| Anime |
Japanese animation usually recognizable by
its distinctive drawing style. People are usually shown with elfish facial features and
large eyes. Taken from the French word for "animation". |
|
Bishoujo |
Means
beautiful girl. Used to describe a type of anime and manga that is
designed to appeal to young girls. |
|
Bishounen |
Means
"beautiful boy". |
| Bootleg |
Illegally copied video tapes that are sold
for profit. |
| Chibi |
Literally "small, runt or
dwarf". In some series there are characters that have "chibi" in
their name and in others "chibi" is a doll. |
| Deformed
or Super Deformed |
Certain characters are drawn small but with
exaggerated features and large heads. The characters look like small children with large
eyes. Also referred to as "SD". |
|
Doujinshi |
Refers to
manga or anime that is produced by fans using well-known anime
characters. A.K.A Fan Fiction. |
| Dubbed or
Dub. |
English is recorded over the original
Japanese soundtrack. The all new dialog and sound effects may not be a very accurate
translation. |
| Fan
dubbed or Fan dub. |
The dubbing process is done by someone
other than the video production house, usually done by an anime club. The quality of
dubbing can range from good dialog and foley sound effects to terrible acting and bad
sound effects. The quality of the translation may be in question at times too. |
| Fan
Fiction |
Stories that have been written by a fan
that conforms to a anime story line or characters. There are some excellent examples of
this out on the web. Spend the time to read them sometimes, they can be worth it.
A.K.A. Doujinshi. |
| Fan
subbed or Fan sub. |
The subtitling process is done by someone
other than the video production house, usually an anime club. The quality is generally
good, but the translation may be in question. |
| Golem |
Large statue that has come to life, also
used to describe large robot-like machines occasionally. Many OAV and manga use this
type of creature in their stories. |
| Hentai |
Word used to refer to pornographic anime,
it's the Japanese word for "perverted". This material is not intended for
children at all. |
|
Kawaii |
Translates as "Super cute". |
| Manga |
The word for Japanese comic books.
First used by artist Hokusai, manga is literally translated as "careless
drawings". Many of
the more popular anime are taken from manga. Story lines in manga can vary drastically
from it's counterpart video (OAV) series. |
| Mech or
Mecha |
The large robot-like fighting suits that
are found in many anime story lines. |
|
Neko |
Japanese
for cat, it is also used to refer to the half-human, half-cat characters
found in many anime stories. |
|
Oni |
Mythical
demons who were thought to protect treasures and passageways in Japanese
folklore. These types of demons find their way into anime stories
quite often. |
| Otaku |
Means geek, nerd or overzealous fan; has a
negative connotation to Japanese. Usually found on web sites or in magazines. |
| OAV |
Original Animated Video. Video tapes of an
anime series. Some of the tapes have two or three 20 - 30 minute episodes each, some have
full length features. |
|
Shoujo |
Means
"young girl". Refers to comics designed for young girls. |
|
Shounen |
Means,
"young boy". Refers to comics designed for young boys. |
| Subtitled,
Subbed or Sub. |
The original Japanese soundtrack is left
alone and English dialog is superimposed at the bottom of the screen. It can be a bit
confusing to try and watch the show while trying to read the dialog, but I think you get a
more true representation of the original story this way. |
