Steel Angel Kurumi (TV)

Those who are learning the Japanese language may be confused with the way signs are written in this series. Before World War II, Japanese characters written horizontally were read from right to left. During WWII, the Japanese Educational Board changed the horizontal writing format to conform to English and other western languages. It wasn't until the end of the war that newspapers and other publications adopted the new format. Now, when you read Japanese horizontally, you read from left to right. However, when you read Japanese vertically, you still read from right to left. Other examples of old style horizontal writing can be seen on Grave of the Fireflies (the Sakuma's fruit drops tin) and Sakura Wars TV (the Romeo & Juliet play poster).