sxoidmal's Anime Glossary
This is by no means a comprehensive list. I list these terms because I encountered them initially or they've come up the most frequently. Many more terms may be found at the Anime Encyclopaedia, as well as many other fan sites or Japan-fetish pages. The ardent student is encouraged to avail him/herself of Google or ingratiate him/herself at any number of otaku bulletin boards/newsgroups, etc. The information is out there!
- anime
- in Japan, "cartoon"; in the US, "Japanese animation" ("Japanimation" is considered a derogatory term).
- bishonen
- "beautiful boy", artwork frequently appearing in female-produced doujinshi.
- bishoujo
- "beautiful girl", art dealing with this, including computer love-sim games.
- doujinshi
- "amateur Japanese comics", underground indie comics in Japan, often based on popular TV shows and video games. Rather than falling under the stigma of copyright infringement, doujinshi is welcomed as a compliment, an homage to another work. In fact, many artists' careers are springboarded from this work, once their own talent and skill has been discovered.
- gifts/present
- on art/CG websites, this is a gallery of donated artwork from other artists in the genre.
- harem anime
- anime in which the male lead character is surrounded by women, for whatever reason (as in Hanaukyo Maids).
- hentai
- (lit.: "sexually perverted") genre of anime/manga with graphic sexual presentation and usually of deviant nature, though anyone demonstrating or suspected of sexual interest may be accused of being ecchi. From this we get ecchi, which is a Japanization of "H", the first letter (English) of hentai; an individual may be called/dismissed as ecchi if they come off as too sexually forward or obsessed. Some sites seem to think ecchi only coincidentally sounds like how a Japanese person would pronounce "H", and only coincidentally means the same thing.
- kawaii
- (lit.: "cute") exclamation when one is overwhelmed with the cuteness of an object/person/situation.
- loli
- short for "Lolita", a theme featuring sexually-charged underaged girls (term derived from the Nabokov novel, obviously).
- mahou shoujo
- "Magical girl", anime featuring a usually-attractive girl with supernatural powers, e.g.: Card Captor Sakura or Revolutionary Girl Utena.
- manga
- in Japan, comics (lit.: "whimsical picture", huge historical precedence throughout ancient Japan); in the US, "Japanese graphic novels".
- mune yure
- (lit.: "chest tremors") in anime and video games, the phenomenon of extremely large breasts heaving/bouncing.
- OVA/OAV
- "Original Video Animation" (or, informally, "Only Available on Video"), special straight-to-video movies that supplement an established TV series or serve as its pilot.
- otaku
- (lit.: "your family" or "your household") in Japan, "fan (of anything) obsessed to an irresponsible, unhealthy degree"; in the US it is typically misused to mean "fan of anime/manga". Kids apply this to themselves eagerly, but this would never be done in Japan.
- seiyuu
- "voice actor": in Japan it's not uncommon for fans of anime to develop favorite seiyuu. They like to follow their careers and read interviews of them, just like with any other celebrity.
- so-ka
- "I see, that's how it is", common expression uttered when realization dawns upon one's head.
- sugoi
- "amazing, incredible", commonly used as an exclamation of surprised awe and admiration.
- yatta
- exlamation of eventful accomplishment. Multiple meanings depending on context, revolving around "I did it," "ta-da", "voila", "that's it," etc.
- yuri/yaoi
- homoerotic idiom to anime, where "yuri" is girl-on-girl and "yaoi" is boy-on-boy. Used to describe recurring quality to a series, as in: "That show has some loli yuri like you've never seen before."