Wikipedia:WikiProject Anime and manga/Online reliable sources

Welcome to the WikiProject Anime and manga Online Reliable Sources Reference Library. It is designed to help editors find reliable online sources for relevant articles that fall under this WikiProject. Please also see the book, magazine, and documentary libraries.

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Japan/Reference library

Instructions for users

Review the online sources below for information which can be used in the articles you are editing.

Instructions for contributers

If you have an additional source you think is reliable, please bring it up on the project talk page so that consensus can be reached regarding its reliability and suitability for use here. If it is determined to be reliable, it will be added to this page. Undiscussed additions will be immediately reverted. Websites which host or link to scanlations, fansubs, or other illegal content will immediately be rejected as copyright violations, so please don't even ask.

Retailers as sources

Retailers are considered reliable sources for release dates and the existence of anime, manga and related products that have already been released. However other secondary or primary sources should be used if available. Retailers posting dates for an unannounced titles, however, raises a red flag as to the legitimacy of the statement.

List of sources

General

• activeanime.com - Reviews (project discussion)
• AnimeCons.com - A directory of anime convention related information, including guest lists, attendance figures, dates, and press releases. While the content of the convention directory is user submittable, all submissions are checked and verified against the convention's website, press releases, or other reliable source before being added to the directory. Because of this, information can occasionally be incomplete. Also hosts a video podcast about anime conventions.
• Animefringe.com - A now defunct anime and manga magazine originally published between 2000 and 2005; continues maintaining a full archive of all issues on its site
• AnimeNation Anime News - Podcast by AnimeNation webstore, generally used for announcements about upcoming releases. May not be very useful in the long run, though the "Ask John" segments could prove useful. (added 22 March 2009; project discussion)
• Anime Today - Podcast by Right Stuf, Inc. This podcast generally includes store updates. But every episode also feature an interview with a personalty in the industry or fandom. (added 22 March 2009; project discussion)
• Anime World Order - A podcast hosted by Gerald Rathkolb, Clarissa Graffeo, and Daryl Surat. All three hosts are contributes to Otaku USA since the first issue and are considered experts per WP:SPS. The podcast occasionally has interviews with industry personalities, but it is mostly about anime reviews and regurgitation of industry news from ANN or Mania. (added 22 March 2009; project discussion)
• The Comics Journal - primarily American comic site, but has some manga reviews by Tom Spurgeon
• The Comics Reporter - Tom Spurgeon review site, a long time comic industry professional and a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, making it usable for reviews as a self-publisher source as it is "produced by an established expert on the topic of the article whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications." (project discussion)
• Comic Book Bin - manga reviews (added 23 February 2009; RS/N discussion)
• Comics Village - manga reviews (added 23 February 2009; RS/N discussion)
• Comics Worth Reading - manga reviews (project discussion)
• ign.com - staff reviews and articles on anime and manga.
• Rumic World - website focused on Rumiko Takahashi (added 23 February 2009; project discussion)
• Ex.org - online magazine, published by a volunteer staff under the helm of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation; has reviews and often articles with production info, interviews, etc.
• Hitoshi Doi - Hitoshi Doi's Anime and Seiyu website (added 23 February 2009; project discussion)
• ICv2 - Current and archived industry news, including sales rankings for manga/graphic novels.
• PopCultureShock - manga articles, interviews, and reviews; online magazine established in 1999 with history for "reputation for fact-checking and accuracy" that is quoted by other reliable sources (project discussion)
• THEM Anime Reviews - anime review site for newer and older titles (going back to 1968!); site has been active for at least ten year and its reviews have been quoted by other reliable sources; has some industry backing/acknowledgmentrequirements of having specific guidelines for accepting submissions with editorial oversight and published credentials/info on its writers and staff. The, now former, editor and chief Carlos Ross was featured on G4's Attack of the Show, including discussing several of his reviews.[1] (project discussion)

Academic

• AnimeResearch.com - Includes academic articles on anime and its culture.
• Intersections - Free, online academic journal focusing on East Asian media.
• Paul Gravett: Comics, Graphic Novels, Manga - Paul Gravett's website.
• matt-thorn.com Matt Thorn's website, with different articles in English and Japanese.
• Mindspring.com/~theduffields Patricia Duffield's website, with an archive of some of her previously published reviews and articles. (Project discussion)

Awards

• Shogakukan Manga Award (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)
• Japan Media Arts Festival - Backed Agency for Cultural Affairs. A Grand prize is a strong evidence of notability, others prizes and recommendations are weak ones. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)

Japanese

• Aga-Search - Database of mystery and detective information (added May 4, 2009; project discussion)
• Anime Newtype Channel - Lists episode broadcasts dates, summaries, directors, and writers of currently airing series. Be advised that information is updated monthly and is not permanent. Therefore references should be archived using WebCite or similar archival website.
• e-animedia Website for the publisher of multiple magazines relating to anime and mange for several decades. discussion
• Kodansha Japanese publisher, including magazines. Use citeweb for their site as their pages may be lost.
• List of when magazines began to be published (1950-1989)
• Tohan - sales rankings for books in Japan. Listings are often, but not always, easily searchable at Anime News Network.
• TV Drama database - largest Japanese database for TV dramas which includes a lot of anime. The source has been published and is considered an academic resource. (RS/N discussion)
• Voice Artist DataBase - Japanese voice actor database.

French

• Manga News - Anime/Manga website. Staff reviews can be hot linked by adding '#review' in the URL. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)
• Manga Sanctuary - Anime/Manga website. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)
• Animeland - Web counter part of an Anime/Manga bi-monthly paper publication. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)
• Bd Gest' - Mostly Franco-Belgian and American comics reviews but also some Manga reviews. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)

German

• Animepro - Anime/Manga review site. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)
• Phantastik News - SFF review magazine that covers books/movies/manga/anime. (added 2 May 2009; project discussion)

Genre Specific

• Aestheticism.com - classic yaoi fansite, cited extensively in the yaoi-related literature and is therefore RS. (project discussion)
• Erica Friedman - Reviews yuri titles and interviews - but not to be used for anything controversial, or BLP related (added 23 February 2009; RS/N discussion)
• Sequential Tart - comics webzine by women in the comics industry that often reviews shoujo manga titles. (RS/N discussion)

Situational

• About.com - While About.com's overall reliability status is up in the air, the manga section is run by a vetted expert, Deb Aoki, so her reviews have been confirmed to be reliable and usable
• Anime News Network - Anime news site with extensive release information and nearly 1,000 anime and manga reviews

A note about using Anime News Network as a reference: ANN is divided into sections of varying quality. For news, reviews, and release information, ANN is a reliable source and close to being a newspaper of record for anime and manga. However, because the encyclopedia portion is user-edited, that information is not reliable by Wikipedia standards.

• Mania.com - Formerly AnimeOnDVD.com, contains anime news with thousands of anime and manga reviews. Editors must be particularly careful the reviews are from AnimeOnDVD/Mania staffers and NOT from the user-submitted "Maniacs" section. When searching for reviews, those that have a URL format of http://www.mania.com/*title*_*somenumbers*.html and that follow the original AoD review format are written by staff reviewers and are considered reliable and usable for articles. "Maniac" reviews written by users which are not RS can be detected by the lack of structured format and a URL in the form of http://www.mania.com/*username*/review/*title*_*somenumbers*.html
• Nausicaa.net - The "frozen", old site is RS, but the wiki version may not be since it currently allows anyone to register and contribute (at the very least, sourcing to the wiki should probably be done as a last resort for the present time). (added May 4, 2009; project discussion)

Publishers

• Kodansha
• Tokyopop - Because Tokyopop currently doesn't list release dates on individual items, it is necessary to instead cite a catalog page

Unreliable

• Animetric - self-published website by a person who is not a vetted industry expert (project discussion)
• CCSF News - personal page which may allow user-submitted content; owner has stated it's not official (project discussion)
• Internet Movie Database - The information is user submitted and rarely corrected for mistakes.
• Otaku Fridge (formerly Hentai Neko) - self-published website with user-submitted reviews. (project discussion)
• TV.com - information is primarily user submitted; per consensus across Wikipedia, not considered RS and particularly not reliable for anime.

Other Resources

• ISBN converter - Converts and formats ISBN references.
• Internet Archive - check here for dead pages or older versions of existing pages.
• Kanji Converter - Converts kanji to kana and romaji.
• Some library/children's book journals that sometimes notice, review, or discuss various manga titles: Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Hornbook
• Webcite - Makes archives for your references. Very useful for volatile websites and others blogs.