- bishounen- pretty boy.The first
character is "beauty". The second is "small". The third is "year".
"Small-year", or "shounen" is a word used to mean boy,
probably young, meaning between ten and fifteen years old. It generally implies that the boy has not
reached maturity yet. With the first character, it becomes
"bishounen", which is a play on words from the term "bishoujo",
meaning "pretty young girl". A "bishounen" is a boy who is like a
"bishoujo". This would disqualify a lot of characters who, by
current American Otaku definition, are bishounen. A bishounen is
a male who is very feminine, either in looks or in actions, very
pretty, and often gay.
- Dojinshi- Dojinshi are fan produced items for some story line, particularly fan drawn manga.
Doing this is actually quasi-legal in Japan and the makers of the official manga know that the more dojinshi
material out there, the greater the fanship of the real stuff. Many dojinshi groups are very successful and
the quality for dojinshi manga ranges from photocopied and stapled booklets to professionally bound works.
"Dojinshi" literally means something like "same stuff, different people".
- Fansub- fan-subtitled video (by fans for fans)
To get fansubs you either get copies from a friend who has some or acquire them
through the Internet.
- Manga- the Japanese word for comic book
Most Anime stories come from manga.
- OVA (OAV)- stands for "original video animation"This means it was "direct to video" in Japan. Many series are released that way today and several of them have started becoming regular TV series.
- Otaku- An "otaku" is a mega-fan of something, particularly Anima.
"Otaku" literally means "my house".
This is a slang term which carries with it some negative connotations.
- Seiyuu- Japanese word for voice actor or actress
- Sentai- A Sentai TV show is a live action show with costumed heroes and villains.
"Sentai" literally means "corps" or "squadron". These shows involve "rangers" (the heroes) fighting strange monsters in each episode and
their evil fighting equipment almost always includes a giant robot or at least some kind of special
vehicles. The best example of this kind of show is the various "ranger" shows whose action footage
has been reused in the US and collectively called "The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers".
- Shoujo- Shoujo Anime that is aimed at young girls.
"Shoujo" literally means "little girl".
Shoujo Anime includes such series as Sailor Moon and Magic Knights Rayearth.
- Shounen- Shounen Anime aimed at young boys.
"Shounen" literally means "little boy".
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