One of the most memorable, defining moments of one of the best anime of the year ends up taking Day 5 on my 12 Days of Anime list.  I remember before Mawaru Penguindrum aired that there was a bunch of hype surrounding it but even greater than that was the sense of mystery surrounding it.  No one really knew what it was about except that it had Kunihiko Ikuhara as Director (famous from Revolutionary Girl Utena) and it also had penguins.  And that was it.  But the hype and mystery made Penguindrum one of the most anticipated anime of the Autumn season.  The first episode was fine, had high quality, good drama, some well-placed humor, and some sense of wonder, but nothing out of the ordinary or distinguishing.  Then…

I think the rest can speak for itself.  Thanks Mawaru Penguindrum for having one of the most awesome, high-energy, kick-ass transformation sequences ever in anime.  And that, in and of itself, is quite the accomplishment.  Really, if I could put the whole anime down here, I would, but there was no greater moment in Penguindrum than the very first Seizon Senryaku and that moment takes up deserves its own day.