Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Anime

This article is a proposed policy for Bulbapedia.

Please discuss the proposed policy and suggest possible changes on the article's talk page.

This is an instruction manual that addresses the conventions adopted by Project Anime in writing, titles, articles, and linking Pokémon anime and its related Articles. If there are any unresolved disputes over what best adheres to the style of this, please contact the Project Leader, Kenji-girl.

General conventions

The {{Project Anime notice}} should only go on completed articles. Incomplete articles instead are tagged with {{stub|Anime}}.

Pokémon appearances and debuts

When listing Pokémon that appeared in an episode, very specific rules must apply first.

The Pokémon must physically appear in the episode for it to count as a debut.
Posters, statues, and other man-made objects depicting Pokémon do not count as appearances.

However, photographs count as appearances, but never debuts, because it is a captured image of a real living Pokémon.

Episode and Movie numbering

For the numbering of chapters and rounds, see Epicode.

Opening sentence

The full name of the subject of an article should appear within the first few words of the article itself. Alternate and popular names may be described later. The name should be given in its original form if it differs from its Anglicized form. Note that a name need not be romanized more than once. Song, episode and movie titles should be translated, not romanized. Also note that names in languages besides Japanese and English should not be included in the opening line, but rather further in the article, preferably in a section titled In other languages near the bottom with only Related articles and External links following after. Some examples follow:

Masaaki Iwane: Masaaki Iwane (Japanese: 岩根雅明 Iwane Masaaki) is an animator, born on August 13, 1965.
Professor Oak: Professor Samuel Oak (Japanese: オーキド・ユキナリ博士 Dr. Yukinari Ōkido, Ookido and Orchid are also seen) is a Pokémon Professor and has a home and research lab located in Pallet Town.
Bulbasaur: Bulbasaur (Japanese: フシギダネ Fushigidane) is a Grass/Poison-type Pokémon.
Aim to Be a Pokémon Master: めざせポケモンマスター (Mezase Pokémon Masutā exact, Mezase Pokémon Master is common; English: Aim to Be a Pokémon Master) was the first opening theme song of the Pokémon anime series, ...

Infobox

The {{New episode}} template is to be used while creating new episode articles. It should have all parameters filled if possible. English titles, character names and airing dates should be displayed if it is available. For articles on openings, endings and insert songs, {{Song}} template is to be used.

Content

Synopses are very necessary for the episode and movie articles. Episode articles should have a list of all the characters and Pokémon appearing in that corresponding episode or movie, which link to the appropriate pages. In addition, there should be a small point form list of major events in all the episode articles, 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 an anime article contains a reasonable amount of the above content, it is no longer considered a stub.

Synopsis

All synopses featured on Bulbapedia are to be original pieces written by our users. Any synopses found to be copied from another website will be removed immediately. Copying information from another source is called plagiarism and is a very serious offense. This includes relying on fansubs. They are fine as a general helping tool, but do not go off what they say word-for-word. All synopses should be written in a third person, nutural point of view. Additionally, remember to use proper links templates. If you want to know more about proper linking, please have a look at this.

Episode numbering

The Bulbapedia rules of episode article titling dictate that the order in which the episode aired in Japan is its title. Episodes of the original series are titled EP001, EP002, and so on, with the numbering system being that of, again, Japanese-aired episodes. Note that Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out! are not considered episodes.

Episodes of the Advanced Generation series are titled AG001, AG002, and so on. Redirects should exist from the episode code had the series not changed— EP275 should redirect to AG001, EP276 to AG002, and so on. Note that AG101 is Vanity Affair - the skipped episode is AG101 (unaired). Both clip shows in the anime's history are also counted as episodes.

Episodes of the Diamond & Pearl series are titled DP001, DP002, and so on. Redirects should exist from the episode code had the series not changed— EP467 should redirect to DP001, EP468 to DP002, and so on.

Episodes of the Best Wishes series are titled BW001, BW002, and so on. Redirects should exist from the episode code had the series not changed— EP658 should redirect to BW001, EP659 to BW002, and so on.

Side story episodes are titled SS001, SS002, and so on, in the order they were aired in Japan on the Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station, a.k.a. Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku.

Titles as aired in English should redirect to the page of the respective episode page, i.e. the page The Battle of the Badge would redirect to EP063. Special episodes and movie articles will be titled using their English title, with redirects going from their translated Japanese title. If no English title is available, the best possible translation should be used.

Lists of Pokémon in episode articles

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Pokémon belonging to main characters should appear at the top of the list, in the order Ash-Misty-May-Dawn-Iris-Brock-Cilan-Tracey-Jessie-James, in the order they were obtained/revealed. Ash's Pikachu, Team Rocket's Meowth, Misty's Togepi, Jessie's Wobbuffet, James's Chimecho, and James's Mime Jr. should precede all others. If a Pokémon is traded, it should be listed with the Trainer who traded it away within the episode it is traded, and with the Trainer it is traded to in all subsequent episodes it appears in.

Other characters' Pokémon should also be grouped together in the order they were obtained/revealed. Semi-regular characters' Pokémon (characters which recur in more than one episode, excluding two-part episodes) should precede guest characters' Pokémon. Wild Pokémon should appear in National Dex order, with recurring wild Pokémon topping the list.

Each character's Pokémon should be listed separately:

Pikachu (Ash's)
Pikachu (Ritchie's, Sparky)

When a Pokémon debuts—consider the television series, their openings and endings, and the movies to be separate continuities in this case:

Pikachu (Ash's, new; debut)
Pidgey (debut)

Pokémon that are later revealed to have evolved should be linked to as the evolutionary level they appeared at in the episode:

In EP237

Phanpy (Ash's)

In AG156

Donphan (Ash's)

When a Pokémon is obtained:

Bulbasaur (Ash's, new)

When a Pokémon evolves:

Caterpie (Ash's, evolves)
Metapod (Ash's, newly evolved)

When a Pokémon leaves:

Butterfree (Ash's, leaves)

When a Pokémon returns:

Charizard (Ash's, returns)

Reference list

Always at top of list

Ash's Pokémon

Misty's Pokémon

May's Pokémon

Dawn's Pokémon

Iris's Pokémon

Brock's Pokémon

Cilan's Pokémon

Tracey's Pokémon

Jessie's Pokémon

James's Pokémon

Gary's Pokémon

Ritchie's Pokémon

Pikachu (Ritchie's, Sparky)
Butterfree (Ritchie's, Happy)
Charmander (Ritchie's, Zippo)
Charmeleon (Ritchie's, Zippo)
Pupitar (Ritchie's, Cruise)
Taillow (Ritchie's, Rose)

Casey's Pokémon

Harrison's Pokémon

Drew's Pokémon

Harley's Pokémon

Morrison's Pokémon

Tyson's Pokémon

Paul's Pokémon

Nando's Pokémon

Zoey's Pokémon

Kenny's Pokémon

Conway's Pokémon

Barry's Pokémon

Ursula's Pokémon

Lyra's Pokémon

Khoury's Pokémon

Trip's Pokémon

Bianca's Pokémon

Burgundy's Pokémon

Stephan's Pokémon

Georgia's Pokémon

Beartic (Georgia's)
Pawniard (Georgia's)

Luke's Pokémon

Notability requirements

This notability policy was created after a flooding of the Anime Pokémon section of Bulbapedia with many articles that failed to meet notability standards. After many discussions among Bulbapedia users on talk pages, the forums and meetings, these rules were written down to finally determine which articles should be redirected and which should be kept.

Notability rules

The following are guidelines to which Anime Pokémon are notable to get their own articles on Bulbapedia:

Pokémon that are owned by Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, and Cilan are all notable, provided they appeared in more than one episode. If they did not, then they would have to have had a significant impact on the plot of the episode or the series as a whole.
Pokémon that are owned by Jessie and James are also only notable if they appeared in more than one episode. Once again, exceptions can be made for Pokémon that had a significant impact on the plot of the episode or the series as a whole.
For rival characters and other recurring characters, only their signature Pokémon may have an article created about them. An exception may be made if another Pokémon that is not the signature has had an impact on the series. One example of this would possibly be Gary's Arcanine. Jimmy and Marina also fall into this category. If a rival's signature Pokémon does nothing more than battle or has no major impact on the plot, then it is not notable for an article and instead should have a section on its Trainer's page.
Gym Leaders may have an article about their signature Pokémon, but only if it did more than just battle in the episode(s) it appeared in and had some impact on the plot. Examples would be Blaine's Magmar, which saved the Cinnabar Gym and developed Charizard's personality, or Clair's Dragonair, which helped save the Dragon Kingdom. Elite Four members and Frontier Brains also fall into this category.
Recurring wild Pokémon may only receive articles if they had a significant impact on the plot AND appeared in at least three episodes. An example of this would be the Snubbull/Granbull that followed Team Rocket around, and the Jigglypuff that followed around Ash and his friends. All others should have a section on the recurring wild Pokémon in the anime article.
Pokémon that have appeared in movies are notable if they were the main character in that movie. The other movie Pokémon may sometimes be notable only if their role was significant in the plot. If possible, merged articles should be created for those Pokémon, such as for the legendary birds from The Power of One.
Pokémon that belong to characters of the day are never notable for their own article. However, in rare instances, an exception may be made if the Pokémon itself was a character of the day.

Japanese

Kanji

See Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Kanji

Romanization

See Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Romanization

Integration of content from other websites

It is against Bulbapedia's policy to directly copy a summary from other websites without permission.