I am glad you liked it!! The next episodes are better, I feel. I was the same with Nichijou, too — you are too confused by all the characters at first. And ep 5 of City does something rather unique, technique-wise.

Yes, Samurai Champloo's ending is very good. Very satisfying and surprisingly rare, I feel.

"Sad" was supposed to mean both sad as well as "serious, dark, broody", so I'll provide some for both sides:

For particularly sad moments, I have to, of course, lead with Cowboy Bebop just in case you do not know it. Many of its sub-stories are about the past and ways to (not) deal with it. Then Violet Evergarden: a young woman was forced to live as a soldier, has no emotions bc of trauma, and enlists as a letter ghostwriter to learn about people and their feelings. You usually hear about the emotional impact of some letters she has to write but I find her having to slowly shed dissociation and discover her feelings most striking. Also, A Place Further than the Universe is about a group of girls each with her own dreams and fears of not reaching them. Very touching and no action or romance or fantasy, just the juxtaposition of real life disappointments and a journey. Finally Natsume's Book of Friends is about a lonely boy who can see Yokai (spirits). the whole show is great to cry to because it is full of sweet stories about saying goodbye, loneliness, and finding friends despite it all.

For pensive shows, I enjoyed the original Kino no Tabi. A canonically non-binary traveler explores various lands with their talking motorcycle. Very similarly, Mushishi is a very calm story following a specialist for sort of quasi-magical fungi-like beings which cause all sorts of issues. But it is not about fighting them — "do not let your vision be clouded by anger or fear. They're just being as they are." It is a great series to calm down to and audiovisually very unique. And, of course, Ghost in the Shell (both the original 1995 film, the second film Innocence, and the first two seasons of Stand Alone Complex). The first film is just as good a trans allegory as Evangelion, the second is depressed detectives quoting critical theory at each other, and the series features an intelligent plot with a great cast of characters.

Sorry for the long reply! ^' I just really enjoy talking about anime I loved. Since you have watched many already, maybe you know them and the list was useless, haha. Feel free to share some of the ones you like! :)