I tried watching GL, and was far from impressed, for a large number of reasons. But, it was indeed a feel-good show, so I suppose that I shouldn't have expected particularly good characters or an interesting plot.
In regards to NGE, I was disappointed by the manga adaptation. Gantz's manga was incredible, and has arguably one of the greatest character development arcs. Berserk's manga is legendary in quality and scope. NGE's manga was... passable at best, mediocre and a retread of material presented in more interesting ways in the anime and EoE at worst.
And Cowboy Bebop... Surprisingly, I have yet to watch it. It's always been on my "to watch" list, but I've never quite gotten around to it.
Code Geass was fabulous. I loved Lelouch, hated Suzaku, and thought the world was pretty cool. I also thought it was interesting when you consider how terrorism is perceived in RL that our protagonist is essentially the in-universe equivalent of Osama bin-Laden to the Britannians.