I might not have mentioned this in the comments for your end of the year awards, but if I had to choose a "Most Surprising Anime of 2012", it'd have to be The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. I came in expecting a standard comedy with a bondage joke or two, but I got not only a series that proved my expectations wrong (in the better sense), but also one that gave me insight into the anime staff world, and one that's quite the motivational tool.
This week's surprise: Sorata inadvertently calling Nanami out on her tsundere-ness.