upscale of the dvd. Also, avoid the live-action feature they did, which more or less loses everything that was charming about the show.