Ideas of what's socially acceptable differ from country to country. What some might think is okay, others might not. Take blue pierced animated nipples, for example. That might be cool where you live. Maybe not.

Back when I looked at the first half of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic earlier this year, I was impressed by the amount of creativity present in the anime—in everything from its art design to how it re-imagined a literary classic.

From Lodoss War to Slayers, Claymore to Berserk, there are a lot of fantasy anime out there. But for better or worse, a large chunk of fantasy anime are built around the Western-based fantasy framework—with knights, dragons, wizards, castles, and princesses populating these tales. But this year, one of the most…