I am looking at the English Titles, and I am wondering if there is some kind of rules I could apply to make them more consistent... I realize that most things depend on the translation and how it ultimately is released in the US. But, there are still a number of things that could be standardized. For instance, I have put what I think it should be in parenthesis):
1) A and The should be at the end of the title for proper sorting, correct?
A Tail of Two Sisters (Tail of Two Sisters, A)
The Twelve Kingdoms (Twelve Kingdoms, The)
2) Should both TV & OVA be listed?
Record of Lodoss War TV (Record of Lodoss War)
Record of Lodoss War OVA
In most cases I have seen the original anime gets the name and the later release gets TV, OVA or Movie appeneded to differentiate it.
3) Should there be a character separating the base name and the sub-name or release type? If so, what should it be? Also, should Movies say The Movie, or can 'The' be dropped?
Oh My Goddess! - The Movie (Oh My Goddess! Movie)
Di Gi Charat Movie: A Trip To The Planet (Di Gi Charat - A Trip to the Planet)
El Hazard: The Alternative World (El Hazard - The Alternative World)
El Hazard: The Magnificent World (El Hazard - The Magnificent World)
El Hazard: The Magnificent World 2 (El Hazard - The Magnificent World 2)
El Hazard: The Wanderers (El Hazard - The Wanderers)
Hunter X Hunter - Greed Island
Hunter X Hunter - Greed Island Final
Hunter X Hunter OVA (Hunter X Hunter - OVA)
Ninja Scroll: The Series (Ninja Scroll TV)
R.O.D -The TV- (Read or Die TV)
Samurai X: Reflection (Samurai X - Reflection)
Samurai X - The Movie (Samurai X - Movie)
Before I go around creqing things, I thought I should get some input. In general I think '-' is better than ':', but it should be consistent within a series. Also I guess the suffix OVA or TV does not need a character, but if it is part of a series that has other things with characters (like HxH) it looks strange. Any comments?
English Title Consistency
Moderator: AniDB
Ignoring the first two points:
"Ah My Goddess! - The Movie" is actually the title of the movie. Upon checking, the proper name for "Samurai X - The Movie" is "Samurai X - The Motion Picture." Similarly, though I am unsure as to your particular examples, there are some series that use the colon as part of the name. This should not be changed, I think.
That said, I agree with your first point. As for the second, I would like the mention that, as an example, the name of Read or Die TV is "Read or Die - The TV Series," so it would not always be necessary to label both the TV and OVA.
"Ah My Goddess! - The Movie" is actually the title of the movie. Upon checking, the proper name for "Samurai X - The Movie" is "Samurai X - The Motion Picture." Similarly, though I am unsure as to your particular examples, there are some series that use the colon as part of the name. This should not be changed, I think.
That said, I agree with your first point. As for the second, I would like the mention that, as an example, the name of Read or Die TV is "Read or Die - The TV Series," so it would not always be necessary to label both the TV and OVA.
Like I said, there are particular things that were released a certain way, I had not researched these yet, I just grabbed them for examples. In this case I put in the Official title as "Ah! My Goddess - The Movie", although, if you look at the bottom of this page, you do see "Ah! My Goddess Movie", so it's it wouldn't be that bad if I had changed it to that...gholovo wrote:"Ah My Goddess! - The Movie" is actually the title of the movie. Upon checking, the proper name for "Samurai X - The Movie" is "Samurai X - The Motion Picture." Similarly, though I am unsure as to your particular examples, there are some series that use the colon as part of the name. This should not be changed, I think.
Actually, it looks like it is "R.O.D -The TV-", all the links are that way. The OVA looks like it should be "R.O.D - Read or Die". I creqed the OVA accordingly.gholovo wrote:That said, I agree with your first point. As for the second, I would like the mention that, as an example, the name of Read or Die TV is "Read or Die - The TV Series," so it would not always be necessary to label both the TV and OVA.
I checked Amazon and looked at the DVD covers for those titles, so if they are listed differently elsewhere...
Well, the Geneon page should be correct, I suppose.
I was only pointing out that it would be important to check the official titles of the series before changing them, and I seem to have myself provided an illustrative example of the reason for that.
In any case, proper names are important, although, apparently, I should not be the one to decide which names are proper.
Well, the Geneon page should be correct, I suppose.
I was only pointing out that it would be important to check the official titles of the series before changing them, and I seem to have myself provided an illustrative example of the reason for that.
In any case, proper names are important, although, apparently, I should not be the one to decide which names are proper.
I always do double checking before making particular changes, but I just grabbed some examples. For instance I had assumed for R.O.D that the OVA was done correctly and someone had been creative for the TV series, where it was actually the other way around. My main issue is the inconsistencies, particularly within an series, this resolved one of the inconsistencies... 
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analogued
My take on this:
1) I'm in favour of keeping A and The in their original position. More commas in the titles would only make things more unreadable since currently, the synonyms are separated using commas.
2) NEVER add TV, Movie or OVA to a title unless it is part of the original title (there are a few cases). The genre field should be used for this information. If you have two animes with the same name, then you should append to the name of the one released later the first year it was released in:
e.g: Anime X released in 1980 -> "Anime X"
Anime X released in 1999-2000 -> "Anime X (1999)"
Anime X released in 2004 -> "Anime X (2004)"
You should do the same for synonyms and kanji titles.
3) I think that in the english language the rule is that a title and a subtitle should be separated by a colon... like this: "Title: Subtitle"
If the original title uses dashes (---) instead of colons then it should be kept that way. Otherwise, I think a colon should be used. Some titles also use ~~ instead of dashes.
There are also cases (in pictures for examples) where no colon is used, but the title is positioned in such a way that it is clear there is a subtitle (the subtitle is under the title for example). In this case I think a colon should be used between the two.
I think the colon (or another way of differentiating between title and subtitle) is important because in a left to right writing medium (like the one provided by Anidb) there is no other way of telling which part is the title and which part is the subtitle.
However, this is exactly what I said earlier: the subtitle is placed under the title on the DVD cover. In this case, a colon should be used since there is no specific sign that differentiates between the two other than their position.
[NOTE: I said a colon, not a dash.... since no dash is specifically used. The colon is an academic standard of separating the title and subtitle..... the dash is not.]
So the correct titles would be: "Ah! My Goddess: The Movie" and "Samurai X: The Motion Picture"
1) I'm in favour of keeping A and The in their original position. More commas in the titles would only make things more unreadable since currently, the synonyms are separated using commas.
2) NEVER add TV, Movie or OVA to a title unless it is part of the original title (there are a few cases). The genre field should be used for this information. If you have two animes with the same name, then you should append to the name of the one released later the first year it was released in:
e.g: Anime X released in 1980 -> "Anime X"
Anime X released in 1999-2000 -> "Anime X (1999)"
Anime X released in 2004 -> "Anime X (2004)"
You should do the same for synonyms and kanji titles.
3) I think that in the english language the rule is that a title and a subtitle should be separated by a colon... like this: "Title: Subtitle"
If the original title uses dashes (---) instead of colons then it should be kept that way. Otherwise, I think a colon should be used. Some titles also use ~~ instead of dashes.
There are also cases (in pictures for examples) where no colon is used, but the title is positioned in such a way that it is clear there is a subtitle (the subtitle is under the title for example). In this case I think a colon should be used between the two.
I think the colon (or another way of differentiating between title and subtitle) is important because in a left to right writing medium (like the one provided by Anidb) there is no other way of telling which part is the title and which part is the subtitle.
Well, the dash (or the colon for that matter) isn't used anywhere on the packaging: http://www.geneonanimation.com/amg/images/AMGDVD.JPGgholovo wrote:"Ah My Goddess! - The Movie" is actually the title of the movie. Upon checking, the proper name for "Samurai X - The Movie" is "Samurai X - The Motion Picture."
However, this is exactly what I said earlier: the subtitle is placed under the title on the DVD cover. In this case, a colon should be used since there is no specific sign that differentiates between the two other than their position.
[NOTE: I said a colon, not a dash.... since no dash is specifically used. The colon is an academic standard of separating the title and subtitle..... the dash is not.]
So the correct titles would be: "Ah! My Goddess: The Movie" and "Samurai X: The Motion Picture"
The problem with this (and hence why the rule is there) is sorting. I have frequently tried to find a series in my list, but cannot find it. I end up having to search for it and find out it started with "A" or "The", and so I have to look under 'A' or 'T' for that anime. Since an "Official" English Title is listed on a separate line than the other synonyms, the comma shouldn't really be an issue. If "A" or "The" is a subtitle then it can be listed first, I am just talking about cases where "A" or "The" is the first word in the title.analogued wrote:1) I'm in favour of keeping A and The in their original position. More commas in the titles would only make things more unreadable since currently, the synonyms are separated using commas.
Similarly, the date field should be used for that information.analogued wrote:2) NEVER add TV, Movie or OVA to a title unless it is part of the original title (there are a few cases). The genre field should be used for this information. If you have two animes with the same name, then you should append to the name of the one released later the first year it was released in:
e.g: Anime X released in 1980 -> "Anime X"
Anime X released in 1999-2000 -> "Anime X (1999)"
Anime X released in 2004 -> "Anime X (2004)"
You should do the same for synonyms and kanji titles.
Also, I think you meant the Type field, not Genre.Actually I don't care, the dates would be kindof nice because then they would sort in the order that they were released. The trouble is that the type is a standard, and people are familiar looking for things by that. If you can get a consensus, I wouldn't mind doing this...
If the Anime Title has some sort of formatting itself, then we should always follow that. Following lines should have a separator in most cases.analogued wrote:3) I think that in the english language the rule is that a title and a subtitle should be separated by a colon... like this: "Title: Subtitle"
If the original title uses dashes (---) instead of colons then it should be kept that way. Otherwise, I think a colon should be used. Some titles also use ~~ instead of dashes.
There are also cases (in pictures for examples) where no colon is used, but the title is positioned in such a way that it is clear there is a subtitle (the subtitle is under the title for example). In this case I think a colon should be used between the two.
I do like the '-' instead of ':' though. There are some cases where other formatting in the title makes the colon look silly. For instance if the explanation point for Ah! My Goddess was at the end (I know that it isn't, but I can't find another example ATM) you would have Ah My Goddess!: The Movie.
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analogued
If you're only talking about implementing this to the english titles then yes, that wouldn't be such a big issue. However, I think we should aim for consistency.... the english title and the synonyms should be formated the same way, shouldn't they?egg wrote:The problem with this (and hence why the rule is there) is sorting. I have frequently tried to find a series in my list, but cannot find it. I end up having to search for it and find out it started with "A" or "The", and so I have to look under 'A' or 'T' for that anime. Since an "Official" English Title is listed on a separate line than the other synonyms, the comma shouldn't really be an issue. If "A" or "The" is a subtitle then it can be listed first, I am just talking about cases where "A" or "The" is the first word in the title.
I'm kind of ambivalent on this. More oppinions would be welcome.
Yes, I meant typeegg wrote:Similarly, the date field should be used for that information.
Actually I don't care, the dates would be kindof nice because then they would sort in the order that they were released. The trouble is that the type is a standard, and people are familiar looking for things by that. If you can get a consensus, I wouldn't mind doing this...
People may find adding the type to the title a familiar naming scheme but I don't think it's a proper way of naming things. It would be hard to make, in this case, a distinction between the animes that have Movie, OVA or TV in their official titile and those that don't have it. Also, from my discussions with a few mods I think they share my oppinion on this.Another advantage of this, besides making things clearer, is the one you already mentioned: things would sort in the order they were released without having to use the arrows on the year field (only for animes with the same name)
Well, I favour the colon ( : ) since it is an established academic standard in a lot of countries. Also, check IMDb... they also use : instead of -egg wrote:If the Anime Title has some sort of formatting itself, then we should always follow that. Following lines should have a separator in most cases.
I do like the '-' instead of ':' though. There are some cases where other formatting in the title makes the colon look silly. For instance if the explanation point for Ah! My Goddess was at the end (I know that it isn't, but I can't find another example ATM) you would have Ah My Goddess!: The Movie.
The types, genres and years are not displayed in mylist (and some other places too), so title must be containt itself enough info to distinguish two animes with same title (but different type or year of release). I would prefer putting in parentheses type of anime rather then year (of course if type is the same, then year is next possibility) and make renaming it for all animes with same titles (including the first one released), title without parenthesis can be used as synonym for one of them). I see in mylist good examples for this naming scheme:analogued wrote:2) NEVER add TV, Movie or OVA to a title unless it is part of the original title (there are a few cases). The genre field should be used for this information. If you have two animes with the same name, then you should append to the name of the one released later the first year it was released in:
e.g: Anime X released in 1980 -> "Anime X"
Anime X released in 1999-2000 -> "Anime X (1999)"
Anime X released in 2004 -> "Anime X (2004)"
You should do the same for synonyms and kanji titles.
Kyuuketsuki Miyu (OVA)
Kyuuketsuki Miyu (TV)
Mizuiro (2002)
Mizuiro (2003)
And bad example:
Area 88
Area 88 (2004)
I would change it to (preferably):
Area 88 (OVA)
Area 88 (TV)
or maybe:
Area 88 (1985)
Area 88 (2004)
Keeping 'Area 88' as synonym for first of them.
If we are going to put in dates, I would like to see dates for all of the related animes, including the first one.analogued wrote:If you have two animes with the same name, then you should append to the name of the one released later the first year it was released in
What if you have two things that come out the same year?
For instance Seikai no Senki and Seikai no Senki Special. Both of these came out in 2000. The special is not a special, but a Movie that summarizes the series. The English Title base should be Banner of the Stars.
So are these:
Banner of the Stars (2000)
Banner of the Stars (2000) [We have a problem here...]
or do we use something else to differentiate it?
Banner of the Stars (2000 Movie)
Banner of the Stars (2000b) [For the second release in 2000]
What if we use the date AND type, that way all of the information is there, and cases like above will have less chance of becoming an issue. In the animelists, that information is available in the other columns, but in mylist it is not.
Also, what if there is an official naming for the animes, should dates be added to those? For Instance:
R.O.D -The TV-
R.O.D - Read or Die [or R.O.D: Read or Die]
Should these be:
R.O.D - Read or Die (2001) [or R.O.D: Read or Die (2001)]
R.O.D -The TV- (2003)
Or if they have completely different names, like the Macross, Gundam or Tenchi.
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analogued
This is indeed an issue, but so is the fact that you can have two (or more) TV series (or OVAs, or movies) with the same name... how would you rename them then.... "Anime X (TV)" from 1999 and "Anime X (TV)" from 2000 for example.... how would you solve that problem?egg wrote:What if you have two things that come out the same year?
This actually happens more often than having two animes with the same name in the same year. One example is "Tetsuwan Atom".... Just search Anidb for that and you'll see there are three TV series with the same name. How would you rename them using the scheme you are proposing? And I can give you more examples.
To be honest, I have so far encountered just a single case of two animes released in the same year, with the same name:
http://anidb.ath.cx/perl-bin/animedb.pl ... e&aid=1453
http://anidb.ath.cx/perl-bin/animedb.pl ... e&aid=2307
I solved it by adding the year for the second one using square brackets []. I could have solved it more elegantely by renaming the 1968 Tv series to "Gegege no Kitarou (1968)" and removing the year from the 1985 TV series. Then I could have added the year to the 1985 Movie using round brackets.
This is a rare occurence though. Cases where animes with the same name are the same type are more often.
We don't have any problems here. First of all, you can remove the date from the first entry. Also, if you check the Sunrise website you'll see that the names are actually different.... whoever added those entries didn't add the correct names: http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/works/list_year.htmlegg wrote:For instance Seikai no Senki and Seikai no Senki Special. Both of these came out in 2000. The special is not a special, but a Movie that summarizes the series. The English Title base should be Banner of the Stars.
So are these:
Banner of the Stars (2000)
Banner of the Stars (2000) [We have a problem here...]
or do we use something else to differentiate it?
Banner of the Stars (2000 Movie)
Banner of the Stars (2000b) [For the second release in 2000]
egg wrote:What if we use the date AND type, that way all of the information is there, and cases like above will have less chance of becoming an issue. In the animelists, that information is available in the other columns, but in mylist it is not.
Then we would only duplicate existing information. I think the year naming scheme should only be used as a means to go around some limitations in the current Anidb. It should not be abused by duplicating such information.egg wrote:If we are going to put in dates, I would like to see dates for all of the related animes, including the first one.
As I said above, I think dates should only be used as a means of going past some limitations of Anidb. They should not be used as a source of information. There are special fields for that information already.egg wrote:Also, what if there is an official naming for the animes, should dates be added to those?
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analogued
And because I forgot to finish my point....The same thing should be said about the type renaming schem: I think that type information should also not be abused.... By adding the type to the titles of all animes you would do just that.analogued wrote:As I said above, I think dates should only be used as a means of going past some limitations of Anidb. They should not be used as a source of information. There are special fields for that information already.