I'm working through a graded reader, which means obviously that the number of different kanji and vocabulary are limited at first and gradually increase.

I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice if there were graded listening passages? You know, where the native speakers would speak very slowly and clearly at first and gradually speed up to normal conversational levels.

I thought of this while listening to the CD of JBP while following the text. The guy's mouth was moving 150KM an hour. I was like "whoa there boy, slow down a bit".

There's a disconnect between the reading skill you're assumed to have at this level vs. the listening skill. That is, there's a mismatch.

Are there any graded listening courses out there?

http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php

Spam you like crazy and have a premium subscription service but very very good content. It goes from completely basic beginner to advanced, with explanations in the podcast starting all in English, then a mixture of Japanese and English at intermediate and then no explanation at advanced. Premium members can download the recorded dialogues without explanation and the transcripts.

However, it's not really the same as what you're saying because it never reaches full native speed. It's always slightly slow. But it is graded.

I would disagree that it never reaches full native speed. There are some lessons where they speak every bit as fast as some things that I hear on tv shows.

Please check out my individual season reviews to see how to progress through japanesepod and avoid some frustration: http://www.nihongonobaka.com/japanesepod...n-reviews/