The Sailor Moon Pocky Box : Reviews

Galaxy Cauldron

Date Reviewed: July 16, 2006

Category: The Good

Layout & Design

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

Ptilol

The layout for this site is very nice. The colors go well together and aren't overly bright. The main colors are variations of blue and yellow with bits of black and white for text and details.

The main header image is made to look like photos that are sitting on something with some paperclips and pushpins scattered around. One even has a very convincing turned up corner.

The "photos" change on several pages, but all look well done. The colors are consistant as well.

I don't have anything bad to say about the setup. Well done Webperson.

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?

Tellu

Written Content! This is my favorite section to review, and since I'm already familiar with this site, I know it won't disappoint me. First things first: there aren't many typos or grammatical errors on this site at all. *Screams with joy!* So let's jump right into the actual content here!

I like the "Anime? Manga?" section, although the name is a little confusing. I kind of wondering what I was clicking on when I clicked the link, but the section does explain itself once you're there. I thought it was very useful, and too few websites have general information on the series itself like this (my site included!). The "Names" section is just a small name translation page, which isn't extraordinarily impressive or unique, but I'm glad the webmaster took time to create this. Because let's face it, some people new to the series get confused.

The "Heroes" section isn't totally complete, but it does contain some VERY lengthy, detailed bios for a few of the senshi. I also didn't seen any glaring errors or anything like that, and I really appreciate the accurate stats. (You'd be surprised how many sites get the STATS wrong! Or maybe you've seen those sites... and aren't surprised :\ ) The "Villains" section is also incomplete (it needs a LOT of work), but again, it has some pretty detailed information on the characters that do have bios. Same story in the "Side Characters" section. I think these three sections REALLY need to be worked on... there's so much missing here! But the webmaster is obviously off to a good start, with some great info.

The "Episode Guide" is essentially just a listing of the names of all the episodes. There are a few brief (and I do mean brief) summaries of the episodes, but again, a lot is missing. The "Product Guide" is cool because it lists different products you can buy, and may be useful for collectors. For some items, it also lists reasonable prices! The "Lyrics" section obviously contains lyrics, and there's just not a whole lot I can say about that. The "SM in Catalan" section is cool because it discusses the anime in Catalan [Spanish], and I love learning about Sailor Moon in other countries. Although I have to admit that I'm a bit puzzled as to why the author chose to only include this dub version, and not versions from other countries. It's a little random.

Overall, I think the written content on this site is pretty good, but there definitely needs to be more of it. When viewing this site, I felt like there was so much missing from each section. When this webmaster includes a few more things in each section, I think this will be a really spectacular source for information! I can tell that the webmaster cares a lot about researching things.

Visual Content

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

Viluy

One of my most favorite sections this week....media. Ok so, I'm cruising around Galaxy Cauldron, checking out the multimedia section and all I can say is wow. The section alone is broken down into five different parts: Anime Galleries, Manga Galleries MIDI Files, Animated GIF's and Backgrounds!

So let's start with the galleries, shall we? The first thing to know is that the site owner has kindly given permission to use the images on your website and all that is asked in return is a link back. Now the anime gallery is full of nicely done screen caps, most of which I haven't seen before till now. The site owner has the sub sections of the gallery broken down by senshi, couples, and group. Even the villians have their own sections, starting with the first season villians, the Dark Kingdom! Now there is also a running total of how many pictures are for each character and section listed beside the names, including links to each page. So that makes it rather nice, again kudos for organizing! So anyways, once you have decided which gallery to go to first, you will find a nicely laid out assortment of thumbnails, clicking on each will bring up another page in which the full sized image will appear. I found no broken links or images on any of the pages that I searched through while in this particular gallery.

Moving on we have the manga gallery, again the owner has kindly made them available for use, all that is asked in return is a link. This gallery section is laid out like the one before, so there really isn't much to say about it. Except for the fact that it is also nicely organized and again I found no broken links or images from my search.

With the galleries out of the way, we have the MIDI files. Now of course you can pretty much find these anywhere on the web. However there are some files here that not even I have seen and that means hours of downloading for me! :) Buuut anyways, back to the review! Now the files are free to take and download, so you can pretty much help yourself! Each file has the title and the description of the file listed. This is helpful if you are looking for something particular!

The next section to look at is the Animated GIf's section. These again, are free to take and use. Now I looked through some of them and so far I have found no broken links and very nicely done GIf's! The name of the GIf is listed as well as the size. Clickin on the file size will open up the GIF on another page, where you can see it in action and download if you like!

Backgrounds is the last section to look at here. Everything listed here is made by someone else and from the looks of it, the site owner allows people to donate backgrounds to her site for the purpose of giving them out. She has each one broken down by size of the images. Also, under each group is the link and name of the person who made them. At the bottom of the page the owner notes that people are more than welcome to donate if they like, noting that credit will be given to anyone who does.

Another section that is open for people to donate to is the fan art section. Each image is thumbnailed with Artist name beside it, the number of pics that is listed for them and the first and last time it was updated. Any of the authors with more than one image listed, has their own page where the rest of their images are listed as thumbnails. Again clickin on the thumbnail will open up a new page where you can view the full picture.

Now there is a lot more to check out here, but I can't hit it all in this one review! However I really think this site's multimedia section and interactive section is nicely done, very well organized and put together. All in all it's well worth the time to check it out. My closing thoughts are...Awsome and Kudos for a great job!

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