Shrine Spotlight Winner: January 2016

[Todd]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wrote a lengthy thank you last month when my Henry site won one of these, so I'll keep this short!

I am so shocked every time I win Shrine Spotlight. You guys like me! You really like me!

In all seriousness, I look at and appreciate each award differently, because each site means something different to me. Ripples was not only my first (and currently only) animanga tribute, but I think it's the site that raised the standards for all of my other sites. I was so nervous about debuting it when I made it because it was new territory for me, but I was so excited about the work I had put into it, and I felt really proud of it. At the time I debuted it, I knew it was my best site, and I was like, well, crap, I need to do this to Poltergeist. And it just trickled down through the rest of my sites, and inspired revamps on my domain that occurred throughout the next few years. Ripples made me grow as a shrine maker.

You guys' support was evident to me right away with that site, and I've always been so grateful and so honored every time I get feedback on it, or hear that someone read and enjoyed it. Like I said, I was nervous when I debuted it, but you guys quickly let me know it was something to be proud of, and you made me feel good about it. Reiko Tamura is a minor character in an old, obscure manga that is just now getting attention with a recent anime release, but you guys were visiting my site before Parasyte got popular, and that's so awesome.

There are so many people I want to thank. I see Camy preparing the cane to pull me off stage, but here goes: Shiori for running Girl Mode all those years ago and inspiring me to choose this minor female character instead of the lead male, Shinichi, that I had planned to shrine; Stefi for explaining tons of stuff to me like kanji, honorifics, and Japanese culture, which really helped me look at Reiko in a different way and helped with my analysis; Masao for pushing me hard (almost painfully ;)) to venture into the animanga community; Lethe, my online lover, affiliate, eternal runner-up to our ties (I'm sorry. I tried! I voted for you! Guys, let her win one of these! Her sites are awesome!) for nominating this site; every single one of you guys who voted or left comments, thank you so much!; Hitoshi Iwaaki for creating such a great manga; K.A. Applegate for creating Animorphs, which Parasyte seemed so much like, and motivated me to pick up this series in the first place; my dogs, Helo and Huckleberry; and my mom.

Helo, Huckleberry, and my mom have nothing to do with this site, but I felt bad leaving them out. They're so precious. I mean, the dogs, not my mom. Not that my mom's hideous or anything, but... Yeah.

I encourage all of you guys to check out Parasyte! I'm so happy Ripples is accessible to new and non-fans and that you guys are able to enjoy it, but I would love to discuss my thoughts on Parasyte with some of you! Let's make this happen! It's 8 volumes.

I'm going to end this troll post with a sincere, heartfelt thank you. Thanks so much, guys. Camy, you can put down your cane.

[Camy]

-drags Todd off with cane anyway-

[Todd]

Aw, thank you, GoGetEm! Just do what comes naturally to you. It's nice to look at other shrines, but don't compare your own work to them, because everyone does things differently. What's cool about shrines is they come in all shapes and sizes, and have different intentions and goals.

Ripples is one of my more in-depth shrines. I have a site that's around 50 pages, sites around this size, sites around 10-13 pages, and a couple one page fansites.