What are good Starter Animes for newbs?

You could always just recommend they go to Hulu or some other legal streaming site. Most have a pretty varied roster and your friends can pick and choose what seems interesting to them.

I surprise myself by having something to recommend for the boys love genre request, well SiFi with a small dash of boys romance. No 6 http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12399

Good starter animes for beginners....well, typically I try to recommend shorter series that are at least 12 episodes before recommending anything higher like 20-25 episode series. I always try to ask those I'm recommending things to what sort of genres they prefer to watch show wise. Usually my suggestions are things like: Kimi ni Todoke Kaichou wa Maid-sama Toradora Madoka Magica Darker than Black Deadman Wonderland Durarara Soul Eater Tiger & Bunny Kimi to Boku Guilty Crown Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun Utapri Hataraku Maou-sama Blood Lad Magi Noragami No Game No Life Fairy Tail Stuff that's brand new that's out this season that I'd recommend: Captain Earth Tokyo Ghoul Love Stage!! Ao Haru Ride Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun Zankyou no Terror Aldnoah.Zero Etc.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Death Note Claymore Cowboy Bebop Deadman Wonderland (got me back into anime) Full Metal Panic! Trigun Attack on Titan

Got alot of my friends into anime through FLCL. Samurai Champloo

Cowboy Bebop Gurren Laggan Inuyasha (First maybe second season, after that you'll just hate it) Outlaw Star =D

Death Note and Steins;Gate are great anime but they are also very complex stories. So you are right in that unless they are already interested in psychological-thrillers Death Note and Steins;Gate might be too much for starters. Instead of an anime series, even a short twelve episode one which still takes a lot of time to devote to, I think anime movies are the way to go. Especially those already widely popular in the States like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle. At least that's what it's been like in my personal experiences. On another note anime in general is already widely popular in the States now than it was ten years ago. So why not share your favorites with your friends? Clearly they came to you because you have such great taste. :)

Cowboy bebop, trigun, death note, big o, depends on the viewers taste and sometimes age can have alot to do with it. There were a bunch or anime that premired back then that I could not stand but later grew to like over time as I grew older and my tastes matured. The same was vice versa and I often wonder at that age what the heck was I thinking? LOL. The anime I mentioned are the usual ones only because they are so good and not typical in the slightest and very entertaining. Also check out fullmetal alchemist, either one. To me they both rock but if you watch the first anime then be sure to watch the first movie otherwise there is no closure. The second anime brotherhood has a very happy ending!