Senyoku no Sigrdrifa (also known as Sigururi) is one of the most underrated anime that I've ever seen. It's not anything groundbreaking or life-changing, and the animation is fairly average, but I absolutely love how this show handles itself and its themes. The decision to make the first episode double-length is the smartest thing they could have possible done. Had it been a normal length and the episode ended at the 22 minute mark, I probably would have dropped the show. The way the series opens is incredibly bleak, with Claudia at the end of her rope following another failed mission. What I wasn't expecting atall was for the show to do a complete and total 180-degree turn with her transfer to Tateyama, and for the show to hit us with the one thing that can make any premise interesting:

CUTE. ANIME. GiRLS.

The show doesn't become bleak again until its characters have been established and we actually feel the stakes at hand. When this shift does occur, Sigururi really begins to handle its themes of failure and the definition of family incredibly well. It would be a lot easier to elaborate on this by diving into spoiler territory but obviously I can't do that here. All I'll say is that if anything I went over sounds interesting to you, I'd definitely recommend checking Sigururi out.