Anime Jargon

A good and rather more comprehensive reference focusing more on the terms actually used in anime: the Yale Anime Society "100 Most Essential Words in Anime". Another glossary: Just What is an "Otaku", Anyway?

If I've missed a term that you think belongs here, please email me.

• Anime: Literally "animation", but usually refers specifically to anime substantially created in Japan for a Japanese audience.
• Baka: "Idiot" or "fool". (Japanese term).
• Cel Animation: Animation done with "cels" - images painted on transparent sheets of plastic (the "cels"). This is done so that, for example, one character can be animated while the background or other characters are left static without needing to repaint anything but the moving portions of the image. More modern cel animation outfits often use an image table to allow variations in focus, and scanning of cels into a computer for integration with CGI.
• CGI: Computer-Generated Imagery. Animation done by, or substantially with the aid of, a computer. Usually involves 3D images.
• -chan: diminutive (for a name or object) meaning "cute" or "little". Used of small children, sometimes for girlfriends or younger siblings. Thus "Ranma-chan" refers to "cute Ranma", i.e Ranma in "her" female form.
• Chara: Character (as in, a character in an anime). Not often used.
• Chibi: Small (often used of children). Usually also suggests cuteness.
• Cosplay: "Costume play" - getting dressed up as a favourite anime character. Common at conventions.
• Doujinshi: Fan-made comics, often translated as "fanzine".
• Dub: The spoken voices in an anime; usually refers to an English translation "dubbed" over the original Japanese voice actors. Less distracting than subtitles (because your eyes aren't busy reading!) but the translation typically suffers from the need to approximately match the mouth movements of the original. (See Sub.)
• Dubtitle: The practice of creating the subtitles for an anime by simply converting the dubbed release into written form. (Subtitles are usually a more accurate translation as they don't have to stick to the same "mouth flaps" as the original. Obviously dubtitling therefore reduces the accuracy of the subtitled translation.)
• Ecchi: Anime with a little too much fan service - essentially shading into soft porn. Technically "ecchi" means "perverted", but is usually milder than "hentai" material.
• Fan Service: Nudity in various degrees and guises. This can cover anything from a peek up a miniskirt to a girl's panties, to the sort of long pan over full frontal nudity seen in Plastic Little. Anime which focuses a little too much on fan service is often called "Ecchi".
• Fansub: Anime released privately and strictly non-commercially with a privately written subtitle script. Not an issue with DVDs, this is still sometimes done with VHS releases.
• Hentai: Lit. "perversion". Anime with a strong erotica or (to a lesser degree) horror focus. Often includes rape scenes and such - the "tits and tentacles" genre. Basically hard porn and some of the more extreme soft porn. (You may also spot it in actual anime when one character calls another "Pervert!" or "Sick!" in the subtitles.)
• Kawaii: Cute. (Usually implies very cute.)
• -kun: Young boy, young man. Also used by older men in reference to younger men.
• Madman: Australia's best anime distributor. Web site.
• Mahou Shoujo: "Magical Girl", an anime genre. Typically features a girl with magic powers (usually gained from some particular object) - sometimes several such girls in a team. This web site has useful resources on this genre. Examples of Mahou Shoujo anime: Sailor Moon, Saint Tail.
• Manga: A comic (or "visual novel"), typically either Japanese or translated from Japanese. Note that Japanese is normally read vertically and right-to-left, so untranslated manga are normally read "back to front", with the front cover being what English readers would treat as the back cover. (Translated manga frequently have artwork "flipped" left-to-right for easier reading by native Anglish speakers.) "Manga" is also the name of an anime distributor in the USA.
• Mecha: Technically any machine, but in anime usually refers to giant robots, usually used in combat. Also, a genre in anime where such mecha feature significantly. Examples: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gasaraki, Robotech.
• OAV: Synonym for OVA.
• Omake: Usually "Omake theatre". Basically an "easter egg", an unexpected bonus. Usually these are short featurettes after an episode of a TV series or an OVA. Ref: GunBuster, Saint Tail.
• Otaku: An anime expert. The exact meaning of "otaku" is much debated; what does it take to be an otaku? The consensus seems to be an extensive knowledge of, and interest in, anime. Personally I don't yet class myself as an otaku, but I'm trying to head in that direction. :-)
• OVA: "Original Video Animation". Anime made to go "direct to video" (rather than being shown on TV first). Also called an OAV. Usually quality in such series is a bit higher and themes are frequently darker and/or more explicit. Examples of OVA releases: Samurai X, GunBuster.
• -sama: modifier to a name expressing great respect. Sometimes translated as "Lord".
• -san: Polite modifier to a name expressing mild respect. Similar to "Mr"/"Mrs"/"Ms" in English - "Mr Smith" is similar to "Smith-san". However, only fairly close intimates may generally feel free to omit all honourifics from a name, although other honourifics (kun/sama/sempai/sensei/chan/...) may be used instead. "-san" is usually the default honourific, used when unsure of relative status.
• Seiyuu: Voice actor(s).
• Sempai: Honourific indicating one senior to oneself. Thus Kuno in Ranma 1/2 is called "Upperclassman Kuno" or "Kuno-sempai".
• Sentai: "Team". Many "super-hero" anime (such as Battle of the Planets) are sentai anime. Sailor Moon is a Sentai Mahou Shoujo anime (itself not a small subgenre).
• Shoujo: "Girl's anime". Typically focuses on relationships and people. eg. Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning.
• Shounen: "Boy's anime". Typically focuses on fights, some violence, fan service. eg. Dominion Tank Police, "Plastic Little".
• Sub[titles]: Text placed on the screen in translation of the original text. Usually more accurately translated than the dubbed text.
• Super-Deformed: a style using a very large head and usually larger-than-usual eyes. Typically the usually fairly-realistic depiction of faces is discarded in favour of highly caricatured expressions. Characters often "go super-deformed" when they're very angry or annoyed (or showing other extreme emotion). The SD style is also sometimes used to enhance the "cuteness" of somebody. Examples: "Adventures of the Mini-Goddesses" uses this style extensively. Odd moments in other series (eg. "Slayers", "Rurouni Kenshin".) "Omake" bonus features often use this style.
• Yaoi: [anime concerning] male-to-male homosexuality.