Review Guide

Reviews should be not less than 95 words and not more than 190 words.

Always use "Japanese", not "Jap"

Use American spelling, not British English.

Single spaces after punctuation, not double.

Check that speech marks (") and quote (') marks are correctly used. Use double, then single for quotes within a quote.

All numbers spelt out up to ten; numerals are used thereafter, except where
it is unwieldy (e.g. six million is better than 6,000,000) Use commas for
four or more figure numbers (e.g. 1,000).

Check for the use of capitals (they should not be overused, and should only
be there for a reason).

Check that contracted words (e.g. Mr, Dr) organisations using capitals
(e.g. BBC) and units of measurement do not have a full point. Abbreviations
should not be overused (e.g. Use World War Two rather than WW2 o r WWII). If
an abbreviation is not familiar, spell it out on first use with the
abbreviation following in brackets,
then later use the abbreviation only.

Units of measurement should be consistently feet and inches.
with width given before height. (e.g. 10 x 14 inches)

Check that dates are in house style,
which is 6th June 1987 (not June 6,
1987; not 6/6/87, and so on).


No one rather than No-one
Film-maker not film maker
OAV not OVA (Original Animation Video)
Seventies not 70s or seventies

The less foreign words, the better. Even the terms 'anime', and 'manga'
should only be used sparingly to differentiate between the
Japanese product
and the Western 'animated films' and 'comics'.

Remember that Japanese does not add an 's' for plural.
There are no such
things as 'samurais', 'ninjas', 'animes' or 'mangas', just as there are no such things as 'sheeps'.


Full points are included after initials in names.

Japanese names to be written Western style, surname last. E.g. Katsuhiro
Otomo not Otomo Katsuhiro. Ignore macrons. E.g. Otomo,
not Ootomo etc.

Romanisation is standard Hepburn except for the proper names
Leiji Matsumoto and Masamune Shirow.

Words should be 'ise' rather than 'ize'.

A colon should always precede a speech/quote where the
speaker is not
identified within the quote (e.g. Craven didn't believe this: 'I don't remember it happening like that at all.')

When we have a lengthy list of names, there is no comma before 'and' (e.g.
Karloff, Lugosi, Carradine, Atwill and Price).

Check that references, titles and so on will make sense to an American audience wherever possible.


The following words and phrases are not to be used without
a special
dispensation: Jap, natch, hapless, visceral, high-octane, with attitude, but hey!
The format for video reviews is:

[TITLE]
Director: [DIRECTOR]
Duration: [?? mins]
Rating: [FROM * to *****]


e.g.

Slayers
Format: DVD, dub, NTSC
Director: Takashi Watanabe
Duration: 100 mins
Rating: [FROM * to *****]

The format for rating reviews is:


The rating is a whole number of stars from one to five (no half-ratings),
and expected to be a reasonable indicator of the overall quality of the
tape, and whether or not it is worth buying. Reviewers are reminded that
members of the public must pay hard-earned cash, and should bear this in
mind when assigning a rating. Writers who pull the phrase: "Such-and-such a
scene alone is worth the price of admission" will be expected to know what
the price of admission actually is.
As a rough guide:

*****A must-buy. Should be in everyone's collection. (Use sparingly, we
have only awarded this rating to a handful of titles).

****A particularly good example of the genre. Recommended.

***Average. Will be worth the money if you like this sort of thing.
Otherwise avoid.

**Below Average. Substandard of the genre or series. Think twice before
buying, even if you normally like this sort of thing.

*Poop