Chapter 0/pilot issue manga?

[Drahken]

Here's something to consider, how should we deal with chapter 0/pilot issues of manga?

As the name implies, these are the test-run issues of (at the time) new manga series, which later went on to become a full series that readers are familiar with. Officially these are almost never counted as part of the regular series (so if some site says a series is 100 chapters long, it is actually 100 normal chapters, plus the pilot). Another unique thing about these pilot chapters is that they are usually very different from the later series, more of an alternate universe version.

I think it would be best to treat these pilot chapters as a seperate, 1-shot series, related to the main series. This is both because of the numbering issue (if we included them in the main series, our chapter count would be off by 1), and because of the fact that the stories usually differ quite a bit from the later series.

If you want to see examples of how much these pilot chapter differ, check out the naruto & bleach ones. In the naruto pilot issue, naruto is actually the son of the 9 tailed fox & not a human at all, additionally there is no mention anywhere of ninjas. In the bleach pilot, rukia shrinks instead of getting a fake body, ichigo is only a shinigami for a week, hollows can be killed normally (ie, you don't have to cut their mask), ichigo's family runs a morgue (which is how he can see ghosts), and there's no mention of his mother dying.

[Lanxdata]

So far I haven't read any pilot issues but if they differ that much as you described. Then I strongly agree to having them as separate entries. Its also possible that alot of people who are reading series that have the pilot chapters such as naruto and bleach haven't heard of or read the pilot chapter. So another reason for separate entries.

[Drahken]

Due to their nature, it's unlikely that the pilot chapters will ever be published outside of japan. They can be found online though if you choose to look for them.

I found some pages that give more details about some of the pilot chapters & how they differ from the main series:
Naruto Manga Pilot
Bleach Pilot Chapter - Bleach Wiki

Death note pilot has the guy as an elementary kid instead of a teenager & uses a plot device called the death eraser, which can bring back people killed by the deathnote be erasing their names.

[Drahken]

As an additional note, this clears up the question of whether a "one shot" is a chapter or a volume (I wish I could find the friggin thread where the definition was debated). The chapter type one shots are "true" one shots, while the longer, volume-like ones are "pilots".