Once more unto the breach . . .

I'm back! After a few months away from Animation - American and Japanese, I've plugged in the word processor, rented some videos from the local comics dealer, did plenty of thinking and came up with some new treats for you. I feel an awful lot like Austin Powers did when he was thawed out in the first Austin Powers movie, but hopefully my animation mojo isn't affected.

Everyone needs a little down time. I maintained Animation - American and Japanese for over two years and desperately needed a rest from it. I saw other web sites fall apart because their owners ran into a creative roadblock. I also saw other sites collapse when their maintainers felt less and less appreciated by the online community. I did not want that to happen to my web site. I put in a lot of work into this site, and I also know that many of you enjoy my writing and opinions. Pulling the plug on the page was never an option. Taking a break, however, was the only option.

So, how is this site different than before? For a start, I added two extra categories for my movie reviews. Originally, I listed all movies alphabetically on three different pages. I've added two new categories for your convenience as a supplement. Now, you can also access only anime films or only non-anime films if you wish. It wasn't a lot of extra work to add the new links pages, and it's something that some of you may enjoy. If you've ever asked yourself a question like "What anime should I rent tonight?" you'll appreciate the new sections. And if you preferred the straight alphabetic format, you can still use it.

The second change involves graphics. The Internet is a very different place from the Internet that existed a few years ago. While I will always design these pages to be accessible via text-based browsers like LYNX, the time has also come to add tiny graphics to the site. Don't worry. These graphics will be small enough not to slow down your connection. I promise to use them only to illustrate a point, and to stay within the limits imposed by the Fair Use Doctrine. Regardless, all images on this web site are ones that I personally scanned, created, or otherwise photo-manipulated into something unique. You'll find a couple of scanned images from The Last Unicorn on the essay about the same movie, for example, and I've added a couple of scans to the article about Cartoon Censorship . I doubt anyone would consider these scans to be part of an image archive; this will remain a text-based web site! The image on this page was taken from Kingdom Come, published by DC Comics, and created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross

The third change involves extensive within-site hyper-linking. What does this mean in plain English? Wherever possible, I've tried to include links to other sections of my web page at the end of each review. This should reduce the amount of time spent shuttling around from section to section. At the end of each anime review, for example, you will find a list of five other anime reviews on the web site. Hopefully, this will introduce some fans to anime beyond Pokemon or Sailor Moon, and each of the little lists has a cute graphic next to it. On the Western side of the equation, there are some fine non-Disney features that people ought to know more about. The original navigation system (which is still in place) was well organized in a classic library fashion. I chose this system because so many web pages at the time resembled cluttered card tables at flea markets. I still stand behind this system as the best way for someone to find information they need in a hurry. However, I also know that many of you have entered my site through one of my review pages, and are simply browsing instead of purposively looking for information. I think that you will especially enjoy the links at the end of each review.

Yes, I could have added a fancy Java-based search engine. But I didn't. Many people (including myself) prefer to surf the web with Java turned off. Secondly, until this page has over 100 reviews, I don't think a search engine really is necessary.

How often will this site be revised in the future? That depends on how you define "revise." Minor revisions, such as proofreading or the adding of new graphics, will occur pretty frequently and without fanfare. You'll notice these revisions only if you actively look for them. New reviews will be added on a semi-regular basis, perhaps one or two a month. I still haven't gotten around to adding a lot of good Disney movies, but I think I've just about exhausted late 80s-early 90s anime reviews. Naturally, new reviews will be added as new films become available. I can't review films that don't exist, and I don't want to review films so obscure that you can only get them via bootleg, if at all.

Thank you for wishing me well in my absence, and for cheering me on both in my Guestbook and in private e-mail.


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