Rumic Theater
Rumic Theater is a fansite dedicated to Takahashi's short stories that appeared in Rumic World, Rumic Trilogy, and Rumic Theater.
2000-2001
Rumic Theater began its life at freespeech.org/rumictheater in August of 2000, when Harley Acres designed and launched the site over the course of a long weekend. At first the site contained very little information.
The Stories section (which later became the Manga section) contained some of the site's most valuable content. Although at first sight the story page may seem like a skin-deep five-paragraph rushed-together essay with links to general manga information, after a bit of exploration, one would discover valuable overviews and analysis of various stories from the Rumic series.
Rumic Theater proved to be a success. In January of 2001, the site was picked as a "Site of the Week" at Anipike's Last Exit Before Toll column. There Rumic Theater was praised as "a complete guide to Takahashi-sensei's Rumic short stories."
2002
In May 2002, with the official debut of Rumic World, Rumic Theater moved to its new home. However, a copy of the website remained open at freespeech.org/rumictheater until 2004.
2003-2005
2003 saw Rumic Theater receiving not one, but two facelift. Fresh layouts were implemented both in April and later in August. During this time, new contents were also added to the site. Gone was the old Guestbook, which was replaced by a new Anime section, and later a Translation section.
The Anime section provided information on the television series and the OVAs. The Translation section, one of the most popular sections, provided translated scripts of various short stories from Takahashi. A new "Question" section can also be found, which answered various questions about the Rumic series, cultural or not.
2006-Present
Rumic Theater Re-launch
After weeks of hard work, we've got the all new and completely improved version of Rumic Theater online! Not only can you now read about all of Takahashi's short stories, but find tons of information about the anime as well. Plus new sections for translations and music too! Our featured translation is 1998's extremely rare chapter of One-Pound Gospel, "The Lamb's Restaurant Part One"! Check it out!
On August 4th of 2006, Harley launched a completely redesigned version of Rumic Theater onto the unsuspecting masses, hungering for more Rumic goodness.
Two of the most significant additions include a section on the different volumes of short story collections available, and a new Music section. According to Harley, Rumic Theaters is the "only site online to give English track listings for the old Rumic World OVA albums."
Today Rumic Theater continues to act as a fan's one-stop guide to the Rumic short stories. New story translations are also added to the otherwise near-complete site from time to time.
The Ring & The Rosary
The Ring & The Rosary is a fansite for Takahashi's short comedy/romance manga One-Pound Gospel, and is also the last site to be added to Rumic World.
2003
Work first began on The Ring & The Rosary in January of 2003. Back then, Rumic World has already been launched, and One-Pound Gospel was the only Takahashi series that did not have a fansite of its own on Rumic World.
On March 19th 2003, Dylan Acres finished (over the course of a weekend) The Ring & The Rosary and announced on Rumic World its newest addition. The launch, however, was a little rushed. Harley had already gone to Japan, so there was no one to share ideas and ask for help from, as a result many errors and mistakes were present. However, the site's visitors soon helped locate the errors and mistakes found on the site.
With Dylan well experienced in the art of fansite-making, The Ring & The Rosary boasted all the necessary ingredients of a proper fansite while still remained fairly simple. There was a character encyclopedia, manga summaries, informations on the anime, a gallery, and last but not least, a notes page that provided basic knowledge of things found in One-Pound Gospel.
2006 - 2007
A Merry Little Christmas Update
In honor of Takahashi bringing One-Pound Gospel to an end, we have redesigned and renewed our One-Pound Gospel website. Curious about Angela's aunt, Manabu Sakura, Chef Wakaoji or Ryusei Kurenai? Want to see all the newest artwork from the series? Ready to read what happens in the chapters that have yet to be collected even in Japan? Then check out The Ring and The Rosary and find out!
Contents on The Ring & The Rosary remained fairly static until Christmas 2006, when the One-Pound Gospel manga finally came to a end in Japan. To celebrate this special occasion, Dylan, who was not satisfied byt he site's initial design, completely revamped the look of the site.
Well almost four years later the site has gotten a brand new look. I'm so much happier with how it looks now. When I first built the site it was a complete rush job so that Rumic World would have a site for each of Takahashi's series. I'd always meant for it to get a new look but couldn't come up with anything until now. Its just serendipity that it matched up with the manga's end. - Dylan Acres
In February 2007, Shogakukan announced that it will release the fourth and final volume of One Pound Gospel on March 5th. With the conclusion ofOne-Pound Gospel close at hand, updates for The Ring and the Rosary is also nearing its end.
Gospel Site Completed
The Ring & The Rosary has had its final update posted today. The summaries of the final storyline are up so you can know what's going on when you order your copy of volume 4 this week.
On March 6th, after the finaly volume of One-Pound Gospel manga was released, The Ring & The Rosary received its final update. Since its debut, The Ring & The Rosary remained as one of the only One-Pound Gospel sites online, and continued to receive updates whenever new One-Pound Gospel information surfaces in Japan until the very end.
Mermaid's Flesh
Mermaid's Flesh is a fansite dedicated to one of Rumiko Takahashi's shorter series, Mermaid Saga.
2002-Present
Mermaid's Flesh was created in August of 2002, a few months after the launch of Rumic World. Mermaid's Flesh did not receive many updates since its launch, in fact, in 2006 the site still had its original frontpage layout from its launch in 2002 (most other Rumic World sites experienced more frequent layout changes).
Mermaid's Flesh is one of the most comprehensive Mermaid Saga fansites on the web. Due to the Mermaid series' lack of popularity in the U.S., dedicated Mermaid fansites numbered in the 10's, and many of the few Mermaid sites out there many have stopped updating. While Mermaid's Flesh also received very few updates in comparison to the other Rumic World sites, however, the lack of updates is mainly due to the slow and infrequent release of the Mermaid series in Japan. What little Mermaid-related information out there, most likely it has already been covered by Mermaid's Flesh.
Mermaid's Flesh provides a concise overview of Mermaid Saga, as well as any background information necessary for visitors to enjoy the series without actually reading or watching it. Like all good fansites, Mermaid's Flesh contains information on Mermaid Saga manga, anime, and music. There is a character guide, summaries of the manga and the anime, an image gallery, cultural notes, as well as information on the history of the series.
There is also a Guestbook powered by Html Gear. The guestbook was launched at the same time as the Mermaid's Flesh. In the beginning the Guestbook was filled with praise from visitors. However, in the second half of 2006, moderation seems to have stopped, and since then the guestbook has been plagued with spams.
Overall, Mermaid's Flesh is a simple but well designed website. It serves its purpose as a Mermaid Saga tribute site, and does a great job providing valuable information on the series it's supposed to cover, nothing more and nothing less. The fact that Mermaid's Flesh is a part of Rumic World also means that as long as Rumic World exists, Mermaid's Flesh will always be updated whenever new Mermaid Saga information becomes available.