I suspect most of us have been surprised by the occasional unexpected severed limb or blood fountain. Other times, you get into an anime expecting blood and gore. Some of us avoid these, some of us hunt them down, and others are indifferent. Whichever of these grousp you belong to, I'd like you to list here any significantly violent anime you have watched, from the most violent to the least. Here is mine:

Maximum Violence
Elfen Lied – Basically, this series thrives on violence. Severed limbs, decapitation, impalement, disembowelment, the list goes on, and each of these shown in agonizing detail (blood, bone splints, intestines). Not to mention the unethical cruelty level.
Rurouni Kenshin OVA – As can be expected from a swordfighting anime, there is a lot of violence here. Though there is a lot of blood and almost no gore, some of the acts illustrated are shockingly violent.

Other High Violence
Utawareru Mono – Though this series is mild for the most part, battle scenes are aptly bloody and there is some minor dismemberment. One episode in particular added some detailed gore, but mostly you'll only see spurts of red fluid.
Ayakashi – I'm still watching this, and though the violence seems to have been toned down since the first few episodes, there were quite a few shocks. Some disembowelment, facial cutting, etc.
To Aru Majutsu no Index – This is not a violent anime by definition, but throughout the action and mystery, there are some instances of implied dismemberment, and at least one shockingly gory skin removal incident.

I might have seen more violent anime, but those unlisted here I have either forgotten or deemed not violent enough to note. Now I await your lists!

I do what I can to avoid seemingly violent anime's - so it'd be a bit hard for me to explain any of them in detail. Usually I drop the series after the first excessively gory moment. Of course, there are exceptions...

Claymore : There are two groups of violent predators in this series. The first group feeds on the intestines of people, and the second thrives on inflicting the greatest possible amount of suffering to "awaken" their victims. This series seems to especially enjoy impaling people multiple times with large metal spikes.

私は日本語を少し読むと書くをできます。あなたも？

Blood+
Bokusatsu Tenshii Dokuro-Chan
Hellsing
Samurai Champloo

All of them are worth a watch.
Dokuro-chan in particular, it's actually very funny.

働きすぎた。タバコない。無念。

I know the violence in 3x3(Sazan) Eyes caught me off guard the first time I saw it, I was still pretty new to anime at the time though. The funny thing about it is though, that after awhile it's almost comical every time Yakumo get's killed, he's just so clumsy!

Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live forever in a cradle. - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky<*>

I think the Kenshin OVA was my first violent anime. I remember how stunned I was that they would actually draw such things. Of course, after watching Elfen Lied, little surprises me these days (though it still makes me uneasy, of course).

Rei, for someone who loves his katana so much, I didn't expect you to be so wary of violent anime. Do you play violent computer games?

Violent video games... do Hitman Blood Money, Fallout 3, UT3, UT2004 count? ;-)

[ Edited Aug 20, 2009 ]

私は日本語を少し読むと書くをできます。あなたも？

Due to a lack of familiarity with the games you mentioned, I'm going to assume yes. In which case, my next question would be, if you play violent video games, why go out of your way to avoid violent anime? Not that I'm promoting violence in anime or anything, as ever, I'm just curious.

Lol, Unreal Tournament is as violent as they come.
Rei, try Ninja Gaiden, Gears, Prototype or pretty much ANYTHING Capcom.

I love violence. Not in a weird way..
I like dark, bloody anime like Blood+ and Claymore.
Makes things more exciting when there's the possibility of a slicing.

働きすぎた。タバコない。無念。

For me, it's not so much that I like violent anime, it's more that I find it annoying when something happens to a character that I know should be bloody but nothing happens. That's one of the (many) things I love about Utawareru Mono. It doesn't overindulge in violence, but since there's war involved, the creators understood that there should be a certain degree of bloodshed.

If I'm not mistaken, Ishikawa, your favourite GitS has its fair share of violence as well. Am I right?

Hard to say... I've just never really enjoyed very violent anime. Very violent games on the other hand, I love.

Ah, just remember a violent anime airing this season: CANAAN. Mostly shooting violent, and blood.

Bakemonogatari, tho, is just sick and psychologically twisted. Wont watch. ><

私は日本語を少し読むと書くをできます。あなたも？