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Hi! :D

         My name's Angela McKercher, but I usually just go by Angela, or one of my nicknames, Andy. I'm sixteen years old, and I live in a small city called Launceston, in Australia. I have many interests ranging from comic books, to video games, to sci-fi stuff... I'm also an anime fan. I guess you've figured that out already though ^^;  My main contribution to the 'anime community' is my webpages, which I'll talk about later -_^

         The very first anime series I can remember watching is Astro Boy. Not that I can remember much of it though; only the opening theme, and having nightmares of something that happened to Astro Boy (even though I can't remember exactly what it was ^^;).  Hey, I was three years old -_^   As I grew up I watched many (dubbed) anime series, and the two that stood out were Transformers and Robotech. I loved mecha anime, and it's still my favourite genre.

         In early 1998 I saw for the first time an anime series I'm sure you've all heard of: Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon. I loved it, as did my little sister, so we decided to make a Sailormoon webpage, even though I ended up doing all the work in the end -_^  I got some space from Geocities, used their HTML editor, and created an Internet surfers nightmare. Dark blue text on a bright green background. However, as the months went on, my HTML skills improved slowly.

         It was around that time I found out about something called online role playing. I loved it. I joined whatever RPG I could find, and I soon created my own online RPGs, after getting some inspiration from , who I'm still friends with even now. Time went on, and my RPGs eventually died due to lack of time, but my Sailormoon page still lived on.

         My anime horizons were slowly broadening, and I learnt about other series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I found out three of my favourite childhood shows, Astro Boy, Transformers and Robotech were anime as well. I started to create more pages, and it came to the point where I had so many I needed somewhere to group them, so I created my first webpage collective. Soon to follow was my first character shrine, and I even opened up another RPG.

         Before I knew it, my collective, Crescent Beam, was celebrating it's first birthday. A lot had happened during that time. I'd gotten exposed to even more anime than before, and I had six well-sized pages, but unfortunately due to time, my Sailormoon page was forced to close. I'd even gotten a short-lived domain somewhere in there. Now, almost a year later, I've seen even more anime than before, closed and created many more pages, and purchased myself a new domain, .

         During all that time, I've only had a stable set of webpages once (in other words, I'm not closing them for some reason after two months ^^;) until now. At the previously mentioned Minmei.net, you can find all sorts of webpages dedicated to my interests in anime, video games, and other misc. things, along with people I host. I like to think I've improved a lot from the blue text and green backgrounds ^_^

         Now I'm at the end of my anime & webpage making tale, I suppose I better tell you what my favourite series are and some of my favourite links to go along with them. Quite a few of the series I mention below I have pages dedicated to, which you can see at Minmei.net.

         My very favourite anime series would have to be Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and one of it's spin-offs, Macross 7. As I said before, I first saw SDFM via it's dubbed version, Robotech, and didn't find out about the original until after I got the 'net. I discovered what a great character Minmei really is, in comparison to her dubbed version, which explains my choice in domain names (that and there was hardly any that I liked left ^^;).

         Out of Macross 7, Macross II, and Macross Plus, I'd have to say, IMHO, that Macross 7 is the most like SDFM, which I guess is why I like it so much. And it has Guvava too, how can't you love Guvava? :D The , while incomplete in some areas, makes up with what it has already. I also enjoy , a great Macross 7 webpage that has heaps of info, a lot of which you may not know about even if you're already a fan.

         Just recently I developed a huge liking towards a really cute mahou shoujo anime series called Mahou no Stage Fancy Lala. It's a really down to earth series, even though it's aimed towards younger audiences. It has some really great songs, too! Unfortunately, it seems to lack much support on the Internet. However, Hitoshi Doi's Mahou no Stage Fancy Lala webpage is a great place to learn about the series, and it even has a huge cel gallery.

         Continung my shoujo spree, Hana Yori Dango is yet another shoujo anime I like. It's like Marmalade Boy and Kare-Kano, only a bit more mature. The animation is really unique too, and has it's own style. I really enjoy Emily's Hana Yori Dango webpage, especially the episode guide which has info on the episodes which aren't even fansubbed yet.

         Shin Seiki Evangelion which is usually called Neon Genesis Evangelion, was my favourite anime for a long time. I love the characters, the storyline, the music, the animation, Suzuhara Touji... :D  I don't check out Evangelion pages much, but the ones I do visit a lot are , which has all the Evangelion MP3s you'll ever need, Evangelion:R, an excellent piece of fanfiction which I'm sure a lot of you have heard of already, and , an Ayanami Rei shrine which has some really interesting articles, as well as multimedia I'm sure you'll find interesting.

         Wedding Peach is another mahou shoujo anime series I've taken a liking to. It's been called by many a Sailormoon rip-off, but I think the exact opposite. The storyline is unique, and the characters are very likable. The has a lot of things you probably won't find anywhere else, and page has all sorts of Wedding Peach multimedia items.

         Other anime I love are Transformers (as previously mentioned -_^),  Weiß Kruez and Umi ga Kikoeru, but I haven't found any Transformers or Umi ga Kikoeru websites that stand out above the rest, and I haven't had the chance to surf through many Weiß Kruez webpages yet. But the Anipike has a listing of webpages for all those series, so you can have a look yourself -_^

         I suppose it's about time I mention my favourite video game series: Phantasy Star. Phantasy Star 1 was the first RPG I ever played, and I've loved the series ever since. Even though all the games in the series are connected to each other, they all have totally different storylines. The Pages has a lot of information on all the series, including games that weren't released in english, and there's a huge fanfiction archive. If you're looking for rare information you wouldn't usually find anywhere else, check out , which is also the home of the in-development Wake of Nostalgia, a really promising fan-made Phantasy Star game.

         While on the topic of video games, another series I enjoy is Final Fantasy. It doesn't 'click' with me as Phantasy Star did, but I still like it. I'm quite looking forward to Final Fantasy IX, and I check out for any news. Not only that, but it has a lot of info on many other Square games. I also like two very unique sites; and !

         I suppose I should include in here somewhere my favourite online anime shops. Since I live in Australia, these are naturally located there ^_^  My favourite is definitely they always get in heaps of great stuff, and they understand about Australia Post losing numerous express orders that I try to send them ^^;  However, they work on a first come, first served basis, so when I can't afford something straight away, I usually check at the to see if they have it so I can order it when I do have the money ^^;.  This is another great place to get anime things online in Australia, however, they deal with books, CDs and videos/DVDs more than novelty items.

         Lastly, my favourite general anime websites. I love , , , , and due to their excellent content, design, and their range of anime series. It will take you hours just to look through one of these websites and it's contents properly.

       ...and that raps up my article!   :D

         A quick thank you to Nikkou and everyone at Anipike for letting me have the opportunity to write a guestpick article, and I hope all you viewers enjoy the links I provided!