Review #2: Wind Spirit
Author: Sailoreagle
Review by: Mamoru
Wind Spirit's main page
Content: ***
Originality: **
Design/layout: ***
Technicality: ***.5
Overall statement: A shrine to Haruka Tenoh that is both informative and well-designed.
(The maximum amount of stars is five.)
The well-built Sailoruranus shrines are not at all ubiquitous, and since some pages like Initial U, World Shaking!, Turbulence, and the lesser-known Violent Winds have established their policies of either closing down completely or not updating much anymore, it wouldn't at all hurt if another quality page pops up to record and explore the life and powers of great soldier of the wind.  This newer page entitled Wind Spirit is one of those pages that shows that attractive and informative shrine pages have not completely died out. In terms of both graphics and text, the layout scheme sets the mood for the character; there's an ethereal and celestial feel throughout, but that is no doubt due to the seemingly intentional faded title-text, the large open white spaces, and the light blue colour found throught the page. Indeed, setting the right kind of mood for a page does make a lasting impression for you visitors. The page has been getting some attention lately, receiving a fairly good review at the Small Lady. It would be at this point pertinent to mention some of the reasons why it can be considered not only a reliable source for Sailoruranus and Tenoh Haruka information, but also a fun and interesting alternative to some of the other pages out there.

Immediately within the page, the author begins presenting the usual statistics for the Tenoh Haruka, along with his or her own opinion of the character. Because of the redundancy of basic information all over on the Net, the writing of an individual's own unique set of thoughts for a shrine page is highly encouraged nowadays. The "stupid rumours" area skillfully sets a lot of so-called "facts," ones that have been formulated by S.O.S. and other such sources, straight. Kudos to the webmaster. Wind Spirit also offers the usual sections like the voice actress and seiyuu section and the fun YKYLTMSUW section. One interesting and slightly original feature the visitor should make an effort to explore is the "Mirror," where the webmaster exhibits characters from other series who share specific traits with Haruka. The "Put a Haruka in your computer " has some cute and well-prepared wallpapers and other goodies for any Sailoruranus fan.

Though Wind Spirit does have its strong points, the author might want to work on some of the writing and layout features. Some of the pages often come off as rather hollow and empty; the light blue used in tables can appear to be like islands in a vast and desolate see of white. The present background might better off be replaced with a different shade of colour such as a light or medium grey. A cleverly rendered background image or two on some or all of the pages wouldn't at all hurt, either. The author possesses an enthusiastic and competent writing style, but sometimes the language is a little difficult to follow. The wording also tends to call to the author for the use of better sentence variety. For instance, the sentensce "Thus, Michiru sometimes has to retain her to prevent her from saving the victim-of-the-day 'before' their heart crystal had been extracted" has the potential for bringing in some confusion onto the reader. Did the author intend to say the word "restrain" instead of "retain,"
by any chance?

It's a little unfortunate to mention that there only two types of text featured within this shrine: the regular Times New Roman for the actual content and the stylish and quirky blue text seen on the title images at the top of every page. There is nothing wrong with this, but the lack of font variety may breed monotony in the future. There is no special requirement for the Arial and Verdana font styles, but they do make things rather neat and tidy on pages like this. Furthermore, setting the text slightly smaller wouldn't be a bad idea. Some sections also require a bit of scrolling, and smaller text with multiple html documents per section could help in the organization department. There aren't any large images on many of the pages, so multiple documents may not be needed anyway.

In summary, this Sailoruranus shrine has lots to offer: information, opinions, and fun things to do.  It's very nice to see a nice and new shrine to the character after seeing so many other ones like it go down. Hopefully, Wind Spirit will help keep the Sailoruranus spirit alive with its interesting information and nice graphics. There is nothing much wrong with the page at all, and it can stand some cleaning up here and there. It's no doubt one of the best shrines to Haruka out there and it shows lots of potential.

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