Glossary

I have alot of influences from Japanese animation and comics. Here is some neccessary vocabulary for anyone who wants to websurf for info in this genre... Please inform me of any words you'd like translated, or feel should be in this glossary.

Anime (Ann-knee-MAY)
Japanese for "animation". This is taken from the French word for animation. An accent mark may be used over the "e". Japanese animation is often called "anime".
Anthology
A collection of stories in one volume. Comics are sold weekly in Anthologies in Japan.
Americanization
A form of dubbing that involves censoring and editing anime for broadcast on US TV. This is loathed by hardcore fans.
Cho-Echi
Super perverted! Can be worse than "Hentai".
Courtesy Breasts
Gratuitous nudity; a cheesy way to get viewers. This term used by Viz.
DVD
A new form of Laser Disk that is only the size of a CD.
Dubbing (DUBB)
Re-recording the audio of a feature with English voices. Most English anime dubbs are really horrible.
Echi (et-CHI)(H)
"Sick". This is a lesser form or nickname for "hentai".
Eye-Candy
Eye-pleasing images used as Fan Service.
Erotica
A sexual story written to excite the reader.
Face-fault
A Japanese "take" where a character falls face first to the ground in reaction to something stupid.
Fanfic
A story written using another stories characters. For example writing a story about Sailor Moon fighting Spiderman, that would be a fanfic. They are not necessarily legal, but the law is almost impossible to enforce, provided that most fics are written about Japanese series and there copyright owners oversees have no idea they even exist.
Fan Service
Gratuitous Nudity or violence. See "Courtesy Breasts".
FFML
The fanfic mailing list. This online list is littered with spam. This list has been terminated -- March 2001.
Fushigi Yuugi
"Mysterious Game". "Fushigi" means "Curious, strange, mysterious". "Yuugi" is "game". This is the name of a very popular anime series that lasted 52 episodes.
Graphic Novel
A comic that cannot be read in one sitting. See "Trade Paper Back".
Hentai (hen-TIE)
Japanese for "Pervert" or "perverse". Can refer to a person or a genre of porn. There is animated porn created in Japan.
HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language. The language in which this and many other web-sites are written in.
H-anime
Animated pornography.
itte kudasai (ee-TAY coo-DUH-sai)
"Please come". An invitation/ common phrase.
Kana
The Japanese "alphabet". It consists of 46 symbols for short sounds in two versions: Hiragana, for short words and suffixes, and Katakana, for spelling foreign words phonetically. Each Kana represents a sylable, not a letter.
Kanji
"Chinese Characters". These are pictoral icons for words and word parts. They are used in both written Chinese and written Japanese.
Kawai
"Cute".
-ko
A suffix meaning "cute". Also, a word for "child". It is at the end of most Japanese girls' names. (e.g. Kyoko)
Laser Disk (LD)
A large "CD" that holds video. These are very popular in Japan and tons of anime can be found on LD.
Lemon
A pornographic story written about an ANIME character. For example, a story where Sailor Moon has sex with Ranma would be a "lemon". It is derived from an H-Anime "Cream Lemon". A classic in it's field.
Lemon-ade
See "lime".
Lime
A classification for a fanfic that contains sex, but in not erotica. It was created to parallel the term "Lemon".
Manga (MAN-ga)(Not MANG-ga)
Japanese for comic book. A comic of Japanese origin is often call a manga. It more literally means "comic" or "funnies".
Manga-ka
A comic book creator. Bare in mind that most comic creators in Japan are artist and writer in one.
Mecha
A shortened English word for "Mechanism" in Japan. Refers to fantastic machines or an Anime or Manga where the main focus is fantastic machines.
Netfic
A story published on the web.
"Naughty Tentacles"
A genre of H-anime where tentacles take girls and ... uh... just use your own sick imagination. (I recommend avoiding these like the plague)
OAV
"Original Animated Video". An animation released strait to video without being presented on TV or in theaters. OAV's typically have better animation than TV series, yet not quite as good as theatrical presentations.
Omake
"Freebie", "giveaway".
OVA
"Original Video Animation". Same as OAV.
otaku (oh-ta-COO)
Japanese for "fan". A fanatic of any part of Japanese pop-culture is referred to as an "otaku". "Otaku" means "Obsessed fan", so it can be interpreted as being obsessed with something to a fault.
POV
Acronym for "Point of View".
SD
"Super-Deformed". A way of drawing a character in an extremely "cartoony" fashion. "SD" characters appear in most RPG's like Final Fantasy.
Seiyuu
Voice actor or actress.
Shojo (show-JOE)
Japanese for "girl".
Shojo manga
"Girl's Comics". These are typically made BY females. It dictates a genre that is more character based and less action based. (e.g. X-men would NOT be shojo manga, but LOVE AND ROCKETS would be.)
Shonen manga
This would be more like "X-men". "SHONEN" means "boy". Shonen manga is more action based.
Shonen ai
This means "boy's love". It is basically guy-on-guy porno designed for women (y'know how guys like girl-on-girl stuff...) Note: avoid this at all costs! (If you're a guy)
Spam
Junk e-mail.
Subtitles (SUB)
Japanese (or other) Language with English words flashed on the bottom, you can read what they are saying.
Tankoban
A Japanese Trade Paper Back.
Tamago
Japanese for "egg".
Tomodachi
Japanese for "friend".
Tamagotchi
A virtual reality pet stored in an egg shaped key chain. They were all the rage in Japan, to the point where high school students were hijacking shipments of them and selling them on the streets like dope!
Teetotaler
one who goes through life without drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.
Trade Paper Back (TPB)
A comic book that is too long to be read in one sitting. Usually a novel-length story or a collection of past comics. Also known as a "Graphic Novel".
TSR
The company who invented Role Playing games as we know them. Their name stands for "Tactical Strategies Rules".
Take
A comic reaction used in cartoons. Takes are different in Japan.
Woolgather
To have a fanciful daydream. (English)
YAOI
A Japanese acronym for a short story (comic) with not point that goes under the "Shonen ai" category.
Zasshi
Japanese for "magazine".
Zine
A comic or magazine printed on a photocopier.