Ratings (eg TV-PG, TV-MA, etc)

I noticed ratings being added to some shows, in particular, Samurai Champloo.

There are two problems here. First, TV-MA != NC-17. TV-MA is the equivalent of an R rating. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/ratings.html TV Ratings, http://www.filmratings.com/guide.htm Movie Ratings)

Second, putting it at the top of the summary screws up the automatic summarizer. As a result the series listing only shows the rating, which isn't really ideal. Till someone thinks of something better I'd suggest putting it at the bottom of the summary.

Hmmm I never noticed that someone did that. Because what is TV-MA in America can be G-Rated in Japan.

I would think it is not needed since it only applies to broadcast type.

I hadn't noticed either. I wonder who did that because it seems they did it as a "Don't buy this because of its rating!" I wonder how long that's been there. :-/

As far as I can see, it's only on the 2 Samurai Champloo titles. It might be part of the copy / paste from another site.

As a substitute for missing additional fields in the anime review database structure I usually write a squared bracket with a list of parameters (such as release format, release year, episode count, episode playing time, release companies, list of related animes - in this order) at the end of the synopsis; I would suggest adding this rating stuff to said list - let's say after the episode playing time.

That works for me, DD. I doubt I bother to pay attention to the ratings because I don't watch anime on TV (if the FUNimation channel gets on DirecTV, that will change), so I won't bother looking up the ratings for any reviews I do, but should I do future reviews where someone else has mentioned it, I'll make sure it is in the proper place.

Okay, given that it was only the 2 Samurai Champloo titles and no one has spoken up for them, I've removed the ratings. No reason not to have ratings, of course and I second Devil Doll's method.

Actually, IMO there's no reason to have the 2nd Samurai Champloo entry. The only reason a "2nd season" was stated was because the series was placed on the shelf for a time in Japan even though it had already been completed (or nearly completed). However, I'm told that the only way Geneon could release the series on schedule in the U.S. was to have the final unaired episodes labled as "season 2," which would then allow Geneon to proceed as normal. It was never intended to be a 2nd season, but even still, it does not quallify as a new series. There was no name change in the series, and thus it would be no different from countless other titles that have multiple seasons but aren't new series.