General Anime/Manga Glossary

AMV – Anime Music Video – Music and anime combined to portray an anime in a new way. Some traditionalists will not allow American Cartoons to appear in AMVs.

Bishie/Bishōnen – Literally, a pretty boy. Typically a term for a boy who is too pretty to be real or looks feminine because of his beauty.

Bishōjo – A pretty girl, often also connected with a magical girl.

Cosplay – It means both the act of dressing up as a character and is the name for the on stage show where costumes are judged.

CW – The new name for the WB and traditionally a good place for Saturday morning cartoons.

Elevator Parties – When stupid people ride the elevator all night long so the rest of us can’t get to the floor we want. Thankfully, con staff comes down on them pretty hard.

Fan Art – Pictures drawn using other people’s characters. This represents a large portion of the prints for sale in Artists’ Alleys.

Fanfic/Fan Fiction – Stories written about characters and worlds created by others.

Fan Service – A character or action that is designed simply to appeal to male fans (or female fans, but those are less common) through sex appeal like big breasted women and panty shots. Similar to T&A.

Glomp – A flying tackle-hug that is dangerous when not expected.

Het – Short for heterosexual. A dying breed amongst the anime fans.

Hong Kong Sub – A subtitling of an anime that is from Hong Kong. Typically, the original Japanese was translated into Chinese and then into English. Renowned as bad translations.

Lemon – A pornographic story - would be rated over 18 if it was a movie.

Lime – A story containing sex, would typically be rated R as a movie.

Magical Girl - A girl who fights crime and usually goes through a transformation sequence. She is often a “chosen” one and given the power to fight crime through a magical artifact.

Manga-ka – Term for the Japanese artist/writer of a manga.

OTP – One True Pairing. In fandom, this means that two characters are fated to be together. If you truly believe in an OTP, no other pairings involving those characters is acceptable.

OT3 – One True Threesome. This term is a polyamorous spin on the One True Pairing angle. In that vein, the “3” can be switched out with just about any number you like.

OAV/OVA – An anime episode or series that was sent straight to video, is not shown on TV, and is typically very high in quality.

Seme – The top of a yaoi relationship.

Shōjo – Female oriented animes, which tend to focus more on relationships and character emotions. Characterized by female main characters, dramatic plot lines, and female empowerment. Ex - Sailor Moon, Fushigi Yuugi, Ceres, Card Captor Sakura, and Nana.

Shōnen – Male oriented animes, focusing more on plot than characters. Characterized by fan service, male main characters, action, and humor. Ex - Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Bleach, and Great Teacher Onizuka.

UFO Catcher - A small plush doll that originally could be won in Japanese claw machines, but are now commercially available. Some designs are still only available in the machines, making those dolls rare.

Uke – The bottom of a yaoi relationship.

Yaoi/Slash – Pretty boys doing gay things that are gay. Traditionally has nothing to with actual/realistic homosexual relationships, but instead the fangirl’s fantasy.

Yuri/Femmeslash – Like yaoi, but with girls. Again, typically unrealistic and fantasy driven.

Web Comics – Comics that are only released online (though the authors may collect these in book format later) and contain as much variation as the Sunday comics page. Some of these web comics are now being published by the traditional comic and manga publishers.