It’s been the talk of the Internet (or at least the otaku part of the Internet) about Anipike finally going down after 20 years. I had quite a flashback because Anipike was the shit back in the day. It’s the source or all things anime related and 90% of my otaku friends probably visit that site at least once a week.
Oh, oh! While on the topic of vintage websites, my favorite website back then is still around the Internet but is not updated anymore. Hello, Kurama’s Territory! It used to be in Geocities though (this site as well spawned from Geocities). I used to send love poems there weekly for Kurama (Yu Yu Hakusho). I used to also write fan fictions using Ken (from Hidaka Ken of Weiss Kreuz) as a pseudonym too. And I love collecting anything Sailormoon from stickers, to cards, stationary, pens, paper dolls, etc. I even have that old Moon Stick. I think I still have most of them in my mom’s old house with my X/1999 VHS.
Information about anything manga, anime, J-pop/rock, etc. related back then are not as wide as it is today. Much more, if you wanted to acquire actual goods. For example, when my brother was all over Utada Hikaru’s First Love Album, we literally went to each and every mall in Metro Manila just to find that goddamn album, on which we found finally at Tower of Records, somewhere. I’ve also spent a considerable amount of money (ugh, shipping fees!) and serious amount of effort just to acquire an original VHS copy of X/1999 OVA. I can’t even remember how I happened to acquire one, I just did. I still have that VHS and I will probably have it until I grow old, and my hair turns grey, while my face gets filled with wrinkles. And even after all those years, X/1999 still remains unfinished. D: