I've been playing a bit of catchup lately. I've got a bunch of DVDs that had been sitting around that I just hadn't gotten to yet. I also had (and still have) a ton of stuff downloaded, so in the past day or so worked on watching a bunch of it. Here's some of what was included.

Spring and Chaos - I'd gotten this for my birthday and had wanted to watch it sometime when I wouldn't be interrupted, so took it in late the other night. It's a very stunning movie, I felt myself very much drawn into the visuals of it and the story. It tells the story of Japanese Poet Kenji Miyazawa. I found it quite inspiring.

Saber Marionette J to X - Disk 5 - Back when I first started getting anime DVDs Saber Marionette J was coming out. I picked one up on a whim and fell in love with it. The first series was a fun lite action series. The second series (I'm not sure where the OVA J Again fits in, I'm assuming between them) picks up a little while later and has a much different feel. At the fifth disc things just get pretty stressed. Otaru just gets beat on consistantly both physically and emotionally. I found it a little hard to watch at times. And even though things brighten a little by the last episode on the disc, I still feel like I'm watching a bit of a car wreck in progress.

Arjuna Disc 2 - This is a show that Lyn had first turned me onto around a year ago (wow, has it been that long?). Bandai has done a great job with this release. It has a 5.1 soundtrack and the video is just amazing looking. This is one of those shows that really illustrates how crappy more digisubs look compared to DVD. This disc had some of my favorite parts of the show. This episode dealt mostly with her learning about the world around her. How everything is connected to everything else. Though I think one of the best moments was her talking to one of her teachers who had sort of given up on teaching. This is still a very highly rated show for me.

Kiddy Grade episode 15 - Kiddy Grade, the show that keeps surprising me. While I didn't think this episode was quite up to the level of some of the earlier ones overall, I thought the story it was telling was amazing. Most shows you can get at least a kind of general idea of where they are going by the 15th or so episode. This one just feels like you are on and continual roller coaster, never quite sure where it will take you yet. Quite a change from the start of the series which was kind of dull. There were also a few things that just didn't quite work well for me in this episode, but I think they were more issues with pacing. And some things that may end up making more sense as time goes on.

and last but not least

Naruto episode 17 - Finally the battle starts to get to the end. While I've been getting sick of the episodes long battle (that still isn't over), this episode worked a bit more for me. There was a fair amount of character development here that worked for me as Naruto and his foe find out they have more in common than they thought. There's also another great moment with their sensei where you see that ninja battles are just as much about outthinking your enemy as they are outfighting them.