Did you ever think you'd be told to watch a series themed around ballet? Well, you're being told that right now!

Princess Tutu

Once upon a time, there was a man who died...

A 26 episode anime starring a young girl named Ahiru (Duck in the dub), attending a ballet school. She has a crush on resident emotionless pretty boy Mytho, who it turns out is the prince from a storybook that shattered his heart to seal away an evil Raven. Ahiru through a series of events takes on the role of Princess Tutu, a magic dancer with the mission of finding the heart shards and restoring the prince to normal. What follows is one of the best god damned narratives I've ever seen in any medium.

Every episode is based on a famous ballet, german fairy tale, or european theater piece in some way, using their stories and twisting them into the world the anime takes place in. The soundtrack uses music from those ballets or based on the other stories to wondrous effect. It truly is guitar ninjas! It also boasts the shortest magical girl transformation, only 14 seconds. In addition to this series, we have...

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's

It was a small wish...

While I highly recommend you watch season 1 of Nanoha to get the gist on who the heroes are, it isn't absolutely required. Anyway, this series is great for a few reasons. Good action scenes, a compelling story, and the fact that there's no villain. Well, there are antagonists, but there's no villain. The primary antagonists are this group of warriors in cosplay outfits, trying to fill out some mysterious book. Why are they doing it? How are they doing it? Only one way to find out, and that's to watch it!

Also, fun fact: I named my Vintage Gunboats after something from Nanoha.