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This month: Exploring the Turnpike, part 1
My usual habit for this column is to choose a single topic, either a single section on the Anime Web Turnpike, or a category of anime, so that the sites in question have something in common. It occurred to me that there were countless sites I was missing out on, simply because there were too few sites in the given section for it to be worthy of a column by itself, and I hadn't yet gotten around to choosing a category that would include it.So I made a decision. Every now and then, I will devote a column to sites that are not in good company, for lack of a better way to say it. The criteria for qualifying for this column is as follows:
- There must not be a large number of links devoted to the anime or manga in question. What
consitutes a "large number" is up to me. As a general rule, if it's big enough to merit its
own column, it doesn't belong here.
- There can be no more than three links good enough to make it into the column. Any more and, again, it could be part of a special column.
Being listed in an "exploring" column doesn't prohibit me from covering the anime in a later column. This time, I began browsing with "A". Next time, I'll pick up from where I left off. Simple enough? Let's go!
Aika
You know what I love about this show? It's not pretentious. Aika is crystal-clear as to what it's all about: panty shots, and plenty of 'em! It's fascinating, in a way, to watch a show that's more than 50% fan-service. makes no apologies, either. Click on the link marked "Lingerie" to access the panty-shot gallery. It's nothing but panty-shot screen captures, edited to remove the unnecessary non-panty-shot portion of the image. This is also a nicely-designed anime introduction site, with good character pages, song lyrics with translations, and video clips. But who cares about any of that? Panty shots! Panty shots! Panty shots!(I'm going to crawl into a hole and die, now.)
Alexander
Has anyone heard of this? Because I haven't. It's debatable as to whether this is truly anime, since the character designer is Peter Chung of Aeon Flux. But the animation studio is Madhouse and there was a Japanese version produced, so I guess it qualifies... maybe. Anyway, the site is interesting. If you have Shockwave Flash, check out the Flash version of the site. It's a good example of what Flash can do, a slick presentation with no appreciable delay in loading.Appleseed
Masamune Shirow's classic Appleseed was one of my first introductions to manga. I remember having to read every issue twice before I could understand the plot, yet I appreciated the story for making me think. is a great reference site for this manga. The "Compendium" section is an impressive Appleseed glossary with around a hundred entries. Franco's Appleseed Page lists the origin of all the Greek names used in the series.Area 88
The Leiji Matsumoto manga Area 88 had two abortive runs in the United States, first in its own comic, then in Animerica. The features translations for the manga. Unfortunately, the translator started out with the end of the series. But he's started over at the beginning and is continuing to update.Armitage III
I seem to remember visiting this section before and finding almost no links. This time around, there were a decent number of links, but only one I felt worthy of mention. I have to give the author of credit for trying to keep a fresh, updated site for an anime that, let's face it, hasn't had a lot of fresh material. The "Downloads" section features two desktop themes and a screensaver.Heroic Legend of Arislan
An anime tragedy: a series left unfinished. Despite the manga's following, the OAVs apparently didn't generate enough sales to merit finishing the story. Fear not, features synopses, albeit brief ones, of all 13 manga volumes. The site author has even drawn a map of Arislan's family tree. A similarly named site, includes a massive cross-referenced dictionary of everything you could possibly need to know about the story. Arslan Senki has a cool animated map which displays the characters' movements during each of the three OAVs.Ayashi no Ceres
I had no idea what this was until I clicked on a link. It's another manga by Yuu Watase, the creator of Fushigi Yuugi. is a drop-dead gorgeous site devoted to this manga. The site's design is very stylish and very attractive. It's not short on content, either. Besides the standard (but well-presented) background and character pages, there's a postcard section, info of the Japanese idea of using blood types to determine a person's personality (on the character page), and the site even offers Ayashi no Ceres email addresses.is another site I wanted to mention, due to its design and content. However, visitors should be warned that English is not the site author's primary language. Some of the text on the site is nigh-incomprehensible.
Bakuretsu Hunter
This series, a.k.a. Sorceror Hunters, is one of my favorite anime, so I was rather disappointed at the lackluster quality of the sites devoted to it. I found one site that piqued my interest, but when I began to explore it, I found nothing but missing pages and broken links. So I won't be mentioning that one. However, I would like to mention , a group-participation fan-fiction. There are three ongoing stories, and vistors are invited to submit continuations.Bastard!
Way back in 1992, I was on the old MS-DOS-based Prodigy online service. Anime fans who wanted to discuss Bastard! found themselves frustrated by Prodigy's electronic censor, which would reject any message with naughty words. Folks began spelling it "Ba$tard" until Prodigy was convinced to come to their senses.Wanna read some manga online? Visit , which is, well, exactly what the title implies, a single complete translated manga volume available online. The site author has scanned in the artwork and added his own translation to the speech balloons.
is a work in progress, a Bastard! page that is not yet complete. Yet I include it here because I really like the design that is taking shape. Check it out.
Black Magic
Masamune Shirow's Black Magic manga has never been released in the United States, save for a brief comic series that was nothing more than a handful of excerpts. I bought that series when it was published, and it made me wish I could have read more.Franco's Black Magic Page is the only page on the Turnpike with information on both the original manga as well as the OAV, which is related to the manga only through the presence of a killer robot. It's a long, detailed, single page, full of information. The text is translated from Intron Depot.
Blade of the Immortal
is a careful examination of the manga of the same name. The site's design is as subtle as that of the manga it examines, done up in white, black, and red, with a minimum of tasteful artwork. If you're a fan of this series, or just curious, you should visit this site.Blue Submarine
I really know nothing about this series, save that it is an anime done with CG only. I checked out the site to learn more. Hmm... A big submarine attached to an international organization dedicated to resolving undersea disputes? Sounds like SeaQuest DSV. This site is small, but there are enough pictures to give you an idea of what the show looks like. I understand it will be released by AnimeVillage.Boku no Marie
This anime is also known as My Dear Marie and has two sites on the 'Pike, one for each name. is a cute little page with some manga scans. The OAV character designs look very much like the manga artwork, it turns out. has a greater amount of content, including what I believe is an MP3 of the closing theme, although the audio format wasn't given. Images of SD-Marie-chan lecturing the audience from the next episode previews are used for the links, which is a cute idea.And that's enough for this time. Let's do some mail!
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Last Update: 5/31/99