AMV- short for anime music video
anime- (ah-nee-may) Japanese cartoons
arigato (gozaimasu)- (ah-ree-gah-toe go-zie-mahs) thanks (a lot) (see also: domo arigato gozaimasu)
baka- idiot, stupid, moron ("Anta Baka?!" slang for "What are you, stupid?"-- this is Asuka's catch phrase in Evangelion; it's short for "Anata wa baka desu ka?")
BGM- background music
bishonen- (bee-show-nen) bishonen is about the equivalent of pretty boy- usually refers to men with long hair and are slight of build (i.e. they look kinda girly).
-chan- a term of endearment added to the end of children's names
chibi- means small in Japanese (see also super deformed)
DL- download
domo arigato gozaimasu- (doh-moh ah-ree-gah-toe go-zie-mahs) super duper big thanks! (see also: arigato gozaimasu)
dubs- anime where the original Japanese dialogue has been dubbed over by American voices- a dubbie is someone who prefers dubs over subs
etchi- (eh-chee) the Japanese pronunciation of the letter "h" which stands for "hentai" (see hentai)
family name- see surnames
fanservice- this phrase was coined by Misato in Evangelion (she used it in the teasers for the next ep)- refers to all of those (ahem) "services" to fans (i.e. panty shots, jiggling parts of the female body, uncalled for shower scenes, bare chested bishonen, etc) that show up in anime
fansubs- anime which is subtitled by fans rather than by big name companies.
hammerspace- refers to the place that anime characters magically pull hammers and other weapons out of
hen- weird, strange (hen desu- that's/it's weird!)
hentai- (hen-tie) lit. means "pervert" or "perverted"- refers to pornographic anime or anime with mature content.
hiragana- this Japanese alphabet is kinda like the ABCs (see also kanji, katakana)
Japanimation- see anime
ja, ne!- bye!/later!
jan ken pon- the game of rock paper scissors (note: jan ken pon doesn't actually mean rock, paper, and scissors; they're just nonsense words ^^)
J-Pop/JPop- Japanese pop music (most of the music in anime falls into this category)
J-Rock- Japanese rock music (some music in anime is this)
kanji- Japanese characters borrowed from China (see also hiragana, katakana)
katakana- yet another Japanese alphabet; similar in many ways to hiragana (see also hiragana, kanji)
kawaii- (kah-why-ee)- cute
konnichiwa- (koh-nee-chi-wa) good afternoon- commonly used to mean "Hello"
-kun- similar to chan, but used primarily for men
manga- Japanese comic books
mecha- generally refers to anime with large robots and other machines in it
minna- also: minna-san- everyone
neko-(neh-koh) cat
OAV- original animated version- in Japan, many anime are released exclusively to video, which are called OAVs
ohayao (gozaimasu)- (oh-hi-oh go-zie-mohs) good morning (polite)
onegai shimasu- one way of saying "please" (there are many ways to say please in Japanese ^^;)- closer to "could you do this for me?" (example: mizu ongegai shimasu- could i please have some water?")
OST- original soundtrack
otaku- (oh-ta-koo) is a way of saying "I", in Japan it is usually used as a word similar to "geek" or "nerd" (i.e. a computer otaku is a computer nerd)- in America it's used to refer to an anime fan
OVA-see OAV
The Pike- short for the Anime Turnpike
RPG- role playing game
-sama- an honorific put at the end of people's names, approximately meaning Lord/Master/Sir
-san- an honorific put at the end of people's names, approximately meaning Mr./Mrs./Ms.
SD- super deformed (see super deformed, chibi)
sempai- (seh-m-pie)- also spelled senpai- there's not exact translation for this, because there's nothing like it in America- it's used to refer to upper classmen, usually those who are mentors to lowerclassmen- example: Hitomi of Escaflowne calls her idol on the track team Amano-sempai
sensei- (seh-n-say) lit. means teacher- usually put at the end of people's names, including teachers, mentors, doctors, etc
shojo- lit. means girl- refers to a style of anime, like series such as Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth.
subs- subtitled anime- a subbie is someone who prefers subs over dubs
super deformed- when characters are drawn as small, cute versions of themselves- also called chibi
surnames- last names are a big thing in Japan; in fact, when writing names, the Japanese put the family name (surname) first and the "first" name last (example, in Japan, arlip fantasmic would be written fantasmic arlip)- this is why anime chars always refer to one another by their last names, unless they are close friends; it's simply more polite that way (example: Sana gets mad at Hayama for calling her by her first name while they're having a fight ^^)
UL- upload
voice seiyuu- (voice say-you) voice actors
yaoi- (yow) refers to male homosexual relationships in anime
yuri- (yer-ee) refers to female homosexual relationships in anime
| ^_^------- | happy face |
| ^^;;^.^ | shortened happy faces |
| ^_~ | winking face |
| ^.~ | shortened winking face |
| ^_^;;;^^; | sweat drop! |
| >_< | frustrated/angry facce |
| ;_; | crying face |
| o_O | i've been staring at the computer screen for 12 hours straight |
| =^^= | neko neko! (cat) |
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