Ania-Maria 30 she scorpio Rainy England
Hello, I'm Ania-Maria, but I mostly go by Ani!
I'm the webmiss (as we used to call them) of this site. I'm bad at talking
about myself. I also don't understand that personality type stuff.
I spend a lot of time online but very little on social media.

I love video games, art, anime/manga and fashion.
I studied art & design for video games in university. I love JRPGs and obscure jp horror games. I'm big on old electronics and physical media - the ps2 and the dreamcast were the best!

Other than games, I love to draw, paint and craft!! I'm really enjoying painting digitally right now, but I want to get into traditional art more again when I have more time (and space). I love all kinds of music too. my tastes are pretty broad, and I'm learning about singing/mixing! I also love fandom activities even though I don't really take part in the larger communities anymore.
I have 2 staffies, a big black cat, a tiny white cat, and a pond full of koi fish!

internet history
My love for making websites was first really ignited in 2005 on Piczo, when I made my first website, Webgirlz. I've since grown apart from my friends I made in those days, but I still hold those memories dear!
I always loved surfing people's websites since 2003, but it was then I made my own first website. I've been making personal websites ever since then, across geocities, freewebs, and other hosts. There are many things I'm glad are left in the past, but the optimism for the future and the personal web definitely aren't part of that. I've always missed when using the internet was a personal, creative endeavor, instead of just 'content'. And so, this website is my way of reclaiming that.

What else...
I've had a little bit of a strange life story. It's not interesting, but it is unusual. I was homeschooled and ended up talking my way into college. I'm good at writing papers, so I got an unconditional offer for university and skipped the interviews. I really thrived in academia, but as someone waiting for a certain diagnosis, I'm not adjusting to a neurotypical world well, so my work history is a mess. I currently run a video games and electronics store!





...and more.

I've been on the internet quite a while. Here's an archive of most of my previous homes - click a tab to explore...

This isn't an exhaustive list; this only covers all my actual websites in the oldweb sense.
I've made lots of other miscellaneous mess on the web, including blogs, porfolios, and forums!

Location: webgirlz.piczo.com
Date: 2004?
This was my first website ever, hosted on piczo! This was very close to when Piczo first launched for free.
It unfortunately didn't get archived, and piczo made its shift to a 'social media' before I got a chance to archive it.
It mostly housed drawings, photos, flash games, and the usual content you've expect from a website made by a kid.

The original Sea of Stars started out in 2004 or 2005, as a wallpaper site called Anime Mirror.
I continued to update it and started making 100x100 icons, as was popular at the time. I renamed it to Anime Manga Mirror when they were first added.
I was still using Paint at this time. I remember downloading this really pretty premade layout featuring Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura, and using it for a total revamp of the site. Unfortunately I can't remember who it was made by, but the top image is to the left.

I remember being stuck between the names Sky of Stars and Sea of Wishes, and ended up combining them into Sea of Stars.
I started running another graphics site, Shining Heart, on Freewebs, but I liked Sea of Stars so much I still updated it on Piczo. I was originally planning on moving Sea of Stars to Freewebs, but I never got around to doing it. Just as I was ready, Freewebs transitioned to Webs, purging old accounts and taking away the ability to hand-code sites.

My first dedicated fansite, Sunshine Sakura, focused on Cardcaptor Sakura.
The site itself was fairly extensive but the only IA snapshot is after I'd already moved on from it.
It wasn't that good as far as fansites go, but I had a lot of fun, and I met many many of my online friends from back then through this! I'd like to bring this back one day...

My premiere graphics website, Shininig Heart ♥
This would be 2006 and 2007? I poured the most love into this website of them all.
This would also be when I first learnt to use Photoshop and the first site I coded from scratch!!
While the Wayback Machine didn't archive any of the images (bit of an issue for a graphics site),
I luckily seemed to have most of them backed up and you can see them over at my current graphics archive!

Shining Heart (later Magicalhearts) would unfortunately be lost in the Freewebs purge of late 2008, when they rebranded to Webs and removed the ability to freely edit your site code, without warning. :)

My first revival of Sea of Stars, now full-fledged graphics site hosted on 110mb. This seems to have been 2009.

Another case of the internet archive unfortunately not archiving any of the images, most of the icons are archived at the graphics archive, but most of the wallpapers and such seem to be lost to time, which where the main additions to this iteration.

I ran this one I think for quite a while, until 110mb just went down one day. :)

There's a few too many of the smaller misc sites to list in tabs, so here's a quick rundown of those:

OHPUNI! // blog
The 2nd incarnation of Oh Puni, as the original's host went down. :)))
This one is still up and viewable! (ohpuni.blogspot.com, launched 2010)
The original is just barely on the wayback machine, circa 2008.

SPARKLING STAR DESIGNS // graphics site
Back when I couldn't make good graphics. (sparklingstardesigns.110mb.com, launched 2009)

SHINING STAR DESIGNS // graphics site
I got through a lot of these. (shiningstardesigns.110mb.com, launched 2009)

CRYSTAL VALLEY GRAPHICS // graphics site
Where I moved after Freewebs introduced their 'freebar'. Another spontaneously combusting webhost. :)
(crystalvalleygraphics.freespaces.com, launched 2009)

AMEAGARI // ??
I only remember this because it's linked on my old blog, but I don't really remember much of what was on it...
I think it housed episode lists and my very first attempts at anime song translations? (ameagari.110mb.com, circa 2008)

SHINING FANTASY // multi-fandom website
I liked shining things. I only ever got through Atelier, Elemental Gelade, and FF7 sections on this site. (shiningfantasy.piczo.com, launched 2005)

Michi no Ai // multi-fandom website
Mixed fandom website shared with a friend. I'm aware now that the title is wrong... (michinoai.piczo.com, launched 2005?)

After losing most of my sites and contact with most of my webdev friends,
I left the old web behind for quite a few years.
Having come across the culture of collective websites still seem to be clinging on in around 2017, this was my first return to the old web.
A collective site, it housed my blog, an art archive, and the beginnings of my Atelier fansite.

I maintainted this for a while! It went down a couple years later.

My last site before finding Neocities, registered on the 15th December, 2015.
My current main collective, acting as a hub to my other sites and housing my Atelier fansite, with Xenosaga ones planned.
Could do with a little tlc, but this domain name will have to be pried out of my cold, dead hands.
I have the blessing of the original owner... I think? They emailed me a while back, and were incredibly sweet.

Lives I've attended
MikuPa London Screening 2011
Miku Expo Europe London 2018
Miku Expo Europe London 2020
Sonic Symphony World Tour London 2023
Bring Me The Horizon: NX_GN World Tour Sheffield 2024
Sonic Symphony World Tour London 2024
Miku Expo Europe London 2024

Games I play

Active
Switch: SW-8229-3491-8995
Infinity Nikki: (TBA)
Shining Nikki: 2000065468
Honkai Star Rail: (TBA)
Less active
Fate/GO: 038,688,465
Granblue Fantasy: 26440097
Arknights: Luna#6628
Hypmic: rdx8ftymekza
IDOLiSH7: 524981817
Pokemon Go: 8041 6687 6912