Strike Witches

I had some guys in Japan buy this for me since the company that sells them can't/doesn't ship to the United States.
After watching Strike Witches I was looking for any shirts that were made for the series. The company that made the anime only licensed merchandise to a few companies at the time and made only like 3 designs for their shirts. I saw this one and it was just what I was looking for. I found it on the Cospa website and Facebooked my friends at Flutter Scape to buy it for me and ship it out West.
http://www.cospa.com/detail/id/00000026181
In Japan I am a men's Large. This posed a bit of a snafu. It goes like this: anime gets released in Japan, people in the US subtitle it and release it on the Internet, the show gains some fame and becomes popular stateside, then it gets my attention and I watch it. By the time this entire cycle has completed the anime has faded in popularity in Japan, meaning the character goods become harder to find in stores. This is where Flutter Scape comes in. Once I put the order in they looked though their sources in Japan, they couldn't find a medium but a large was available. I got it in the mail, it fit, and I was super stoked! It feels like all of the shirts I get from Japan are sourced from another place than my local shirts. They have a higher thread count and feel heavier or something.
http://www.flutterscape.com/
I love this shirt for it's simplicity and it's boldness. I love icons and logos with thick black lines and heavy contrast; this shirt has it all the way though. There is another version of this logo in full color with gradients and  everything but this treatment speaks to me. The layout has 3 basic elements: 1) The symbol in the middle represents the group of girls who have magical powers and fly in what are called "striker units" in the show. At the top it says, "501st JOINT FIGHTER WING". And the bottom it says "STRIKE WITCHES". 2) On the arm it has 3 white stars like a Lieutenant General and repeats the " 501st JOINT FIGHTER WING". 3) Down the right side of the shirt are the names of the pilots on the show:
Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke
Mio Sakamoto
Gertrud Barkhorn
Charlotte E. Yeager
Erica Hartmann
Sanya V. Litvyak
Perrine-H. Clostermann
Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen
Francesca Lucchini
Lynette Bishop
Yoshika Miyafuji
http://www.funimation.com/strikewitches/
This is my anime shirt. Not my only one, but defiantly the one that I like to wear the most. It is subtle enough that people don't automatically peg me for an otaku. You might think that this just a military tee or some generic design. To the trained eye this is a sweet sweet reference to an moé anime filled with "fanservice," guns and giant robot monsters. My favorite part is that because the logo is so unique to this series you would have to be following the show to recognize it without explicitly taking the time to read it. I want it to be so that in a room full of anime aficionados, only one or two people will get it.

I had just such an occasion one day. I don't remember in particular where it was but it went down like this. Just two guys passing each other in a hallway or something, he saw the shirt and laughed a little bit. We exchanged high signs and started up a quick conversation about  how inappropriate the show can be sometimes. Japanese animation, spoken in hushed tones between comrades. Exotic prizes from the orient indeed.