Glossary of anime and manga

Character traits

Bishōjo (美少女, lit. "pretty girl")

Refers to any young, attractive woman, but also used to imply sexual availability (as in bishōjo games).

Bishōnen (美少年, lit. "beautiful boy", sometimes abbreviated bishie)

Japanese aesthetic concept of the ideally beautiful young man: androgynous, effeminate or gender-ambiguous. In Japan, it refers to youth with such characteristics, while in the west has become a generic term for attractively androgynous males of all ages.

Catgirl (猫娘, Nekomusume)

A female character with cat ears and a cat tail, but an otherwise human body. These characters 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 male characters as well.

Chūnibyō (中二病, lit. "second year middle school student disease" or "eighth grader syndrome")

The tendency of a character to pretend to be a made-up character from fantasy such as a vampire, demon, angel, wizard, alien, warrior or person with special bloodline, often imagining themselves to possess magical powers, super powers or cursed items. Characters with chūnibyō tend to have a unique manner of speech, dress in gothic clothing, and sometimes wear objects such as bandages or eyepatches to represent their persona. The term refers to children 12–14 years old, but can also be used to describe characters who exhibit these traits regardless of their actual age. The term is believed to have been coined by Hikaru Ijūin in 1999, and was originally intended to describe people who are pretending to be "grown-ups" in their second year of middle school.

Dojikko (ドジっ子)

A cute girl who tends to be clumsy. They may make mistakes that hurt themselves or others. Dojikko character traits are often used for stock characters in anime and manga series.

Kemono (獣, けもの, ケモノ, lit. "beast")

A genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features anthropomorphism: animal-like fictional characters in human-like settings and situations.

Kemonomimi (獣耳, けものミミ, ケモノミミ)

Characters with animal features such as ears and a tail, but a human body. Catgirl also falls under this concept.

Moe (萌え)

Generally used for female characters, though it can refer to effeminate males in some instances. Something or someone that is considered moe is generally considered to be endearing, innocent and naive, while taking on some of the emotional qualities of adolescence generally meant to invoke a paternal feeling of protectiveness and sympathy within the viewer. The most literal translation of the word into languages other than Japanese is "fetish", though the concept of moe does not necessarily have a direct correlation to sexual preferences and often refers to works of a non-sexual nature. It can also be used to modify other words or concepts, such as meganekko-moe ("glasses-girl" moe), referring to a character who both wears glasses and has the qualities of moe.

Tsundere (ツンデレ)

A character personality which is usually stern, cold or hostile to the person they like, while occasionally letting slip the warm and loving feelings hidden inside due to being shy, nervous, insecure or simply unable to help acting badly in front of the person they like. It is an portmanteau of the Japanese terms tsuntsun (ツンツン), meaning to be stern or hostile, and deredere (デレデレ), meaning to be "lovey dovey".

Yandere (ヤンデレ)

A term for a person who is initially loving and caring to someone they like a lot until their romantic love, admiration and devotion becomes feisty and mentally destructive in nature through either overprotectiveness, violence, brutality or all three. The term is a portmanteau of the words yanderu (病んでる), meaning (mentally or emotionally) ill, and deredere (でれでれ), meaning to show genuinely strong romantic affection. Yandere characters are mentally unstable, incredibly deranged and use extreme violence or brutality as an outlet for their emotions. Yandere are usually, but not always, female characters.

Demographics

Josei (女性, lit. "woman")

Anime and manga intended for the adult female demographic.

Kodomo (子供) or Kodomomuke (子供向け)

Anime and manga for children of both genders.

Seinen (青年)

Anime and manga intended for the adult male demographic.

Shōjo (少女, lit. "young woman")

Anime and manga intended for the adolescent female demographic.

Shōnen (少年, lit. "young man")

Anime and manga intended for the adolescent male demographic.

Fandom

Aniparo (アニパロ)

A slang term for the parodic use of anime characters by fans, a portmanteau of anime and parody.

Comiket (コミケット, Komiketto, lit. "comics market")

One of the largest trade fairs for dōjinshi comics, held twice a year in Ariake, Tokyo.

Dōjinshi (同人誌)

A fan-made or amateurly produced work such as a parody, fan fiction or manga.

Fandub

Short for fan-dubbed, describing a film or video in which fans have translated and voiced over the dialogue into another language.

Fansub

Short for fan-subtitled, describing a film or video in which fans have translated and subtitled the dialogue into another language.

Fudanshi (腐男子, lit. "rotten boy")

A male fan of yaoi (やおい).

Fujoshi (腐女子, lit. "rotten woman")

A female fan of yaoi (やおい).

MAD Movie (MAD動画, maddo dōga)

A Japanese fan-made video, much like an anime music video (AMV), that generally originates from the Japanese website NicoNico. MAD can also refer to the Japanese AMV community, although they can be anything from audio clips, edited pictures, to wholly original creations. MADs do not necessarily even need to be related to anime, though the more popular ones typically are.

Odagiri effect

A television phenomenon in which a program attracts a larger than expected number of women viewers because the program stars attractive male actors or characters.

Otaku (おたく, オタク, ヲタク)

The literal translation of the word is another person's house or family (お宅, otaku). In Japanese slang, otaku is mostly equivalent to "geek" or "nerd", but in a more derogatory manner than used in the West. In 1989, the word "otaku" was shunned in relation to anime and manga after Tsutomu Miyazaki (dubbed "The Otaku Murderer") brutally killed underage girls. Since then, the word has become less negative in Japan with more people identifying themselves as some type of an otaku.

Genres

Bakunyū (爆乳, lit. "exploding breasts")

A genre of pornographic media focusing on the depiction of women with large breasts. With regards to bra size, bakunyū are said to be above a G75 bra size but below an M70. Bakunyū is a subgenre of hentai anime.

Bara (薔薇, lit. "rose")

A masculine gay men's culture and, in manga circles, a genre of manga about beefcakey gay men usually by gay men. Compare with the female-created Boys' Love.

Boys' Love (ボーイズラブ, Bōizu Rabu)

Male homosexual content aimed at women, currently in general use in Japan to cover yaoi and shōnen-ai'.

Gei comi (ゲイコミ, geikomi)

Manga with male homosexual themes, by men for men. Compare with yaoi, shōnen-ai, June and Boys' Love.

Harem (ハーレムもの, hāremumono)

A subgenre of anime and manga characterized by a protagonist surrounded, usually amorously, by three or more members of the opposing sex as potential love interests. A female harem around a male protagonist is most common, while a male harem surrounding a female protagonist may be called a reverse-harem.

Lolicon (ロリコン, rorikon)

Portmanteau for "lolita complex". A genre of manga and anime in which childlike female characters are depicted in an erotic manner.

Mecha (メカ, meka, abbr. for "mechanical")

In Japan, the word is used for all kinds of machines while in Western countries, the word applies to piloted combat robots in anime and manga. Series that feature mecha are divided into two subgenres: "super robots", where the mecha have unrealistic powers and the focus is more on the fighting and robots themselves, and "real robots", where the mecha have more realistic powers and there is more drama and focus on the mecha's pilots.

Shōjo-ai (少女愛)

Manga or anime that focus on lesbian relationships.

Shōnen-ai (少年愛)

A term denoting male homosexual content in women's media, although this usage is obsolete in Japan. English-speakers frequently use it for material without explicit sex, in anime, manga and related fan fiction. In Japan, it denotes ephebophilia.

Shotacon (ショタコン, shotakon)

A genre of manga and anime wherein childlike male characters are depicted in an erotic manner.

Toddlercon

A subset of Lolicon and Shotacon where toddler characters are depicted in an erotic manner.

Yaoi (やおい)

Anime or manga with a focus on homosexual male relationships. Also known as Boys Love. Japanese acronym for "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi" (no climax, no point, no meaning). Male-on-male sexual content; usually created by women for women.

Yuri (百合, lit. "Lily")

Anime or manga with a focus on lesbian relationships. In Japan, the term denotes a broad spectrum of attraction between women. It is also used for sexually explicit content outside Japan.

Terms

Anime music video (AMV)

Video clips from at least one anime series arranged to fit a musical piece playing in the background.

Buchinuki (ブチヌキ)

In manga, buchinuki refers to a page where a character was drawn while ignoring or overlapping the panels for emphasis.

Dub (吹き替え, fukikae)

When the voices in an anime are translated into another language.

Eyecatch (アイキャッチ, aikyatchi)

A scene or illustration used to begin and end a commercial break in a Japanese TV program, similar to commercial bumpers in the United States.

Eroge (エロゲー, erogē)

An eroge, a portmanteau of erotic game (エロチックゲーム, erochikku gēmu), is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge that added adult content rated 18+.

Fan service (ファンサービス, fan sābisu)

Elements specifically included to sexually amuse (such as scantily-clad or naked males or females, or ecchi content) or titillate the audience, which may or may not be necessary to plot development.

Galge (ギャルゲ, garuge)

This is a type of Japanese video game centered around interactions with attractive anime-style girls. These games are a subgenre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience.

Gensakusha (原作者, lit. "original author")

A term used by derivative works to credit the original creator of a series; it is also used to refer to the writer of a manga, as opposed to its illustrator.

Guro

A type of anime, manga or game which includes violence, torture and sometimes death of the character. The purpose of the violence is to increase pleasure of the audience, reader or player who likes that kind of genre. Sometimes it's also synonymous with the hentai phrase, ero guro.

Hentai (変態)

A term used outside of Japan to describe erotic or pornographic manga and anime, derived from the word for "pervert". In Japan, terms such as eromanga and eroanime are used instead.

Juné, also written as June

A manga or text story with male homosexual themes written for women in an aesthetic (耽美, tanbi) style, named for the Juné magazine.

Kabe-don (壁ドン)

In Japanese, kabe is wall, and don is the sound of slapping against a wall. Literally, kabe-don describes the act of fiercely slapping a wall. One meaning is slapping a wall as a protest which occurs in collective housing like a condominium when the next room makes noise. Another meaning is when a man forces a woman against a wall with one hand or a man leans against a wall and makes a slapping sound, leaving the woman nowhere to go. This has become popular nowadays as a "clever move of confession".

Kyonyū (巨乳, lit. "giant breasts")

A classification of breast size in casual Japanese. Breasts above an E70 bra size but below a G75 are considered to be kyonyū, after which point they are called bakunyū (縛乳).

Lemon (レモン, Remon)

Derived from the hentai anthology series Cream Lemon (くりいむレモン, Kurīmu Remon), the term is used to refer to material with explicit sexual content.

Manga (漫画, マンガ)

Japanese comics, or conforming to "manga style", usually marked by features such as large eyes, long limbs, speed lines and exclamatory typography.

Mangaka (漫画家, マンガ家)

A creator of manga; this can refer to both the writer and illustrator of the work.

Mihiraki (見開き)

A manga scene, usually one single image, spread to cover two opposing pages.

Name (ネーム, Nēmu)

A rough storyboard of a proposed manga.

Omake (おまけ, オマケ)

An add-on bonus on an anime DVD, like a regular "extra" on western DVDs; or a bonus strip at the end of a manga chapter or volume.

Original net animation (ONA)

An anime production intended to be distributed through the internet via streaming or direct download.

Otome game (乙女ゲーム, otome gēmu, lit. "maiden game")

A video game that is targeted towards a female market, where one of the main goals, besides the plot goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the player character (a female) and one of several male characters.

Original video animation (OVA)

A type of anime which is intended to be distributed on VHS tapes or DVDs and not shown in movies or on television. It is also less frequently referred to as Original Animated Video (OAV). DVDs are sometimes known as Original Animated DVD (OAD).

Q-version

The English translation for the Chinese term Q版 (pinyin: Kiū bǎn), referring to cartoonification or infantilization in the artistic renderings of real life or serious human figures, animal figures or other characters or objects, especially in the styles of anime. "Q" is a Chinese approximation of the English word "cute".

Raw

Anime episode or manga scans in its original language without editing or subtitles.

Scanlation (also "scanslation")

The scanning, translation and editing of comics from one language into another.

Seiyū (声優)

A Japanese voice actor. As well as voicing characters in anime, seiyū do voicing for video games, radio shows, drama CDs, etc.

Shudō (衆道, abbr. of wakashūdo, lit. "the way of young men")

Age-structured male homosexuality in samurai society. (see also: Wakashū)

Zettai ryōiki (絶対領域, lit. "absolute territory")

Refers to the area of exposed thigh when a girl is wearing a short skirt and thigh-high socks. The ideal skirt:thigh:sock-above-knee ratio is often reported to be 4:1:2.5. Zettai ryōiki are often referred to by letter grades, where grade A is the ideal.