Androids and Robots - A genre in which there are androids (human appearing thinking machines) or robots (machines with artificial intelligence) in the world. They are usually the good guys. The series shows the world around them through their perceptions as they journey through the world, usually striving to become more human. These tend towards being light comedy.

Anamorphic (or Enhanced Widescreen) - A term used to describe high-quality widescreen DVDs. Most DVDs are anamorphic. A DVD of a widescreen production can be created with a standard 4:3 width to height ratio, and have the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen included as part of that picture. On anamorphic DVDs the widescreen version of the video is squeezed to fill the whole picture. On a standard TV, most DVD players automatically add the black bars to the image, but on a widescreen TV an anamorphic DVD will look better than a 'standard' widescreen one.

Anime (pronounced 'Annie-May') - Japanese animation. A catch all term for animation produced in Japan regardless of style, it comes from the Japanese word for animation. Generally refers to the artistic style, but also a style of characterization and stories developed and commonly used in Japan since the 1950s. Can also be used to describe comics and other still art drawn in the same style.

Baka - The Japanese word for 'idiot' or 'fool'. A common Japanese insult. Very commonly used in fanfics or just as an expression. The sentence version, '[name] no baka', is also relatively commonly used (there is Akane's frequent use of the phrase 'Ranma no baka' in Ranma 1/2).

BGM - Background Music, commonly refers to instrumental background music.

Big-Sweat - A visual symbol for embarrassment.

Bishonen - Japanese for 'beautiful youth', usually male characters drawn near female style.

Blush - A visual symbol for romantic attraction.

Catgirl - A female, anthropomorphic cat-human hybrid character - generally a cute humanoid girl with catlike ears, fur, generally feline features (whiskers, claws, etc) and possibly a tail.

CD - Compact Disc contains about 60 minutes of audio or music, or about 600 Meg of computer data.

Cel - A single drawing used in animation. Cels are (usually) hand painted on a piece of transparent acetate and overlaid on a background picture to produce one frame of the animation. Cels are popular anime collectors' items that can be bought from numerous web-based businesses.

CG - Computer Graphics - refers to computer generated 3D animation (or backgrounds rendered from 3D models). This is becoming common in anime productions.

Chara - Character.

Character Designer - The person who designs the look (face, hair, usually clothes, facial expressions representing different moods and emotions) of each character in an animated production on which the animated art will be based.

Chibi - Short or tiny. A chibi character may naturally resemble a super-deformed character, where the entire body has a smaller, squashed, cuter appearance.

Con - 'Convention' - an official gathering of anime vendors and fans. These range from relatively small regional affairs to massive gatherings of thousands of fans. Standard features include anime viewing rooms, autograph sessions and talks by special guests (Japanese comic artists and voice actors), cosplay areas, and vendor rooms in which anime goods of all sorts can be bought.

Cosplay - 'Costume Play' or 'Cosu-purei'. Amateur theatre, at conventions, in which fans dress up as their favourite characters and enact scenes from the anime.

Cyborgs - A genre in which there are cyborgs (humans enhanced with machine parts or humans who have been biogenetically enhanced) exist in the world. The cyborgs usually are the bad guys whom the good guys (who may also be cyborgs) fight to save the world. These tend towards being fighting, war, battles and conflict.

Digisub - Digital fansub. A digitally produced and distributed fansub. Produced by fans who digitize as-yet-unavailable-in-English anime and added subtitles.

Doujinshi - Doujinshi are generally unofficial, fan produced items (manga), usually by an amateur, based on characters of the official manga. The greater the fanship of the real material the more doujinshi material there will be. 'Doujinshi' literally means something like 'same stuff, different people'. Depending on who publishes these, they can range from legitimate to completely illegal, usually the latter. Despite being illegal, these are generally tolerated in Japan.

Dub - Re-recording the dialogue (and, at times, songs and sound effects) of a program with dialogue in another language. In Anime, it means a Japanese show dubbed into English.

Dub-titled - The situation where the sub-titled version is simply the script of the dubbed version.

DVD - Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc. A CD sized disc, with enough space to store a full length movie in a digital format. Most Anime and movies are now released on DVD. DVD will always give you crystal clear pictures, crisp sound quality, as well as, language options, subtitling or dubbing, and they usually have a number of additional extras on them.

Ecchi (written 'H') - A Japanese word for 'Lecherous', 'Lustful' or 'Dirty'. Usually used by fans to refer to anime and related art of an adult nature (ie softcore eroticism). Properly written 'H' and pronounced 'Ecchi' in Japanese. For reference, the connotation of 'Hentai' in Japanese is closer to the English 'deviant' or 'pervert', while 'Ecchi' is more like 'Lecherous', 'Lustful' or 'Dirty', and generally milder.

Eyecatch - An image or very short piece of animation, usually including music and a series' title, that is usually inserted into the middle of each episode of a Japanese TV series (two halves of the eyecatch framing the mid-episode commercial break). Some newer OVAs also include these, though there would have been no commercial, because fans like them.

Face-plant - A visual symbol for a character being shocked or surprised.

Fan Service - Contains material to titillate adolescent male fans. The most common form being pose shots of female characters. Examples include shower or bath scenes that usually have little to do with the advancement of the story but seem to be generally appreciated by the fans.

Fan-Fiction (Fanfic) - A story written by fans that involves characters from an existing anime series.

Fandub - A variant of the fansub - these are anime videos dubbed by fans.

Fansub - An as-yet-unavailable-in-English anime that has been translated and subtitled by anime fans for fans. Usually available for series that have not yet been translated into English 'officially'.

Flopped - A step in the process of adapting Japanese manga for sale in the English speaking market.

Fun - This is anime made simply because the producers thought it would be fun to do. Tends to be high energy, humourous stuff. It might not have much depth, but a bit of flash and pace can make a nice change now and then.

Furry - Anthropomorphic humanoid versions of animals. Usually cat-human hybrids (aka 'catgirls').

Gainax-Bounce - Gainax (Anime Studio) popularised this form of fan service which suggests that animated breasts have complex and exaggerated physics.

Genki - Japanese word which means a character with lots of health and energy.

H (pronounced Ecchi)- A Japanese word for 'Lecherous', 'Lustful' or 'Dirty'. Usually used by fans to refer to anime and related art of an adult nature (ie softcore eroticism). Properly written 'H' and pronounced 'Ecchi' in Japanese. For reference, the connotation of 'Hentai' in Japanese is closer to the English 'deviant' or 'pervert', while 'Ecchi' is more like 'Lecherous', 'Lustful' or 'Dirty', and generally milder.

Hammerspace - The mysterious secret dimension from which characters draw hammers, mallets, and other various implements of punishment.

Harem - This is partly a genre, partly a formula and partly a recognition of the young male anime audience. The important element is that there is one male, generally shy and reserved around females, who finds himself suddenly at the center of a story involving multiple females who have a tendency towards being extremely cute and sexy.

Henshin - Transformation. This is used to describe the sub-genre of special-effects shows featuring super-heroes. Also used to describe transforming mecha.

Hentai - A Japanese word for 'pervert'. It is commonly used by English-speaking fans to refer to pornographic anime with explicit sexual content. For reference, the connotation of 'Hentai' in Japanese is closer to the English 'deviant' or 'pervert', while 'Ecchi' is more like 'Lecherous', 'Lustful' or 'Dirty', and generally milder.

Hiragana - Japanese written characters, a sub-type of Kana. Each character represents on syllable and has no meaning other than to represent a sound.

Idol Cards - Credit card sized laminated image cards of popular singers or characters.

Idol Singer - The Japanese version of the 'manufactured' and short lived popstar.

Image Album - A CD of music written to accompany a comic book. In Japan, popular comic series will frequently have music CDs produced for fans to listen to, a sort of soundtrack.

Japanese Animation - Anime.

Japanimation - An old, rarely used Americanization of Japanese Animation.

Japanime - An old, rarely used Americanization of Japanese Animation.

Kana - Japanese written characters.

Kanji - Japanese written characters. Each character represents an ideographic symbol (represents a thing or an idea).

Katakana - Japanese written characters, a sub-type of Kana. Each character represents on syllable and has no meaning other than to represent a sound.

Kawaii - A Japanese word for 'Cute'. A fairly frequently occurring word in anime.

Keyframe - A detailed animation cel drawn by one of the head artists producing animation. The space between keyframes is filled with more frames by other (lower paid) artists, producing a smooth transition from, say, one position to another.

Kodomo - This is material intended for children.

LD (Laserdisk or Laser Disc) - A largely obsolete media on which a lot of early anime is stored. Almost all animation in Japan ended up on a laser disc rather than on VHS. LDs can have two separate sound tracks, and US-release anime LDs frequently included both the English dubbed and Japanese soundtracks, with subtitles available through closed captions. They have been replaced by DVDs.

Lemon - A Japanese expression that is used to refer to 'mature' content. For example, fanfics containing raunchy material or erotic scenes are frequently referred to as 'lemony' or something similar.

Letterbox - Video released with the width-to-height ratio decreased in order to preserve the entire picture, rather than chopping off the right and left ends. Those black bars at the top and bottom of the screen that let a 4:3 width-to-height ratio TV display a movie filmed with a wider aspect-ratio (up to 16:9). Seen on movies that were released theatrically in Japan.

Magic Warrior - The genre grouping for super-powered warriors.

Magical Girl (Mahou Shoujo) - A genre directed toward younger (preteen) female viewers, and based around a normal young schoolgirl or group of schoolgirls who are suddenly called upon, or forced into, using their special powers for the protection of peace, goodness and generally saving the world. She usually has some kind of magic powers and a transformation sequence. These powers are normally 'secret', so that her normal life, while challenged, continues alongside.

Mahou Shoujo - Japanese for Magical Girl.

Malleting - A visual symbol for female fury.

Manga (pronounced 'Mahn-ga') - Japanese comic books. Stories told through both images and text. Occasionally also used to refer to Japanese animation. Most anime stories come from manga.

Mecha (pronounced 'Meh-ka') - From the Japanese word for mechanical, Meka. They generally refer to the mechanical vehicles that appear in anime but can also refer to the weapons, vehicles, robots, etc. They are usually individually piloted powered suits (Bubblegum Crisis) or vehicles (Mobile Suit Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Robotech).

Monster of the Week - A term for a simplistic plot structure which is based on a new opponent to meet and defeat each week.

Nihon - Japan.

Nose-Bleed - A visual symbol for attraction and lust, generally by a male.

OVA (or OAV) - Original Video Animation. An anime direct to video release is common in Japan but a rarity in the US. Unlike the US, where direct to video movies are still often seen as a reprieve from a disastrous theatrical release, OVAs in Japan can be big events unto themselves.

Omake - Comedic shorts added at the end of anime which usually add more information or characterization to the story in a humorous manner.

Oni - Japanese word for the mythological Japanese supernatural beings who bridge the gap between the Spirits of the invisible realms and the mortal creatures of the earth. They are a source of many legends and common in anime.

Otaku - Japanese word for obsessive, often used in a disapproving manner, it is more of an insult (having a lot of negative connotations). An 'anime otaku' would be 'obsessive anime fanboy', a 'computer otaku' would be an obsessed computer geek, etc. However this term is taken by many US Anime enthusiasts as a badge of 'honour' to mean an obsessive anime fan.

Parody - This is anime that includes an element of making fun of the real world, which might also include making fun of anime and anime viewers.

Ronin - The Japanese term for a Samurai without a master.

Samurai - The Japanese term for a professional warrior in the service of a Lord.

SD (Super-Deformed) - Anime caricature style of an original character - drawn very short and fat, with emphasized features. A 'cute', doll-like representation of anime characters usually used for comic relief.

Seinen - This is anime aimed at a male, college aged, audience. It tends to have a firm basis in reality even if the content is rich in fantasy.

Seiyuu - The 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 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 'The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers'.

Shoujo - A style of artwork and story created for an audience of young girls. They are characterized by plots that focus on emotions and relationships, with art that tends toward the florid using lanky characters and rather effeminate (but always attractive) men.

Shounen - The Japanese term for 'young male'. A type of anime or manga targeted to the 'young boy' market.

Shounen-Ai - Material including male-male romantic attraction.

Shouta - The term for a mature woman being attracted to young males.

Sport - A popular genre in Japan telling the human story behind the effort, training, dedication and competition.

Sub - Short for 'subtitled' - used to refer to a subtitled Anime.

Super-Deformed (SD) - Anime caricature style of an original character - drawn very short and fat, with emphasized features. A 'cute', doll-like representation of anime characters usually used for comic relief.

Tankouban - A format in which manga is collected.

Tokusatsu - Special-effects. Tokusatsu is used to describe a category of live action super-hero shows (Sentai) and giant monster movies.

TV series - Japanese TV series are done in weekly episodes. These series usually run either for a quarter of a year (12 or 13 episodes) or a half year (24 to 26 episodes) of sequential half-hour episodes, with possible sequel series. They are not usually aired out of order, so they frequently have a more coherent ongoing plot than US series.

VHS - VHS tapes are a video tape format. They are rapidly being replaced by DVDs as the media of choice.

Yaoi - Material involving male-male relationships (generally between young, pretty hero types), generally for a female audience.