Katanagatari

Katanagatari is at first glance both very generic, and very unique. The basic premise of the show is fairly normal for it's genre. It's set in medieval Japan, and follows the journey of Yasuri Shichika, the 7th head of the Kyotouryu, a style of martial arts designed to combat swordsmen, effective to the point of being considered a sword art itself. With Shichika is Togame, a relatively high ranking strategist in the Shogun's army. Their goal is to gather the 12 Deviant Blades created by legendary swordsmith Shikizaki Kiki.

Now, that does sound like fairly generic martial-arts shonen, and to a degree it is. However, the characters, writing, and beautiful if unorthodox art style more than make up for it. Another bonus is that rather than releasing one 20 minute episode per week, creating things such as annoying cliffhangers, episodes ending mid-battle or just before battle, etc, it is airing as 50 minute long episodes once per month for 12 months, likely focusing on a different "Deviant Blade" each episode.

Having watched three episodes, I can tell two things. First of all, while the character design takes some getting used to (it's honestly the reason I hadn't watched it until now), it is very refreshing when compared to other more popular styles. Second, the method of airing one hour long episode once a month works quite well, allowing for each minor story arc to begin and end within a single episode, preventing large cliffhangers that annoy everyone (I'm looking at you Code Geass!).

I'm going to be looking forward to the next few episodes of this show.