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about "black cherry"
Black Cherry was created for the Girl Mode Shrine Challenge at Amassment. The challenge asked participants to create a brand new character site dedicated to a female personality. It took me a while to pick a character I was interested in building a fansite to, but eventually I settled on the somber Soho Reina — a character I found intriguing. The site itself was uploaded on December 31st 2009. Black Cherry was named an amassment site of the month on January 16th 2011. (You can click the award below to read more detailed comments on the site.)
On January 3rd 2012 the winners of the 2011 Fansite Pageant were announced. Black Cherry won "Favourite Fansite For Essays" and was also a runner-up for the "Favourite Overall" award. Thank you so much to everyone who visited and voted for Black Cherry during this event. I'm honoured to know that people enjoy the articles here, particularly when they focus on such an obscure character.
The title Black Cherry comes from the 2003 single/album by electropop group, Goldfrapp. It was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Wil Gregory (wiki). Despite being a simple song highlighted by Goldfrapp's cloying voice, the actual lyrics seem to reflect on a relationship break up and its aftermath (though Goldfrapp herself declines to discuss the content, suggesting that it is about "personal stuff"). Long story short, the song made me think of Reina (with her black cherry hair) — a woman defined by a past relationship she has been forced to leave behind.
why reina?
I have to be perfectly honest, Reina isn't my favourite Witchblade character. She'd definitely make my top three, but Takayama and Masane are slightly ahead of her. So why build a site dedicated to the woman? There's something ever so engaging about Reina's struggles. She's only a minor character but over her *~nine episodes~* you really come to appreciate her strength, her hurt and her eventual goals. Reina has been handed a pretty bad lot in life, but she never complains or gives up — Soho Reina is all about getting the job done and moving forward.
Despite her cold exterior and inability to understand her own humanity, there's a lot in Reina to be admired and respected. I really wanted to convey this through an online dedication. Perhaps she is not the most loveable character ever created, but there's value to Reina's characterisation none-the-less. And so, a site was born.
resources
This site wouldn't have been possible without several considerable sources, including:
- FUNimation's Limited Edition R1 Witchblade DVD releases. All quotes, screen-captures and in-series canonical references come from these DVDs.
- The Witchblade Visual Fanbook and Uno! Uno Makoto Illustrations for images.
- Witchblade.jp for data unavailable elsewhere (product information).
- Photoshop, Notepad and Dreamweaver. Durr my design skills.
link in
If you are interested in directing a link back to black cherry then you are encouraged to save and upload one of the following banners to your own server. Please point your links back to this address: time-stranger.net/reina. A big thank you to all the Amassment members who have donated buttons!
links out
There aren't a whole lot of online resources for the Witchblade anime series, but I've tried to compile a fairly comprehensive list regardless. Please click around and enjoy.
- Witchblade.jp - Official Japanese website for the anime series.
- Witchblade @ FUNimation - Official English language website.
- Witchblade @ Top Cow - Official Witchblade franchise website.
Ripples is a site dedicated to Tamura Reiko from Parasyte. Maintained by Todd, Ripples examines Reiko's complicated relationship with humanity, purpose and her own maternal capabilities. If you have enjoyed reading about Reina, I'm positive you will similarly appreciate Reiko.