#editorialguidelines

INTRODUCTION

This is a blog, so we don't expect every post to be like an article or essay. You won't find much of our work fitting an Inverted Pyramid or lengthy Works Cited at the end, listing every academic article we've read in reference to the subject. However, we are trying to transition into a legitimate publication and therefore must adhere to a style guide, ethics, and a functional schedule.

As such, here are our Editorial Guidelines for formatting, ethics, and so on.

(Side note: We welcome those interested in joining the team or wanting to pitch/write/record a post! Below are our content guidelines [mostly for posts and editing].  You DO NOT need to read this to submit a post. We will revise and format submissions [and let you see it] before posting to our blog. We just like to be open about the process so we’ve typed up our guidelines. We are always looking for more people. If you want to write for The Anime View or submit a question, correction, etc.– feel free to contact us here or by email at [email protected].)

TAV/MEDIA ETHICS

*Revised from the AP style guide summarization found on owl.purdue.edu.

Accuracy

Check the accuracy of information from all sources to avoid errors.

Subjects of posts should always have the opportunity to respond to any allegations of wrongdoing.

When mistakes are made regarding information shared, they MUST be corrected – fully and quickly. Grammar and spelling errors found after publishing should be corrected, though are not nearly as time-sensitive to our publication.

Headlines, news teases, and promotional material, including photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites, and quotations, should not misrepresent, oversimplify, or highlight incidents out of context.

Treatment of Sources

Identify sources whenever possible so that the audience has a reference to determine the sources and their reliability.

Keep any promises made. If you promise a post to come on a subject, try to do so within the same year.

Strive to quote sources accurately and in the proper context.

Bias - Avoidance, and Acceptance

Analysis and commentary should be labeled, and not misrepresent fact or context.

Distinguish news from advertising and avoid hybrids that blur the two.

Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, or social status.

Support the open exchange of views.

Avoid Distortions and Bad Information

Never knowingly introduce false information into material intended for publication or broadcast.

Rely on the most up-to-date and accurate research or findings when gathering facts for a post.

Never plagiarize. Learn more about plagiarism here. 

*What if I am accused of plagiarism, but I didn’t plagiarize?

It is important to keep notes and or copies of previous drafts of your work, especially if you become a victim of theft yourself. It’s also why we cite things. If you are accused of plagiarism, we’ll address the issue together.

Don't talk about the ending to a series/movie/comic/novel you have not read or watched.

Minimizing Harm

Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage, especially children and inexperienced sources or subjects.

Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

Understand that private people have a greater expectation of privacy than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention.

Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.

Be cautious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

How We Decide If It Should Go Up and When (The Components of "Newsworthiness")

*Revised from the AP style guide summarization found on owl.purdue.edu.

Relevance - How relevant is the post to our audience?

Timeliness - How recently did the event unfold? Was the convention this weekend or last?

Predictability - Certain events happen on a predictable schedule (like anime releases, conventions, etc.) and we aim to post close to those periods to stay timely.

Simplification - Stories or concepts that can be easily simplified or summarized for community clarity.

Unexpectedness, novelty, oddity, or the unusual  - Events that are also likely to have significant news value or be relevant but were not expected (natural disasters, or other major events).

Continuity - Some events, discussions, or unfolding events that require continuing coverage.

Composition - Editors/writers might select soft-interest stories to balance out other, longer posts.

Elite people or groups of prominence - Certain individuals or groups, by virtue of their status, are more newsworthy so, for example, in a pick between going to an anime producer's panel or a voice actor's panel--we'll likely go to the anime producer's first and the voice actor's if there is time left after.

Negativity - Try to be constructive with criticism--it's terrible because of XYZ's reason, not just "it's bad." If it's just bad, don't write about it.

Proximity - It's much easier to write about an event you went to than one you read about. The closer an event takes place to the intended audience, the more important it is and the closer the event takes place to the writer, the easier it is to talk about and share. We live in Southern California and are based in/around the LA area, so we will write about events close to this area more than, say, Texas or Georgia.

Importance, impact, or consequence (Also, conflict or controversy) - How many people will the event/topic impact? The anime/manga community is a social one, so we want to make sure that attention is brought to elements that may affect the community.

Interest - Does the story have any human interest? For example, the inspirational story of a person overcoming large odds to reach their goal, something fun in sports anime breaking into real-life sports, etc.

FORMATTING

*Revised from the MLA and AP style guides summarization found on owl.purdue.edu.

Titles

Try to use the official English name when writing about the text (if it is available). If not, use the Japanese Romaji or source-language Romanization. 

In-Text Citations

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article, chapter, one shots, or episode title) or italicize it if it's a longer work (plays, books, shows, entire webpages, movies, etc.) and provide a page number if it is available. 

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase can be shortened into a single noun. For example, Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu can be shortened to Otome Game Sekai after the first mentioning of the full name.

One shots that are part of a larger series, like OVAs, are still titles with quotations, though the larger series is italicized. Video titles should also be italicized. Example: 

Saga of Tanya the Evil’s OVA, “Operation Desert Pasta,” is a favorite of mine.  

Websites that are not associated with a publication, such as blogs, should be linked but need not be italicized or in quotations. 

Commas

We stan the Oxford Comma and other comma uses.

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week

Do not shorten the month's name. For example, January should not be"Jan." when referring to a month.

Dates are to be written in day, month, year. Example: 1 January 2022.

Times

The exact time when an event has occurred is important for Note style posts taken at specific panels with set times or release on a program. For example: 1:00 PM, 2:35 AM. For 12:00 PM or AM we instead write midnight or noon.

Numerals

Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.

Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.

For ordinal numbers, spell out the numbers. (one, two, five, seventy-three, two hundred and twelve, etc.)

Abbreviations, Acronyms, Position Titles, and Other

AMV and OVA are always capitalized.

Follow the Associated Press guidelines for other forms of citations. You can view a short overview of the guidelines here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/ap_style.html

Images

Citations should be done using the indent feature on Tumblr, directly below the image. Chapter # or Episode # first, then a comma, followed by the name of the series Example: 

Source: “Episode/Chapter ## or Title” &/or Title &/or LINK

View a format sample post here.

Should I cite it? Probably.

Source: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/should_i_cite_this_poster.html

Understanding Genres

We mention genres a LOT in our posts and when talking. Below are a handful of definitions to different genres, themes or topics. We use the same definitions for all other genres in defining manga/anime/comics as the ”Genre Explanations” page found on MyAnimeList.com.

Isekai - “a Japanese genre of light novels, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person who is transported to and has to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world or parallel universe.” (Wiki) {subgenre includes: reincarnation and transmigration}

Josei - “are Japanese comics catered specifically to women’s interests, and marketed towards older teenage girls and adult women demographics who are able to read kanji without the aid of furigana.” AND “Unlike shōjo manga, which is aimed at young girls, josei manga often portray realistic romance, as opposed to the mostly idealized romance of shōjo manga. They tend to be both more sexually explicit and contain more mature storytelling than shōjo manga, although this is not always the case either.” (Wiki)

Martial Arts/ Murim World - "Anime whose central theme revolves around martial arts. This includes all hand-to-hand fighting styles, including Karate, Tae-Kwon-Do and even Boxing. Weapons use, like Nunchaku and Shuriken are also indications of this genre. This is a sub-genre of action.” (MAL)

Reincarnation - Often a subgenre of Isekai, but sometimes stand-alone as its own genre, reincarnation depicts a character who has lived a life before and remembers that life. They are, upon death, returned either to an earlier point of the life they lived or sent to a new world where they live again as a new person. (Peggy Wood, The Anime View)

Transmigration - Often a subgenre of Isekai, but sometimes stand-alone as its own genre. Transmigration depicts a character who has lived a life before and remembers that life. They are, upon death, is sent to a new world where they replace the soul or body of another and live again as a new person.

Seinen - “Are Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word seinen literally means 'youth,’ but the term 'seinen manga’ is also used to describe the target audience of magazines… which cater specifically to men’s interests, and are marketed towards a demographic of older teenage boys and adult men between the ages of 18 and 45. Seinen manga are distinguished from shōnen manga which are for younger teen boys” their counterpart is Josei (Wiki)

Thriller/Suspense - “characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety” (Wiki)

Our Disclaimer

Spoiler policy - In most cases, it is generally assumed you have knowledge of the post’s subject(s). Posts belonging to the “archive” category are the exception to this.

Image/Media policy - All images should have a caption showing the source (unless it is unfeasible to do so or they are created by us). All videos are linked through from YouTube or Vimeo. All media is used for entertainment purposes, and no infringement is intended. Should you wish to have a(n) image/video taken down or ask for an image source, please contact Peggy Wood (@pswediting).

Text - All text published on The Anime View is original writing of The Anime View team unless linked, quoted, reblogged and/or credited elsewhere. Should there be a plagiarism issue, please contact Peggy Wood (@pswediting).


Branding

Source: TAV image

Our visual theme is an ocean. Our reasoning is that anime, manga, comics, and more seem to come in waves. Different things are popular at different times and, like a wave that sweeps the industry, it eventually pulls back for a new wave to come crashing in.

We've chosen to use the "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" overlaid upon a semi-transparent ocean picture. "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" is used to represent the origins of our blog, which was solely an appreciation of Japanese anime and manga media. "It is Hokusai's most famous work and is often considered the most recognizable work of Japanese art in the world.  It was published sometime between 1829 and 1833 and is therefore public-domain." https://franklloydwright.org/willey-house-stories-part-21-giving-what-they-had-to-give/4096px-great_wave_off_kanagawa2_crop/#:~:text=Aug%2024%2C%202021-,.,Japanese%20art%20in%20the%20world.  

The picture of the ocean beneath it is representative of our other interests within the anime/manga/cultural media, industry, and beyond. Think of our image as representative of ocean travels and an adventurous spirit into these forms of media.

Sometimes we use different gradients of our favorite colors with the image and sometimes not. It's really just an aesthetic choice.

Content Themes

Japanese anime and manga (anime-style games too) are a central focus of the blog, but other media is welcome so long as it relates back to the comic or animation industry. For example, Marvel movies and live-action remakes count, as do video games. So does Code Lyoko (a french animation) and American comics like Superman.

Politically charged topics are alright to discuss, so long as it is within the context of anime/manga/comic/media and/or such media’s industry. For example, Sigma Tau Delta talked about the BLM movement in terms of books. As in, (paraphrasing) ‘we know this is a turbulent time; we recommend reading these books to gain a better understand of what is going on and to support creators of color.’

Images and videos in posts can and should be used in your posts. HOWEVER, there are a few things we do not feature in a publication visually:

Graphic depictions of body horror (extensive gore is a no-go [gore: blood that has been shed, especially as a result of violence]). To figure out if your image is “okay” would be to think about if you can show it in One Piece. For example, Zoro covered in blood, https://pin.it/3ikgwL2, is perfectly fine. But something like the cover image of this article, shorturl.at/bwxIZ, which is an image from Junji Ito, would not be.

Always credit fan-created works used in a post, just like you would another person’s work. If you cannot find the creator, use a different work/art. If the art comes from screenshots you took yourself or from marketing promotions done by the anime/manga/game publisher–you are fine to use it. Blogging, such as this, falls under fair use. (Fair Use is, in US copyright law, “the doctrine that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.”)

Mature Content: Posts can discuss mature, deep, and darker topics. However, these posts must come with a mature content warning. For mature posts, title your post as usual and include your cover image. Below the image, issue a mature content warning in **bold** and mark the warning as a heading within the text portion of your post (example of content warning below). Following that, add a “keep reading” line so that readers will not have to view the content while scrolling. (They will have to click into the post to read.)

Sample: 

<Title Image of Post OR Video trailer from youtube>

Source: “Episode/Chapter ## or Title” &/or Title &/or LINK

By: NAME | @ their tag

Disclaimer: If one is needed, add it here. If the disclaimer is for questionable material, as a ‘keep reading’ marker here so that the post has to be clicked into for people to expand and read it.