about:on-topic
When uploading to Danbooru, It is important to know what is and what is not relevant to the topical goals of this site. Use this guideline when you are not certain if a work fits here or not.
Note: This is a placeholder page, nothing here has been resolved as the opinions of the moderation staff at the current time. For the discussion related to this, go to topic #11956. Also consider for the purposes of this page that Anime Styling is a nebulous concept, and dependent on factors of intent, influence, use of common design tropes and the nature of the sources, also subject to further discussion.
What is considered on-topic?
Acceptable
- Anime and Manga: Works based on Japanese animation and comic print works, including both characters and copyrights. If the post in question features an anime or manga copyright, it is considered completely on-topic, as these uploads are the site's core focus. This also applies to original art in anime / manga style by Japanese artists. All Anime and Manga art must be considered well-drawn as well to be considered appropriate for Danbooru.
- Japanese Non-Anime/Non-Manga Copyrights: Some posts feature shows, movies, video games, etc. that originated in Japan but are not anime or manga related. These are acceptable in relation to our core focus.
- Anime-Manga influenced non-Japanese works: Works influenced by Japanese styles, but produced by non-Japanese creators and companies. Note that all art, regardless of nationality, will still be held to a high standard.
- Multinational Copyrights: Non-Japanese franchises that have a connection to Japan are allowed, including works that are Western copyrights with a basis on Japanese copyrights. This also applies to consortium works between Japanese and non-Japanese companies.
- Western Copyrights Depicted with Anime Styles or by Japanese artists: Fanart of western copyrights, if depicted in Anime styling is considered to be on topic due to design considerations, source and intent. This also applies to Japanese art of non-Japanese copyrights.
- Still Life / Scenery: Works with no humans that contain recognizable Japanese elements such as east asian architecture, torii, kayari buta or recognizable elements from anime or manga copyrights are on topic and allowed. Works that don't contain such elements but are drawn by Japanese artists or by artists that regularly draw anime / manga style images are acceptable.
Not fully on-topic or of limited topical value.
- Real-Life Cosplays of Characters From Japanese Copyrights: These are acceptable to an extent but will be put to a higher level of scrutiny than normal, as photography is outside Danbooru's core focus of high quality drawn art.
- Screencaps and Video Clips of Anime and Visual Novels: While these used to be more abundant in the past, they're are generally not as recommended to be uploaded as regular official art.
What is considered fully off-topic?
- Real-Life Pornography and Other Photography: Photos that have no relation to any Japanese copyrights and fanart of such (i.e. cosplays or reference) are not allowed here. Some might be grandfathered in as deemed appropriate by moderators, but is otherwise forbidden as already stated within the Terms of Service.
- Works purely based on Western Copyrights, Political Cartoons and Other Comics Without merit: Low quality works that contain no cultural reference to Japan/Anime/Manga/Video Games in anyway that are also poorly drawn, cannot fit into our site standard, and so it is extremely discouraged to upload any work that cannot match both our quality and relevance precedent. Some exemptions exist and are based on artistic merit and nature of source.