Ah yes, knew there was something else I wanted to mention...

Watched the first 5 episodes of Saiyuki.
It really is just Monkey with guns, isn't it? Though Sanzo is much more of an interesting, kick-arse priest than Tripitaka ever was.
It was bound to happen I guess, coming across an anime that didn't grab me at the outset. Admittedly I was watching the dubbed version - so I could sew - and what a flat dub it was. It picked up a little after the first two eps, as the actors got into character I spose, but it still never quite reached that involving stage. But then, how many dubs do? I've found I can pick up so much more of what's going on by the inflections in the Japanese cast's voices. I did enjoy the banter though, especially between Goku and Gojyo - some of their by-play made me smirk.
Is it just me? Have I been spoilt by things like Last Exile and Wolf's Rain? The animation in Saiyuki was definitely cheesy, saved from being a total waste of time by the more-than-occasional 'frames' of pure, beautifully emotive artistry but the rest didn't impress me. There was a lot of c/p filler (repeated character actions pasted over different backgrounds) and a noticeable amount of that really annoying Hanna Barbera-ist dodge of having a long scene essentially freeze-framed with just a tiny bit of mouth animation to indicate speech. CLAMP isn't so obvious about it, why couldn't this lot be? It just felt like they were trying to save production costs. Using a load of pretty-shiny split-screens and fade-ins/outs didn't improve the overall product either, and it seemed to be out of focus a lot of the time. Or that could've simply been my glasses needing a clean. Some of the angles were just weird. I lost count of how often Sanzo (and others) ended up looking vaguely cross-eyed! <g>

I think this could grow on me, though, there's been hints of angsty background and side stories which are always a magnet for my attention. If it was on telly regularly at a time I could sit and watch no doubt I'd end up addicted to it as I was with DBZ and Ultimate Muscle. I'm not giving up on it entirely though - I'll watch it with subtitles, first, but as it is it's waaaay down low on my list of follow-ups. Glad I got to see it though, thanks, Joules!