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The glossary is a list of relevant terms and nouns. Well, there's a bit more than that, but I haven't written it yet
Entries Found:
ABC The steps in the physical side of a relationship
Adachi, Mitsuri Manga Creator, best known for `touch' an epic combining romance and sport.
Asamiya, Kia A Manga author with lots of material translated into English. Probably because the art is good and the contents amenable to western comic fans. His writing skills are not held in such high esteem.
BGM Background Music
CLAMP An all female studio of manga and anime creators. Distinct style and exotic subjects have made them firm fan favourites.
Daichi, Akitaroh A rather odd creator of some rather odd, and often hilarious, anime. But given his undoubted skill and originality worth keeping an eye out for.
Fujishima, Kosuke short version
Gainax A well respected anime studio. There material is always interesting, often very strong, and just as often a touch fragmented or variable.
Ghibli A very well respected anime studio that focuses on making movies for cinematic release. They have a good number of impressive titles cementing their position.
Go Nagai The master of the anime `Nasty', prolific and popular. He's actually a manga author, but none of that has been translated.
Megumi Hayashibara A ridiculously talented voice actress. With such a string of major roles you have seen, and probably liked, a character who's sparkle owes a lot to her skills.
Yoko Kanno Composer of some of the best loved anime music. While some believe her ability to be `influenced' by other materials is questionable, few doubt her talent and flexibility.
Katsura The Manga author of tales with improbably plots, shounen romance and no shortage of pretty girls...something his art is very good at expressing. Generally a sizable amount of fan service.
Carl Macek A pioneer in selling anime for the western market. The fact that this often `required' modification of the anime leading to many fan's disliking his approach
Matsumoto, Leiji An important figure in the development of anime, which I knew something about him other than being able to recognize his style.
Hayao Miyazaki A senior and respected anime creator, founder of studio Ghibli, with a string of much loved titles to his name.
OAV Original Animation Video. A product sold direct to video. Intended to stand between TV and movie quality, but highly variable.
Oshii Makes very cool movies
Otomo I don't know enough yet.
Shirow, Masumune It's a psuedonym for a guy who designs and draws some of the most obsessively detailed (both in appearance and science) manga there is. Sadly he's so good at it that his manga is largely on hold while he works on game design.
Takashi, Rumiko A very prominent, popular and prolific manga author.
Takahata The other founder of Ghibli, and director of some of their most dramatic works.
Tezuka An incredibly venerated manga artist seen as being the founder of the medium. Although his foray's into anime engender more varied opinions.
Yuki, Masami A writer and manga artist, best known for his work on Patlabor
Anime The subject of this web-page. A catch all term for animation produced in Japan.
Baka A very frequently japanese insult. If you listen to much sub anime you will come to know it. It translates as fool or idiot. It's often used by fans as a result of being so well known
Big-Sweat A frequently seen visual representation of embarassment.
blush A visual symbol for romantic attraction
Burning Spirit This is material where the lead character is driven by a powerful desire to better themselves in some discipline. It expresses the belief that a person can acheive any goal if they believe and strive enough.
Doujinshi A fan produced manga, often based on a professional work and sometimes containing erotic content.
dub-titled The situation where the sub-titled version is simply the script of the dubbed version. A negative term.
Dumb Fun This is the category for anime made simply because the producers thought it would be fun to do. Tends to be high energy, humourous stuff. It might not have much depth, but a bit of flash and pace can make a nice change now and then.
ecchi Material containing softcore eroticism.
Erotica Material with erotic, but (IMHO) not offensive, content.
face-plant A visual symbol for a character being shocked or suprised.
Fan-fiction An amateur story based on existing material.
Fan-Service The term for including shots not required by the story but of interest to the viewers. The most common form being pose shots of female characters.
Fansub An anime title that has been subtitled by fans.
Flopped This is a step in the process of adapting Japanese manga for sale in the English speaking market.
Gainax-Bounce The Gainax (anime studio) studio popularised this form of fan service which suggests that animated breasts have complex and exagerated physics.
Genki Japanese word which means a character with lots of health and energy.
Harem This is partly a genre, partly a formula and partly a recognition of the young male anime audience. The important element is that one male, generally shy and reserved around females, finds himself suddenly at the center of a story involving multiple females who have a tendency towards being extremely cute and sexy. It's not exactly the most highbrow form of anime.
Hentai In Japanese this is "perverted" and it's definitely not a compliment. In western fan circles it describes material with explicit sexual content. I'm using it in the original sense.
Idol-singer The Japanese version of the `manufactured' and short lived pop-star.
June The high drama version of shounen-ai?
Kawaii Roughly translates as cute, it's a fairly frequently occuring word in anime. The actual Japanese context may be more complex than the translation suggests
Kodomo This is material intended for children. This doesn't mean it's childish by western standards however. It doesn't seem to imply a gender discrimination.
Laserdisk A now largely obsolete media on which a lot of anime, especially early material, is stored in a serious anime collectors library.
Lolicon A contraction of the words "lolita complex", in other words an erotic fascination with significantly under-aged girls.
Low-brow This is anime that cheerfully disregards taste and complexity to revel in the land of stupid and weird. It's a bit of a specialist taste, but has many fans.
Magical Girl A genre based around a young girl suddenly being called upon, or forced into, using her magical powers for the protection of peace and goodness. Generally this is a `secret' power, so that her normal life, while challenged, continues alongside.
Magic Warrior The genre grouping for super-powered warriors. While a bit more subtle than the American counterpart the aspects of power, and teenage male fantasy, are the power behind this type of anime.
malleting A visual symbol for female fury.
Manga The Japanese term for `comics'. That is, stories told through both images and text.
Maverick You have to be strong to live outside the law... but you have to be even stronger to live outside of the complex social pressures that exist in Japanese society. The lead character in this title is such a person, one who has chosen (being insane doesn't count) to live life differently. As such they're always on the outside of what is normal, but this can sometimes give them insights, and the freedom to act, not available to more average individuals. They also tend to be strong, independant people, because you have to be pretty capable to survive this path.
Mecha A title that describes the anime fascination with fighting robots. These may range from powered suits, upto huge robots. They generally tend to be warlike devices as well.
Monster of the Week A term for a simplistic plot structure which is based on a new opponent to meet and defeat each week.
nose-bleed A visual symbol for attraction and lust, generally by a male.
Oni A Mythological Japanese monster, source of many legends and common in anime.
Otaku An obsessive fan. Borrowed by western anime fandom to mean an obsessive anime fan.
Other This marks anime which focuses on something alien to, or ignorant of, humanity. As a result watching them explore our world can give an interesting view of ourselves. It's quite a common theme in anime.
Parody This is anime that includes an element of making fun of the real world. This might also include making fun of anime and anime viewers.
Seinen This is anime aimed at a male, college aged, audience. It tends to have a firm basis in reality even if the content is rich in fantasy. It's not very common in the west due to the commercial focus on young teen (shounen) markets.
Seiyuu The Japanese term for a voice actor.
Shoujo This title is used to describe anime that is intended for an audience of young females. Many western fans find this form, which has no western equivalent, fascinating. While the individual titles have much in common the shoujo genre is very wide.
Shounen Japanese term for "young male". Used mostly as a demographic indicator
Shounen-Ai Material including male-male romantic attraction.
Shouta The term for a mature woman being attracted to young males.
Slash Material which places famous characters in a homesexual relationship
Sport Billions of hours of human effort have been put into jumping, running and punishing inflated balls in various ways. As you can tell I'm not particularly motivated by sport, but the human story behind the training, dedication and competition can make some powerful anime. A popular genre in Japan, but less common amongst English speaking fans.
super-deformed A `cute', doll-like representation of anime characters.
tankouban A format in which manga is collected
yaoi Material containing explicit male homesexuality, generally for a female audience.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Mon Jul 10 22:24:12 EST 2006