Wikipedia:WikiProject Anime and manga/Characters

thoroughly vetted by the community.

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

fanbase

.

Overview

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 or are attached to so you want an article made right away! If it were up to me we would have a slew of articles about <insert your favorite anime/manga series here>, but at the same time we want to make sure other readers can rely on what you type up. So if you are trying to get others to like the series you like it would be important to tell them accurate information 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 it at

WP:JARGON

.

Layout

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

Good article

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..

Infobox

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

non free content policy

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.

Lead section

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.

Creation and conception

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

independent notability

, 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.

Appearances

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:

out of universe

information presented first.

Reception

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

Shinku

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.

External links

All external links have to follow the

used

.

References

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

WP:CITE. Some editors prefer grouped references such as the ones shown in Allen Walker as they do not flood the references section. For these, a separate list needs to be created under {{reflist}} called {{refbegin}} ending with {{refend

}}.

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.