Anime Glossary
Anime definitions, commonly used words and abbreviations, titles, and more!
- Animé: (prounced ah-ni-may) The
Japanese word for animation. Used by Western fans to refer to animation produced in Japan.
- Aniparo: ANIme PAROdy, a popular manga genre in which anime characters
are used in humourous stories or skits.
- BGM: BackGround Music --- the music from an anime
soundtrack. Soundtrack CDs are popular merchandise items.
- Bishojo/Bishonen: Japanese for beautiful girl/boy.
- CB: short for Child Body, prefix indicating a 'squashed' (and usually
considerably more manic) version of an anime character.
- -chan: suffix meaning 'darling' or 'little one', a
term of affection usually reserved for romantic partners, young female
friends, children or small animals.
- Chara: Short for CHARActer.
- Chibi: Japanese for small. See CB.
- Cosplay: (short for 'Costume Play') The
practise of dressing up as one's favourite anime or manga character. A
popular event at anime conventions.
- Dojinshi: Japanese for fanzine. Manga produced by
fans, can be based on existing manga or anime titles or original
ideas.
- Ecchi or Etchi: (from the Japanese pronunciation
of 'H', the initial letter of Hentai). Bawdy,
humorously indecent, typically involving gratuitous nudity or sexual
innuendo. Milder than hentai.
- Garage Kit: Model kit produced by fans at home in
small quantities.
- Gekiga: Japanese for graphic novel.
- Hentai: Japanese for 'pervert', refers to
pornographic material.
- Hiragana: One of the three Japanese scripts, a
cursive phonetic alphabet consisting of 46 basic syllables and
variations on these. Any Japanese word usually written in kanji can also
be written and understood in hiragana. The first script learned by
children.
- Idol: A cute, young, manufactured starlet. Both
live performers and anime characters can be idols.
- Kanji: The Chinese characters which make up the
bulk of the Japanese written language. About 2000 pictograms are
required for everyday communication. Readings of individual kanji can
vary enormously by context.
- Katakana: A more angular form of the hiragana
syllabary, generally used to write foreign words.
- Kawaii: Japanese for 'cute'. Cuteness is a highly
important characteristic in many anime
- Manga: Strictly speaking, Japanese for 'cartoon',
can refer either to the print medium or animation. However, mostly used
to refer to printed comics. The loanword komikksu is also
used.
- Mecha: Short for MECHAnical, any kind of technology
from a gun to a vehicle to a giant robot.
- Mobile Suit: A human-piloted robotic fighting
machine; powered armour. Sometimes abbreviated to MS.
- Mook: Magazine/bOOK, the glossy large-format
softback books often used to showcase anime artwork.
- OAV/OVA: Original Animation Video/Original Video
Animation; work made specially for release to video, rather than TV or
cinema.
- OST: Original Sound Track; the background music of
an anime production, including all songs.
- Otaku: Japanese word denoting an obsessive fan of
anything, in the sense of being narrow and anti-social. Sometimes used
in the West without derogatory connoitations to refer to a dedicated fan
of anime or manga.
- SD: Super Deformed, another form of CB or -chan,
but more mischievous.
- Seiyuu: Japanese term for voice actor or actress.
- Sensei: Japanese for 'teacher' or 'master', used
alone or as a suffix to the subject's surname.
- Settei: Preparatory line artwork used by animators
as as a design reference at the beginning of a project.
- Shojo: Japanese for girl. Shojo manga are drawn in
a very flowery, pretty, romantic style and deal with mainly romantic or
emotional subjects.
- Side story: A story set in the same universe as a
major title, but focussing on minor characters or introducing new ones,
showing another 'side' of the story.
- Yaoi: from the phrase 'yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, imi-nashi', meaning 'no climax, no punchline, no meaning', playful stories of a nonsensical sort, often taking male characters from popular animation series and depicting them in gay relationships.
Source: "Anime Glossary" at www.ryouko.demon.co.uk