Anime and Manga Terminology

Here is a list of select terms used to describe anime and manga. It is helpful to understand these basic terms when conversing with others or reading on the subject.
Note: Japanese words have no plural ending, for example manga can refer to one or several manga depending on the context. Also be aware that the Japanese use of these terms sometimes varies from English speaking fan use.

Anime アニメ:

Animation produced in Japan for the Japanese market.
Anime, as defined by common fan usage, is simply any animation that is made in Japan for a Japanese audience. In Japan the word simply means any animation made anywhere in the world. Commercial anime dates back to 1917. Modern anime dates from the 1960s with the work of Osamu Tezuka, best known in the U.S. for "Astro Boy", Tetsuwan Atom in the original Japanese.

While anime is sometimes erroneously referred to as a "genre" it is in reality a medium that includes any genre that can be found in cinema or literature. The evaluation of anime titles should be done with all the care that goes into evaluating movies or novels, even more so since it is often hard to get good reviews of anime to aid the selection process.

In Japan, anime is released in three ways:

1. TV shows - often later re-released on video.
2. Movies - often later re-released on video.
3. OVA

BL or Boys Love see: Yaoi

Dōjinshi 同人誌:

Fan produced manga or other self published works.

These are usually made by small fan circles and often will use characters from anime, manga, TV shows, games or actual persons. Japanese companies tend to ignore dōjinshi which use trademarked characters or see it as a sign of the popularity of their products. Outside Japan dōjinshi have a reputation for being sexually explicit, this is not the case as there are plenty which are not. Some non-Japanese will incorrectly use the term to refer to any erotic manga.

Gekiga 劇画:

Dramatic pictures. A type of realistic manga for, mainly male, older teens and adults developed in the 1950s which often includes antiheroes such as gangsters, poor samurai and the urban poor, often in violent and sexual situations. Today such stories are common in manga intended for adult consumption.

Hentai 変態:

Usually translated as perverted, or sexually explicit. This word in Japanese usage is far more complex than that as it has other meanings such as metamorphosis, weird, an anomaly, or abnormal. But most of the time that you see or hear it in anime or in fan circles it refers to perverted.

English speakers will apply it as an adjective as in 'hentai manga' or 'hentai anime'. The Japanese do not do this, rather they will speak of ero-manga or ero-anime. The Japanese will use the term to refer to a person as in "he is hentai".

Japanimation:

A term created by combining the words Japan and animation. The pronunciation is Japan-i-ma-tion. All evidence indicates this term was invented by C/FO (Cartoon Fantasy Organization) member Carl Gafford in 1979. By the early to mid 1990s the term has fallen into disfavor among fans, especially as some non fans started pronouncing it "Jap-animation".

Josei 女性:

This means woman, when used to describe manga or anime as in 'josei manga' it refers to works made for that demographic. In Japan there is a very large market for manga aimed at adult women.

Manga 漫画:

Manga can be roughly translated as "comic books", in reality it is a much more complex subject. Manga can include almost every subject imaginable from funny stories to serious literature. Technical manuals and even legal case histories have been released in manga format. Looking at some books about manga, especially those of Frederik Schodt, will probably be the best way to understand this unique form of publishing.

Many companies outside of Japan are issuing translated manga in multi-volume sets at an increasing pace. In most cases they are no longer flipping the images and leaving the manga in the original right to left format. There are two reasons to do this, some manga artists will not allow their art to be flipped to a European left to right format, the other reason is that leaving the art unflipped reduces the time and expense it takes to bring a translated title to the market by eliminating much of the retouching of images. I have discovered that most readers have little trouble reading unflipped manga, something that caught me by surprise.

Otaku オタク:

A word originally used as a polite way to refer to someone. It has undergone several changes to a newer use to refer to highly serious fans. The term can be derogatory or neutral depending on the situation. While increasingly the Japanese term is used rather than trying to find a rough translation common translations include, fan, fanboy, geek and nerd.

OVA:

Original Video Animation. These are anime released directly to video. This method of release allows companies to target specialized audiences in a way that is not financially or socially possible with TV or movie releases. Sometime you will see this spelled OAV in English works.

Seinen 青年:

A term for young man, usually men in their late teens to mid twenties either college students or young working men. This word should not be confused with another word pronounced seinen, meaning adult, but written with different kanji 成年.

Shōjo 少女:

While usually translated as girl, young woman would also be appropriate. Generally the word refers to school age girls and teens. Japanese sources list ages ranging from as young as seven to ten at the youngest to about eighteen at the oldest. There is a large market for manga and anime aimed at this group. Stories in the shōjo demographic range from innocent girl's stories to stronger material for the older readers.

Shōnen 少年:

A school aged boy roughly under the age of 18.

This definition has an overlap with seinen in the later years. Entertainment aimed at this demographic tends to be action or humor oriented, however there are exceptions as in romance stories for boys.

Shōnen-ai see: Yaoi

Yaoi やおい:

English speakers use this term to refer to male male romance or sexually explicit tales. However in Japan yaoi is used for a genre of dōjinshi rather than regular commercial products. For commercial products in this genre of male-male stories the Japanese have used several terms over the years. Originally, in the early 1970s, the term shōnen-ai was used, then the literal English translation of shōnen-ai: "Boys Love", came into being, today "BL", which is short for Boys Love, is what one usually hears used by Japanese. This genre is mainly produced by women and for female fans in both Japan and other nations.