Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Manga

This article is an official guideline on Bulbapedia. Its contents are a strong recommendation for users and administrators alike.

This is an instruction manual that addresses the conventions adopted by Project Manga in writing, titles, articles, and linking Pokémon manga and its related Articles. If there are any unresolved disputes over what best adheres to the style of this, please contact Ataro or another staff member listed on the Project page.

General conventions

• The {{Project Manga notice}} should only go on completed articles. Incomplete articles instead are tagged with {{stub|Manga}}.
• When adding moves used by a Pokémon, please do not add them to either the Pokémon's article or the move's article unless the move was mentioned by name when it appeared in the manga. It is unencyclopedic to guess which move was used, so to avoid this, it is requested that only moves confirmed by name be added. If you are unsure, please contact a staff member before adding it to an article.
• Please do not add chapter summaries unless you have actually read that chapter in a language you understand. Please refrain from adding plot or story information based on the pictures alone as it may result in incorrect or missing information. As Bulbapedia is an encyclopedia, potentially wrong information should never be included.
  • This rule does not prohibit contributing scans or other images, publication information, Pokémon appearances, and the like to complement existing facts.
  • This rule also does not prohibit contributions based on officially licensed translations that are not in English or Japanese, as long as it is indicated that it is based on such a translation. An example would be a chapter summary based on the Chinese translation of Pokémon Try Adventure, which was not released in English, but was officially licensed in other languages.
• Please do not upload scans to the Bulbagarden Archives that have visible text from scanlations/fan translations.
• It is against Bulbapedia's policy to directly copy a summary from other websites without permission.

Linking to chapter titles

Manga chapters should be linked like anime episodes. The title, when available, should be used rather than just linking to the epicode, e.g. A Glimpse of the Glow as opposed to PS001.

Manga that have been translated into English should be linked by the English name rather than the Japanese name. If it was translated by more than one English publisher (VIZ Media, Chuang Yi or Shogakukan Asia), VIZ Media's title should be used in the link (the Chuang Yi/Shogakukan Asia title will still be in the opening sentence alongside VIZ Media's, see below). The same goes for characters with different names in different translations, for example, Aibo will be linked rather than Ataro.

Volumes

Article titles for manga volumes should always be at "[Name of series] volume [x]", even if the volume has a title of its own (for example, the title of Electric Tale of Pikachu volume 2 is "Pikachu Shocks Back", but the article title should still be at "Electric Tale of Pikachu volume 2".

Opening sentence

The opening sentence should always follow the same structure of "Volume X is the xth volume of the Whatever manga series created by 誰か whoever. If the volume has a title, as mentioned above, it should be included in the opening sentence. An example:

Volume 1: A Party with Pikachu is the first of ten volumes of the Magical Pokémon Journey manga created by つきりのゆみ Yumi Tsukirino.

If the series is ongoing, it is not necessary to say "the first of x volumes". Just "the first volume" is sufficient.

If the article is about a Pokémon Adventures volume, the arc which the volume is from should also be included. Example:

Volume 13 is the thirteenth volume of the Pokémon Adventures manga and the sixth of eight volumes in the Gold, Silver & Crystal arc. It is authored by 日下秀憲 Hidenori Kusaka and illustrated by 山本サトシ Satoshi Yamamoto.

Infobox

The {{VolumePrevNext}} template is to be used at the top of the page for manga volumes. It should have all parameters filled if possible.

For the cover image appearing in the main infobox, cover artwork official English translations by VIZ Media, Chuang Yi or Shogakukan Asia take priority if available. If more than one English publisher has published a translation, VIZ Media's cover should be used over Chuang Yi or Shogakukan Asia's if available. If no licensed English translation exists or the cover artwork is unavailable, please use the Japanese cover artwork, if available. Only if the Japanese cover artwork is unavailable should a non-English licensed translation's cover artwork be used in the main infobox.

In cases where there are multiple editions of a particular volume, such as the first seven volumes of the Pokémon Adventures manga, the most recent edition's cover will be used in the main infobox. The old edition cover and ISBN should still be included in the Publications information, however.

Publications

The {{publications}} template must be used for cover artwork, publisher and ISBN information. The Japanese, VIZ Media (when applicable) and Chuang Yi/Shogakukan Asia (when applicable) information is required for a complete article and must be listed in that order. Information about international publications, such as in Germany or Italy or other countries, is welcome to be added as well but not required for an article to be considered complete. International publication information should follow after the Japanese and English (when applicable) information and should be listed in alphabetical order by country (e.g. France, Germany, Italy, then Spain).

For ISBN numbers, ISBN-10 is preferred over ISBN-13 when available, however, if only the ISBN-13 is known, it is acceptable to be added to the article.

Content

Summaries are not necessary for volume articles, this information belongs in the chapter articles. Volume articles should have a list of included chapters, which link to the appropriate pages. In addition, there should be a small point form list of major events in all chapters of the volume, i.e., "Protagonist beats Gym Leader", "Protagonist captures this Pokémon", etc. Finally, a list of party changes (additions, evolutions, etc) and Gym Leaders battled should be included (only when applicable).

When a volume article contains a reasonable amount of the above content, it is no longer considered a stub.

Chapters

Each and every chapter and bonus chapter of a Pokémon manga is to be given its own seperate article, even short chapters like Valentine Heartbeats. The exception to this rule is adaptations of the Pokémon movies. Please refer to the #Movie manga adaptations section below for policy regarding movie adaptations. Another exception is one-shot manga — instead, the chapter information should be included as the main article for the manga. See Pokémon Card GB The Comix or Pocket Monsters BW: Meetings with the Legends for an example.

Following Bulbapedia policy for anime episodes, all manga chapter titles are named by epicodes. For information, policy and guidelines for manga epicodes, see Bulbapedia:Epicode.

Opening sentence

The opening sentence structure of a chapter article should be something like the following:

Valentine Heartbeats (Japanese: バレンタインでドッキドキ Excitement of the Valentine) is the second bonus chapter of the second volume of Magical Pokémon Journey.

In the case of Pokémon Adventures chapters from PS091 onward, where both VIZ Media and Chuang Yi/Shogakukan Asia have separate translations, both names are to be included, with the VIZ Media name listed first. The same treatment of the titles should also be done in the {{ChapInfobox}}, with the VIZ Media title listed first. Example:

Murkrow Row or Murkrow Flies (Japanese: VS ヤミカラス VS. Yamikarasu) is the 91st chapter of the Pokémon Adventures manga and the first chapter of the Gold, Silver & Crystal arc.

In the case of chapters that have not been translated into English at all, should be done as:

(Japanese: 脱出!! Escape!!) is the 268th chapter of the Pokémon Adventures manga and also the first one in the FireRed & LeafGreen arc.

For chapters in romanized Japanese, when proper names are used, the name should be the Japanese name, with a {{Tt}} template showing the English translated name, if applicable. For example, see GDZ02 as (Japanese: 強敵・フシギバナ! Fierce Foe - Fushigibana!). When linking to these titles, however, for simplicity, at this time it is okay to switch the proper name to the English one (so this example would be linked as Fierce Foe - Venusaur).

Infobox

Each chapter should have the {{Chapterinfobox}} template, with as many parameters as possible filled in. The chapter's image should be the title page of the chapter, preferably uploaded in .png format if possible. Generally, chapter scans are in English when available, though a high-quality Japanese (or other language) scan is also acceptable. It is not necessary to replace a high-quality Japanese (or other language) scan with an English one, as the quality of the image and artwork is the most important, not the language.

Content

The chapter summary should be complete but not too lengthy or not too detailed. A panel-by-panel explanation is not needed, nor are detailed quotations from the characters, a general summary of what is going on is fine. Remember, Bulbapedia is not meant to replace reading the book. Additionally, copying summaries from other websites is not acceptable and such contributions will be removed and deleted from the history.

Other content needed for chapter articles includes a bulleted list of major events (e.g. Protagonist captures whatever Pokémon), a list of the most important characters and Pokémon in the chapter. Pokémon belonging to main characters of the manga should appear at the top of the list in the order they were obtained/revealed. Wild Pokémon should appear in National Dex order, with recurring wild Pokémon topping the list (it is not necessary to list every Pokémon or human that appears, just important ones). Other required information is a list of characters introduced in the chapter and any errors or translation edits (when applicable).

If a chapter article meets all this criteria, it is no longer considered a stub. If an article is otherwise complete but does not yet have a plot summary, then the stub notice may be replaced with the project notice provided the incomplete plot is noted by {{Incomplete plot}} in the appropriate section.

Regarding trivia sections: Do NOT create a trivia/errors/translation edits heading to chapter pages unless you are actually adding content to such a heading. A lot of chapter pages have empty trivia sections, it looks really messy and makes the article look incomplete so please do not add a heading for this unless you are adding information at the same time. Not every chapter has significant trivia or translation edits, and sometimes nobody makes mistakes.

Notability requirements

Main characters from all Pokémon manga are notable for their own articles. What counts as a main character varies depending on the type and structure of the manga itself, for example, Pokédex holders are considered the main characters of Pokémon Adventures. The exception to this is manga based on the Pokémon anime, including movie manga adaptations. In situations like this, the information should be included on the anime character's article in the appropriate "in the manga" section. Examples: Misty and Jessie.

Aside from main characters, there are many side characters or "characters of the day" that appear in various Pokémon manga. Many of these are cross-canon characters like Whitney or Bill and their information from each manga can be included in the character's main article under the respective "In the manga" sections. This counts especially for one-time anime characters who also appear in manga adaptations, such as Giselle and Mariah. Exceptions to this is when a particular manga section becomes disproportionately large, in this case, the article can be split into a disambiguated article for that character in a specific manga. Examples include Ash Ketchum (EToP), Giovanni (Pocket Monsters) and Professor Oak (Adventures).

For other human characters that do not appear in any other medium, any main character is notable for their own article, such as Hazel. Supporting characters that have a significant impact on the plot yet are not classified as main characters also qualify for their own articles, example Peanut. Similar to Project COD for the anime, one-time characters that have a significant impact on the plot count as notable for their own articles, example Mimi (EToP) or Whitney's grandmother.

For publications, all books published in English or Japanese are automatically notable for their own articles. Having said that, most books related to manga are already Japanese in origin, and are simply translated into English or other international languages. Due to this, only one article is needed, and the publication information may all be added to one article (it is not necessary for separate pages for different languages of what is obviously the same book). English-only manga publications are also automatically notable for their own pages, see examples at Mysterious Mew and Pokémon Black and White volume 1. In the extremely rare cases of volumes in international languages that are not direct translations, will be approved on a case-by-case basis depending on the significance of the topic. For example, the Pokémon Black and White volumes released in France are notable for their own articles due to the uniqueness of the format (regular volume length as opposed to VIZ Media's mini-volumes, but based on the magazine version) and also due to high fan interest since some of those chapters were released in volume format in French before they were released in English (and in many cases, before they were released in volumes in Japan). Any questions relating to international language notability must be directed to a staff member involved with the project.

Notability of Pokémon

Main article: Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Manga/Manga Pokémon notability policy

Movie manga adaptations

Movie manga adaptations do not follow the same conventions as regular manga, as a lot of the information is covered elsewhere on the wiki. As such, a movie manga adaptation article should only include the following information:

• Opening paragraph
• Publications
• Chapter titles
• Differences between the anime and the manga (this is the most important)
• Related articles

All this information is required for the article to be complete and not a stub.

In addition, moves used by main characters's Pokémon in movie adaptations should go on the ==In the manga== sections of their respective main articles.

Manga creators

Like other Pokémon cast and crew, the creators of manga (authors and/or illustrators) should have their own articles on Bulbapedia. Manga creators should have created at least two Pokémon manga series to get their own article, or should be reasonably well-known otherwise, such as Mato or Ryo Takamisaki.

The opening sentence of a manga creator's article should have their name in Japanese and romanized in English. The opening paragraph should list any personal information known about the creator as well as any non-Pokémon works they are famous for. (It is understood that some manga creators don't have much information publicly available, however, anything that is known from bios in manga volumes, etc, should be included.) A separate heading should then be used to list the Pokémon manga that this person has created, linking to those series's respective articles.

Japanese text

Kanji

See Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Kanji

Romanization

See Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Romanization