Glossary
(common terms in the anime/manga world)
aneki - older sister; see also onee-chan
aniki - older brother; see also onii-chan
anime - Japanese animation
baka - idiot, moron, stupid; may be used as a noun or as an adjective
bishi, pl. bishies - see bishounen
bishoujo - good-looking girl/s
bishounen - literally means pretty boy; refers to good-looking men
-chan - see -san
chibi - a child; a cute person; also refers to a drawing style which has oversized heads and exaggerated facial expressions on small round bodies; also synonymous with super-deformed or SD; see this page for examples
cosplay - the act of dressing up as an anime/manga character
doujin, doujinshi - fans of a series sometimes draw their own manga, a doujin, based on the story and using the characters of the original
ecchi - perverted; usually has suggestive sexual situations but may not always be graphic; some people consider ecchi and hentai as one, others consider ecchi as a milder version of hentai
fansub - an anime subtitled by fans
hentai - explicit, graphic sex; for mature viewers only; sometimes interchangeable with ecchi
josei manga, also jousei or jyosei - manga geared towards mature, adult women
kawaii - cute; not to be confused with kowaii
kowaii - scary; not to be confused with kawaii
-kun - see -san
licensed - a series being licensed means that a certain company has bought the rights to distribute it in the United States. Knowing how extremely fussy copyright laws are around here, the anime/manga can't be distributed around the internet any more.
manga - Japanese comics/graphic novels; usually read from right to left unless specified otherwise
mangaka - a person who writes mangas
manhwa - Korean comics
manhua - Chinese comics
-nee (suffix to a person's name), nee-chan - see onee-chan
-nii (suffix to a person's name), nii-chan - see onii-chan
one-shot - manga usually composed of one to a few chapters, rarely exceeding one volume; a short story
onee-chan, onee-sama, onee-san, etc. - older sister
onii-chan, onii-sama, onii-san, etc. - older brother; also aniki
otaku - an overtly obsessed anime/manga fan; usually needs rehab
-san, -sama, -chan, -kun - honorifics; suffixes attached to a name to show respect; similar to the English Mr. or Miss; see Wikipedia's discussion on the Japanese honorific for usage instructions
scanlate - scan + translate; a scanlator is someone who does the scanlating; a scanlation is the act and/or product of scanlating
SD, super-deformed - see chibi
seinen manga - manga geared towards mature, adult men; sex and violence are prevalent themes but may not always be present
sensei - a teacher or a doctor; may also be used as a suffix
shoujo, also shojo - girl/s; shoujo anime/manga is geared towards girls and typically has sweet, mushy love stories
shoujo-ai - stories about girls who love other girls; milder than yuri; compare with shounen-ai; don't mistake for shoujo manga
shounen, also shonen - boy/s; shounen anime/manga is geared towards young boys and often contains action/adventure stories; common themes include but are not limited to competition, martial arts, fighting, superheroes with supernatural powers, and sports; "Dragon Ball," "Naruto," and "Slam Dunk" are good examples
shounen-ai - stories about boys who love other boys; milder than yaoi; compare with shoujo-ai; don't mistake for shounen manga
slash (/) - a romantic pairing, usually yaoi in nature; sometimes a cross (x) is used instead
super-deformed, SD - see chibi
tankoubon - a full manga volume released in book form; i.e. manga is usually released chapter by chapter in weekly magazines. When there are enough chapters to form a volume, they are re-released as tankoubons.
yaoi - gay men getting it on; compare with yuri and shounen-ai; usually a sub-group of josei manga
yuri - lesbians getting it on; compare with yaoi and shoujo-ai
see also Usenet Manga Glossary
Further Reading
posted at 10:02 PM 
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