Forum:Consistency in Episode Special Names

So in a recent discussion the topic came up about how our titles for the recent Episode Specials are inconsistent. Older specials are named "Episode Special _", while recent ones are "Episode of Nami", etc. People have also suggested combining the styles and naming them things like "Episode Special 5: Episode of Nami", etc. I personally don't particularly care which style we choose, but I do think we need to be consistent. So post your thoughts on which format we should use, and we should be able to close this issue quickly. 22:17, November 17, 2014 (UTC)

Discussion
I agree that we need consistency, but naming them with the FULL titles seem like a bit too much. I think they should have "Special Episode" with an abbreviated title following.

Special Episode 1 - Adventure in Ocean's Navel Special Episode 2 - Once Upon the Great Sea! Special Episode 3 - Protect! Special Episode 4 - The Detective Memoirs of Chief Straw Hat Luffy Special Episode 5 - Episode of Nami Special Episode 6 - Episode of Luffy Special Episode 7 - Episode of Merry Special Episode 8 - 3D 2Y

With this, we have the title of each episode (without being too busy) while also showing what special episode it specifically is. It works. 22:36, November 17, 2014 (UTC)

If we're not doing the full titles then we should only do the short titles like Adventure in Ocean's Navel. Also Special Episode is bad grammar Nada. It would have to be Episode Special 1. SeaTerror (talk) 23:48, November 17, 2014 (UTC)

The current Qref system allows us to input a simple number for an episode (input "610" and you get "Episode 610"), so if we input "Special 1" we get "Episode Special 1". Changing that would change this versatile usage. 05:57, November 21, 2014 (UTC)

I don't see why we should use the generic name "Special Episode" AND the actual title. It kinda make it pointless. Either use a generic title like we do for normal episodes or the actual title (full or abbreviated, that's another matter). I think generic title are better. I prefer them because they are unambiguous and easy to use, while the title introduces problems of translation and format. That's the reason why we do the same thing for normal episodes, although some people don't like that, but honestly I don't understand why since visually it's just a minor visual change because either way the article remain the same.

I think due to the qref issue Yata raised, we should use the generic names. A number if the episode specials already use these titles. The newer episode species should maintain this. 13:05, November 21, 2014 (UTC)

The main reason there's an inconsistency is because they aren't treated by official sources as being part of a particular numbered series in the way that the regular episodes or movies are. The DVD site has a Regular DVDs - Other TV Specials section that contains specials 1, 2 and 4 (I can't find 3 anywhere):
 * TV Special: Great Adventure in Ocean's Navel
 * TV Special 2: Two Great Adventures on Shell Monster Island and Fisherman's Island (I think that's what 貝獣島と漁師島の2つの大冒険篇 translates too.. I haven't seen the episodes but maybe the DVD's a compilation of 2 and 3? The title's different than either of the specials)
 * One Piece Historical Special: Boss Straw Hat Luffy's Detective Memoirs.

Then on the main TV Special page, the three "Episode of" titles and 3D2Y are listed (without any other numbered designation). The DVD section of the One Piece official site also lists them separately in the same way, under "TV Original" and "Episode of Series".

As far as qref is concerned, etc works for the 3 "Episode of" specials, so that's something to consider.

Consistency is a good goal generally, but the situation is that the first four specials have your typical regular episode titles that aren't great in full (Great Shock! Adventure on the Island of Stuff!), while the four more recent ones are fine as "Episode of..." and "3D2Y". If official websites see fit to keep them separate for whatever reason, I don't have a problem with doing the same. 14:04, November 21, 2014 (UTC)