Japanese otaku lingo
This is the thread for posting any Japanese otaku lingos that one may feel which requires an English definition or clarification. If you would like to carry out a discussion regarding the lexicons and terminology used in the thread, feel free to carry out your discussions at the Japanese otaku lingo discussion thread.
Please help keep this thread looking clean so that people can use this thread as a reference. |
Japanese otaku lingo
I feel bored, so I'll create a thread about several lingos used by otakus:
The prestigious award for the first definition goes to... Tsundere "tsundere," is a term used to describe girls that are cold and strict at first or in public, but becomes all lovey-dovey when they are alone together. Some examples of tsundere characters: Hinagiku and Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku) Sawachika Eri (School Rumble) Kagurazaka Asuna (Mahou Sensei Negima!) Hasegawa Chisame (Mahou Sensei Negima!) Evangeline A.K. McDowell (Mahou Sensei Negima!) Daikuuji Ayu (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien) Nanase Rumi (ONE) Tohsaka Rin (Fate/stay night) Tohno Akiha (Tsukihime) Practically everyone (Tsuyokiss) etc. etc.... Visual example: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10.../tsundere2.jpg [I-know-it's-bad] Usage example: My childhood friend has blonde, twin-tail hair. She is the epitome of a tsundere. |
Zettai Ryouiki ("Absolute Territory")
(the pictures of Tohsaka Rin in the previous post is also a great example of a sexy "zettai ryouiki") Many definitions are sometimes listed in the English wikipedia site, so you might want to use that as a complement to my explanations. As for "absolute territory," I posted this in another thread, but I might as well copy and paste it here as well: Quote:
I am trying to perpetuate the English transliteration "absolute territory," but you can feel free to use zettai-ryouiki if that sounds much more "cooler." I wrote a post about it before the forum crashed, so I try my best to recall what I wrote: "Absolute territory" is the section of the skin that is exposed between the mini-skirt and the overknee socks. The ideal ratio should be 4:1:2.5 (length of mini-skirt : absolute territory : length of overknee socks above the knee). A character that is equipped with such weapon can annihilate vast amounts of brain cells, which can amount to an intense moe~ness that is so destructive that one can overcome one's AT field in less than 0.03 seconds. Many consider Mayura-tan as a prime example of a destructive absolute territory (or you can oggle at Tohsaka Rin's magnificent absolute territory on the previous post): http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/kj1980/mayura.jpg [I-know-it's-bad] Usage example: One of the reasons I love Tama-nee is because of her gorgeous zettai-ryouiki / absolute territory with her white knee-socks. |
Yashigani
Literally, it means "coconut crab," a crustacean species whose habitats are in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. However in otaku lingo, this means "extreme low sakuga quality that is too painful to watch." The term comes from the fourth aired episode of "Lost Universe," which was titled "Yashigani Hofuru." When this episode aired in April of 1998, many viewers complained that the quality of this episode sucked ass. It sucked so much that the anime production staff had to redo the entire episode to put it back to standard. Many of the blame lay on numerous of factors including:
The production staff of "Lost Universe" was plagued from lack of time and communication from the start. When episode one aired, the OP wasn't even completed yet and it actually had SD characters with signs holding up "UNDER CONSTRUCTION." Episode two and three, you can see signs that the Japanese key animators did their best in making refinements. But by episode four, all hell broke loose. Almost every scene had to be redone for the market release. To see a comparison of before and after scenes of episode four of "Lost Universe," see here: http://rashika.sakura.ne.jp/sr/lost/index.html http://homepage1.nifty.com/home_aki/lost4.htm http://nyo-nyo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ysigani/yasigani2.htm http://nyo-nyo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ysigani/yasigani3.htm http://nyo-nyo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ysigani/yasigani4.htm http://nyo-nyo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ysigani/yasigani4.htm Ever since then, the term "Yashigani" has been used to refer to a particular anime episode (or a series) whose quality is obviously well sub-standard to be shown on TV - or just too painful to watch. [I-know-it's-bad] Usage example: The TV version of "Mahou Sensei Negima" pulled off several yashigani in several episodes. |
(Posts #4-9, translation of http://www.kyo-kan.net/column/eroge/eroge1.html, ©Todome Satoshi)
Eroge / Ero-games x Hentai o Ero-games Welcome to Japanese word history 101. The actual original dictionary definition for "hentai" is "someone who acts strangely." Technically, by the old terminology, oh let's say...someone who wore hats on their feet and shoes on their head would be coined as "being a hentai." Flash foward to the 1960s. The world was going through a counterculture revolution - anti-war, sexual openness, etc. Japan was no exception. Sex, started becoming more open, as the young postwar generation began to rebel against the older prewar generation. By means of media and slang term, someone started using "ecchi" as a replacement for sex. The actual Japanese word for "sexual intercourse" is "seikoui." But then again, who the heck is going to use "Let's have sexual intercourse" when a shorter, blunter version "Let's fuck" is available? Same thing in Japan, rather than saying "Anata to seikoui shitai" (I want to have sexual intercourse with you), a shorter, blunter saying "Ecchi shiyouze" (Let's fuck) is available. By now, I take it that most people here knows that the word "ecchi" stems from Japanese pronounciation for the English letter "H" - the first letter in the romanized word for "hentai." Due to this use of "ecchi/hentai" as a replacement for "sex" in the 1960s, the word stuck into the Japanese that "ecchi" (or in Japanese usage, we just write the English alphabet "H" for sex) meant sex (or at least sexual content). By 1980s and early 1990s, we started seeing porno anime and porno games in Japan. In Japan, these were referred to simply as "H-anime" (ecchi-anime) and "H-games" (ecchi-games). For some reason, in the overseas, you guys understood that "ecchi" (H) meant the first letter for the word "hentai," so you began to refer to these animes and games as "hentai anime" and "hentai games." (While in Japan, we never used those...we just used the letter "H" only). And as these games became more and more hardcore with rape, bondage, and tentacles, you guys began to refer to these pictures as being "hentai," whereas in Japan, we just referred to them as being "H-scenes" (ecchi-scenes). But somewhere around the mid 1990s, (some say it began with Leaf's "Shizuku" and "Kizuato," others point a little later to "To Heart") these games gradually began to distance itself from hardcore pornography to story-centric love-simulation games (many point to the immense success of Konami's "Tokimeki Memorial" that started this whole love-sim phenomena). When one company made a huge success in story-based games, many other companies followed. Suddenly, these games weren't just about sex anymore. They actually began to put real effort into actually great stories. And as more and more of these games began to hit the shelves, more and more of us began to ponder: these aren't just "ecchi games" (sex-only games), these are rather "games with actually great stories that just happen to have sex scenes in them." Hence, a new terminology began to appear (by word of mouth, by mass media, etc.) and gradually the terminology "H-anime/H-games" (ecchi-anime/ecchi-games) began to disappear in replacement of "ero-anime/ero-games." For some reason, at least in Japanese minds, the English word "erotic" is less objective than the blunt word "sex." So, rather than the blunt "just sex games" (sex = "ecchi") we began to use the more toned down version of "games with erotic scenes in them (erotic = shortened to "ero" in Japanese)." By the late 1990s, the word "hentai/ecchi" was dead. It still is used for the action verb "let's fuck" (ecchi shiyouze) in everyday language, but the usage of the word "hentai/ecchi" as an adjective had disappeared. It has been replaced by the term "ero." So, from now on, the word "hentai anime," "hentai games," "hentai pictures," and "hentai scenes" are all words that no one in Japan uses anymore. Start using the word "ero-anime," "ero-games," "ero-pictures," and "ero-scenes (actually the actual word in Japanese for "ero-pictures" is "ero-gazou," but that's going too extreme). |
Brief history of ero-games
Chapter One - the dawn of the era
Back in the 1980s, Japan was competing with the United States in establishing a computer standard (obviously, we all know who won). However, Japan was also competing within itself with different companies on who were to set the computer standard. NEC had the PC-88XX series, Sharp had its X1 series, Fujitsu with its FM-7 series, and the Matsushita-Sony-Sanyo triad were shelling out clones of its MSX computers. Now, in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, there was something interesting going on in the Japanese computer market. NEC was releasing two different computers at the time - the PC-88XX for the home market, and the newer and faster PC-98XX series for the business market. At the same time, Sharp released its X68000 - a computer which had the processing power as fast as normal arcade machines at the time with excellent sound (PC-98XX lacked any sound support). Fujitsu released its FM-TOWNS series, which shocked the industry with being the first computer with standard internal CD-ROM drive. One would assume that the PC-98XX, which lacked the "specials" that Sharp and Fujitsu had would be the loser in the computer race. However, NEC's PC-98XX series was clearing leading the path as it dominated the computer market in Japan. Why? At the front, people were saying "softwares such as Ichitaro (A Japanese word processor) and Lotus 1-2-3 that I use at work are easy to install and use it at home too." The reality was "there are tons of ero-games for the PC-98XX!" and "I can spend four times as much and get the more powerful X68000, or I can settle for less and get the PC-98XX to play tons of ero-games!!" The PC-98XX's picture quality was 16-bit, 4096 colors, with a screen resolution of 640 x 400 pixels. While this was not enough to put in normal pictures, it was good enough to display anime-type drawings at a pretty good quality. But then, you may say "The Sharp X68000 and the Fujitsu's FM-TOWNS series were able to handle over 30,000 colors - weren't those displays better to show even higher quality anime pictures?" Ah, touche. Yes, 30,000 colors would look better - except that at that time - games were still played on a thing called "a floppy disk" and only few pictures were be able to stored into a such a high/double density formatted floppy disk. And sure, the FM-TOWNS had the CD-ROM drive, but it was very slow (single speed), and there was no internal hard drive back then (the thought of installing software from a CD-ROM to your hard drive was not considered yet). So the PC-98XX established itself as the computer standard for...ero-games. Ero-games back then were what it said: "an erotic game." Much of the software out there were simple no-brainer & no-story plotlines where you just rape a girl that pops up on the screen. It was good while it sold, but eventually people became exhausted in spending over 8800 yen for something that had mindless sex after sex with a plotline along the lines of a "bad 1980s American porno." Hence, ASCII took a bold step with its "Chaos Angel" - an RPG ero-game. It's success lead to several softhouses such as Elf releasing "Dragon Knight" series, and AliceSoft's "Rance" series. Yet, ero-games were still porno games. A postive light is that at least a good story and plot was introduced into a mindless ramble of "just having sex." But still, "to be an ero-game, it is obvious to have sex scenes" still stood. You still had weak sex/pick-up lines where "the main character goes around and fucks girls everywhere he sees, setting up his own harlem world. Even when an enemy female character comes along, he takes her as captive and rapes her. All the girls that meets the main character falls in love with him instantaneously." Softhouses still clinged on to the idea that "who gives a crap about plot lines - ero-games sells because it has sex scenes!" However, consumers were once again getting bored of repetitive and boring ideas with cheap and somewhat obtrusive plot such as "the girl will die if she doesn't have sex, etc. etc." I mean, c'mon after playing two or three of the same type of games with everything that is out there practically the same thing, do you want to spend another 8800 yen for something that is going to be as similar to what you just played? Just when consumer frustration was mounting, Elf released what was to be the most successful ero-game at the time: Dokyusei (1992) The biggest thing that pulled in consumers was the amount of freedom this game had. You were able to control the main character and move freely among the [two] towns. What was (and was probably Elf's risk and gamble) appalling was the idea "the main character does not need to fuck every girl he sees." Elf did some thinking here. A. Being an ero-game, these games needed to have sex in them B. But sacrificing sex scenes in order to develop a detailed and interesting plot line will also get complaints from consumers: "why can't I have sex with this character? yada yada) C. Yet, if we were to listen to all of their arguments and have the main character go around having sex with every girl he sees, then its the same thing as the other dozens or so games that are already out there. The answer? E. Why not have stories for each different female character, so that the player (consumer) can go after which girl he likes - and if he wants to, can play it again and go after a different girl next time? The Simulation RPG genre was born. What the consumers felt by playing this revolutionary game: A. There is no "easy sex" here - the player actually had to make the correct choices to make the girl you like to like you as well. B. You get the motivation that "Yes! I'm one step closer to getting laid" by going on dates, etc. etc. C. And the reward that you get after going through the hardships, you are rewarded with a sex scene. Elf also went one step further by "how to make the pictures look as if it has many different colors when we can only use 16 colors?" Elf's devised a rather remarkable dither management in combining different colors over another per pixel to "make-believe" that many colors exist was practically an art on its own. |
Brief history of ero-games Pt. 2
Chapter Two - Visual Novels
The next "big thing" for the computer was the introduction of....hard drives. This was the era where no USB nor IEEE1394 existed. Nor was any connectors were on the machine board itself. What you had to do back then was to buy a SASI/SCSI interface card and add the hard drive externally. And, it wasn't as easy as just hooking up the cable - you had tons of driver tweakings and jumper settings to work around with "just to get it work right." Still, people wanted the hard drive even though it was pretty confusing to set up. One theory exists is that the driving force was once again, ero-games. As mentioned in the previous post, "Dokyusei" was a big hit. The game came in eight floppy disks. This game can be played in two different ways: A. Copy and install the files onto your hard drive B. Play it from the floppy itself. If you didn't have a hard drive, you were forced with a very annoying pop-up screen like the following: 1. You go into a house in the map screen 2. "Please insert Disk H into DISK DRIVE 2" 3. Nothing was in the house, and you leave 4. "Please insert Disk D into DISK DRIVE 2" 5. Back at the map screen. Irritating, ain't it? Supposed you accidentally went into a place where you know nothing was in there. You are constantly told to change the disk in drive 2 for each and every time you go somewhere new. Aaagh!!! By the time the sequel, "Dokyusei 2" came out, the game data expanded itself into a whopping 13 floppy disks! By then NEC finally realized the necessity of CD-ROM drives, and started including them in their latest PC-9821 model, boasting 256 displayable colors from 16 million available colors. Around this time, a Super Famicom game called "Otogirisou" was getting much attention. This was a simple adventure/mystery story with an added twist - multi-endings existed in this game. And as the player progressed by completing each ending, a new selection pop-up appeared where there wasn't. Combining background pictures and music, you read the text on the screen and moved the story foward. ChunSoft (the company that made "Otogirisou") called this revolutionary idea as a "sound novel." Shizuku (1996) One relatively new softhouse, Leaf, thought that this might be a good idea to introduce into the ero-game market. With its previous two games being a flop, they decided to gamble by experimenting with the success of the sound novel genre. Leaf decided to take one step further by adding the characters and their facial expressions in addition to just the background and the music and called it a "visual novel." You (the consumer) read as you are the main character (Nagase Yuuichi) of the story, as you dwleve deeper and deeper into the psychotic world of "doku denpa" (roughly translated as "poisonous electromagnetic waves") brain-washing girls into suicide and mass rape. Kizuato (1996) Leaf had another story in mind to go along with Shizuku. If their visual novel experiment failed, they decided to disband. If it was successful, they left its next idea aside so they can release it as soon as their experiment was successful. Obviously, "Shizuku" did fairly well in its sales - at least they didn't have stockpiles of returned games as they did in their previous two flopped games. So Leaf immediately released "Kizuato," their second installement in their Visual Novel series. You (the consumer) once again read the story from the standpoint of the main character (Kashiwagi Kouichi) who dreams that he is going around murdering people. Then, the murder that he dreamt last night came to be the real thing on the news he say the next day? Am I the killer? Am I going around murdering people in the night!? To Heart (1997) The third installment of Leaf's Visual Novel series established themselves in becoming one of the leaders of the current ero-game industry. 180 degrees different from its previous two visual novels, "To Heart" was a heart-warming high school love story. You (the consumer) read the story from the standpoint of second-year high school student, Fujita Hiroyuki. During the course of the spring semester, you meet different girls - all of whom have something special and you choose to fall in love with one of them. Perhaps the biggest hit was the extremely heart-warming story of one cute little maid robot named HMX-12 Multi. Multi's hard work, the sad good-bye, and the dramatic ending where they meet once again ran tears down many eyes. Interestingly, the main heroine of the game was supposed to be Kamigishi Akari, but fan overwhelmingly voted Multi as the most favorite character in the game. Multi, in fact, has established itself as an iconic figure in the otaku world. The CD-DA vocal music that was used in this ero-game (unprecedented at the time) was such a dramatic hit that it was selected to be a song to be sung at karaoke machines (also, unheard of - karaoke machines have the latest hit songs, but never was a vocal music from an ero-game ever introduced into karaoke tracks) The success and effect of Leaf's gamble was immediately recognized. Many have been pondering "what is the best way to have consumers enjoy ero-games and have them play a good game at the same time?" The answer was what Leaf had just done: Visual Novels. A. This system is rather simple and straight foward game, yet open to limitless possibilities B. All you need is several great pictures, good music, and a great storyline. C. No need for mind-boggling high-level programming or to think about game balances D. If you have the right staff, a great game can be made with little investment Hence, many softhouses began to take this path. Visual Novels have arrived. |
Brief history of ero-games Pt. III
Chapter Three - "Crying games" hit the standard"
Formerly, the I/O systems for most games were very keyboard oriented. For example, you would type in "GET KEY" to get a key on the screen to open a door later in the game. One problem is that computers are stupid. For example, the door wouldn't open when you type in "open door," but you'd had to type in "kick door" to have it budge. Hence, many ero-games became mouse pointer oriented. Dokyusei had mouse pointers with selections such as "rub breasts," or "finger the clitoris." But, as the visual novels started to become the standard for ero-games, less and less selection points came into play - the main point of visual novels was that selection points were popped up only when it became to deal with what is going to happen in the story: A. You decide to run away (leads to bad ending) B. You decide to face your fears up front (continues story) Consumers didn't want some flashy and hard to remember keyboard inputs nor spend two hours reading the manual just to figure out how to play the damn thing. They want it to install it and play it ASAP. Solution - simplify. Since then, the gaming system engines for ero-games were tweaked little by little to give the best possible engine that is user-friendly to the consumers. Now by this time, computers were running on the Windows 95 platform. Ero-game makers suddenly had much more freedom in doing CG art - now they can utilize as many colors as they want and store as much more data on a medium called the CD-ROM. Elf's "Kono Sekai no Hate de Utau mono ~YUNO~" was perhaps the last game that was released for the DOS format - with much acclaim and show that will be remembered as the pinnacle of artistic work of DOS ero-games. Now, as I mentioned in the previous post, "To Heart" was a major hit game. Multi's story was so heart-warming that it gave a hypothesis to one softhouse that perhaps heart-warming stories that make the player cry were the thing to make a hit. ONE ~kagayaku kisetsu e~ (1998) The core members of the softhouse, Tactics thought up of a simple formula: (comedic first half) + (heart-warming romantic middle) + (tragic separation) + (emotional get together) = "crying game" "ONE" was exactly written in this formula. You play the role of a high school students named Orihara Kouhei, who on the surface is enjoying high school life by meeting several girls. But deep within in his inner self, you yearn to spend an eternity with your sister, who died several years ago - one in which you blame yourself for her death. The first half of the game is very comedic and fun. However here and there, you have philosophical flashbacks about "sheeps in the field" and "the infinite sky." Around the turning point, you have a heart-warming romantic relationship with a girl that you'd chosen. However, this where everything starts a down turn - suddenly, people that knew you before begins to forget about you. One by one, your friends and teachers starts to forget that you even exist - this is because you've chosen the path to spend an eternity rather than make yourself exist in this world. Tragedy is that you'd just started a romantic relationship...will the person that you professed that you love also forget about you as well!? Of course, it is up to the scenario writer to how well he can write a story that makes the consumer read onto the story without ever realizing that its all a matter of a simple formula (think: Stephen King novels - they are all the same formula, but it's still a best seller) Kanon (1999) The creators of "ONE" realized that their formula was indeed what made a game successful. The main creators broke off from tactics and started their own softhouse - Key, to create one of the pinnacles of ero-game history to date. "Kanon" was released on June 4, 1999. Speculation was amounting that this game is a major "watch-for" item even before it went on sale. The beautiful CG art, the astounding music, and the atmosphere of the story was captivating. Consumers were wondering, "would these guys that disbanded from tactics be capable of doing something greater than their previous work?" They did. "Kanon" was created somewhat of a anti-thesis of "ONE." Instead of the main character going to eternity, this time it was the heroines who had something. Mainly, Tsukimiya Ayu was indeed a spiritual being who runs around the town looking for her beloved Yuuichi - with a very emotional ending. "Kanon" is touted as the best ero-game of all time. Well, that is a subject open to debate, but it sure did leave deep marks for not only the ero-game industry, but for otakus all across Japan. "Kanon" was such a big hit - that it is not that surprising to say "you cannot call yourself an otaku without going through the baptism of playing Kanon." The success of "ONE" and "Kanon" on their formula to creat a "crying game" was adopted by many softhouses. For example, just to mention a few: D.O.'s "Kana ~Imouto" KID's "Memories Off" (non-ero game) CIRCUS' "D.C.~da capo~" Studio Mebius' "SNOW" minori's "Wind ~a breath of heart" were all major hit ero-games that can be said that they were very much influenced by Key's formula. Even age's "Kimi ga Nozomu Eien" was somewhat of a twist of this formula by adding in a "diluted and dirty love triangle relationship" into the scenario play. As the Visual Novel standard was adopted, the erotic parts in ero-games began to become less and less apparent. More and more people who used to reject such type of games began to become more open-minded that it isn't just about sex anymore. And as more and more softhouses began to adopt the "crying game" standard, both the industry and the consumers began to look at "hey, ero-games CAN have great stories after all!" Hence, a successful ero-game transformed itself from: [hard-core porno games with mindless sex] -------> [heart-warming love simulation game with an added touch of sex] |
Brief history of ero-games Pt. IV
Chapter Four - Importation of such games into Console Consumer Market
It is obvious that "games with better story" had more "citizenship rights" to be imported over to the console market than cheap-sex games. One of the first ero-games to be imported over to the console was Elf's "Dragon Knight 2" which was released on the PC-Engine. To be imported meant several things: A. The game was successful enough that it could be sold on consumer consoles B. But of course, there are tighter restricitions on console systems, so erotic sex scenes need to be cut out On the plus side, the consumer console market had some pretty good gaming systems that they were capable of doing something that the ero-games for the PC couldn't back then - add character voices. Elf's "Dokyusei" also followed in a similar fashion - first on the PC-Engine and then on the Sega Saturn. F&C's "Pia Carrot" series lead the path by importing much of their series onto the console format. And Leaf attained much success to non-PC users by heavily promoting their "To Heart" game onto the Sony Playstation. During the mid 1990s, the console game industry was moving from the triad lead of Super Famicom/Sega Megadrive/NEC PC-Engine towards the dual superpowers of Sony Playstation vs Sega Saturn. During this time, the PC-Engine was becoming a dying format in which it managed to survive as long as it could by utilizing its voice capability on its CD-ROM2. The Sega Saturn and its successor, the Sega Dreamcast will inevitably follow a similar pattern as well. The last Dreamcast sale was on December of 2001, but still importation of ero-games onto the Dreamcast still continues to this date, such as: Tsuki wa Higashi ni, Hi wa Nishi ni ~Operation Sanctuary~ (2004.6) Patishe Nyanko ~hatsukoi wa ichigo aji~ (2004.9) Suigetsu ~Mayoi gokoro~ (2004.10) What is happening to the industry as a whole is that they began to understand that hard-core maniacs are suckers: A. An ero-game is released on the Windows platform B. If the game was successful, it will be imported onto the Dreamcast with sex scenes cut out. As an added plus on removing sex scenes, new scenarios, event graphics, and possibly a new character may be introduced on the Dreamcast version C. Wait several months later, and release the game onto the more popular PS2 format. Some alterations are made, perhaps the OP theme might be changed to distinguish it from the Dreamcast version. As a plus for those who bought the Dreamcast version, they might add some more new scenarios D. After several months, they will re-import all the added items from the consumer console release back into the PC format as an "all ages version" E. Or they may re-import all the added items from the consumer console release and re-add the sex scenes to all the new characters that they added. Hard-core maniacs are suckers. They will buy all of them. Each time a new "release" is made, the makers add something special into them that drags Mr. Yukichi (the guy on the 10,000 yen bill) out of our wallets. Here's an example of some extreme manipulation: 1. An ero-game called "Green Green" was released 2. They decide to release two different consumer console versions of "Green Green" - one for the XBox titled "Green Green ~Kane no Iro Dynamic~" and the other for the PS2 "Green Green ~Kane no Iro Romantic~." Both had new extra characters on them...except that the added character on the XBox version was different from the the added character in the PS2 version 3. HOWEVER! Since the XBox isn't doing so well in Japan, they've decided to drop the XBox version "Green Green ~Kane no Iro Dynamic" all together and release that for the PS2 instead 4. BUT! They still released the original PS2 version's "Green Green ~Kane no Iro Romantic" as well 5. Hence what you ended up was that you had two games with the same title on the same PS2 platform, with each version having two different extra characters than the other! 6. Basically, what the softhouse is saying is that "if you want to play the two new characters, you have to buy both versions" Hard core maniacs are suckers. We know it ourselves. They know it all too well too. But then, what the softhouses are doing is nothing more than following basic Japanese marketing strategy that had developed since the 1970s - milking money out of people who will buy them (I believe that the American anime distributor ADVFilms is practically following this marketing strategy from what I have been reading on this board for the past year or so). What is happening here is that instead of "having your favorite game being imported onto the console game that you own," it is more like "when your favorite ero-game is imported, you HAVE to buy all of them" |
Brief history of ero-games Pt. V
Chapter Five - Ero-games becoming Anime
(text written back in 2004) Actually, this isn't all that new. Many ero-games did become animated. However, they were only restriced to being "18 and older" pornographic OVA anime releases. It is simple to say that "well duh, the original game was erotic, isn't it obvious that the anime is going to be porno material for the adult video market?" However, the truth was that the anime versions of these ero-games barely touched on the actual story and plot lines - most of the animated parts were focused on sex scenes. In a sense, these OVAs were not truly "the anime version of the original ero-game." But then, one anime began to open a path to change all that. In 1998, an anime called "Night Walker ~Midnight Detective" was aired as a twelve episode anime series (obviously sex scenes were cut out). The original ero-game was released back in 1993. This is the first actual anime TV series that was based on an ero-game. Around the same time, "Dokyusei 2" also aired, but this was more like "re-hashing the erotic OVA episodes, and editing them without the sex scenes for airing on TV." While it "Night Walker" and "Dokyusei 2" did get attention at the time, the anime itself didn't do so well. However, in the same year, the TV series "Sentimental Journey" which was based on the gal-game "Sentimental Graffitti" did pretty well (pretty ironic since the original game was crap). The success of this ignited the light that "TV anime inspired by ero/gal-games actually had some market value" The first real successful TV anime that was inspired by an ero-game was technically AQUAPLUS' (the consumer arm of the softhouse Leaf) "To Heart" in April of 1999. By this time, the Japanese anime industry was in a situation where dozens or so anime companies were scrambling against each other for short 13~26 episode late-night spots on TV channels. Otakus call this "shinya-waku ranritsu jidai" (The war of late night TV spots). Anime companies wanted ideas fast to get a lead from their competitiors. Ero-game companies yearned to "make something like an anime, but don't have the money to do so." Eventually, the two got their points together, and you started have more and more anime based on ero/gal-games being released. Just from what I can think of, here are the "anime based on ero/gal-games as they increased by year": 1998 Dokyusei 2 Night Walker ~Midnight Detective~ Kakyusei ~Anata dake o Mitsumete~ Sentimental Journey 1999 To Heart Kakyusei 2000 Sakura Taisen 2001 Comic Party Sakura Taisen ~the Movie~ 2002 Kanon Pia Carrot e Youkoso! the Movie ~ Sayaka no Koi Monogatari~ 2003 Lime-iro Senkitan Green Green D.C. ~da capo~ Popotan Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito Kimi ga Nozomu Eien Shingetsutan Tsukihime 2004 Kita he ~Diamond Dust Drops~ Yumeria Tsuki wa Higashi ni, Hi wa Nishi ni ~ Operation Sanctuary~ Wind -a breath of Heart- To Heart ~ Remember my Memories~ Kakyusei 2 ~Hitomi no Nakano Shoujo Tachi~ Mahou Shoujo Lilikal Nanoha Final Approach W ~Wish~ Harukanaru Toki no Nakade Myneribe 2005 AIR (TV series) AIR (the movie) Suki na Mono wa Suki dakara Shouganai IZUMO2 Lime-iro Senkitan X MuvLuv (?) As you can see, more and more big-hit ero-games started coming onto the TV anime format. Leaf's "Comic Party," CIRCUS' "D.C. ~da capo~," Key's "Kanon," and age's "Kimi ga Nozomu Eien," just to name a few. Then again, there are also anime based on ero-games that didn't do so modestly - such as "Popotan" and "Yami to Hon no Tabibito." These were more like they were selected due to the high quality of their CG work (both of these ero-games were done by pretty famous illustrators). In the end, even a doujin game - TYPE-MOON's "Tsukihime" went on to become an anime. Right now, it is not so modest to say that currently, "ero-games are created with an anime market in their view." I mean I'm sure I am not the only one who already sees "Fate/stay night" as an obvious anime marketing material. In 2001, the first movie based on a all-ages love simulation game was released - Sakura Taisen The Movie. In 2002, "Pia Carrot ~Sayaka~" became the first anime movie that was based on an ero-game. Early next year, the second anime movie based on an ero-game, "AIR" will be released. It is astounding that the director for this is Sir Dezaki Osamu - a highly respected veteran anime director who directed major classic anime hits such as "Kyojin no Hoshi" and "Ace o Nerae!" In 2005, the first TV anime based on a ero-bishounen game (ero-game targeted for girls), "Suki na Mono wa Suki dakara Shouganai" will also begin airing on TV. The momentum for ero-game turned anime is unstoppable. Non-erotic bishoujo games turned anime also increased. As noted above, in addition to "Sentimental Journey" (based on "Sentimental Graffitti"), you have "Kita e ~Diamond Dust Drops~," "Sakura Taisen," and "Harukanaru Toki no Nakade." Perhaps, you can also add animes such as "Sister Princess" and "HAPPY LESSON" to the list. I mean, "you suddenly have 12 young sister all in love with you," or "you have five beautiful moms as your teachers looking after you." The plot line screams that it could've come from an ero-game. But, I intentionally left these two out since these two were original ideas that were serialized on Dengeki G's Magazine. Then what kind of anime do these ero/gal game based stories evolve into? Well, duh. If you take in what was in the original story as an anime, you have a single male lead revolving around dozens of pretty girls - a typical harlem anime. While going through each sub-heroines' story, the main plot line evolves by maintaining and growing the relationship between the main male lead and the main heroine. Then there are those anime where no male lead exists at all and everything is told from the female characters' point of view ("Popotan" and "Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito"). And then, there are those anime where each episode focuses on each individual female characters without the existence of a male lead ("Kita e" and "Sentimental Journey") And then there are some interesting titles such as the anime version of "Comic Party." The main story of the anime involved the male lead, Sendou Kazuki working hard to attain the pinnacle of the doujin world. Interestingly, this ero-game based anime had the female characters as supporting roles rather than a love interest. "Mahou Shoujo Lilikal Nanoha," which currently started airing this season is also pretty interesting to note about. This all began as a spin-off of the ero-game "Triangle Heart 3 ~ Sweet Songs Forever~" as a joke. The extra joke story within the original game was "what if we take the main character's younger sister and make it into a magical girl story?" (Think of it as something like the relationship of "Tenchi Muyo" to "Pretty Sammy" or "SoulTaker" and "Nurse Witch Komugi-chan"). Somehow this joke began to turn into reality (which is why the saying goes in Japanese anime industry "don't make a joke without thinking about the consequences"). What you have here now is a mahou shojo story that was originally developed as a joke plot within an ero-game. Another interesting note is on the voices for these types of ero-game turned anime (or ero-game turned consumer console games). There are usually two ways these occur: A. The seiyuu cast is entirely different from the ero-game and the anime/console version ("D.C. ~da capo~") B. The seiyuus sound exactly the same, but the names are different Focusing on "B," you have a character on the ero-game version and a character in the anime whose seiyuu's names are different, but they sound exactly the same. This is because the seiyuus use pseudonyms (even they themselves don't mind, their talent agency does not want the image of their seiyuus doing the voices for an erotic game, especially if they are rather well known seiyuus). Hence, what you have is something written like "the reason why you think they sound the same is because the seiyuus are long-lost relatives to each other" (How it was explained on NekoNeko Soft's HP for the consumer versus ero-game version for their game, "Mizuiro") Say for instance, you have a big name female seiyuu who has leads roles in NHK children's anime show, using a pseudonym when she plays the role of a nice and grudging sister on a big hit ero-game (more bluntly: Mizuhashi Kaori = Uehara Tomomi). And you have a big name male seiyuu who in the light plays the role of a hard-broiled car driver while he uses a different name to make appearances in many ero-games. (Once again, more bluntly: Koyasu Takehito = Jumonji Hayato) |
Seiyuus and their pseudonyms
There are many factors why seiyuus use pseudonyms...in fact the seiyuu name that you know might not be their real name at all! Here in Japan, many talents have gei-mei - a name that is amusing and interesting to remember. For example, there was this one famous talent who recently passed away that every Japanese people knew whose name was Ikariya Chousuke. However, "Ikariya Chousuke" was his gei-mei (talent name) spelled いかりや長介, while his actual name was "Ikariya Chouichi," spelled 碇矢長一. Seiyuus are not an exception. Some may keep their own name. Others, would change their name so it "sounds" interesting to remember. Hmm, a bad example would be some guy who has a great song, but the record company finds his real name to be rather boring, like John Smith. So the record company gives him a kick-ass name like Elvis Bon Jovi. While his driver's license and birth certificate still says "John Smith," he is now known to the world as "Elvis Bon Jovi." Like I said, it's a bad example. So, a seiyuu name that you might know, may not be his/her real name...which you won't know. For instance, Kawamura Maria (I guess Americans would best know her as Naga from "Slayers"). "Kawamura Maria" is her gei-mei, and her real name is Kawamura Shigeyo. So, going back, yes it was obviously known that Uehara Tomomi = Mizuhashi Kaori. You can alterate Akane's voice within your brain (nounai-henkan) to Rosetta in "Kaleidostar" (to me, it was the other way around - Rosetta alterates to Akane). But then, there is no guarantee that even Mizuhashi Kaori is her real name...perhaps she maybe married and no one knows that, so her surname might be different now. But for now, Mizuhashi Kaori is her "front name" that she uses in "normal" anime, while Uehara Tomomi (and countless others she has used such as Nanoda Sanae and Tsukishima Rio) was her "back name" that she uses in ero-related anime and games... Some seiyuus choose to use their name for both worlds. For instance, Ueda Yuuji and Seki Tomokazu uses their name without change "Akane Maniax." On the other hand, others separate their usage for "front" and "back" like Hoshi Souichiro, who goes by the pseudonym "Aiba Tsuyoshi" as Shirogane Takeru in MuvLuv. There are numerous reasons that one can think of...to protect their image, because they were "advised" (meaning, "you'd better change your name or else we'll fire you) from their talent-production agency, or just for the fun of it. Other notables include: Tezuka Maki = Nabatame Hitomi Misaki Rina = Itou Shizuka which like in the "light," they tend to appear in the same ero-games as well. If you know how to read Japanese, you can find the listing of seiyuus and their pseudonyms (should they have one, of course) here: http://www.geocities.jp/gp44103/index.html |
Gijin-ka
Bringing "life" into inanimate things or objects; to make an inanimate object with human characteristics and persona. It's in many ways similar to national personifications such as "Uncle Sam" as the U.S., "Marianne" symbolizing France, and "John Bull" as a caricature of the U.K. The most well-known examples are OS-tans. However, other examples include internet browsers, countries (Afghanistan), to trains, convenience stores, cigarette brands, Mobile-Suits (notably Acguy-tan), etc. etc. The imagination of gijin-ka is limitless to moe~ kimo-otas. [I-know-it's-bad] Usage example: Someone should do a ginjinka of computers like Dell-tan and VAIO-tan. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if there were either. |
Quote:
You can see scene and cut comparions between the crappy one versus the refined version on the links in post #3 of this thread. |
doku-denpa
Literally, "poisonous electromagnetic waves." The term originated by a lunatic who caused the notorious Fukagawa Toori-ma Jiken (Fukagawa Street Murders) in 1981. The assailant, Kawamata Gunji, was high on illegal substances and started slashing innocent bystanders in broad daylight. Two housewives and two toddlers were killed, with many more seriously injured. Pleading insanity in court, he described that denpas (electromagnetic waves) told him to start killing people. Motion was rejected and he currently serves life without parole. By early 1990s, the term "electromagnetic waves" began to appear here and there among sub-cultural literature and music. Several sub-cultural elites began to coin the term "denpa-kei" to decribe people who acted strangely as if being subject to hypnosis and/or being controlled by electromagnetic waves (much like radio waves are used for remote-controlled toys). The ero-game "Shizuku" is credited to spreading the term denpa to otakus. The plot heavily used the term "doku-denpa" (poisonous electromagnetic waves) to describe the actions of numerous characters who held disillusions of school society. Since then, the term "denpa-kei" began appearing in many forms across various media. Previously, the noun "kichigai" was a derogatory word for "crazed lunatic," the term "denpa-kei" is often used as a euphemism instead. As "denpa" literally means "electromagnetic waves," it can also be used to describe extremely moe~ songs (i.e. the weirder and moe~ ones sung by KOTOKO, Momoi Haruko, etc. etc.) who lyrics and tunes are so weird but you listen to it anyway. The rationality is that you have been hyptonized and are now in control by the weirdness of that song. [I-know-it's-bad] Usage example: If you like "Neko Mimi Mode," you have been contanimated with doku-denpa. Hanajima Saki in "Fruits Basket" is oftenly portrayed as a character who receives/projects some sort of denpa. |
oyashiro-mode/higurashi-mode
This term is still in it's infacy, but I would like to spread the usage of it. The term "oyashiro-mode" describes the description of the character in my avatar - Ryuuguu Rena from "Higurashi no Naku Koroni." A normally cute and lovely character, who suddenly becomes psychotic in an instant triggered by a certain shocking event. This trait is often associated with cold smile, blank staring eyes, psychotic actions (like stirring in an empty pot), sudden bursts of euphoria and anger, etc. Note the similarities between: Ryuuguu Rena from "Higurashi no Naku Koroni"......................................and that famous shot of Fuyou Kaede from "SHUFFLE!" http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...atter_rena.jpghttp://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...teru_kaede.jpg [I-know-it's-bad] Usage example: I must've pissed in my pants the first time I saw Rena's oyashiro-mode kick in. |
cours / kur (pronounced similar to "Coor" as in the beer "Coors" without the "s" sound)
The lingo "cours / kur" (written in romanization as "kuuru") is a lingo used in the entertainment industry to denote 3 months of air time. In English, it would closely mean "seasons." However, there is a slight difference between broadcast "seasons" used in America versus the "cours / kur" that is used in Japan. Then again, an American "season" roughly mean 24 episodes so the term cannot be used equivocally as well. The origins of the word "kuuru" is believed to come from the French word "cours" or the German word "kur." Loosely, they both mean the English word "course" and "cure" respectively, meaning "time of course needed for cure/treatment." Although there is no true answer which one is correct, I tend to use the German word "kur" when I write it. Hence from down on, I'll use "kur" as my preference. Obviously, it's a pun in the entertainment industry. A kur is necessary to see if the show is going to be interesting, and the "treatment" (grabbing viewer ratings) during the "course of run" (airing time of 3 months) becomes a factor whether the show will be continued or dropped for more "cours/kur." However, this doesn't hold true for most anime shows airing late at night since they are slotted to be 1 or 2 kur from the start anyway. 1 kur means 3 months. Hence some shows may have 12 episodes, some may have 13 episodes, and rarely some have 14. There is no specific number of episodes for 1 kur. It's a relative estimate of a division of TV shows into 3 months blocks. While kur maybe similar to the term "season" used in American TV industry, it is somewhat different. A "season" in Japanese entertainment lingo would be "ki." Hence, I would call a kur a subdivision of "season" So let's use this in anime terms. Shingetsutan Tsukihime had 1 kur totalling 12 episodes Kimi ga Nozomu Eien had 1 kur totalling 14 episodes Shakugan no Shana had 2 kur totalling 24 episodes (1st kur: 1-12, 2nd kur: 13-24) Mai-Otome had 2 kur totalling 26 episodes (1st kur: 1-13, 2nd kur: 14-26) Getting it? Now let's move on to what I mean by kur as "subdivision of seasons." Rozen Maiden had 1 kur totalling 12 episodes (1st season) Rozen Maiden ~traumend~ had 1 kur totalling 12 episodes (2nd season) Full Metal Panic! had 2 kur totalling 24 episodes (1st season) Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu had 1 kur totalling 11 broadcasted episodes (2nd season or not, depends on how you look at it) Full Metal Panic! the second raid had 1 kur totalling 13 episodes (3rd season, some prefer to consider Fumoffu as separate and this as 2nd season) So to answer the question in another thread, Fate stay/night is 1 season with 2 kur totalling 24 episodes. |
Quote:
These subtleties of Japanese is what make this language difficult - as much as synonyms in the English language has their similarities yet with distinctive tones of usage. Besides, "hentai" is an adjective used to describe a person's actions. It is odd to have it used as an adjective to describe an inanimate object like a game or an anime. |
Quote:
Hentai = something abnormal or pervert (most commonly used as a noun for pervert) whereas in the West, it somehow became, Hentai = anime porn. So it's a little funny whenever I see someone go "I love watching hentai". I'm not sure what's so fun about watching perverts, but that's just me. =========Might as well contribute one Moe Youso / Moe Zokusei Translates to "Moe Elements / Moe Properties". An otaku term used to describe a specific property or situation involving characters in a way that makes one feel "moe". This can also be used when referring to a specific point about characters that strikes one as a "weakpoint" ("I found out what my moe property is", for example). It's almost impossible to list all known moe properties since they can consist of pretty much anything, and some may be more obscure compared to others, but here are some most common examples: Tsundere / Meganekko / Nekomimi / Usamimi / Maid / Miko / Nurse / Teacher / Senpai (senior) / Kouhai (junior) / School Uniform / (School) Swimsuit / Loli / Yuri / Childhood Friend / Oneesan (older sister) / Imouto (little sister) / Mother / Stepsister / Itoko (cousin) / Wife / Twins / Big Breasts / Small Breasts / Kneesock (with color variations) / Garters / Tights / Absolute Territory / Ojousama / Iincho (class president) / Student Body President / Librarian / Displinarian / Mahou Shojo / Elf / Fairy / Crybaby / Shy / Silent / Obedient / Tennen Boke (natural airhead) / Yamato Nadeshiko (traditional beauty) / Dojikko (clumsy) / Ijimerarekko (abused) / Otenba (tomboy) / Uwamezukai (eyes looking up at you, puppy eyes) / Apron / Naked Apron / Oversized Long Sleeve Shirts / Striped Clothings (ex. underwear) / Frilly Clothings / Pyjamas / Panty / No Panty / Short Hair / Long Hair / Ahoge / Ponytail / Twintails / Mitsuami (braids) / Osage (single long braid) / Okappa (bobbed hair) / (various hair colors) / Odeko (high forehead) / Ribbons / Yukata / Chinese Dress / Kansai-ben / Strange favorite sayings ("Uguu" or "Gao", for example) / Denpa (says strange or nutty things) / ... Ok yeah I'm going overboard. |
Fujoshi
It is a pun on the word 婦女子 (fujoshi: high-class girls) by replacing the first word to read 腐女子 (fujoshi: literally, "rotten girls"). It is a term used by girls to self-mock themselves about being "rotten." That meaning - fujoshis are the ones that always think of BL (boy's-love) relationships, yaoi-like ideas, have extreme curiosity in portraying two sexy guys together (like Cloud x Sephiroth), etc. etc. Basically, it is the terminology used to describe "yaoi-loving fangirls" as they are called outside of Japan. In many ways, Haga Reiko and her friends in "Comic Party" and Ohno Kanako from "Genshiken" can be portrayed as a stereotypical fujoshi. Hoping that this term catches on, I'm going to be checking how many American girls are holding placards proclaiming "I AM A FUJOSHI!" rather than "I love yaoi!!" at this year's Anime Expo. wwwww |
Kyun Kyun
A sound effect used to describe one's feelings when their heart warms up and feels breast pain due to love. Numerous moe~ type songs utilizes this sound effects in their lyrics (notably KOTOKO in her moe~ songs in ero-games). Maid waitresses in maid cafes also use this to be moe~ to their customers. It is often written as ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｷｭﾝｷｭﾝ! There are many theories how this term came into usage, but I tend to prefer the SE used in Lin Minmei's debut song "Watashi no Kare wa Pilot" from "Choujikuu Yousai Macross" as it was one of my favorite shows as a child. In that song, Minmei sings the tune "kyu~n kyu~n, kyu~n kyu~~n" in her lyrics as a description of flying VF-1 Valkyries overhead. The lyrics to that song is also a soliloquy of how she feels as her boyfriend (Ichijou Hikaru) is a pilot. [I-know-it's-bad] Usage examples: My heart goes kyun kyun when I see Rika-chama going nipa~☆ Lyrics from "Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsudamon~": sukisukisu kiss kiss kiss kiss. Kyun kyun! |
kuro-rekishi ("Dark History")
Something that is so bad, it is never discussed or brought up again as it never happened. The word comes from the frequent usage of the term kuro-rekishi in the anime "Turn-A Gundam." In it, the story tells of how all the previous Gundam animes were part of one singular kuro-rekishi whose wars and technologies are part of an advanced lost history. Scenes of all the previous Gundam animes make cameos, along with excavations of mechas (previous gundams, zakus, etc.) from the kuro-rekishi era. The terminology was since assimilated into otaku lingo to describe past works that are just so darn horrible that it should never be mentioned again. Examples of kuro-rekishi titles: Mirai Shounen Conan II Taiga Adventure Due to viewer response, the "Mirai Shounen Conan II" part was dropped from the title. Sister Princess First season's sakuga and story quality sucked big time. Many fans joked when the second TV series' title was named "RePure." And by looking at the second season, it seemed that was what the anime staff had in mind - to throw out the previous one as an utter failure and to "re-puritize" the SisPre franchise to the way it should've been. Macross II Much like Highlander II, both "sequels" almost killed the franchise. Secret of Blue Water Nadia - The Movie The movie departed much from the original TV series that many say it was a totally different anime. Shingetsutan Tsukihime Especially hard-core TYPE-MOON fans dislike the way they butchered the story. Ciel-sempai not eating curry and eating spaghetti instead? Blasphemy!! Mahou Sensei Negima! Weird hair colors, declining sakuga quality, poor script writing had even the original manga author in sweatdrops. www Hellsing (TV version) Blasphemy. That's why another company are doing the OVA. Lupin III - Fuuma Conspiracy Change the entire voice cast of Lupin III!? How dare they do that!!! The term kuro-rekishi has also encompassed to anything that should be put under the rug, never to be spoken of again. For example: Miyamura Yuko The time she appeared in a porno before she became well-known seiyuu. The manga version of Suzumiya Haruhi by Mizuno Makoto Mizuno Makoto's manga version of Suzumiya Haruhi was published back in September of 2004, but it was so bad that fans refused to acknowledge it. When a new serialization was made on Shounen Ace by Tsuganogaku in 2005, the publishers even said that "this is the first manga adaptation of Suzumiya Haruhi," officially putting Mizuno Makoto's version as something to be never mentioned again. |
Kyo-Ani
Abbreviation for the anime production studio Kyoto Animation. Obviously, the name comes from because that they are located in Kyoto. They started off as a finalization touch up studio for Mushi-Pro. However, as their production values increased, they became a gross-uke (a secondary genga studio responsible to make several episodes at the request of a larger company). Their high quality job began to be noticed by major studios such as Shin-ei, Sunrise, and Pierrot. Their quality was so high that the major studios actually reshuffled some episodes to match Kyo-Ani's schedules so they could get a very important episode that is worthy of a high quality animation. Their major breakthrough came when they were given the entire anime production rights for "Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu." Many fans had its doubts, especially when they knew how GONZO screwed up the first "Full Metal Panic!", let alone having a company that not many people (other than people outside of the industry) knew about. However, when the box was opened, the beautiful OP sequence and vivid colors of the animation substantially increased Kyo-Ani's name as a "high quality animation studio." When they pulled off "AIR" with godly sakuga quality of flowing hairs and masterful storyline true to the original story, Kyo-Ani was established as a reputable anime production studio. Since then, they were given "Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu," and currently makes "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu." This autumn, they will release the remake of "Kanon," which is highly rumored that Baba CEO of Key/VisualArt's personally requested to Kyo-Ani. Gatoh Shoji, the author of "Full Metal Panic," also has a large preference of Kyo-Ani's production quality that it is highly expected that other "Full Metal Panic!" novels will become animated through Kyo-Ani as well. Kyo-Ani has established itself as a respected company in the tough world of anime production companies; so much that once fans learn that a certain title will be made by Kyo-Ani, they all sigh in relief and praise that the title was "worthy of being animated by the gods at Kyo-Ani." |
Quote:
Moe Moe can be any or a combo of things listed by Sushi-Y in post 35. Moe is the backbone of the multibillion yen otaku industry. Moe is what NoSanninWa "got" all of a sudden back in November 2004 (reading that with post 549 and post 550 would make a really good 4-koma manga!!) Moe is something that can't be described, it's something that you know you are moe~d when it hits you. When moe warms your heart and melts your brain out of uber-moe~ness, you are officially considered to be an otaku in my eyes (that's saying a lot). Your moe may not necessarily be my moe. |
Sekai-kei
Psychology oriented "first-and-second-person-view" type anime. Think: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Eureka Seven, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Hoshi no Koe, Iriya no Sora UFO no Natsu, Elfen Lied, Saikano. You get the idea. There's only "me," "you," and "the world" (everyone else). |
wwww (or variants with more w's)
wwww -> Japanese equivalent of "lol" from "warau" (to laugh) |
VIPPER
A VIPPER is someone who visits 2ch's VIP lounge/NEWS4VIP (a board that, afaik, is about being rather silly), with its entire own subculture and well, something vaguely like /b/ on 4chan and /dqn/ on iichan and SAgoons and all of that thrown together into a jolly electric mixer. I think its not just VIPPERs who use wwwww though... but maybe stuff like ブーン (usually written in english as boon, refer to ) ... which brings me back to that Suzumiya Haruhi ED, it was as if ブーン was really in the lyrics. It appears that that dance has been parodied extensively, especially that ブーン sequence... |
MAD video
Quote:
Quote:
|
Sakuga (作画)
Generally refers to the drawings in an anime. More often than not it is talking about how the pictures are drawn - are they close to the model, do they show good expressions, are they anatomically/proportionally correct, are the shadows right, etc... However, some people use it with reference to the animation as a whole (drawings + line quality + movement (and timing) + shading etc, but not colour). I think that isn't entirely accurate. When you see people going about "nani kono sakuga" or "hidoi sakuga" they're usually complaining about the poor quality of drawings, but if it's smooth they'll usually say "yoku ugoiteru ne" (something to that extent), or maybe something like "sugee douga". If it's smooth and well-drawn and moves WELL (meaning with nuance, sense of weight, etc.) they'll say "kami sakuga". A common appreciation of cool animation seems to be 鳥肌が立った - I got goosebumps. Like shivers down your spine. An important, related term is Sakuga kantoku (作画監督) also abbreviated as "sakkan". Literally translated as "animation director", which is misleading. The job of a sakkan is to correct the genga made by key animators (see below). Corrected drawings are done on yellow paper, apparently. This is one of the important roles, and is one of the 4 most important per episode (the other 3 being scriptwriter, storyboarder and episode director). I am going to ((very) extensively) blather on about this so I have put it in a spoiler tag. Spoiler for About sakkans/animation directors:
Genga (原画) Usually translated as key animation. It literally means "original drawings". This is something I'm still not entirely clear about, but basically they draw the important frames in a show - and leave the in-between stuff to, well, the in-between animators. In-between animation work is called douga 動画 and also involves tracing the lines from the genga so that it looks neat and so on, called clean-up. Spoiler for extra stuff:
edit: I can be wrong on some of this |
Broad list of Genres (various other classifications exists)
Age-based classification Shounen (boys' anime) Shoujo (girls' anime) Jousei (young women's) Seinen (young men's) Content-based classification Mahou shoujo (magical girls) Mecha Space Opera Action, Sci-fi, Drama, Romance, Slice-of-life, etc...(as in live-action) Bishoujo (pretty girls, usually erogame-based whose subfields listed here in increasing sexual content)
Furthermore, the moe factor in dating sims subfields are thus -Junai-kei moe: loving relationship between heroines and male protagonist -Otome-kei moe: no male presence; heroine is centerpiece of idealized world. Iyashi-kei (healing) type anime and manga often fall under this classification. -Erokawaii-kei moe: sexualized heroines; i.e. this is lolicon -Denpa-kei moe: 'pure exhuberant cuteness' at the expense of narrative, like Digi-charat (special thanks to heiseidemocracy.net for the info) Bishounen (pretty boys, usually based on girls' dating sims) Shounen-ai (boys' love) - yaoi (with explicit sex) Shoujo-ai(girls' love) - yuri (with explicit sex) |
Raising the Flag (Furagu ga Tatsu)
A term used to describe a certain point where a distinctive decision was made that alters the outcome. The meaning comes from the computer term "flag," which you can read at wikipedia. It's-been-a-while-but-still-a-very-crappy-usage-example: "I decided to comment on the way the girl ties her hair differently everyday. That raised the flag for my future headaches with her..." Related terms: Death Flag (Shibou Flag) The "death" flag. A certain comment, decision, or any other distinctive moment where the viewer knows that the character is going to die soon. You've-seen-this-many-times-didn't-you-example: "The character's best friend showed him a photo of his wife and child he left behind. Aww crap, his death flag has been raised." |
Stepped on a Mine (Jirai wo Funda)
An expression that you use when you bought a game (or DVD, or whatever) that you thought it was going to be great (whether by means of pre-sale hype or by looking at the pretty pictures), but it turned out to be a dud. By the time you realize this, many others would've also thought the same. Hence, even if you try to sell to a used-game store, the money that they give you is close to nothing. Since you get pit-for-peaches, you are stuck with the shitty game. And all that's left is to blame yourself as you smack you head for being so stupid. Real-life example: "The pre-sale hype of this game was tremendous. But when it finally went on sale, this Sega Saturn game turned out to be a fluke; it's nothing but a game where a loser travels around to find the person who sent him a mysterious letter, and becomes taunted week-by-week with stalkerish calls from girls who yearns to meet him. I obviously stepped on a mine with this game." |
Nuclear Mine (Kaku Jirai)
Same meaning as a normal mine, but a hell-of-a-lot worse. Real-life example: "I bought Summer Days." "You moron." |
Nae
Literally, nae mean "to wither," "to lose strength," "to lose one's drive." It's also a term used when a man's certain protruding organ loses its erection due to "malfunction." In otaku lingo, this is used primarily as an antonym to moe. If moe~ spurs warmth throughout your body, nae suddenly cools you drastically for being too awful. It may be used counter-actively along with an initial moe~ drive (i.e.: a cute moe~ looking girl turned out to be a man, etc.). If you feel your emotional and mental temperature suddenly drop by 10 degrees centigrade, then that's a sign that you are in nae~. Here's a recent example: Once I learned that this doujinshi was about futanari, I suddenly went nae~. (And no, I'm not explaining what futanari means. Someone else do it if you are a fan of those types...) |
PPPH
A certain "tradition" or "certain way" to get into the heat of the moment in an (otakui-ish) idol concert. PPPH stands for "Pan, Pa-Pan, Hyu-." Translated into English onomatopoeia, it's "Clap, Cla-Clap, Whee!" Would that then make the English equivalent a CCCW? Hmm... PPPHs are done during the B-melo part of the song that has the rhythm of "ta-tatan." The formal way was to do a PPPH is: 1. Single clap just below your left breast 2. Followed by a two short-syllable claps below your right breast 3. And ending it with jumping straight up with your right arm extended upward while saying "whee!" (imagine doing a shoryuken and screaming "whee!"). Many variants of PPPH exists, like saying "oi!," "hey!," or "yeah!" instead of "hyu," doing a spiral motion when jumping, etc. etc. Idol seiyuu concerts tend to have a large variation in PPPH amongst their hard-core fans. Example: I don't mind doing a PPPH at a seiyuu concert. What I do mind is the guy next to me splashing his sweat across my face at the "H" part of the PPPH. |
Pilgrimage (seichi junrei)
Many religions have certain pilgrimage that their followers are required to go once in their lifetime. Visiting the Vatican can be awe-inspiring pilgrimage for certain Catholics, while Muslims must take a Hajj to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. In otaku lingo, a pilgrimage means "visiting the real-life location of a certain anime, game, or manga." Some devoted otakus go to lengths of visiting the actual towns, villages, and locations that were used in anime and games, just for the heck of it. It is quite fun actually. Not only do you do get to see other places, you also get good exercise which some otakus desperately need. Some of the famous pilgrimage sites include: 1. Lake Kizakiko and it's surrounding areas (Onegai Teacher) http://www.funk.ne.jp/~rybero/event/030914.htm http://www.sakai.zaq.ne.jp/irisissnow/one/index.html 2. Shirakawa-go World Heritage Site (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni) http://park17.wakwak.com/~mahosaro/higurashi_seiti.html http://po6.nsk.ne.jp/~norisige/higurashi.html http://www1.winknet.ne.jp/~shika-hzk...wa_report.html 3. Kanon/AIR http://www.ko1jikan.jp/special2/kanon.html http://www.ko1jikan.jp/special2/kanon2.html http://yosino.sakura.ne.jp/tabi/seichi/kunitachi.html http://yosino.sakura.ne.jp/tabi/seichi/kasumi.html Far more exists...see what you guys can come up with!! |
Futanari
Literally referring to one thing holding the shapes/properties of two different things. A hermaphrodite. In the otaku(?) world, futanari can be considered as a genre name (similiar to yuri or yaoi), most often used to refer to to 18+ ero products featuring sexual acts between female characters, with at least one of them possessing the male sex organ. ORZ, OTL, OTZ As far as I know, it started around 2002 on WinMX chats before flowing into 2ch, where its usage skyrocketed. As an AA emoticon, it originally started as 〇|￣|＿, but since it's a lot easier to type "orz", it became the most commonly used version. |
Onee-chan
Literally, "elder sister."
In otaku lingo, it refers to the nickname of famed seiyuu Inoue Kikuko. Ever since she played the role of the eldest sister, Tendou Kasumi in "Ranma 1/2," she went by the nickname of "oneechan." It was becasue she always wanted to be an elder sister. On another note, she is forever seventeen years old. Whenever she introduces herself, she says "Inoue Kikuko, 17sai desu." (trans: "I am Inoue Kikuko and I am seventeen years old.") Obviously it's a joke, and people MUST respond with a tsukkomi by saying "oioi" (trans: "sure sure.") But if you really happen to be seventeen, she'll counter with "so-desuka" (trans: "I see..."). Example: My dream is to meet onee-chan and say "oioi" when she introduces herself as "Inoue Kikuko, 17sai desu." |
kao-gei
Weird facial expressions, in which many people in the English speaking world would use the term "emo-facials." Example: The over-excessive kao-gei in the anime version of Higurashi no Naku Koroni cheapens the effect. Why couldn't the anime production staff just stick with the more creepier oyashiro-mode from the game? |
light novel
The following is a direct copy & paste from the Information and FAQs regarding FMP thread. This way, people will quit bugging me about incessant questions regarding "what the heck is a light novel and how is that different from a manga? CHAPTER ONE: "FULL METAL PANIC!" IS A NOVEL. What is "Full Metal Panic!" ? "Full Metal Panic!" known in Japan as "fullmeta" and outside of Japan as FMP, is an anime based on a novel What do you mean by novel? Do you mean graphic novels? Then it is from a manga right? NO. When I say novel I mean a novel. The ones with letters in in which you actually have to read everything word for word. "Full Metal Panic!" is a 'light' novel that is aimed for teenagers. Here in Japan, we have many novels that are targeted for teens. Many of these novels become animated when they are successful. Just to name a few, "Slayers," "Scrapped Princess," "Maburaho," and "Maria-sama ga Miteru" are all animes that are based on light novels. A broad definition of the term can be found on the English wikipedia site. These novels are (usually, but not always) initially serialized on a monthly magazine (just like mangas are initially serialized in a weekly/monthly comic magazine). In the case of fullmeta, stories are initially run on Monthly Dragon Magazine - a magazine aimed at teenagers from the publisher Kadokawa Shoten. When enough stories are compiled to form one volume of a novel, they are placed into a book. The book is released by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko press - a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten. A light novel consists of around 200-400 pages of text, with around 5-7 picture inserts in them. Light novels are a tag team effort between the author and the illustrator. The author writes up the story, while the illustrator draws cover designs and picture inserts for a specific scene. See example below: Copyright: Fujimi Fantasia Bunko, Gatoh Shoji, Shiki Doji / "Houtte Okenai Lone Wolf" pp. 152-153 http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...80/example.jpg [right (pg 152)]: roughly 95% of the book consists of this [left (pg 153)]: the other 5% has illustrated art In the case of "Full Metal Panic!" the original author is Gatoh Shoji, and the illustrator is Shiki Doji. In all fullmeta anime that you see, you will see their names credited for main story and main character designs. |
MUSASHI
Due to the immense shock that the anime "MUSASHI GUNdou" received for its obvious and unintentionally sub-par animation standards, off-sync acting, inconsistent key animation sequences and non-unified weaponry and scenes, the word MUSASHI is now on it's own standard. In the past, this would've qualified for being a "Yashigani." However, the anime quality of this was just so awful, it actually made it interesting for people to watch and mock. Whereas a "Yashigani" anime is just too horrid to watch, an anime that qualifies on the level of "MUSASHI GUNdou" can be quite interesting. I guess the English term "it is so bad... that it is good" makes the most sense for a MUSASHI anime. A good example of a MUSASHI level anime would be: "Government Crime Investigation Agent Zaizen Jotaro" An anime labeled with the [dis]honor of being a "MUSASHI level" anime MUST NOT try to mend its mistakes because it ruins the enjoyment! Example: 1. Dude, have you seen the anime "Mamotte Lolipop" yet? I think we have another MUSASHI!!! 2. Hey, what happened to this episode! The sakuga-quality is actually good! Aww man, that ain't no MUSASHI anymore!!! (pissed) |
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:11. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.