Pluto

Breakdown of site 40/100

Welcome and site Identity 4
Greeted by a bunch of navigational links, on the same damn layout that it's had for years. Not much of a welcome to it at all.

Navigation 4
Aforementioned links to different parts of the site, plus illustrated episode summaries. You REALLY need to work on this site, whoever you are. Get a new layout, a new navigational menu structure and get rid of the long list of links at the front. Ideally, the links to the summaries would be on their own page, not on the front page like this.

Content of Interest 7
A lot of these pages could be combined into different sections to make for easier viewing. There is a lot of information set out here, but it could be put onto the same page ie the character name translations and the SM around the world links. They seem to go together best. It just looks really sloppy as it is now, with the background and poor quality images. The transcript archive looks like it was ripped from The Script Crypt, which has now disappeared. Credit has sort of been given to them for it tho. There's a lot of good information, it could just be presented better. As it is now, I don't really much feel like visiting it, except for the fact that I have to as a reviewer. The fact that the backgrounds aren't exactly consistant either doesn't help. It just makes it more awkward.

Advertising and sponsorship 6
Advertising where to get merchandise which is pretty good and accurate as it goes, even if it's mainly for Amazon.

Self-promotion 5
Is it really necessary to have an entire page devoted to banners, as well as another one to links to other sites? No. Combine the two pages into one complete links page please.

Filler 5
Not really much filler, the information all seems pretty relevant to the series and is comprehensive. What is worrying is that there doesn't seem to be credit given for much of the info and I highly doubt the person did all this single-handedly. Especially not since the scripts come from The Script Crypt and they're not exactly given total credit for it.

White-space 2
Where to start. This site is very poorly designed - the information doesn't flow very well and the information is all over the place. Not very easy on the eyes with that background and the inconsistancy of it is also jarring.

Other 5
Given that this site has been online for what seems like donkey's years, you'd think the webmaster/mistress would know site design by now. It is poorly organised, poorly designed and really needs a total facelift. Credit for the information should be given properly, ideally on a separate credits page. Get a consistant, professional design and that should solve the most pressing problems with this site. The information is good, but presentation is not.

Saturn

Alright, I have never seen this site before, but I can definately say that I have seen MUCH worse on Geocities pages. This one has colors that don't bother me and are mild. Whereas there isn't much of a layout, everything is centered in pink and yellow tables down the page and is rather easy to navigate. This goes to show that you can build a site without being a graphical artist AND without blinding people. I appreciate this. That being said, lets dig into this site.

After viewing some of the "Information and Features" I see that this person has knowledge of the Japanese version of the show, but when referring to other things, they use the dub names. Whereas this is not incorrect, I would prefer that they stick with one or the other.

Unfortunately for this author, they get a little fuzzy on some of their information that doesn't lend much to the credability of the site. As much as they are trying to do a service to the community by getting information out there, it isn't doing much for the community if the information isn't completley correct. It is one thing to state a known fact, and another to state an opinion, but there are some places on this site where I see the author stating something that isn't fact as if it is.

The fact that this person has a link to SOS doesn't make me really want to view much more of this page. I don't really know why people STILL link to that site as it is complete and utter garbage and lies.

I am now digging through the Links page and I am rather dissapointed. There aren't really any links here other then official links. Those are nice, but there are hoards of SM sites on the interweb and frankly I would expect to see some on this list, but they are not here.

The real meat of this site is the illustrated episode summaries. Though I am sad to say that a LOT of them are missing. I would like to see this section completed as to date I have seen lots of "episode summaries", but none that are illustrated. Nice concept. Keep at it.

I am very bored with this site. It is really bland and I don't really have much to say about it other then to fill in the holes and get some of your information straight and confirmed.

Uranus

Castle in the Sky is, without saying it, a site for dubbies. But unlike many other such sites, it does not limit its scope to the dub, but rather presents just enough information about the Japanese nature so as not to overwhelm. I suppose this sort of site is necessary to the goal of helping more people graduate from being dub-only viewers to a higher understanding, though it may try the patience of experts.

The site layout is simplistic enough for use, though it lacks bells and whistles as well as convenient navigation. There's no menu outside the home page, but none of the pages go more than one layer deep, so the site can just about get away with that. If the author ever wanted to add a picture gallery or something, that would have to change. As it is, there are very few images at all, making the site seem more like a Windows help file than anything else.

The first page (the first working page-this is a Geocities site after all) is a question and answer page. The answers are nice and succinct, but no one would ask these questions except someone who'd only seen the show on Cartoon Network. Of more use is the page of names around the world, so you can read what Sailor Venus's Crescent Beam attack is called in French (it's funny).

The oddity of this site is that despite is dub-centricity, it's fairly current and astute. There's a page on the live versions of Sailor Moon, including PGSM. There are buying links for the DVD box sets and other merchandise. They're nice to have, but I'm constantly asking myself who this site's target audience is. Case in point: there are summaries of the episodes not aired in North America based on Hitoshi Doi's summaries, but all the names are translated to the dub names. Is it so much to expect people to learn who Usagi is? Full marks for effort, though; a lot of work clearly went into these.

The best page on the site is the Inside Joke List, which details a lot of the background easter eggs that you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for them. Interspersed with those are some bits of information that most serious fans already know, so there's the dichotomy again.

In retrospect, this was a fairly entertaining site. But only because it covered so much ground with which I was already comfortable. It needs an "advanced" section for sub fans to start on and dub fans to advance to. And it definitely needs to get off of Geocities.

Neptune

Awe...Castle in the Sky...I remember going to this site when Sailor Moon was airing the 'S' arc on Cartoon Network way back when. I thought it was a wonderful site because it was full of things I never knew before. I still like the site but there are a couple of things that need to be said. So here we go!

Layout-The layout has NEVER changed since I first viewed ages ago. Please, please, please, redo the layout to make the site hot and fresh! Tons of info but the design is just blah! Blue, yellow, pink and botches of white make this site look like a baby designer made it. Lets see something fresh!

Content-lots of content. This is great for those who have missed out on the airing of episodes or just want a recap. I like how the author made the illustrated summaries, and to top that he put them into two different catagories-Japanese names or American names. Love the idea. Also available is information on just about everything Sailor Moon. I really like the "Inside Joke List" and "The Missing and Changed Episodes List". You guys HAVE to read them. Too bad he didn't finish. All I can say is take a read and you'll find some interesting things here.

Text/Background-Baby colors used but nothing blinds me. Again, I really want to see a fresh layout but I know people are busy.

Overall Opinion-A great site that has tons of informations but lacks design. Scrap the layout and make something new for the new year!