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If epic shounen-y shows with a healthy dose of well-thought out plot, angst-driven characters, and the theme of people battling forces larger than themselves, only to discover that the biggest obstacles are actually themselves, float your boat, then current watchers of this season's mega-epic must not miss (and likely have already watched) Fate/Zero, the only Type-Moon related series to receive a superb adaptation. Toss in epic soundtracks created by two musical titans of the industry (Yuki Kajiura of .hack, Madoka, and SAO-fame, just to reference her most recent works; Hiroyuki Sawano of Sengoku Basara, Guilty Crown, and Gundam Unicorn epicness), and these two will go down as must-watches for the ages.

The best stories are shown, not told. Both Cross game and Chihayafuru weave masterful stories of ordinary lives and mold characters who are memorable yet genuine. Though both series focus on a sport (baseball in Cross Game, competitive karuta in Chihayafuru), familiarity nor interest in either are necessary, as they are the mere groundworks for laying out the lives of charming characters who could very well exist in an excellent slice of life show without any unifying context. Both shows are about growth - Cross Game examines childhood friends growing beyond a childhood tragedy, while Chihayafuru explores childhood friends, reunited, growing toward their childhood dreams. The nuances of both shows reveals something so precious and rarely seen these days on TV - their humanity. How human we are, how intricately our lives interconnect, how subtly we change, and how this is all beautifully conveyed by our cast of characters under the guise of shooting for Koshien and becoming the karuta Meijin and Queen.