Looking for Story Rec's

I need some recommendations for good stories I can fan about (or at least enjoy escapistly). Any media:

* anime
* live action shows/movies
* novels
* graphic novels (probably not manga/comic book series owing to the length/hassle of getting the material, unless they're short).

What I'm looking for: I just got done rewatching Texhnolyze, and right now I'm in the mood for similar: dark, sci fi/other world, complex, non-stereotyped characters.

In general, I'm looking for stories with well-developed characters and relationships that do not follow stereotypical trajectories of romance, antagonism, etc. Or in other words, those trajectories are fine, but I want to feel them grow naturally out of characters who are doing other things with their lives and connect because of those things. Thus, I find the characters I'm shipping lately are often those who never get quite to romance within their canons: Re-L/Vincent in Ergo Proxy or Masa/Yaichi in House of Five Leaves. They work for me as pairings because the story has devoted so much time to developing their interactions outside of the romance tropes. I'd also be up for a story that is more interesting single protagonist, ex. Mushishi, Kino's Journey. Hm, all my examples are anime. I have also lately enjoyed watching Jeremiah.

(Other stuff I have already seen and enjoyed--again, a lot of anime: Monster, Death Note, Blade of the Immortal, Mirage of Blaze, Ai no Kusabi, Lain, Akira, Evangelion, Please Save My Earth [love the anime, not the manga], Shigurui, Simoun, Last Exile. Non-anime, not much recently: huge Blake's 7 fan, of course, JMS's Crusade more than B5, Buffy, Farscape, Lexx. Books: I wish I could find books I like these days. The old standbys: LotR, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, The Left Hand of Darkness, the Iliad, The Brothers Karamazov, The Sandman, The Watchmen.)

Suggestions appreciated!

Vid Wishes

I cannot vid, but one day before I die, I will meet someone who can and will do me vids for my birthday. Till that day, I am going to keep track of vids I would like to see under this "vid wishes" tag. (If any of these already exist, let me know!)

* Any version of Jude the Obscure to "Hey, Jude" (Why has this not been done?)

* Gungrave, Harry to Brandon, to "When I'm Alone" (Carbon Leaf): (The POV would be very late in the story, obviously.)

* Blade of the Immortal, Rin and Anotsu, to "This Is Not Love" (Jethro Tull)

* Blade of the Immortal, Anotsu and Makie, to "We Belong" (Pat Benatar) (or alternatively to "Total Eclipse of the Heart")

* Blade of the Immortal, Makie, to "Crucify" (Tori Amos) or to "Pixie" (Ani Difranco)

* Blade of the Immortal, Rin (loosely re. Manji), to "Heart of Gold" (Neil Young, Tori Amos version from Strange Little Girls)

* Texhnolyze (Ichise POV) to "On the Radio" (Regina Spektor)

******
Honorable mention. I don't think this is viddable with anime material, but I've found I really like "The Moth" (Aimee Mann) for Mirage of Blaze, Kagetora re. Naoe, maybe around vol. 24 and following.