On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me: eleven HYPER CLOCK UP’s, ten EVERYTHING FOR BIG FIRE’s, nine SKULL MAN’s, eight SYNAPSE ATTACK’s, seven GARO’s, six OH GAWDS YUNO IS MOE!, five ZERO!, four VOLTEKKA!, three PRIMAL SCREAMS OF HOT BLOODED FURY!, two(million) RONs!, and one GIGA DRILL BREAKER!

This is the eleventh post in a series as I look at the twelve best anime moments of the year from shows I watched. Key there being watched, as a few of these moments are going to be from some pretty old stuff, but I think they’re damn good enough to talk about at any time. This is a joint ABC blogging project with other contributions from Roxas, CCYoshi, Orion, Owen S, Xerox, Nekoron, Martin, Michael Huang, usagijen, and Moogy. Yeah, there’s a lot of us. And if you haven’t seen Kamen Rider Kabuto then go watch it now, as this post contains some ending spoilers.

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Tsurugi is one of the few characters in Kabuto that actually grows as the series progresses. Sure, most of his growth is masked by his many crazy and surreal antics, but there is growth. He goes from an arrogant aristocrat to a hard-working guy that respects the rights of others. His relationship with Misaki really shows this, because at first he just treats her as an object worthy of him owning, but later on he treats her as a women to be met on her own terms. Even though he’s mainly the comedy relief of the show, he’s probably the most human of all the Kabuto characters. And as with any Kamen Rider show, the good character is happy he has to die.

Tsurugi’s death isn’t the greatest or saddest ever, but there is a poignancy to it. Tsurugi is just about to have his first date with Misaki when his Worm form takes over and begins wreaking havoc. Discovering his true Worm form Tsurugi decides to become the top of the Worms, even defeating the powerful Reiji Nogi. Tendou is forced to kill Tsurugi, but not because Tsurugi is trying to kill him but because he must keep his promise with Tsurugi: defeat all Worms. Tsurugi tragically ensures the defeat of the Worm in his own death, lamenting the fact he never got that first date with Misaki. The final shot of Tsurugi, passing away with his loyal butler Jiiya by his side, is definitely worth remembering.