Its odd that Naruto has been around for over two years and its only now that I've taken an interest in it.  Labelled as the new Dragonball Z for this side of the millennium, it certainly shares many similarities with its spiritual older brother.  And be that as it may, I like it, I genuinely do.  As strange as it seems when I first started watching Naruto, I felt something familiar emotionally and it wasn't until a few episodes later that I realised that it was the same feeling I got when I first watched Initial D.  Granted, I fell in love with Initial D after a few seconds from the intro sequence alone, and it took me 4 or 5 episodes of Naruto to evoke the same feelings. 

So, what is it about Naruto that does it for me?  Well, its two things: Kakashi of the Sharingan, and the logic behind techniques.  Kakashi of the Sharingan is the mentor for the trio of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.  Very cool and collected, he sports a powerful and fully developed "Sharingan" eye which allows him to copy opponent's techniques as well as hypnotise them.  The other reason I like Naruto is the reasoning and explanation they give to various techniques.  Very much like Initial D, its always interesting to see why a certain move will work where others fail and so on, within the context of the story.  I look forward to what else is instore for me.

This past weekend was also quite a time for fansubbed anime with many groups releasing their latest wares.  I watched the second episode of Ah! My Goddess and this is definitely one of the highlights of this new anime season.  Belldandy has finally been introduced and looks better than ever, in fact everybody does!  The musical score is also of interesting note; both the intro and outro are performed by Yoko Ishida (of Ai Yori Aoshi fame), they both feature a heavy Celtic influence and being a Corrs fan, they both float my boat so to speak.  If you've never seen Ah! My Goddess before then this is an ideal starting point.

The second episode of AIR was also released and this for me is another big release of this season.  Great visuals and animation, you know this is a big budget affair.  And the voice acting is simply superb; one of the characters has a habit of saying "gao" whenever she's displeased with anything, so very cute. There's also hints of a darker plot forming; it seems almost every h-game inspired anime I've seen in the last year or so (Wind, Hani Hani, Kanon, Da Capo etc) has followed the same path which is supposedly the best ending you can achieve in the game.  The opening theme deserves a mention too, if you like Kotoko's stuff from the Onegai franchises or Kannazuki no Miko, you'll love this.

I was also able to finally conclude Stratos4 as well as catch up on Bleach, Final Approach, Mahou Sensei Negima, Mai-Hime, Monster, and Sunabouzu.  I'd also finished Witch Hunter Robin which while slow in places, had a very satisfying final four episodes.  Definitely worth your time if you're looking for something a little different from the usual anime fare available.

Well, thats all from me for now.  Buh-bye.