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Glossary

Anime
Japanese animation. Actually a French borrow word, anime is not so much a genre as an art form, like movies or books. Anime differs greatly from American cartoons in many significant ways, not least of which is it's sheer volume, accounting for over a third of Japanese television programs and movies. Compared to most American popular entertainment, anime is creative, surprising, and quirky. Characters are often complex, and face a variety of interesting situations and challenges. Like many Japanese stories and tales, anime guarantees no happy endings: no just desserts for bad guys or deserved rewards for good guys. In fact, good guys are often portrayed as flawed, and bad guys shown in a sympathetic light. In Japan, most anime series on television are scripted to last a set amount of episodes, and follow an overall plot with a beginning, middle, and end. Unlike the discrete episodes of most American shows, which are designed in an open-ended fashion to last until viewer interest wanes, Japanese series seem almost novelistic in their presentation. Thus, anime characters change as distinct and unique events affect them and the story. A plot twist may affect events many episodes later, and subtle foreshadowing slowly builds as a year long series progresses. Part of the fascination of anime lies in an artistic integrity that disregards any distinction between high, and popular, art.

Bishounen
Literally "beautiful boys," bishounen are favorite characters in shoujo anime and manga. Bishounen are usually tall, slender, and delicately featured with long hair in a variety of colors like blue or pink Though they may look like sissies, they are usually skilled and strong and make the deadliest of enemies. This odd tradition of fell beauty is an old one in Japan, where the samurai class fused violence and aestheticism. A samurai lord was as likely to write a beautiful poem about autumn's first frost as decapitate a man for improperly bowing. Some famous anime bishounen are the title character from Heroic Prince Arslan, Larva from Vampire Princess Miyu, and the protagonist from the world's first novel, Tale of Genji. Perhaps it is not coincidental that Genji was written by a woman for a female audience.

Doujinshi
Amateur manga featuring characters from popular comics and anime, created by fans and usually sold at enormous conventions attracting thousands of buyers. In a weird inversion of normal intellectual property practices, publishers and studios turn a blind eye to this activity, even providing encouragement and recruiting talent from the ranks of doujinshi circles. Doujinshi cover a wide range of themes and styles. Parody or gag formats were probably the first to appear. Other doujinshi contribute original stories or alternate endings and variations of established story lines. Not a few doujinshi are eye-poppingly X-rated, sometimes featuring otherwise innocent characters in every conceivable sexual situation. That this bothers companies and creators not in the least can only seem baffling to the American observer.

Genki
Energetic, peppy, full of spirit and vigor. Genki protagonists are great favorites in anime, where intelligence and innate talent are generally less admired than trying your best regardless of success. Some genki types include Shu from Now and Then, Here and There, Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth, Satoshi (Ash) from Pocket Monsters (Pokemon), and Excel from Excel Saga. Genki is a trait that cuts across gender and age, though children and teenagers are more likely to be energetic than adults.

Idols
A peculiarly Japanese phenomenon, idols are entertainers who often achieve sudden fame despite a distressing lack of talent. Most often adolescent girls, idols embody the virtues of cuteness, sincerity, and energetic happiness. Despite worshipful fans, even successful idols usually have brief careers. Some interesting anime that deal with idols include:

Key the Metal Idol
Idol Project
Perfect Blue
Fancy LaLa

Kawaii
Japanese for cute, charming, adorable. However, the word denotes more a state of mind or even a way of life than a mere adjective. The Anime Meta-Review rightly describes the word as, "virtually a philosophy of innocent enthusiasm and joy in life." The high tide of kawaii was in the late 80's, but the sensibility still plays a huge role in anime, manga, and Japanese culture generally. Stores are filled with adorable collectibles, idol singers dress in a fashion that would make Strawberry Shortcake blanch, and even the police and Self Defense forces use cute posters and signage. The modern Japanese woman can decorate her house with Hello, Kitty wallpaper, lamps, and even refrigerators.And the urban rumors of a Hello, Kitty personal massager, which at first glance appears to have a particularly feminine application, is indeed a real product. One sociologist has suggested that kawaii is actually a way for Japanese women to evade the classic male gender stereotyping of mother/whore. A kawaii woman is neither maternal nor sexual, but in her own odd little world.

In anime and manga, kawaii characters tend to have especially large eyes, small mouths and noses, and long,unusual hair. Many characters are young children, but some are older. The list of kawaii anime characters is long, but would include Iris Chateaubriand from Sakura Wars, Ruka chan from Idol project, Meimi the thief from St. Tail, and Kurumi from Steel Angel Kurumi. Sometimes characters are shown in a "Super Deformed," or "SD," style derived from video games. SD characters, even the vilest of villains, are invariably kawaii.

Manga
Japanese comics. Manga account for a staggering 40% of the publishing industry in Japan, and are produced on every conceivable topic for every imaginable audience. In the United States, comics are geared to young males and collectors, but in Japan you are as likely to see a salaryman on a bullet train as a school kid reading them. As a result, the content of manga is as broad as it's audience, and ranges from outright pornography to works of lyrical delicacy. There are entire genres of manga dedicated to golf, sushi chefs, World War II, and ballerinas, to name just a few.

Manga are usually published in large magazines that feature several serial stories. If a story is popular, it may be reissued in book form. Manga have been translated and published in the US for some years, but only recently have Americans seen some of the variety that exists in Japan. Anime is frequently derived from manga series, though tone, plot, and characters may vary wildly from one medium to the next. Like anime, manga is gaining in popularity in this country, and some publishers have even adopted the Japanese format of reading from right to left, which preserves the original layout. For libraries, manga offers a perfect tie-in to anime in video collections.

OAV
Original Animation for Video. See OVA.

Otaku
In Japan, the word has usually been used to describe rabid fans of not just anime and manga, but collecting militaria, cosplay, model building, computer and videogames, and even pornography. As used in Japan, there are connotations of unhealthy obsession and an almost dangerous nerdiness. Anime fans in the United States have embraced the term, and here the word generally denotes a devoted interest. The classic Otaku no Video offers a weirdly amusing take on the Japanese otaku with both an anime story and mock, cinema-verite interviews.

OVA
Original Video Animation, also known as OAV (Original Animation on Video). Created for direct video release, these works generally feature a higher quality of animation than anime for television.

Seiyuu
Japanese word for voice actor. With fewer opportunities in the arts and entertainment industry, voice acting in Japan tends to attract a higher level of talent than the United States. Seiyuu in Japan are generally more highly regarded than their American counterparts. Many voice actors have best selling CDs, do concerts, are featured in best-selling magazines, and even have their own trading cards. An excellent site about seiyuu is maintained by Hitoshi Doi:

http://www.tcp.com/doi/seiyuu/seiyuu.html

Shoujo Anime
Anime for girls. Much of shoujo anime differs from shounen, or boy's anime, by it's preoccupation with relationships and inner feelings. Stylistically, shoujo is often associated with "pretty" drawings, beautiful people, and frames bursting with bubbles, flowers, and other romantic touches. However, shoujo is not so easily pigeonholed, and recent works, such as Angel Sanctuary and Celestial Warrior Ceres are often as graphic and violent as anything for boys.

Shounen Ai
Literally "boys love", a professionally published story featuring love and romance between boys. Long a staple of manga, shounen ai first gained popularity in the 1980's and has proven to have a strong appeal ever since. One would think the audience for this would be limited to homosexual men, but in reality the readership and viewing audience is almost exclusively girls and women. Although a wide variety of shounen ai manga abounds, there is relatively little shounen ai anime. Some examples of anime with shounen ai elements include Gravitation, Zetsuai/Bronze, and Fake. Aside from amateur "slash fiction", there is no discernible equivalent to shounen ai in the United States. An excellent website for shounen ai is:

http://www.aestheticism.net/

Shounen Anime
Anime for boys. The majority of anime (and manga) brought to the United States is shounen, though the balance has shifted in recent years to include more shoujo. Anime for boys is more diverse than cartoons in America, and covers topics such as romance, sports, science fiction, and comedy. Shounen often differs from shoujo anime by its emphasis on action and gadgets, but such generalizations can be misleading.

Spoilers
One of the noteworthy features of anime is the capacity to surprise. Viewers experience genuine suspense, because they literally don't know how things will turn out. Favorite characters my die, heroes may fail miserably, and, to paraphrase the Kurosawa film, the Bad may sleep well. Anime fans get very testy when someone reveals important plot developments in a show they have not seen. When writing about anime, it is considered proper form to note that "spoilers" follow when discussing important story revelations.

Tezuka, Osamu
Sometimes called "The god of manga" and the "Disney of Japan." Tezuka was a medical doctor who decided what he really wanted to do was draw comics and make cartoons. He revolutionized the techniques and themes of manga in the 1950's, and anime in the 1960's. Modern anime and manga would not exist without his influence. Osamu Tezuka World, his official web site in Japan, includes and English language section:

http://www.tezuka.co.jp/

Original Artwork by Monica Chen