The Sailor Moon Pocky Box : Reviews

The Tomb of Little Known Senshi

Date Reviewed: September 28, 2005

Category: The Bad

Layout & Design

Is the layout intuitive and easy to navigate? Is it compatible across all browsers and resolution? Is it aesthetically pleasing?

Viluy

The splash page doesn't set anything out that you would normally expect. It doesn't even make it obvious that it's a splash page with a link to the site. At least not for this reviewer anyway. The artwork is nice, just a bit...big.

The main page is fairly basic, with a Power Puff Girl-type figure and a menu of Animamates and other characters from the Sailor Stars series. Not all of them are here, however, but there are some new additions which this reviewer has never heard about. There's also another menu at the bottom which leads to the different parts of the site overall as opposed to the information part. The other site menu pages have the same PPG lookalike, which is different from the information PPG figure. That at least is some continuity.

The part that worries me is the fact that although the styles of the pages are similar, there isn't one overall set style to the site, no overall cohesion and continuity. It's rather annoying to look through all the different pages (focusing on the info section) and having different eye-searing coloured backgrounds.

Something that might help the site is getting a proper layout in with continuity. It's annoying to have changing pages all the time and not really showing proper webmastery. The information is fine, it's just the page changes that are unsettling and off-putting.

Written Content

Is there lots of written information? Are all profiles, back story, and other textual content accurate? Does the site offer fanfiction or other miscellaneous written content?

Cyprine

I'm frankly surprised that I've been given the momentous task of reviewing the written portion of the Tomb of Little Known Senshi. This is one of those famous/infamous sites that most Sailor Moon fans have stumbled across at one point or another, and it's also a great example of how a site with a lot of writing can seem like it's well-informed and reliable while really being not. This site is notorious for its inaccurate information, especially amongst followers of sites like which makes a point of explaining where this site has its information wrong. (Here's Dies Gaudii's guide on the errors in the Tomb of Little Known Senshi. This site has been updated since the webmaster of Dies Gaudii wrote his guide, but many of the errors are still there.).

First of all, any site this well known that still has MIDIs playing in the background that you can't control is bad. I'm turning my speakers off so I can concentrate on what is being written. Potentially more distracting is the bad grammar and worse still is the bright yellow on white background that is the Sailor Galaxia profile. Ctrl+A, you are my friend.

I know Dies Gaudii does a better job than I do, but here's a list of incorrect information on this site:

  • This site consistently uses "animate" to describe Sailor Galaxia's minions. It's "Anima-Mate" or "AnimaMate"
  • As with many sites, this site is extremely inaccurate about the origins of the Sailor AnimaMates. The AnimaMates do not "have the starseeds" of the Senshi of their planets, nor are they the Senshi of their respective planets. Instead, they were given the powers of Sailor Senshi by Sailor Galaxia, through the bracelets that they wear.
  • As with many sites, Sailor Aluminum Seiren's name is misspelled as "Sailor Aluminum Siren". Given the way Aluminum Seiren's name is written in Japanese, the correct word that is being referenced is the German "Seiren". Other names are categorically mispelled and are even inconsistent in their inaccuracy.
  • "In the manga, one of the primary powers of the Starlights is voice"? Excuse me?
  • It always annoys me when sites use the 'first-name-last-name' convention on sites about Japanese shows. This is confusing, in my opinion, especially given that the actual show uses the "last-name-first-name" convention common in Asian languages. If you choose to switch the convention from that of the actual show, I would say include a guide somewhere on the site that explains how you have deviated from Asian language convention.
  • The derivations of the names in this site are inaccurate. For example, Sailor Aluminum Seiren's civilian name "Reiko Aya" does not have anything to do with being a victim of circumstance.
  • I believe this is a butchering of the Japanese language: "Lastly, the "ningyou" in ayatsuri ningyou, if left on its own, means "mermaid""
  • It's highly confusing that this site keeps switching between anime and manga information. Keep one common convention for how to structure the profiles of each character so that we're not mixing and matching the anime and manga trivia.
  • *Groan*! The only thing more annoying than mixing up anime and manga information is mixing up English dub and Japanese language information! In the Sailor Tin Nyanko profile, the webmaster refers to Sailor Scouts. Later on in the "I know, already...!" section, we actually see "Dead Moon Kingdom (a.k.a. Negamoon)". *shudder*
  • The English language is also periodically killed, as the webmaster refers to "Zero Star Sagitarrious" and later on as "Sagitarious". It's Sagittarius.
  • Sailor Kakyuu is not anywhere known as Sailor Kinmoku.
  • It's the Sailor Quartetto and their attack would be the Amazones Jungle Arrow.
  • "Some people refer to them as the Desert River Senshi because the area around Shadow Galactica that they guarded was a desert." Who are these people and why is the Tomb referring pure conjecture?
  • I'm certain that Mnemosyne is not the "Mother of Memory".
  • Where did Sailor Chi and Sailor Phi as the "Garden Crystal Senshi" come from? You can't list fan-created stuff as fact.
  • "Sillohette" is not a word. "silhouette" is.
  • Sailor Cosmos does not appear in the anime. The character we see in the anime may look like a grown-up version of Sailor ChibiChibi, but she describes herself as the Light of Hope and she is not ever described as Sailor Cosmos. Given that the stories of Stars in the anime and the manga are entirely different (particularly ChibiChibi's origin story) there is no reason to suggest that this grown up version of ChibiChibi is Sailor Cosmos.
  • Who the hell is "Sailor Chaos"? Certainly no one in the anime.
  • I'm not exactly sure why Sailor Cosmos is described as being intimidated by Galaxia's reputation. She's just, uhm, not.
  • The webmaster ho-hums about Sailor Cosmos' manga origins, but it's pretty clear to most fans of the series, that Cosmos is the "ultimate" form of Sailor Moon. Why the webmaster chooses to dance around this fact is beyond me.
  • I'm fairly certain that there is no mention of a Sailor Chaos at any point in time in any anime version of the Sailor Moon story arc. Sailor Chaos is briefly mentioned in the manga, but not in reference to any character being described in the Sailor Chaos profile.
  • "Queen Metallica" -- I'm getting mental images of long stringy brown hair and head-banging.
  • As far as I'm aware, the name "Asteroid Senshi" is a fan-created name and should not be confused with fact. Their attack is properly spelled as "Amazones Jungle Arrow".
  • Kinmoku does not meang "fragrant olive". Kinmoku is not a word, but kinmokusei resembles the name of a kind of olive. It's a pun that could also be translated as Kinmoku planet.
  • Princess Kakyuu is never called Princess Kinmoku.
  • "...men have a better sense of smell!" The feminist in me shudders uncontrollably.
  • "She could grow wings (It seems all princesses can do this)..." in the manga, the Starlights also could grow wings... so this is an inconsistent statement.

I don't know much about Sera Myu so I'm not going to be able to comment on the Myu-specific characters.

Beyond the incorrect information, this site seems to think that substituting a well written and concise profile with a boring synopsis of a manga scene will suffice. In many profiles, the webmaster writes primarily useless opinion of the characters and pure conjecture. When facts are included, they are usually listed one after another in badly written and boring prose.

Beyond the profiles, which are the most well known parts of this site are a series of articles that are inconspicously hidden.

Bonus points for writing a site FAQ. A thousand points taken away for a long-winded and largely meaningless ramble on the difference between illustrations and art, which, in my opinion, makes no damn sense. The webmaster has every right to demand that others don't take the fanart, but this rant on illustrations doesn't make any logical sense, precisely because the fanart is never presented as an illustration in any of the profiles, if they are even referenced in the text of the profile at all.

Overall, this site is highly inaccurate, boring, and frankly, relatively worthless as a source of any information. Anyone looking for information on little known senshi should really go to Dies Gaudii or other sites that actually cite their sources clearly and are able to make meaningful arguments as to why they present the information they do. Any site that currently cites the Tomb of Little Known Senshi (and my site actually still includes this site as a reference although I've had to edit most of the information out because it was incorrect) should go back and reexamine their information sections.

Visual Content

What kind of visual content is offered? Is it efficiently organized and intuitively accessible? Are all visual media offered legally?

Eudial

Well, that picture of the green senshi is kinda...scary. She looks like an old lady. ewwwwwwwww. *clicks into site*

WOW! Is that a powerpuff girl or something?!? thats just..odd. lol. So, this appears to be a site dedicated to the senshi that made a small appearence during the Stars season.

The pictures used for each character looks like fanart. There are no true pictures from the anime. The drawn pictures are actually half way decent. I've seen some really bad fanart in my time, and luckily, this doesn't quality as being bad or horrible.

The pictures and such on this site do indeed work, and there are no broken images or anything like that. The only true media in this site are these drawn pictures, so I cannot comment on videos or anything like that. >.>

alright...errr, i guess thats it for media. Not a whole lot here, but whats here isnt that bad.

Overall

How does the site flow, overall? What are the wholistic impressions the viewer gets from the site?

Tellu

Layout/First Impression:
Why the heck is Sailor Titanium Kerokko on the splash page holding a butterfly? Wouldn't that be more appropriate with Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon? Anyway, the layout for this site is decidedly boring. Too much white. The links are the same color as the text, so they don't really catch your eye. Each section has a new layout, and, quite frankly, most of them are hideous. Well, actually, all of them are hideous. It's just that some are more hideous than others. Yellow text on a white background? Can you grow some common sense, please? Also, what the heck is up with those MIDIs? For one thing, everyone who is not an 11 year old girl hates MIDIs on websites. For another thing, the MIDIs don't even really match up with the characters. They have nothing to do with Sailor Moon. Why, pray tell, is the Eurhythmics' "Sweet Dreams" used on Sailor Lead Crow's page?

I would like to say that I think person is a great artist. She draws really spectacular fanart... the pictures are beautiful! Unfortunately, however, she just can't design websites.

Content:
Profiles, profiles, profiles. Profile pages are great! Well, they're great when they contain correct information. Unfortunately, this page is full of WRONG info. It's almost as if the person read the manga years ago, never read it again, and then tried to reconstruct it from memory. This person is just confused. She definitely needs some reminders about what really went on in the manga. Ian Miller apparently tried to help her out, but she refused. There's nothing I hate worse than someone who would rather lie to look good than admit that she's wrong.

Another thing that really irks me is when people put up text instead of links for things that aren't even there. Why even put the text there? What a waste of space. Plus, that just shows off what your site is LACKING, not what it has. Also, can this person not clean out her links list? There are sites linked that have not be in existance for YEARS (some even shut down before THIS site's last update!).

Conclusion:
This site is very, very sad. It definitely needs some work. And if no work is done on this site to correct some of the false info, then this site should be forgotten.

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