After watching the first couple of episodes somewhere, I had to get the rest of Moribito to see the rest of it. The series does many things right, from the excellent animation production values1, to the solid storyline and settings, and, most importantly, the excellent characters.

Chagum is not your everyday spoiled brat born in royalty kid. But Balsa is the first time I nearly fell in love with an anime character2. She's an excellently realized character, and she's also nearly thirty years old (Which is like, ancient and wise in anime) 3. Yes, Chagum does some growing up through his travels, but he's an amazingly perceptive, intelligent, and charming kid. Balsa also goes through her own changes of perspective. It's quite rare to see an anime where an established adult's character growth is central to the series4.

As a result, Moritibo is on my list of "DVDs to get immediately when I get a job".

1. 1. With a very slight drop in quality in the middle episodes.
2. 2. I'd say I hope my girlfriend doesn't read that, but I have to be honest here
3. 3. Actually, she might be thirty by the end of the series, too.
4. 4. Last one I can think of is Monster, which has a 35-year-old neurosurgeon as a protagonist who undergoes a Yoko Nakajima-like transformation as the series progresses.