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This is a list of terms that are specific to anime and manga.
Note: Words that are used in general (ex: Oniisan, kawaii, senpai) are not included on this list unless a description with a reference for notability can be provided that shows how they relate.
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, but in the west has become a generic term for attractively androgynous males of all ages.
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")
A character who pretends to be a made-up character from fantasy such as a vampire or warrior, often imagining themselves to possess magical 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 14-15 year-old children, 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 things people do in their second year of middle school.
A cute girl that 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.
"Beast". A genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features animal-like fictional characters in human-like settings (Anthropomorphism) and situations.
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.
A character personality who's usually stern, cold and/or hostile to the person they like, while occasionally letting slip their warm and loving feelings they're hiding inside due to being shy, nervous, insecure or just can't help acting badly in front of the person they like. It is an portmanteau of the Japanese terms "Tsuntsun", meaning to be stern or hostile, and "Deredere" meaning to be "lovey dovey".
Yandere (ヤンデレ)
A Japanese 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 a mental or emotional illness, and deredere (でれでれ), meaning to show genuinely strong romantic affection. Yandere characters are mentally unstable, incredibly deranged, and use extreme violence and/or brutality as an outlet for their emotions. Yandere are usually, but not always, female characters.
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.
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 & 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
For a complete list of genres that covers all types of literature, see List of genres.
Bakunyū (爆乳)
A genre of pornographic media focusing on the depiction of women with large breasts. The word can be literally translated to "exploding breasts". With regards to bra size, bakunyū are said to be above a G75 bra size but below an M70. Bakunyū is a subgenre within the genre of hentaianime.
Literally, "rose". "Bara" refers to 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.
A subgenre of anime and manga characterized by a protagonist surrounded, usually amorously, by three or more members of the opposing sex and/or love interests. Male-oriented harems are the most common.
Abbreviation 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.
coined following the form of shōnen-ai, denoting lesbian content, typically for material without explicit sex. In Japan, the term shōjo-ai is not used with this meaning, and instead tends to denote ephebophilia.
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.
Japanese acronym for "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi" (no climax, no point, no meaning). Also known as boys love. Sometimes male-on-male sexual content; usually created by women for women.
Lit. "Lily". Jargon term for lesbian content or girl love. In Japan, the term denotes a broad spectrum of attraction between women. It is also used for sexually explicit content outside Japan. It is used like the term "yaoi" for men.
A scene or illustration used to begin and end a commercial break in a Japanese TV program, similar to how bumpers into/out of commercial breaks are used in the United States.
An eroge (エロゲー, erogē), 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+.
Elements specifically included to sexually amuse (such as scantily-clad and/or naked males or females, or ecchi content) or titillate the audience that are either necessary or unnecessary to plot development.
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.
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 like that kind of genre. Sometimes it's also synonymous with the hentai phrase, Ero guro.
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.
a manga or text story with male homosexual themes for women written 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)
Literally, "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).
An anime production intended to be distributed in 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.
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).
The English translation for the Chinese term Q版 (pinyin: Kiū bǎn), referring to the cartoonification or infantilization in the artistic renderings of real life or serious human, animal figures or other characters or objects, especially in the styles of Anime. "Q" is a Chinese approximation of the English word "cute".
Meaning "Absolute Territory". The phrase 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.
Pflugfelder, Gregory M. (1999). Cartographies of Desire: Male-male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950 (1st ed.). Berkeley : Univ. of California Press. pp. 221–234. ISBN0520209095.
Levi, Antonia; McHarry, Mark; Pagliassotti, Dru (2008). Boys' Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. p. 257. ISBN978-0-7864-4195-2.
"Word Display". WWWJDIC. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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