hm...even though I enjoyed Abeshou, I can't say much about the ending - er...I was half asleep through most of it. It became quite serious, but the ending was weird (no surprises there), not a path one would expect reality to follow. But well, it was a 魔法商店街, wasn't it?
Tactics (タクティクス), to be honest, isn't the best anime I've seen recently. It's one of those typical one (or two) episode = one story tales, without a proper ending - like Vampire Princess Miyu (吸血姫美夕). Nevertheless, I really like the show, mainly because of Kan-chan and Haruka I suppose. I just wanted to see what would happen to the two of them, especially after Raikou et al started interfering (and guess what, the ending doesn't actually tell us!). The manga is meant to be quite different, right down to the characterisation of the two main characters, although the basic premise involving them is the same. I think I'll pick this manga up, if I can find the time
And on another note, Joe Hisaishi was awarded the LAFCA award for Best Music Score this year, for Howl's Moving Castle. It isn't my favourite OST music (although I do like it, a lot), but as SC mentioned, it suits the film perfectly, and IMO, deserves the allocade. As for the rest...I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd only heard of the Best Animation film, which is the latest Wallace & Gromit title...