Capitalisation

Note	Currently this is still just a draft for a capitalisation policy.

The following are some rules for the proper capitalisation of anime, episode, and song titles.

Japanese transcription

• For Japanese transcription titles, all words should be capitalised except for particles unless the particle is the first word in the title. Some common particles are: de, e, ga, na, ni, no, o, to, wa, yo, (etc...)
  • Regarding にて, which has multiple uses, transcribe as follows:
    • にて used as 1 word particle: "nite"
    • にて used as 1 word verb: "Nite"
    • にて used as particle に and 手 meaning "hand": "ni Te" (に手)
    • More generally, in cases where it's particle に + some word pronounced "Te", as in where it "can be construed as etymologically being constructed from parts", transcribe as "ni Te"
• As a general rule, if the Japanese title contains words (in Latin alphabet) that are ALL CAPS or MiXeD CasE, the transcribed title should always be properly title cased. (Exceptions include abbreviations and initialisms that are usually upper-cased. Ex: TV, NHK, UMA, ...) See this forum thread for details.

English

Rules

• The first and last words for English titles are always capitalised, words after a colon are always capitalised, and all except the words listed below are capitalised.

• The following are lower case, unless they are the first word:

Articles: a, an, the

Conjunctions: and, but, or, nor

Prepositions that are less than five letters long: at, by, for, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over, per, to, up, with

And: as (if followed by noun, adjective, number, or group of words functioning as one)

• Prepositions are sometimes capitalised:

Prepositions are capitalised when they are the first or last word.

Prepositions that are part of two-word "phrasal verbs" (see below for examples) are capitalised.

Prepositions that are over four letters long. (across, after, among, beyond, ...)

• Words after a hyphen are capitalised depending on if the official source has it capitalised.

In case of conflicts, the English subs of the official Western licenser takes precedence over any other source.

• These short words are capitalised in titles. Some people occasionally forget to capitalise these:

also, am, are, be, do, had, has, have, if, is, it, so, than, that, thus, was, when, what

as (if followed by verb or group of words functioning as one)

Phrasal verbs

Below is a list of some "phrasal verbs":
(These are some phrases in which the preposition needs to be capitalised.)

• Beat Up
• Blow Out
• Break Down
• Break Into
• Break Up
• Bring Up
• Call Off
• Call On
• Call Up
• Carry On
• Come Back
• Come Down
• Come On
• Come Out
• Come Over
• Do Over
• Fill Out
• Find Out
• Get Along
• Get Around
• Get By
• Get Over
• Get Through
• Get Up
• Give Back
• Give Up
• Go Along
• Go Away
• Go On
• Go Over
• Hand In
• Hang Up
• Hold On
• Keep On
• Keep Up
• Leave Out
• Let Down
• Look For
• Look Into
• Look Like
• Look Out
• Look Over
• Look Up
• Make Out
• Make Up
• Pack Up
• Pass Out
• Pick Out
• Pick Up
• Put Away
• Put Off
• Put On
• Put Out
• Put Up with
• Roll Over
• Rolling Up
• Run Into
• Run Out of
• Run Over
• Show Up
• Take After
• Take Back
• Take Off
• Take On
• Take Up
• Talk Back
• Talk Over
• Throw Away
• Try On
• Turn Down
• Turn In
• Turn Into
• Turn Off
• Turn On
• Use Up
• Wait On

Other Languages

For specific rules about a language, contact a minimod with "Language Verifier" status for this language: AniDB Staff