Wikipedia:WikiProject Anime and manga/Characters

WP:A&M/CHARACTER

This page in a nutshell: When writing about an anime character you have to show how they are notable outside of just their fanbase .

In this essay I will talk about how to properly write up an article for an anime/manga character, and also explain what would qualify for inclusion. In short, we the editors here on Wikipedia get that you may have a character that you really really like. That you want to see an article made about them here on Wikipedia so that the world can see how great they are. If it were up to me... we would have these articles about <insert your favorite anime/manga series here>, but at the same time we have to make sure other readers can rely on what you type up. So if you are trying to get others to like the character you like it would be important to tell them accurate information about them right?

This is where reliable sources come in that verify that what you type up is the truth, and not just things like fan rumors (You can read about these things in detail at

.

Below this section is a layout for an average character article. The most important sub-headers that you want to focus on are Creation and conception, and Reception as they provide the most

point of view this would be a failed article. As for reception, finding decent souring that talks about the character in detail helps a-lot. Keep in mind however, that an article can't always rely on reception alone to save it from deletion.

The aim of Wikipedia's editors is to get the articles we have up to

status, and beyond. The good news is that we have character articles that have made this high distinction. Most of the good articles all have a thing in common, that being the layout which is as follows..

This will not be a subsection (The "===Infobox===" is just for this essay), but will be in the form of a template. {{

so the infobox would seem like the best choice. Free use images can be used anywhere but are hard to come by as permission is usually required from the copyright holder or holders. Other fields such as "gender", "nickname", "relatives", etc. are not normally used unless they are essential to the story notability wise.

The lead section will also not have a subsection (so don't use ===Lead section===), and should contain no more than three paragraphs that summarize the entire article from top to bottom. Depending on preference the lead may or may not need to include references as they are already going to be present in the article's body.

This section will be the hardest to fill out due to the language barrier that exists as not many editors understand Japanese. The "Creation and conception" section is key to establishing

, and will need answer questions such as "who created this character, and why?". In general character creation and conception from a series are also not usually discussed in detail by reliable sources unless the series was popular in Japan or abroad. Possible places to find good sources for this section include anime/manga magazines, or less commonly Japanese entertainment websites. Primary sources are useful here as well, especially interviews with the creator, character designers, directors, voice actors, and the author's blogs and afterwords.

This section is usually broken down by "In the manga", "In the anime", and "In other media" and should contain no more than four paragraphs per section. Some examples to look at include:

information presented first.

Reviews for a character should include info from at LEAST 3 reliable sources, you can find these sources at

then that would count as a review. Passing mentions such as "the characters were good" or "Shinku is the best character" cant be used as they are too broad so use your best judgement when pulling out reviewer's comments on the character. If you can find them, character popularity ratings in manga magazines also count as reception as does in rare occasions really notable merchandise such as character songs or figures.

This section is included or should be included on all articles on Wikipedia. For this section all you need to do is put: reflist with {{ }} on both sides to generate a references list. For help on citing references please read

}}.

External links

All external links have to follow the

used

.

Help my character article is being deleted!

If the article you create does not have enough reliable sources, then it can't pass our notability guidelines. We are simply not a fan site to host character articles on, if you want to create your own

WP:AfD

are a redirect or a merger to a "List of <anime/manga title here> characters" article. If the character is minor or very limited in plot role then it's more likely to be deleted.

See also

• WP:A&M/RS
  - This is a project based resource list that can help with referencing reliable sources for a character article.