Should there be a Tezuka Wiki?

[F-Man]

To reiterate strobe's post, the Tezuka in English website is not all that different from a wiki, you can submit content for us to publish in it.

[Sevi]

[strobe_z]

I've got no problem with a Wiki if that's what people want to do, I'm just saying that we've put a lot of work into organizing this relaunch, we've got a plan and we could use some help with content. The community is small, so it seems a shame to divide our energy, but no one is saying it's not a good idea.

So... Saruta... if you've got any information about Russian Tezuka manga/anime, we'd love to hear about it. How weird is it that I just finish editing the and our first Russian member shows up?

[Saruta]

Unfortunately, I have only read brief mentiuons of Crime and Punishment. I never saw the manga.

It would be interesting to do a retrofit translation back into Russian. This might get popular with schoolchildren, who are required to read Crime and Punishment but are really too young to appreciate the original text.

Also, I wonder if F. Schodt was wise enough to use a translated Dostoyevsky bolume for his work, not just the Japanese. If not he might have done a rather imperfect English version. He is a great anuime researcher, but as I understand he had something to do with the disastrous English dub of 2772 - if true, this makes his credentials as a translator somewhat shabby.

Speaking of Russian, and of Web content: probably the single most exhaustive Web site for this movie is http://www.2772.otaku.ru/ . It has an English version. I know the site author, Anna Panina; she was an editor and consultant for our dub (and gave us significant improvement from what she heard at a Japanese-language screening), and later, when the Japanese source became available, she released a full fansub. She has things there like scans of deleted scenes from the draft materials!

While some of her analysis of the storyline (in the synopsis) can be debated, everything she tells of the facts is absolutely stunningly brilliant. She has done a lot of work. And yes, this appears to be the only Olga character page online (in English). And the only description of the Satomi Mikuriya comic (again, in English).

Anna is a Japanese speaker and has spent some time in Japan, explaining her unique knowledge. If there is a rejuvenation programme ongoing (sounds somewhat like what Rock was doing!), I really think she should be invited.

[Sevi]

[strobe_z]

Well, as I mentioned, take a look around the site... find something you think is missing and contact me about it. I'm more or less going to be happy to accept any content, it's just a matter of getting it in the right format so it'll fit within the overall structure.

I know that may sound a little... authoritarian? I don't mean it that way, but anyone who ever tried to find something on the old site will know how incredibly hard it was. Everything was all over, and with the huge amount of Tezuka work, there needs to be a clear system in place so it can be organized. You may or may not agree with my system, but I spent a LONG time working on it and trying to come up with something that would make sense, be useful, and wouldn't confuse the heck out of all of us.

[Bigdog]

I say start by improving the already existing pages considering him and his works, then consider to make one.

The TIE main site needs an overhaul so it can be organized better and have ease of use, that's for sure.

Look at Toho Kingdom for example :


As you can see, you can find anything you need on the site, plus if you are a member on there, I believe you can even have fan reviews of films and other media as well. Imagine how well it would help fans of the franchise to steer clear of bootlegs and support the official releases if available while making Tezuka-related products that are well made but obscure more well known.

I found the majority of the Godzilla films I wanted to purchase from that site and it helped me to know what to buy and what not to. Let's face it , it's really hard and frustrating to find legitimate Tezuka related merchandise on the internet without being deep in the know and whatnot. What I am requesting is that TIE's main site should have a dedicated merchandise column ( Which I would join in a heartbeat if available), bootleg guidelines and an organized Tezuka Star profile system which points the works they've been in , bios and series info.

Not only should the TIE site cover Japanese made/authorized stuff ,but the foreign ones like the NOW comics and any adaptation to film via review and or news feed . Those people need to be invited to the fold or asked to contribute their reviews of the products so everything would be in one centralized area for those who want to look it up. Especially all the in depth info Kimbawlion has concerning the Jungle Taitei sagas .

Why have a Wiki when the TIE site just needs to be organized with more info and stuff. I have to back up strobe_z in the fact that the main site is pretty hard to circumnavigate to the point that using the official site becomes a viable option.

[strobe_z]

We're more or less in the process of doing just about all that. The first step was redesigning the look of the site and coming up with a structure that makes sense. I think we've done that.

Step 2 is to rework the content on the site to be as informative and user-friendly as possible. At the moment we haven't got a lot further than migrating the old site's content. Creating new content is going to take awhile - especially if I'm the only one doing it.

We now have a merchandise section, which F-Man is working on, which eventually will have info on DVDs, audio CDs, art books, and other Tezuka swag - what's legit, what's not and where to get it. The goal for the star section is exactly what you said - bios and an appearance list. Ultimately all cross referenced with the series pages.

I've asked an Astro Boy expert about helping sort out those sections, I'd like to drawn on KimbaWhiteLion as well... Kawaii unico... Etc.

[F-Man]

[Bigdog]

[Saruta]

OK, so you want to have the site instead of the Wiki? Would it work if I put a tryout article here on the Forum, and after some bash-around you used it?

[strobe_z]

Absolutely. We'd love to have contributions like that. The only thing I'll mention (just so we're clear) is that we reserve the right to editorial interference before posting anything. We have some pretty clear section/content guidelines - but that shouldn't stop anyone from writing something. Probably the only result would be finding the right section to post it in... worst case scenario is to break it up into multiple pages in different sections.

[Kellox]

I love to have a Tezuka wiki after all there are wikis based on one anime series why should there not be a Wiki based on an entire world of manga and anime series?