Utawarerumono:
This anime really doesn't get enough love. The story is amazing; it has everything a good story needs; romance, humor, cuteness, angst, action, war, sadness, flashbacks, plot twists. Half of the events prior to the beginning of the story are related near the end of the series. I don't want to spoil anything about it but it's a beautiful story that's perfectly wound up in 26 episodes. Some parts at the end made me want to cry. There really are no filler episodes, everything advances the plot.
For those who haven't heard of it, the basic plot is that a healer's apprentice from a remote village, Eruruu, finds an injured man in the forest with no memories of his past and a mask that he cannot remove. He struggles to remember his past, but meanwhile he becomes devoted to the people in the village and leads them in battle when war descends upon them.
