Forum

I'd like to suggest adding another rule to the plot summary guidelines: Write names in Western order. (Given name - Family Name) I've seen a lot of summaries over the years, mainly of shows only available in English via fansubs, that use the Japanese order. Doing the names that way can be confusing to people who don't know what's going on, or can't easily distinguish between given and family names in Japanese. For example:

Mahoraba ~ Heartful Days Summary wrote:

Shiratori Ryuushi is a young artist-in-training, about to start studying at a vocational school. Arriving at his new lodgings, Narutakisou, he finds himself the focus of attention for the collection of weirdos that inhabit the place. He also meets and falls for the landlady, Aoba Kozue, who seems to be both lovely and charming. However, Kozue is not what she seems to be... in fact, she's more.

In contrast, summaries for older series that are available on R1 DVD tend to use Western order:

Marmalade Boy Summary wrote:

Miki Koishikawa lived a normal life - until her parents tell her they'll get divorced.. She doesn't agree, until she meets Yuu Matsuura... the handsome son of another couple, with whom her parents are switching spouses. They all live together now in an enormous house, and Miki and Yuu find themselves falling in love. They'll have to struggle with their own feelings, other people who want to be with them, and whatever Lady Luck and Fate throws in their ways...

(Not all of them though, the DN Angel summary starts out with "Niwa Daisuke is...")

And forget about consistency with the rest of the Encyclopedia, some entries aren't even internally consistent:

World of Narue Summary wrote:

Iizuka Kazuto is a 14 year old boy who meets a somewhat weird but cute and charming girl named Narue Nanase who claims she is an Alien. The show is about the trials and tribulations of the young couple as they get to know each other.

(Kazuto's name is in Japanese order, Narue's name is in Western order.)

Aside from the confusion issue, this is primarily an English-language site, and to the best of my knowledge, all major, respectable printed and online media use Western name order when writing about Japanese people. Obviously, the inconsistencies in plot summary naming convention stem from user input, but I think establishing a guideline might do something about the inconsistencies. For already-existing summaries, perhaps error reports or replacement summaries could be used to fix the name order and standardize the summaries.