Sorry about the downtime. I knew I was going to cut it close with my bandwidth usage this month, but I didn't think I'd actually exceed my allotment. I'll be making some minor changes to ensure it won't happen again.

That said, I took a break from the current shows to watch the R.O.D. TV series from start to finish. Since the series was licensed before it even aired in Japan, I had originally decided to wait for the domestic DVD release (first volume comes out the end of June). But I had been listening to the soundtrack a lot lately, and curiosity got the best of me. My intention was to only check out the first couple of episodes, but once I got going, I couldn't stop. It's that sort of show.

I'll still buy the DVDs, however, as it's enjoyable enough to watch again. Also, the animation quality really started slipping in some of the later episodes, but that should be corrected for the DVD release.

New Midori no Hibi and Konomini tonight...

Ah, ROD TV. Yep; the animation was pretty bad in spots, and I'm really looking forward to the DVD's correcting these issues. I like the multi-part structure of the show (buildup / conflict / resolution separated into roughly 7 -8 episode chunks), and the "family" moments were the best.

Of course, I could have done with more ass-kickage from the various Papers. Maggie in particular. And we never do find out what happened to that bad-ass paper dude. You can't convince me of his fate as being final.

On a technical note: how much bandwidth was consumed? I may have to move my own blog off my machine (hosting it myself), and I've already moved one-point-something GB this month alone...

ROD TV started off so well..but yeah i agree, it need more ownage from the paper sisters. Just when I thought that this show handled emotional moments very well, the last two episodes let me down, and yeah that bad-ass paper dude is just too cool to leave out for the rest of the series. What were they thinking?!

My problem with ROD TV is that I really didn't like most of the characters for the vast majority of the series. The writers seemingly lobotomised Yomiko between the OVA and TV series, gave us three stereotypes (The Genki One With Big Tits, The Quiet Almost Lesbian One and The Snarling Brat) for leads expecting us to fall in love with them straight away, and spent so much time on Anita that Maggie and Michelle got pretty much neglected (Maggie put up an amazing fight against Khan or whatever his name was, and then does pretty much nothing for the second half of the series!). Truth be told, I wanted Joker and Wendy to win because they were easily my favourite characters.

But I still have two episodes to watch, so I could change my mind.

Is there nothing as appealling as a charismatic villain with whom you can empathize? I really, really liked Joker, asshole that he was. Wendy, while totally in character, was far more fun as a ditz.

BluWacky: I agree with your take on the characterizations. I wish Yomiko had shown more backbone -- though it's sort-of in-character (she'd destroyed the British Library, after all, so some feelings of guilt and the inevitable inertia and decision-paralysis arising from this would be considerable). And definately need more Maggie and Michelle. Maybe getting ahold of the Read or Dream manga would address that.

I agree that Yomiko seemed unlike herself, although it's been so long since I've seen the OAV that I can't quite remember much about her personality to begin with. I actually liked Anita, annoying as she was at times - she was probably the most complicated of the bunch, subject to some wild mood swings. Maggie and Michelle were a bit underused, though.

Nenene was still my favorite character, however. And yes, Joker-san makes a cool villain.

Jay: To answer your question, I moved 43 GB last month.

43 GB of bandwidth? Oh my god, that's awesome! Keep up the great work (^_^)