Post by Mary on Nov 17, 2015 15:07:42 GMT
Terminology (USE Ctrl+f to find)
A
ANIME: Any animation produced in or originating from Japan, or conforming to an "anime style" usually marked by features such as large eyes, long limbs, speed lines and exclamatory typography. In Japan, the term "anime" is typically used to refer to any animation or cartoon, regardless of origin or animation style.
ANIME MUSIC VIDEO:video clips from at least one anime series arranged to fit a musical piece playing in the background. AMVs usually cut out the audio and subtitles from the actual anime episodes, but sometimes sound clips or subtitles may be left in at certain parts to help enhance the video.
B
BISHONEN: Beautiful boy — Japanese aesthetic concept of the ideally beautiful young man. Androgynous, effeminate or gender ambiguous. In Japan it refers to youth with such characteristics, but in the west has become a generic term for attractively androgynous males of all ages.
BAKA:Japanese for fool or idiot
BENTO:Bentos are Japanese lunch boxes, which are prepared for school or picnic. It often contains rice and many other things like sausages, eggs, vegetables and fish. Girlfriends often prepare bentos for their male partner.
BUKOBUN: Bunkobon is a popular Japanese A6 book format. They are designed to be affordable and portable. Not only novels but also many manga are released in bunkobon format. It is often the cheaper edition of works that have already been published as hardbacks.
C
CATGIRL:Character with cat ears and a cat tail, but an otherwise human body. These characters often have feline habits, claw-like nails, and occasionally show fangs. Emotional expressions are also feline in nature, such as an exaggerated fur-standing-on-end when startled. These characteristics are also sometimes used on guys as well as in the case of the characters of Loveless and Kyo Sohma of Fruits Basket.
CHIBI:Japanese word meaning "shorty" or "little one". Due to Sailor Moon and mistranslation, in America it is sometimes used to mean super deformed. a generic term for attractively androgynous males of all ages.
CM:Commercial Message - An advert (usually on television).
CMV:Cosplay Music Video
COMIKET: Comics Market — World's largest comic convention held biannually in Tokyo, Japan for producers and fans of Dōjinshi.
CHIGAU:Japanese term used to say „you are wrong“ or „this is wrong“.
COSPLAY:Female and male anime fans dress up as one of their favourite anime/manga characters. Those fans often make their costumes themselves. Cosplay is very popular and it is practised especially at anime conventions
D
DUBS:short for dubbed, meaning, voiced-over in a different language than the original
DOUJINSHI:Self-published works
DOUSHATE:Japanese for why/how. This word is used when an anime/manga character does not understand the reason for someone else’s action.
E
ECCHI:Perverted. — From ‘H’ for Hentai.
EYECATCH:A scene or illustration used to begin and end a commercial break in a Japanese TV program, similar to how "bumpers" into/out of commercial breaks are used in the United States.
ED: ED is short for ending. An ending is the sequence shown at the end of each anime episode and is always supported by a song or music.
EROGE:In Japan eroge is the commonly used term for a certain kind of games that feature erotic content in form of anime-style artwork. Those games are also appropriately called dating simulations or visual novels, while the terms hentai-games or h-games are not that common in Japan. The common form of those games show a background image, one or more characters in front (in case you are talking to someone) and a text bar that shows the dialogues, monologues, answers and decisions you can choose. Depending on the decisions you make the story will take a different direction and have a different outcome. While those games usually only consist of pictures, sound and text, there is a trend of adding some smooth moving animations and today there are even fully animated eroge. While people unfamiliar with eroge might think they are just cheap soordaqz games, this is not quite true. In fact, most eroge feature an awesome, deep and professional storyline, which is why so many of them are taken for anime adaptations. Those stories are naturally of the harem genre, but still can vary a lot as they can be drama, fantasy, action, material arts, horror and many more genre in additional.
F
FAN FICTIONS:A general story written by fans of media, including anime. Story or piece of fiction written by fans of a production.
FANSUBS:fan-subtitled — A version of anime in which fans have translated and subtitled the dialogue into another language, most commonly into English.
FUYOSHI: A female yaoi fan.
FANSERVICE:Fanservice in anime/manga refers to sexual hints like breasts showing or panty shots. There is a very large variety in fanservice. Shower scenes, sexy clothes, swimsuits, close-ups, wet see-throughs and many more things count as fan service. It is basically all sorts of sexual eye candy and it is shown in almost every Anime/manga series to a certain extend.
G
GAKURAN:Uniform for middle school and high school boys in Japan. The Gakuran is derived from Prussian army uniforms.
GANGURO:Literally "black face". A fashion trend among Japanese girls. The look consists of bleached hair, a deep tan, both black and white eyeliners, false eyelashes, platform shoes, and brightly colored outfits.
GLOMP: A hug in the manner of a small child, similar to a bearhug but often including one or both legs as well as arms. Also a hug in which the hugger jumps and catches the victim by surprise or off-guard. Occasionally referred to as a cross between a running tackle and a bearhug.
GOTHLOTI:Gothic Lolita — A fashion trend where girls and young women dress in the style of elaborate porcelain dolls.
GAIJIN:Gaijin is short for gaikokujin and means „foreigner“. It refers to nationality and ethnicity. Sometimes it is also used to insult Japanese peoples for being outsiders.
GANBATTE:Ganbatte is a commonly used term to cheer on someone. It means something like “good luck” or “go for it”.
H
HENTAI:— "Abnormal" or "perverted". — Used by Western Audiences to refer to pornographic anime or erotica. However, in Japan the term used to refer to the same material is typically Poruno or Ero.
HUGGLE: A very affectionate hug used to show joy and/or thanks. It is also somewhat like a 'glomp' but not as violent or surprising. Also a cross between the words "hug" and "cuddle" or "snuggle".
HIKIKMORI:Similar to an otaku, but more severe. A Hikikomori is someone who secludes themselves within their home, sometimes refusing to leave their home at all in an effort to isolate themselves from society. It can be viewed as a social phobia similar to Agoraphobia. In Welcome to the N.H.K. the main character Tatsuhiro Satō is a Hikikomori.
HAI: YES
HAJIMESTICA: Japanese for „how are you“ or „how do you do“.
HAREM:Anime/manga genre. The term is a creation of Western anime fans. Harem animes are love comedy shows that feature 3 or more girls who are or fall in love with the male protagonist. The concept of these shows is for the viewer to identify himself with the often average type protagonist and find a girl among the large female cast appealing to his taste. These series are often adaptations of famous Japanese dating simulation games or designed to appeal to a similar audience.
HARU: spring
HIKIKOMORI: Literally means “pulling away, being confined”. The term hikikomori refers not only to the sociological phenomenon but also to individuals belonging to that group. Hikikomori are people who feel uncomfortable in public and lock themselves away from society in their apartment or their parent’s home. They rarely leave their dumped down room and often kill time by playing computer games all day or watching anime and the likes.
I
INCHO: Short for Gakkyū Iinchō, the class representative in a Japanese school.
ITOUKU:Japanese to address your cousin.
J
JOSEI: Anime/manga genre. Josei literally means woman and is targeted at woman and older teens. It is one of the rather rare genres and feature realistic romance stories about adulthood, growing up, collage, complicated relationships and other post-modern realistic topics with female protagonists. Josei is something like a rather mature shoujo. Examples for Josei are Paradise Kiss and Nana.
J-POP:J-Pop is short for Japanese Pop or Japanese popular music. This term covers several Western-influenced music genres like pop, rock, dance, hip hop and soul, while there are even more explicit terms like J-Rock. J-Pop is getting more and more popular all over the world and is very popular among anime fans of course.
K
KAWAII: cute
KEMONO:"Beast" — A genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features animal-like fictional characters in human-like settings
KEMONOMIMI:Characters with animal features such as ears and a tails, but have a human body. Catgirl also falls under this concept. Examples include many of the characters of Loveless and the Sohma family of Fruits Basket.
KOGAL:A subculture of girls and young women, the kogal "look" roughly approximates a sun-tanned California Valley girl.
KOMIKETTO:Genericised form of Comiket (Comics Market).
KAMISAMA: God
KONNICHIWA: good morning
L
LOYI-GOTH:Gothic Lolita.
LORICON:Erotica anime, anime pictures and manga that feature young girls. While erotica involving minors is illegal of course, lolicon is still legal in most countries because of the artistic freedom. This genre even has a surprisingly large fandom in Japan.
This word is also used to describe, insult or mock people for being interested in this kind of material.
M
MANGA:Japanese comics
MANGAKA:A creator of Japanese comics
MECHA:Animes based around mechanical things, like robots.
MAD:Resembling an anime music video, but usually with more humorous intent. Stands for "music anime doujinshi
MOE:the character who changes the most during the storyline of an anime or manga (e.g. tsundere)
N
NEKO (GIRL/BOY):Character with cat ears and a cat tail, but an otherwise human body. These characters often have feline habits, claw-like nails, and occasionally show fangs. Emotional expressions are also feline in nature, such as an exaggerated fur-standing-on-end when startled.
NEKO:Japanese word for Cat, or Feline, often used when referring to a character with cat ears and/or tail.
NANI: WHAT
O
OP:Short for an anime’s opening sequence
OST:Short for Original Sound Track
OTAKU:Anime newcomers like to consider themselves "otaku" when they start liking anime; their definition of otaku is anime fan. Long-time anime fans, however, tend to not call themselves otaku because of its negative Japanese connotation. The literal translation of the word is your house, but in Japanese slang the word is used to describe somebody who is so obsessed with something they never leave their house. Basically it means "geek", but is occasionally associated with lolicons and pedophiles, like in the anime series Hand Maid May.
OWARI:"End" in Japanese, used by some fanfiction authors at the end of their works. Also used at the end of many anime series.
OMAKE:Some kind of add-on bonus on an anime DVD, like a regular 'extra' on western DVDs.
OTENBA :tomboy
OYAJI: Daddy — Older male such as a teacher or other role model. Often slightly perverted, but usually portrayed affectionately. Can also be used as 'pops' or 'old man' (as in father).
ORIJINARU: Original
OVA: Original Video Animation, or OVA is a type of anime, which is intended to be distributed on VHS tapes or DVDs, and not to show in movies, or television. It can also less frequently be referred to as OVA, or Original Animated Video.
R
ROMANJI:Romanization of Japanese words; may be seen on street signs for foreigners, transcription of names, and in dictionaries and textbooks for learners of the Japanese language. All Japanese words used in this homepage are also written in romanji. Still there are a number of different Romanization systems.
RAW:Original anime in its original language
RONIN:A ronin (literally wave man) used to be a masterless samurai during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the ruin or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master’s favor or privilege. In modern Japan and/or in anime, a ronin is someone who has failed the college or university entrance exam. In order to gain a passing mark next year they often attend cram school.
S
SUB:short for subtitled
SEIYUU:Voice actor (Not anime voice actor asseiyū also perform for radio shows and video games as well as do dubs for foreign TV shows and movies)
SHOJO:Manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18
SHONEN:Same as Shōjo except for Male audiences
STEAMPUNK:Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually the Victorian era Britain— that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy
SCANLATION:The scanning and translating of comics into a foreign language
SAKE: Commonly called "rice wine" in North America, sake is an alcoholic beverage made from brewing rice.
SEINEN:Intended for an older audience than shōnen. Content intended for men ages 18 to 40 or older.
SUPER DEFORMED:Miniaturized versions of the characters integrated into the storyline to add comedy, or to display exaggerated emotion in a way that might be out of character. They are usually used when the character is supposed to be angry, sad, confused, or startled. More commonly known as a chibi.
SAN-SAMA-KUN ETC: You can find out a lot about the relationship characters have with each other by the way they add name suffixes to the other’s name (example: Ranma-san).
–san : General propose.
–sama : Very polite, comparable to Lord, Lady, or Sir.
–kun : More often used with boys’ names.
–chan : Cutesy, more often used with girls’ names.
–sensei : Teacher, doctor, master. Often used without adding the name.
–senpai : Used to address upperclassmen, or older co-workers. Often used without adding the name.
– donno : Polite and respectful. Similar to –sama, but rather archaic and old suffix.
– tan : Very cute. Extension of –chan.
– hime : Princess or female royalty.
Japanese people usually call each other by their last names adding suffixes. Calling someone by his/her first name without adding any suffix implies a very close relationship like with best friends or girlfriend/boyfriend. Inappropriately using no or wrong suffixes causes confusion and is sometimes done in order to make fun of or annoy someone. Japanese people also love to shorten people’s names (example: Ranma-chan=Ran-chan, or even =Ra-chan)
SAKURA:Sakura is the Japanese term for pink cherry blossoms. In anime you will see sakura very often. It symbolizes spring, but it also often has an even greater meaning to the plot. Sakura is also a very popular girls’ name, while Asakura is a very popular boys’ name.
SENPIE:Used to address upperclassmen, older co-workers and so on. You can also use it as a suffix and add his/her name to it
SENSIE:Used to address teachers, doctors, trainers, masters, professors and so on. You can also use it as a suffix and add his/her name to it (example: Sakura-sensei).
SHINIGAMI: dead God (deadth note as example)
T
TSUNDERE: a female character type whose personality is initially combative but eventually becomes loving and emotionally vulnerable.
U
USOTSUKI: Usotsuki literally means liar. It is often used as an exclamation in anime.
V
VISUAL KEI: An art movement characterized by eccentric looks, involving elaborate costumes and make-up.
W
WATSHKI:Japanese for „I“. There are a lot of ways to say „I“ in Japanese, but watashi is the most common one used by males and female
Y
YAMATO NADESHIKO: the Japanese ideal for a woman, being humble and skilled in domestic matters.
YANDERE: a character whose initially loving personality eventually becomes an often brutally deranged and psychotic individual
Z
ZETTAI RYOUIKI:This term refers to a style of dressing, where a certain amount of skin is exposed between the miniskirt and the thigh high socks.