Rules Rules, suggestions and useful info

[benelori]

Rules

1. All forum rules still apply.
2. Constructive criticism is welcome but keep general discussion of manga in their respective sections.
3. The existence of spoilers must be stated clearly in the thread title, if the review contains any (includes character death and plot twists).
4. Reviews must contain analysis and constructive criticism.

Suggestions, Guidelines

Please note that there is no strict format for reviews. However, they ought to be of a decent length and must contain analysis and criticism that covers some basic requirement for each review type. Your analysis and criticism should be supported by examples from the manga itself, be they quotes, panels or links to specific pages.

We welcome various other types of reviews as well, such as:
- Plot Analysis
- Character reviews
- Art analysis
- Tankoubon/volume reviews
- Manga reviews
- Chapter reviews of mangas that don't have their own section on Mangahelpers

The first 4 types of reviews will have to contain the basic information about the manga. In addition there are some basic templates that can help in writing each review, until deciding on a specific style.

Basic manga info

• Genres
• Author
• Artist
• Publication
• Start Date
• End Date
• Number of chapters at time of review
• Number of chapters read by reviewer

Spoiler: Suggested Review Templates

Plot analysis

• Archetypes, motifs and patterns
• Themes, messages
• Identifying main plot and subplots
• Existence of inciting incident
• Existence of surprise elements, suspense
• Foreshadowing
• Mythology, universe of the manga
• Plausibility within the created universe and logical chain of events.
• Effects of events on the characters

Character analysis

1. Character reviews - analyzes the entire cast rather than individual characters, including, but not being limited to:

• Evolution of the main character throughout the story
• Evolution of the relationships between main characters
• Presence and evolution of supporting characters
• Relationship between main and supporting characters
• Character development of the antagonists
• Evolution of the relationship between the protagonists and antagonists
• Elements of characterization (direct characterization, appearance, speech, action, thoughts and feelings, and the reactions of the other characters)
• Believability of characters, the impact they have on the story and how memorable they are
• Themes and symbolism embodied by the characters
• Character design
• Substantiation using specific examples, pages and panels

Art Review

• Realism of art style and the congruence thereof with the story
• Character design, facial expressions, variety of designs
• Paneling and use of angles and perspective
• Sense of motion and movement
• Fine details or lack thereof
• Backgrounds
• Quality of tones, shading and contrast
• Use of and frequency of double-spreads
• Use of color pages and incorporation thereof into chapter
• Quality of coloring
• Mood created and emotions evoked
• Overall coherence and evolution

Tankoubon/Volume review

• Plot analysis
• Character development
• Relation with previous volumes, fluidity
• Art commentary, art evolution
• Cover commentary

!! A compilation of individual chapter reviews is not considered a volume review, volumes should be analyzed as a whole.

For those who want to submit manga reviews, we suggest taking a look at our basic review template, or at the templates of the different types of reviews(under the spoiler tag above), until you decide on your own style.

Spoiler: Basic manga review template and code

Spoiler: Code

[b]Title:[/b]
[b]Genres:[/b]
[b]Author:[/b]
[b]Artist:[/b]
[b]Publication:[/b]
[b]Start Date:[/b]
[b]End Date:[/b]
[b]Number of chapters at review:[/b]
[b]Number of chapters read by reviewer:[/b]
(if you have trouble finding any of this info, contact me, and I'm sure I can get it for you)

[b]General Overview:[/b] A quick overview of the plot, be careful not to give any spoilers away.  This should be a paragraph or two at most.

[b]Category Ratings:[/b] (1-10 scale)

[IMG]http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/art.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Art:[/b]

[IMG]http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/plot.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Plot:[/b]

[IMG]http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/characters.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Characters:[/b]

[IMG]http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/theme.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Theme:[/b]

[IMG]http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/originality.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Originality:[/b]

[IMG]http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/overall.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Overall:[/b]

Title:
Genres:
Author:
Artist:
Publication:
Start Date:
End Date:
Number of chapters at review:
Number of chapters read by reviewer:
(if you have trouble finding any of this info, contact me, and I'm sure I can get it for you)

General Overview: A quick overview of the plot, be careful not to give any spoilers away. This should be a paragraph or two at most.

Category Ratings: (1-10 scale)

Art:

Plot:

Characters:

Theme:

Originality:

Overall:

Important: subjectivity is something that is hard to let go when writing a review, but we ask you to keep it as objective as possible. If you award a high score, justify it in your review, even though scores are not mandatory.

For members aiming to achieve reviewer status, please review the requirements, in spoiler tags below. Members who meet these requirements should alert an administrator in the Member Status Change Request Thread:

Spoiler: Requirements for status change

[td] Reviewer

Requirements

• 5 Posted Reviews in 2 Consecutive Months.
• 2 Posted Reviews Per Month thereafter, to Maintain Reviewer Status.
• Two consecutive months without posting a review will result in loss of the reviewer status.
• Reviews Must Take a Critical Stance or Provide an Opinion. Reviewer Status Can Be Denied If Posted Reviews Do Not Meet This Minimum Requirement.

[/td]

UPDATE: the review should contain a link to the discussion thread of the series here on MH if it exists. If a discussion thread doesn't exist, please mention that, and then notify me