With the close of SMPCA5, I thought it would be nice to revisit one of the winners of a previous SMPCA. I choose Manga Style! because it's a site that has managed to stay active and remain unique in a sea of other Sailormoon sites. Some may say it's just another manga pic gallery, but Manga Style goes further than that. It gives you features with background information on the manga, the artbooks, and the people involved. It also gives tutorials for PSP and resources for web creation, plus a large links section.

The features are by far my favorite part of the site, providing information on how the manga was developed and background information on what Naoko did before and after Sailormoon. The features also have a section on MIXX and the English version of the manga, plus translations of the liner notes for Artbooks 1, 3 and 4. A lot of this is still updated whenever Michelle hears of another development or some new piece of information. The galleries are well set-up, with the thumbnails laid out in the order they appear in the artbooks.

The other sections still have a lot of the great stuff we touched on in our original review, including the SM clipart section with lots of pics to use on your web site, with each offered in jpg and transparent gif. The tutorials and resources are great for any webmaster. There are not many sites around with this many tutorials and resources for Paint Shop Pro. If you are just learning how to use this program, this is a great place to help you start off.

My only negative comment about the site in its current form is the "links box" on the index page. In IE 5.5, for some reason the bottom of the box covers part of the first line of the introduction text. The layer needs to be moved up a bit. It could also be better centered with the image on the left. For those of you using Netscape 4, this site won't work for you due to the layers, and you will be re-directed to a site encouraging you to upgrade. I'm assuming the site will work in Netscape 6. Other than that, the navigation works great. Every page has a full navigation bar on the right side allowing you to quickly move about the site.

Manga Style! is a great reference for anyone wanting to learn more about the behind the scenes of the SM manga. Check out images from the artbooks (which are getting harder and harder to find), and pick up tips on web site creation.