Are all the packages actually required?

[pgentoo]

you guys probably figured this all out, but just FYI, my gentoo install instructions is the documentation section have the bare minimum (at the time of writing) apps/libs required from a very base install for installation. Might be a good reference for you if you are really looking to slim down. Many distros base installations have a lot more apps/libs installed than are really required for a base installation.