Japanese otaku lingo [Archive]

kj1980

2006-03-13, 16:54

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:

Time constraints on getting the go-ahead for the anime to the time of airing (It was approved in January 1998, to be aired in April 1998; less than two and a half months to make the first several episodes for the series).
Outsourcing to an inexperienced and low quality Korean animation studio SAN HO STUDIO.
Which they did not have a key-animation director, so there was no quality check.
When the Japanese anime staff received the genga, it was so horrible that they had to make various revisions and refinements in a hurry.
In which the top guys at these anime studios and producers of "Lost Universe" were upset that their Japanese key animators were still doing refinements to the genga (piece animation). With the airing date looming over the horizon, the top guys scrambled the key animators to quit their refinements and do the douga process instead.

When the key animators protested that the final result was going to horrible, the head guys didn't hear a word of it and sent the "finished" product to the douga process, which was once again outsourced to Korea.

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.

Usage example:

The TV version of "Mahou Sensei Negima" pulled off several [i]yashigani in several episodes.

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:02

(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).

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:09

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.

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:10

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.

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:11

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]

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:12

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"

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:13

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)

kj1980

2006-03-14, 19:20

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

kj1980

2006-03-14, 20:15

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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS-tan). However, other examples include internet browsers (http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/moezilla/), countries (Afghanistan) (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=28579), to trains, convenience stores, cigarette brands, Mobile-Suits (notably Acguy-tan), etc. etc.

The imagination of gijin-ka is limitless to moe~ kimo-otas.

Usage example:

Someone should do a [i]ginjinka of computers like Dell-tan and VAIO-tan. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if there were either.

kj1980

2006-03-15, 17:34

No, the US dvd has the fixed version. (Checked to be sure :heh: ) It's still pretty bad, but at least the animation doesn't look like it was done by a 4 year old. I'd hate to see what the original was like if it was bad enough to coin a new term...:uhoh:

I don't know which one the US release used, but I sincerely hope that it was the refined version.

You can see scene and cut comparions between the crappy one versus the refined version on the links in post #3 of this thread (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=499356&postcount=3=).

kj1980

2006-03-16, 00:20

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.

Usage example:

If you like "Neko Mimi Mode," you have been contanimated with [i]doku-denpa.
Hanajima Saki in "Fruits Basket" is oftenly portrayed as a character who receives/projects some sort of denpa.

kj1980

2006-03-16, 01:06

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/y104/kj1980/ittyatter_rena.jpghttp://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/kj1980/ittyatteru_kaede.jpg

Usage example:

I must've pissed in my pants the first time I saw Rena's [i]oyashiro-mode kick in.

kj1980

2006-03-23, 13:48

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 (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=507723&postcount=296), Fate stay/night is 1 season with 2 kur totalling 24 episodes.

kj1980

2006-03-28, 01:49

Sushi-Y

2006-03-28, 02:51

Its not that I doubt you a second but I'm postitive I still hear "Hentai!" in some anime these days, in the way of.. "when dealing with a pervert" situations. :P So, if I may go further, hentai means pervert in the mind of some mangakas. So that would mean the japanese are also responsable for making the "weirdo" word change into "Pervert". Or else they'd be doing it just to please us, north american~ne? ^-^

Do you think this has anything to do with the world of anime being much apart from the real world's aesthetic? I guess not. :p
That's because that's what it means?

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.

kj1980

2006-03-28, 14:32

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

kj1980

2006-03-30, 20:01

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.

Usage examples:

My heart goes [i]kyun kyun when I see Rika-chama going nipa~☆
Lyrics from "Sakuranbo Kiss ~Bakuhatsudamon~": sukisukisu kiss kiss kiss kiss. Kyun kyun!

kj1980

2006-04-03, 12:05

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.

kj1980

2006-04-10, 12:45

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."

kj1980

2006-04-23, 00:06

Also, what does "moe" mean?

Expect a very broad answer:

Moe

Moe can be any or a combo of things listed by Sushi-Y in post 35 (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=512688&postcount=35).
Moe is the backbone of the multibillion yen otaku industry.
Moe is what NoSanninWa "got" all of a sudden back in November 2004 (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=381351&postcount=548)　(reading that with post 549 (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=381385&postcount=549) and post 550 (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=381436&postcount=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.

kj1980

2006-04-24, 06:06

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).

tsuraramai

2006-04-24, 13:29

wwww (or variants with more w's)

wwww -> Japanese equivalent of "lol"

from "warau" (to laugh)

wao

2006-04-25, 08:24

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...

xris

2006-05-05, 16:50

MAD video

What is a MAD?
Google ("amv mad") gives me this (http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:Eluhy0TdYNYJ:web.ics.purdue.edu/~milliken/anime/mad.html+amv+mad&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1) (only a cache copy at the moment, page itself is unavailable).
What is a MAD?

Today the word MAD stipulates an edited video or tape made as a parody from doujin circles. However, the true origin of this word comes from the Osaka University of Arts and Music. Around 1978, two members, Mr. Shimagawa and Mr. Y, of the group CAS began making medleys of anime and sentai show songs with guitars. After awhile, they decided to try and use their recordings as the actual background music for the shows. After this initial test, they eventually went into the realm of parody. Thus, the MAD was born.

At the same time, in a completely different place in Osaka, a middle school student named Imai had started his own MAD creation. It all began from his desire for the background music from the anime show Yamato. At the time no drama records had been released, so he recorded the BGM from the TV show where there was no dialogue and pieced the clips together to make a full song. After enjoying success in this first endeavor, he began to piece together dialogue from the show and create his own memorable scenes for the show. Upon sharing his works with his Yamato loving friends and having fun playing with words and quotes, they decided to actually edit the video as well. This ultimately led to the creation of the MAD Yamato club in their high school years. Finally, when Imai entered the Osaka University of Arts and Music, the fate of these MAD's were brought together. Imai, excited that there were others interested in such zany acts, took in the Sound MAD created by his senpai and released his NEW MAD SERIES.

Much time has passed and we now know MAD's as they exist today. One question you may ask is why they are called MAD's. This stems from the name of the tape that was first made. It was originally titled the Kichigai Tape (Tape of Madness), but for some reason or other the title was changed from Japanese to English.

wao

2006-05-10, 08:15

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.

Very much more often than not, the correcting they do is with regards to the sakuga as described earlier - and less to do with the movement and nuances. For most TV shows the sakkan just refers to the designs and corrects the faces, not even so that they necessarily look as convincing as possible, but so that they fit as close as possible to the model sheets. In most productions of anime, it's more about making it look like the character than anything else. (Sticking to the designs is highly recommended to most ordinary animators so that the sakkan doesn't die. But this ends up restricting movement.)

Sakkans are usually more experienced key animators (unless you're a prodigy or summat), and get paid a higher salary. However, they can have a really, really stressful job because if the schedule is really screwed up they get pressed really hard to correct the rushed genga (sometimes having to entirely redo it themselves). And they get blamed if the product looks off-model... So sometimes if you see a whole load of sakkans or sakkan-assistants in a show it can be a sign that that episode either was rushed, or had really unacceptable genga, or both. Example: Ergo Proxy episode 8, where the schedule was really rushed and a lot of sakkan-assistants (in addition to 2 sakkans) had to be used, but the designs still looked kind of off.
But having lots of sakkans could also mean that they wanted real perfection so they got sakkans proficient in different things to get it done very nicely. You can get awesome results sometimes, too - see Eureka 7, Kamichu! and RahXephon, etc.

Sakkans don't actually direct the animation in that they don't tell the animators what actions to do - most of the time anyway. There have been some exceptions: for example, I remember for the anime segment in Kill Bill, it was the animation director who went to see Tarantino with the other staff, and carefully observed the type of actions Tarantino wanted (he got them roughly acted out). Another exception, I believe, is Ghibli movies (sometimes?).
For OVAs and movies sakkans usually do correct the movement and timing and nuances. The occasional charismatic ones do it for TV animation too.
This is as far as I have observed and heard, anyway. It seems like the people who decide what actions the people actually do in the show are determined by the storyboarder and episode director more than the animation director. The episode director has to make sure that the animation for that ep doesn't go overbudget and such, so if budget-saving tactics are to be used, it is likely to be the episode director's decision.

An interesting story about episode director vs. animator vs. director, is with regards to the famous Ichiro Itano (http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?p=172), originator of the beautiful and eye-catching Itano Circus style of animating rockets [Started in Macross, see Macross, Plus, Zero. Very famous example in Daicon IV. See other people imitating it in Eureka 7, particularly OP2, as well as the Futakoi Alternative OP]. It's full of interesting anecdotes about his early days, like the way he got in trouble for constantly drawing limbs flying on Gundam, or the way he got personally recognized once by Tomino when he drew every drawing in a shot at full 24 frames, and the director of that episode got mad at him and changed it back to regulation limited, and he went behind the back of the director and changed it back, and the director got pissed at him in the screening room in front of Tomino, but Tomino loved what Itano had done and told him to ignore the director, calling him a "nobody" in memorable Tomino fashion. (from here (http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?p=195&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1))

Sakkans can be further categorised into Character Sakkans (キャラクター作画監督), Mechanic Sakkans (メカ作画監督), Layout Sakkans (レイアウト作画監督 or L/O 作画監督), sometimes an additional Effect Sakkan (エフェクト作画監督) though the last one is usually lumped in with Mecha sakkans, like with the great Takashi Hashimoto who is a master of FX animation. Most of these self-explanatory, though with Layout Sakkans it's a bit different from the plain old "Layout" credit (as far as I understand; there may be times where both overlap or a person credited to one actually did both.)

As far as I'm aware of, "layout" is a process before the animation where after the storyboards are done, someone decides where the characters should be placed in terms of the frame and so on so that the key animators have a guide to where to place the characters. Hayao Miyazaki did this for the masterpiece TV anime "3000 Leagues in Search of Mother". But it appears "layout sakkans" do it after the genga is done and modify it a bit. The idea of "sakkan" is, after all, usually about doing it after key animation is done. From some accounts I hear it's also got to do with correcting difficult poses and strange positionings but I'm not entirely sure, really.

Another thing is Sou-Sakuga kantoku (総作画監督) - "Overall Animation Director". This is, afaik, exclusively about correcting faces. The sou-sakkan is usually the (animation) character designer as well, and is the person sakkans turn to if the don't know how to correct the drawings so that it looks like the models, which teh sou-sakkans are the most familiar with. Sometimes the sou-sakkans will just consistently assist the sakkans, going uncredited most of the time.
Sou-sakkans seem to be a more recent "invention" (as compared to "sakkans" which started way back during the old Toei Doga days) and almost all anime have them now - one unsurprising exception being Noein, which takes a very different animation approach from most anime and the designs consequently vary wildly everywhere; yet the character designer does not have a sou-sakkan credit, in fact the only thing he's been a normal sakkan for is the OP!

With regards to otaku using "sakkan", it's sometimes like a verb - when they see stuff that looks off model or crudely drawn a common whine is "sakkan irete choudai" - please 'sakkan' (correct) this for us.

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.
From what it seems it's largely not like the Western system where the key animator works closely with his or her assistant animator(s) and refines it a lot before passing it to an in-betweener. Here the genga and douga people are quite separated (many times, douga is outsourced anyway) so the genga set would just come with instructions and arrows and hints on shading and such.
It's not always like this though, some key animators actually just draw most of the frames on their own - since many times, all the instructions you give are nowhere near as good as just doing it on your own, or showing others through pictures. The in-betweeners then just have to add trivial tweens and clean up the picture.
I'm not entirely clear on it though, but for one thing most TV anime is limited animation (they try not to draw a new picture for every single frame).

In more recent years the emergence of this thing called "2nd Key Animation" (第二原画) has appeared, I think it is something like preliminary clean-up so the key animators spend more time on the movement and placement, while the 2nd keys add the design details and possibly the shadows, and clean up the lines. I don't know for sure though.

edit: I can be wrong on some of this

DaFool

2006-05-15, 10:21

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)
Visual Novels
Nakige (crying stories)
Dating Sims
Galge
Yaruge ("do it")

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)

kj1980

2006-06-23, 18:41

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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_%28computing%29).

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."

kj1980

2006-06-23, 19:04

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."

Sushi-Y

2006-06-24, 05:20

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."

kj1980

2006-07-17, 17:51

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...)

kj1980

2006-07-17, 18:31

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.

kj1980

2006-07-17, 19:06

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 (http://yosino.sakura.ne.jp/tabi/seichi/index.html), 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/2005_hinamizawa_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!!

Sushi-Y

2006-07-18, 04:27

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.

kj1980

2006-08-18, 14:01

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."

kj1980

2006-08-30, 19:01

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 (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=501577&postcount=26) from the game?

kj1980

2006-09-04, 21:10

light novel

The following is a direct copy & paste from the Information and FAQs regarding FMP thread (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26478). 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_novel).

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/y104/kj1980/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.

kj1980

2006-09-04, 22:00

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)

kj1980

2006-09-04, 22:20

jigyaku

Self-mockery. It is a term used by many otakus and in the industry alike to self-mock their social status.

Lately, many jigyaku anime and manga are coming out which makes a self-mockery of the otaku industry. "NHK ni Youkoso," and "Genshiken" are good examples in which they depict the nerdy and geeky lives of otakus to a level that can be considered to be jigyaku.

However, the term jigyaku does not only apply to industry terms as many otakus will self-mock themselves as well.

Another example of this is how female BL lovers refer to themselves by using the term fujoshi (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=513146&postcount=38) with pride and self-mockery.

Usage example:
I see many foreigners wearing "I am an Otaku" T-shirts. I wonder if they realize that by wearing them, they are actually pitting themselves into jigyaku...

kj1980

2006-09-04, 22:27

Social Phenomena

Or in Japanese, they are called "shakai genshou." These are anime that start out otaku-ish, but its popularity reaches to the masses through mass media reviews, word of mouth, and interest.

Not many anime have reached the pinnacle of a social phenomena status. In the past thirty years, we've only had three: "Uchuu Senkan Yamato," "Kidou Senshi Gundam," and "Neon Genesis Evangelion."

The factors of becoming a social phenomena are very difficult to say. For one, it must not be confined to just the average otaku fanbase, it must reach out the masses. Secondly, it needs to be a title that no one knew about before its airing. As I have said before, normal Japanese do not watch anime (yes, I still get gasps and surprises when I explain this to foreigners!) Hence, it is a VERY BIG DEAL when an anime that no one knew about explodes into popularity that becomes a social phenomena.

Example:

Some claim that "Suzumiya Haruhi" might've become a social phenomena given the right time of episodes. I tend to disagree. Sure, while the sales of the original light novels skyrocketed after the initial airing, it was still confined to the otaku populace.

kj1980

2006-09-04, 22:39

Anime Production Staff

x Producers
o Anime production staff (or just plainly, staff)

I see this misusage frequently on these forums.

Producers are the people that go around looking and obtaining sponsors to develop an anime. They are the ones that do the dealings with TV stations, agree to time slots, appease sponsors, set up a staff team for anime, etc. etc. They are NOT the ones who sit down and draw genga or sakuga. Basically, they are the ones that give birth to an anime project to start in the first place - hence the name "producer."

The directors, writers, editors, genga and sakuga artists, composers, music and sound recorders, QCers, and douga process personnel - basically all the people that actually do the work to make the anime itself are known as anime production staff. The staffs are the ones that does the actual animation and recording work to bring you the anime onto the TV screen (well, in your people's case - the computer screen).

Please make a note of it. There's a big difference between a "producer" and a staff.

Srin Tuar

2006-09-05, 11:08

Gyaku-gire (逆ギレ)

When a person who would normally be the target of an angry outburst instead gets angry themselves.

kj1980

2006-09-05, 12:22

Drama CD

It seems many have begun to understand what light novels are, what the term moe~ means, and the increasing usage of the term ero-games over the blasphemous "hentai." I'm glad to hear that these terminologies are beginning to plant ground overseas.

Now we go onto "what the heck exactly are drama CDs? Are they any different from sound novels, etc. etc.?

Way back in the 1920s, many people listened to....the radio. Go ask your grandparents and they'll tell you that they avidly listened to radio dramas. If they are old enough, they'll know about Richard Hughes' Drama, or Orson Welles' War of the Worlds based on H.G. Wells' novel. People were grasped with the acting that these performers played out on the radio. And with no visuals to go along, people had to imagine what was happening - which meant the people acting out the drama were extremely talented artists in their own field. If you are interested about the mass hysteria that occurred to those that believed the War of the Worlds radio drama was a real event, I suggest you read the English wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio%29).

Japan was no exception to the popularity of the radio drama era. During the Taisho Democracy Era, many radio dramas were aired on the radio which depicted the glorious golden age of democracy and upbeat economic growth. And as the war loomed over the horizon, radio dramas were gradually changed to those with propaganda overtones. In any case, the national public broadcaster NHK saw a market for this and began recruiting actors primarily for radio drama shows. These became the predecessors to the seiyuus (voice actors) that we all know today.

After the war, Japan was pretty much laid into ruins. Yet the populace were determined to rebuild Japan to its prosperous pre-war economic status. Radio dramas was one form of medium which helped reach out the populace. Kids listened to children's radio shows such as Akadou Suzunosuke which gave them hope that through hard work and perseverance, they can overcome anything. One interesting form that developed during this era was the inclusion of background music to radio shows. Music added a more dramatic effect to certain scenes than just actors reading and acting out the scripts. Supposedly, the Soviets were able to listen to these dramatic Japanese radio shows through the airwaves. They saw a potential for using this technique, and they began using a similar form to spread their ideologies to its Eastern Europe bloc....or so I've heard.

Sadly, the age of radio shows began its decline once the TV began to infiltrate the household.

But the medium once again was brought back to life in the mid-1990s in the otaku market. The format called the audio CD was cheap and widely available which opened up new ways for the market to suck more money out of otaku's pockets. Coupled with increasing popularities of seiyuu idols and the technological advancement of internet streaming radio, companies began cashing in on making things called drama CDs.

Drama CDs are basically audio CDs that you play on your home CD player. Except instead of music, you have seiyuus acting out the story. Much like radio shows at the time, background music and sound effects are mixed in to give a more dramatic effect for the listener to imagine what is going on. Drama CDs are usually sold as a complement to the anime that is airing. Or, drama CDs might be sold right before an anime airs to give people a sort of "sneak-preview" of what to expect. The episodes or stories that are recorded onto the drama CDs are usually behind-the-scenes antics of the main storyline in the anime/manga/light novel. That, or it can plainly amusing to listen to with the comedy and all (if you listen to Suigintou going moe~ over Kunkun in the Rozen Maiden Traumend drama CD, you'll know what I mean).

Of course, not all drama CDs are alike. Some drama CDs are re-recordings of seiyuu radio shows (which are called Radio CDs, but that's another topic). Other drama CDs are included as bonus tracks to regular anime CDs (i.e.: those infamous Mahou Sensei Negima! OP CDs have small drama tracks in them). Others, like Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni are audio CDs where the seiyuus act out exactly what was written in the original doujin game (the doujin game did not have voice tracks, and some people have no time to read the text, so they made drama CDs so that people can listen to the story on their way to work, etc.)

So, a drama CD is a medium in itself just like anime, manga, light novels, and games. With no visual effects, a drama CD is a medium where seiyuus are given their ultimate test since they need to bring out their skills to their fullest. Listening to these CDs will give you a renewed respect for how seiyuus bring life to characters.

kj1980

2006-09-05, 13:05

Twin Tail

In English, pigtails. I normal Japanese use, they are called "two tails." But in otaku terminology, people refer to them as twin tails.

Twin tails are a highly moe~ trait. Some say twin tails + over-knee socks + tsundere traits + goth loli fashion = ultimate character. Many characters nowadays feature these traits to sucker in otakus for their uber moe~ consumptions.

Examples of girls with twin tails:

Sanzen'in Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku)
Sawachika Eri (School Rumble)
Kagurazaka Asuna (Mahou Sensei Negima!)
Shinku (Rozen Maiden)
Daikuuji Ayu (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien)
Nanase Rumi (ONE)
Hiiragi Kagami (Raki Star)
Tohsaka Rin (Fate/stay night)

....why do the above examples look very similar to my character examples of tsundere (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=499318&postcount=1)?

wao

2006-09-27, 23:42

Some animators are so l33t that they go simply by surname or by a nickname among fans. Here are some:

カリスマ (Charisma)
Toshiyuki INOUE (http://www.pelleas.net/animators/#5) 井上俊之

磯 (Iso)
Mitsuo ISO (http://www.pelleas.net/animators/#6) 磯光雄 (It's said most of current anime animation is influenced by him in one way or another)

吉成 (Yoshinari)
Refers to either 吉成鋼 (Kou YOSHINARI) or 吉成曜 (You YOSHINARI) who are brothers and absolutely great animators. They're good at illustrating as well.

Kou (http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?p=398&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) (also known as 吉成兄, elder Yoshinari) is easily spotted nowadays because he goes to the extent of doing the composite and post-processing for his shots. See the 4th FMA OP, the part where Ed jumps off the waterfall. As well as the really smooth shot in ep 49 of Eureka 7. Typical otaku are most familiar with that table scene in the first ep of Nanoha that stuck out very much...

You Yoshinari (the younger of the two) is more associated with Gainax. Think there's some good stuff from him in Re: Cutey Honey and FLCL.
One of them is refered to as 鼻毛 (hanage, nose hair) but I can't remember which. Or why, even.

鬱 (Utsu - depression)
Refers to Satoru UTSUNOMIYA (http://www.pelleas.net/animators/#26)うつのみやさとる Many others (even some sakuga-otaku) don't look at him kindly because he never sticks to the character models and while his movement is great, his pictures look "ugly". So they all feel depressed....

ゆたぽん (yutapon)
Refers to Yutaka NAKAMURA 中村豊, a typically Sunrise/Bones action animator. Is seriously leet. Go look up for an AMV/MAD on him on Youtube or stage6. He's in most BONES works. Check out the Bebop movie especially.

コンカツ (Konkatsu)
Refers to Katsuya KONDOU (http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1733) 近藤勝也, a Ghibli animator. He did the animation the very popular Minna no Uta song Kaze no Toorimichi.

キムタカ (Kimutaka)
Refers to Takahiro KIMURA (http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=7669) 木村貴宏, more well known as a character designer who does very detailed, sometimes extravagant designs usually with a sexy touch. See Gun X Sword, The nickname reminds one of "kimutaku" (Takuya Kimura...)

師匠 (Shishou - Master!)
Refers to the Takeshi Honda 本田雄, sometimes incorrectly called Yuu Honda. Is involved with most well-animated films and most people don't dare touch his work. See the first Naruto film, Millenium Actress and Beyond in the Animatrix. Was also quite involved in Eva.

ゴッキー (Gocky)
Refers to Keiji Gotou (http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1478), a rather well-known character designer (esp. for Nadesico) who later started doing directing/storyboarding; he's done series direction for Kiddy Grade and Uta Kata. The first work by him I watched was Gate Keepers.. He does very detailed drawings full of shadows and highlights and what not. If I'm not wrong, pictures like that are described in Japanese as 濃い.

Cloudnine

2006-10-04, 17:09

Mecha (メカ)
Reference to robot anime.

Gattai (合体)
Refers to the sequence where robots combine into one (i.e. Goddaner, Power Rangers, etc)

Visual Kei (ヴィジュアル系)
Type of Japanese Rock~ Wiki link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Kei)

Oniichan (お兄ちゃん)
An affectionate way of addressing an older brother.

kj1980

2006-10-14, 06:31

Itano Circus

Itano Ichiro is a genius amongst mecha animators. He is best known for his inventing the Itano Circus which is coined after his name. Many of you have seen such aerial scenes; trailing missiles (or projectiles) dancing in the skies like a circus trapeze.

See example: http://stage6.divx.com/members/62256/videos/2402 (although some of the latter half isn't done by Itano-san, but I guess the person who created this video wanted to show how much he had made an impact in anime)

He noted that he first came up with the idea of such acrobatic aerial combat animation sequences when he ignited rocket fireworks that were tied to his motorcycle's handlebar and saw that "the rockets seemed to be dancing around him" as he rode his bike into the smoke that was ahead of him.

He refined his projectile dogfight scenes and aerial acrobatic sequences as he worked as an animator from Danguard A to Ideon, and then onto the original Gundam. His style became popular when he (well, according to many fans) "perfected it" in the anime Macross. Since then, he would go onto work on Macross Plus, Megazone 23, and the live action Ultraman.

His technique has lived on in various anime throughout the years, surviving the ages of cel-animation and importing such technique into CG animation. Without a doubt, many animators were inspired by this great man, as seen the stage6 video link above shows. The Itano Circus was introduced over twenty five years ago...which still looks spectacular now as it did back then, even when comparing them to much recent homages to his style as portrayed in Eureka 7.

So know you know the term of such animation sequences, remember: all this was due to a single animator who had the bizarre idea of riding his motorcycle through rocket fireworks after igniting them.

Sushi-Y

2006-11-07, 00:28

Kagikko (鍵っ子)

A term used to refer to a "loyal" fan of the famous bishojo game company, Key (the creator of Kanon, AIR, CLANNAD, Planetarian, etc.).

Kagikko literally means "key child", it is a pun since it's also the Japanese equivalent of the western term latchkey kid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid).

While other terms used to describe a devoted fan of a bishojo game company (such as 月厨 (Getchu, a TYPE-MOON fan)) are usually sarcastic or derogatory in meaning, Kagikko is generally not considered to be offensive. Although derivitive of the term exists, called Bakagikko (バ鍵っ子) (a combinition of baka (idiot) + kagikko), which is used to refer to ignorant or impolite kagikkos on discussion forums or BBSs.

kj1980

2006-11-28, 19:44

Tokusatsu SFX

I guess the best example that most Americans are familiar with is Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Morphin_Power_Rangers) (you do realize that "Power Rangers" are originally Japanese, right?). That's a prime example of a super-sentai type tokusatsu SFX.

Of course, if one is from Hawaii, you're probably more familiar with Kikaider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Kikaider_%281972%29).

Sushi-Y

2006-11-28, 20:02

Yandere

It's like tsundere from what I can tell but sort of, how do I say it, loving but goes psycho... like Kaede from Shuffle.[/QUOTE]
Yandere? Well, it's a derivative of tsundere (kinda), by combining 病んでる (yanderu, being sick) with デレ(dere). It refers specifically to heroines who's in love with the main character, but becomes mentally sick or unstable due to certain developments in the story, resulting in a "psycho lover" kind of character (Kaede from Shuffle is the classic example).

However, as far as I know, this word is not very widely used (I don't even recognize it myself). More commonly, the "psycho" version of the heroine is referred to as "Black/Dark (character name)" (ex. Dark Kaede), while the process is called 黒化 (kokka, blackening/darkening).

kj1980

2006-12-18, 17:51

Abbreviation of "Total Media Agency," (http://www.tma.co.jp/) an AV maker who specializes in making live action pornography.

They are also known for creating high-quality (laughs) AVs based on highly popular anime. Most of these titles are altered subtlely, which causes the buyer to buy it as a gag item.

Example:

A: Hey look! There's a AV for Haruhi!
B: Wait a minute...look at the title more closely...it says Hahiru!
A: WTF?!! OMG! I gotta buy it! Shit, funny wwwww
B: Me too! This'll be a great gag! wwwwww

So far, TMA has released three titles that are known to otakus as a gag line-up:

"Maria-sama ga Miteiru" (as opposed to "Maria-sama ga Miteru")
"Faith / Stay Knight" (as opposed to "Fate / Stay Night")
"Suzumiya Hahiru no Yuutsu" (as opposed to "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu")

Hence, you can say that a title that is very popular is big enough to become "TMA'd" wwww

Interestingly, the AV is made closely to the original which makes it very funny. It's like watching a badly-written skit, with ugly looking guys pretending to be teenagers. Like I said, otakus are suckers - they'll spend cash on a whim. Besides, Hahiru's DVD sold out in Akiba, and the AV actress Kousaka Yuri even held an autograph session there! www

kj1980

2007-06-22, 13:36

Ouch-Cars (痛車)

痛車 (pron: "Ita-sha") are cars whose exteriors have been modified to an anime any other two dimesional moe~ theme. The term comes from normal people making fun of otaku's cars in disgust by coining them to be an 痛い車 (pron: "itai-kuruma" lit trans: cars that make people say "ouch" in disgust).

"itai-kuruma" then became abbreviated to "ita-sha" (痛車). This abbreviation is some what intentional as it is cynically a homonym for an "Italian car" (イタ車). Italian cars (イタ車) are known to be liberal and intriguing in design, and so are Ita-sha (痛車)....more or less in the wrong way.

Rather than trying to propogate the term "ita-sha" into the English otaku masses, I'll use the literal translation "ouch-car" onward.

One can find a whole parking lot full of said ouch-cars at most anime type events around Japan. And since Comike is the largest gathering of otakus in Japan, one can expect to find many ouch-cars parked outside. While it may not be as cool as seeing souped up cars or duels of which car has the largest bass from their sub-woofers, one can find a mini-car show of "who has the most ouchest-car" in the lot. wwwww

Well I know all of you like visual references so here are some from youtube (or feel free to search with the term "痛車" at jp.youtube.com):

JP0uXJFYQzw5eEX2UkqARAXRm3a5jHsnM

Good how-to video if you are interested in making your own ouch-car:
EQh-VIOiak4

Some ouch-cars from Comike 71:
ryUmJjgLTK4

cyth

2007-08-03, 12:43

Yangire (ヤンギレ)

Yangire is referring to characters who snap all of a sudden out of jealousy or irritation or something similar. It comes from the words yanderu (病んでる - being sick from something) and kire/gire (切れ - to cut, slice, "to snap"; 逆ギレ - being angry at someone who would normally be angry at you).
Most yangire references include Takamachi Nanoha from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, specifically the development in its 8th episode when Nanoha has a mock battle against Teana and Subaru. When the two girls almost outsmart her during battle, she snaps, goes all freakishly quiet and gives a fair beating to Teana.

Yangire most likely stems from yandere (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=752848&postcount=52), but yandere refers specifically to heroines who are in love with the main character, but become mentally sick or unstable due to certain developments in the story. Still, the term is fairly new and not as popular as tsundere or yandere, but recently a few high-profile (http://www.akibablog.net/archives/2007/08/yanigire-070803.html) Japanese (http://twodimension.blog59.fc2.com/blog-entry-471.html) weblogs have started pimping the new term. Hopefully, Nanoha might be snapping some more, now that the 18th episode of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has a new opening sequence portraying Subaru as the main character.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5623/20070803607rd9.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070803607rd9.jpg)
(Image taken from AkibaBlog.net)

Sister Princess

2007-09-20, 18:21

deleted..........

Rembr

2007-09-20, 18:30

Nice Boat

1. To divert attention from chaos or dissatisfaction.
2. To comment that the boat looks cool.
3. Increase of total aired episodes.

kj1980

2007-10-10, 20:52

Niconico douga (ニコニコ動画)

webpage: http://www.nicovideo.jp/

Niconico is a Japanese onomatopoeia for smiling.
Douga is Japanese for video.

Add them together, and it means video that makes you smile.

That is exactly what happens when you join and start viewing videos that are uploaded onto niconico douga.

The concept is simple that is similar to youtube (http://www.youtube.com/); one can upload and view hilarious videos made by amateurs. Of course, the other gray-area use is being able to view the latest anime MINUTES after it was aired (obviously with no subtitles).

But niconico takes a step further than youtube in which it allows members to start adding comments to the uploaded video itself. The English wikipedia sums it up as "youtube meets Mystery Science Theater 3000." This gives an added plus of indirectly watching the video amongst others while laughing at some of the funny comments that they made at a certain scene. Of course, you have the option of disabling the comment feature so you can watch the video without seeing massive texts scrolling through the screen.

Here's a sample screenshot of niconico:

Title: I let my friend play the Super Mario World that I created Version II. (自作の改造マリオを友人にプレイさせる第二作)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/kj1980/nico.jpg

As you can see, people are commenting on how Mario died by falling into the lava by accidentally hitting the hidden block. The kanji word koumei (孔明) is a slang that the viewers made for those articulately placed hidden blocks which leads to Mario's death. The wwwwws is similar to LOLOLOL.

Unfortunately, there is no English version of this highly popular online video-sharing site, so you need to have a good understanding of Japanese to join.

Level E

2007-10-15, 16:51

Well, since kj1980 posted about NicoNico douga maybe it'll be helpful to add some NicoNico douga lingo?

I highly suggest taking a look at 2ch lingo (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=1070898&postcount=58) as well.

Some terminology / trends about NicoNico
(almost all of them do come from 2ch tho).

First, 弾幕 danmaku - roughly translates to Bullet Curtain.
This is when comments flood the screen.
For a good example, look up 組曲 on NicoNico.
The word danmaku itself come from Touhou Projects. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touhou_Project)

Calling someone a 職人 shokunin is a compliment on their skill.
自重 jijyuu is used to cation (often harshly) other people.
うｐ means upload. うｐ主 is uploader.
乙 otu = お疲れ様

Trends (this may not be worth posting...)

Maybe too too specific for this thread...?

foo-san is a name you'll probably see a lot. When a douga is removed, the admins upload a douga in its place explaining the reason for removal. These douga are typically have foo-san (a staff member) playing a recorder flute in the background.

釣り (tsuri) - phishing.
Videos on NicoNico that use titles and a cover pictures to bait people for something completely unrelated. A sub-examples are one with the ヌコヌコ動画 tags (ero bait -> kittens douga). /hidden is another example. 釣り also means the email phishing as well - but on NicoNico it means this.

組曲 (kumikyoku) which translates to medley, however, on NicoNico this is almost always refers to the 『ニコニコ動画』組曲.

Idol M@ster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idolm%40ster). This is pretty popular since their so much control over the movements of the idols then you can set them to a MAD/song. A specific lingo here is 閣下 (Her Excellency) which refers to the character Haruka. It's more of less the same with Nanoha's portrayal as the 管理局の白い悪魔 (The White Devil of the Administration) or her upgraded status of 冥王 (Lord of Darkness) - although Haruka's status is NicoNico born with a pretty vast 愚民 (ignorant denizen) cult following.

Mario specific terminology:
kj1980 mentioned this one above: 孔明 which is an ateji for 公明. The former is a Chinese military tactician. This specifically means the invisible block traps. The source for this is most likely a manga based off the Three Kingdoms (三国志).

Another Mario specific term is でっていう which refers to Yoshi. Original source is supposively a Life Card CM but it pretty much became universally popular with the Auto-Mario series.

Countless dougas are based off 東方Projects (Touhou Projects) which is a doujin shooting game credited for coming up with the word 弾幕. Aside the insane amount of 弾幕, Zun's music is wonderful and his characters are very moe~. His games are the bases of several IOSYS MADS whose MADS are in return the bases of countless other MADS on NicoNico.

Rockman (Japanese name for Megaman).
This is another great source for NicoNico MADs.
Two prime examples are the douga おっくせんまん and エアーマンが倒せない.
The latter is often a source for various parodies.
The former is the most sung song on NicoNico.

wao

2007-10-16, 09:13

foo-san is a name you'll probably see a lot. When a douga is removed, the admins upload a douga in its place explaining the reason for removal. These douga are typically have foo-san (a staff member) playing a recorder flute in the background.

I don't guess it's used nowadays since it's been some time since they changed the "this video has been removed" video, but for a while 鬱です (Utsu desu - "It is depressing"?) would be a common slang referring to deleted videos (or something along those lines).

Then there's that 何故殺した (Naze koroshita - "Why did you kill it") → 何故殺たし (Naze korotashi - a somewhat odd sounding misspell) →何故(insert past form of verb that is misspelled) thing, and I never investigated where it comes from except for hearing something vague about Evangelion. So now if something has been deleted you might see 何　故　消　た　し...

Oh, and the quintessential ゆとり (yutori), which refers to ゆとり教育 (yutori kyoiku - "breathing space" education). You can google it up; they basically reduced the content taught in classes so that every kid would understand what they needed properly, and increased more extra-curricular classes. Apparently this actually started since the 70s, but some places say that the first major change came in the 80s and they started introducing five-day school weeks in 1992.
The public is generally rather suspicious and disapproving of yutori kyoiku, apparently, and on niconico douga "yutori" is used as an euphemism for "stupid brat" (I think). AFAIK it's usually meant to insult you as being young enough for that education and having suffered from it.

An alternative if you want to flame youngsters is 平成生まれ (heisei umare - born in the Heisei era, starting from 1989) but I don't see it that often on the videos I watch.

Oh, and there's also 工作 (manipulating) which in a niconico context tends to refer to ランキング工作 (manipulating the video rankings). By default the rankings will show that day's most "favourited" videos in descending order, and sometimes a group of diehard fans/people with no time will get together and purposely add it in their list for one day, remove it before the next day and then add it in again so it keeps staying in the rankings list, even though it may not actually be such an interesting video. For this reason I always look at the "playback" list because it's much more accurate for seeing what people are really interested in.

Maybe this should go to the otaku lingo discussion thread or the Niconico Douga thread in General Chat. I wouldn't mind helping people understand if there are any strange slang words/puns (that is, if I understand them myself... -_-) I could totally go on about the Fuchagi series of cat videos, but that's definitely not otaku lingo.

sibladeko

2007-10-20, 23:32

Some more random crap you see on niconico comment scroll, specifically but not limited to Mario videos:
ktkr = kitakore = basically kita
wktk = waku waku teka teka = basically a nonsensical sound of anticipation
tktk = teke teke = Mario death sound
buu = sound a coin block makes
SA~DA~MA~SA~SHI = "official" fan lyrics for bowser castle music
The official opening of mario has lyrics too,

Idolmaster specific:
dokachi = ami and mami = misheard lyric in their version of Agent Goes in the Night = uh you can look up what it really means yourself

@ = shorthand for figure@mate, which was an eroge with a really popular opening
"kishime" = lyric in the eroge opening for Nursery Rhyme

5parrowhawk

2008-04-19, 04:51

"Hoihoi" (ホイホイ) - a roach motel. In the context of Nico Nico Douga, a "hoihoi" is a video which is expected to attract large numbers of a certain type of user. Some examples are "shooter hoihoi" (referring to shmup fans), "fujoshi hoihoi", and most popularly "ossan hoihoi". Since this is the internet, anyone over 20 is automatically a geezer (ossan), so any video which references retrogames or retro-anime (i.e. anything from more than about 10 years ago) is very likely to be tagged "ossan hoihoi". Unlike the previous example, "hoihoi" videos usually do deliver on the promised content.

"(ry" - Short form for "ryaku", which translates to "abbreviated" or "summarized". Something like the English "etc", except that (ry is most often seen as a way to abbreviate the name of a meme. Example: "Marisa stole (ry"

Asamidori

2008-04-21, 02:57

"(ry"'s use is not only limited to Nico, but Japanese community in general, along with things like wktk and ktkr. (Mostly around blogs and 2ch, though.)

Quarkboy

2008-04-23, 02:38

More niconico douga words:

Nakamuraya! 中村屋 and it's more recent variation Shameimaru! ＼射命丸／

Originating from a flash animation, which was in turn created from a comedy track off a CD by the musical comedy group グループ魂 called GROOPER whose basic joke was:

A man tries to give a standard speech at a wedding party, but a couple guys in the audience act as if it's a kabuki performance and constantly do kakegoe (shouting the person's name, in this case "Nakamura" (with an extra kabuki style honorific -ya))... but kakegoe is a lot more complex than just the name and you can shout out things that sound similar to the name or, well in any case the original of the joke is in kabuki.

The flash video was somewhat popular on niconico, but a recent parody version with Aya Shameimaru from Touhou has eclipsed the original in popularity and any appearence of Aya in videos will often be met with the ＼射命丸／ comment, which, as you can see from this twisted history I uncovered, actually a traditional Kabuki kakegoe.

Chrono Helix

2008-04-26, 07:27

I learnt somewhere that ネタバレ means spoilers. What is the origin of this term?

wao

2008-04-26, 11:59

I'm sure there's a more detailed etymology of that term, but afaik it literally means what it is: neta (ネタ) meaning something like "content", "stuff", "material" and bare (バレ) meaning "exposed". Put them together and you have "content exposed" = spoiler.

I'd like to know when it first started being used and so on though. I don't think it's a particularly anime-confined term either... I think.

LiberLibri

2008-05-02, 00:27

I'd like to know when it first started being used and so on though. I don't think it's a particularly anime-confined term either... I think.

ネタ derived from タネ (tane/seed). You find often upside-down slangs in Japanese. Neta was originally used by suchi cooks during Edo era to suggest the material of sushi, then introduced to comedy actors as a word to point the kernel of their jokes.

arnquist

2008-06-07, 19:41

Thanks for all the info, I read almost all of it, very educational. Now I'll know what wktk and 乙　and other such things mean when they fly across the screen of a nico video ^_^
My google search for "japanese internet lingo" also turned up this list:
http://whatjapanthinks.com/2006/11/14/japanese-murdered-on-the-internet/
Can you elaborate on any of those?

Asamidori

2008-06-07, 22:59

lol... 自演's on top of w. And heh apparently that guy's not that familiar with the ones at the bottom.

16 - 厨 nowadays refer to more than just middle school students, but kinda includes the meaning of "fanboys" and "fangirls", too. *points at her own forum title*

19 - 祭り is just that, festival. It doesn't neccessary mean flame wars. Like yesterday night JP/around afternoon today EST, we (the people that was watching/looping) over in あにま's アナザー：ワールドイズマイン (http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3561300) was going through a 7万再生祭り 'cause the video broke 70k views. (Think we spammed around 500 to 700 comments in an hour...)

21 - That one literally needs context before it can be explained.

25 - ﾉｼ <- hand. waving goodbye.

26 - Yaoi fangirl. This terms probably more wildly known over here in the west.

27 - Same thing as "wlket5jp;weirtopegh;ksdfas"

28 - (ry - Usually used to shortern stuffs, rather if it's to shortern something normally or used to joke. Whenever I type Marisa, I always go "Marisa wa Taihen na(ry" or something to that degree, because it's long to type, and the fact that most people will know what I'm referring to just from the words typed out.

wao

2008-06-09, 22:20

Wow, that's an interesting list. I don't think anyone needs it, but these are my own elaborations, based on my own understanding of it. I think some of it is probably just me misunderstanding the author, anyway... and a lot of it is kinda pointless/obvious but I have too much time

6 (kibonnu etc) - Although it derives from "kibou" (=hope), I wouldn't say it means "hope" in English as in "there is hope" but "I wish for _____". I think an English equivalent of kibonnu is "_____ plx" or something like that. Sauce plx. rapidshit plskthx. Something like that?

11 manse - Cheering, but I always felt it had the connotation of "fanboying". e.g. You go into a Geass thread and sigh at all the Taniguchi manse- (fanboying over the director Goro Taniguchi). People exhorting the virtues of someone or something without really thinking.

14 yashi - The corruption in particular is やつ→ヤツ→ヤシ→香具師 because "tsu" and "shi" look so similar in katakana. Similarly there is スマソ (sumaso) meaning スマン (suman = sumimasen, sorry) because "so" and "n" look so similar.

16 chuubou - Asamidori is very right on this imo, it's very important to understand that it refers to people who act like middle-school kids. I think the meaning has been softened to mean just hardcore fans (who may sometimes act out of hand) Hence you have 東方厨, ニコ厨, etc.
Real middle-school kids are now known as リアル厨房 (=リア厨), Real Chuubou.

20 kamikourin - my impression is that people use this lightly when early mag scans or uploads are pasted as well, not necessarily confidential info. Or if they just get something like an impossibly rare ID.

21 Real - I dunno if it literally means context, but I think the original poster got it right. Like in 16, there's real chuubou, or real shoubou (リアル少坊→リアル消防→リア消) for real grade-school kids. I've seen it used to mean "IRL" as well, like "リアルで笑ってしまった" meaning "I really laughed out loud in real life", not just "lol". Or リアルで「Nice boat.」which would be a Nice boat-like occurrance happening in actual life, even though it is used to describe a fictional event.
I think in common, non-net-speak it is used to mean "realistic" though.

27 あｑｗせｄｒｆｔｇｙふじこｌｐ - I think it's mean to be actual nonsense, like "!@#$%^". This sequence can be achieved by pressing the keys on the first two rows of letters on a qwerty keyboard in a zig-zag fashion. I think it got popular because mysteriously enough, ふじこ (Fujiko, a girl's name) would appear among the nonsense. (It is actually typed as hujiko here.)

29 copied from wikipedia: Nurupo (ぬるぽ) – A parody of the Java (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29) output "NullPointer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointer)Exception"(NullPointerException (http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/NullPointerException.html)). Usually followed up with "GA(ガッ)!", the sound of a hammer hitting the "nurupo" poster, because of a meme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme) started in this thread (http://pc.2ch.net/prog/kako/1024/10245/1024553352.html).
(Does anyone use this anymore?)

Of course only after writing all that nonsense do I realise it's been explained nicely in the comments section :heh: I shall just leave it here and hope someone points out any misunderstandings if any.

Speaking of one I've been tempted to use a lot recently, I came across "2828", which is one of those number-word conversion things meaning "grinning" (niyaniya, 2=ni and 8=ya) I was surprised to see people spamming it on niconico, I didn't know it was widely used in casual internet conversation. (If that is a correct assumption.)

Neya

2008-06-28, 14:20

Nice Boat

1. To divert attention from chaos or dissatisfaction.
2. To comment that the boat looks cool.
3. Increase of total aired episodes.

4. To erase from existence (into kuro-rekishi).
5. A synonym of the f-word, but cannot be inflected into an adjective or adverb.

einhorn303

2009-04-12, 13:37

The English version of AkibaBlog has a series on otaku terminology for foreginers called "WeeklyAkibaWords." It's rather interesting, a lot of the stuff I'd never heard of before. This weeks:

http://en.akibablog.net/archives/2009/04/weeklyakibawords_anone_shoho.html

Sister Princess

2009-06-07, 19:39

What's the proper english term for "中二病"?

KitsuneNineTails

2009-07-02, 14:31

What's the proper english term for "中二病"?

According to Denshi Jisho:

中二病 / ちゅうにびょう / humorous way of characterising certain expressions or behaviors that are characteristic of teenagers (lit: 11th grader sickness)

Although, wouldn't it be "8th grader sickness", because of chuuni?

Anyways, there ya go. :) I don't think we have an exact term for this in English, unless there's some new slang I'm not aware of...

Ciao!

Kei_T

2009-08-06, 20:46

What's the proper english term for "中二病"?

I discussed it with my Japanese friends, and one of them called it "the Dark Force syndrome".

Sufferers from 中二病 loves these words ; dark, outlaw, chosen, forbidden, and so on.
"I know, they don't want to be Jedi, but the Lord of Sith." he said.

solomon

2009-11-11, 14:25

Sorry if this has been asked already.

I already know what they are. On average what is the overall length, word count and comprehension difficulty. From reviews I read on the internet, they basically read like anime scripts (which can sometimes be expository heavy compared to regular film/tv).

NeoSam

2010-03-29, 05:11

つるぺた
Tsurupeta

Taken from here (http://www.tsurupeta.info/content/about):

It is a Japanese portmanteau word combining two onomatopoeias: tsurutsuru [つるつる], which means smooth, polished, especially hairless; and petan [ぺたん], which means flat, devoid of bumps and holes. So tsurupeta [つるぺた] describes a female body that's flat above and smooth below.

ellifeedn

2010-04-11, 10:05

I can't believe no one explained doujins. The best I can describe them (and know about them) is that they are fan made material.

Oh, and does anyone know what "M-C" is/means?

Kudryavka

2010-07-05, 02:19

I can't believe no one explained doujins. The best I can describe them (and know about them) is that they are fan made material.

Oh, and does anyone know what "M-C" is/means?
Master of Ceremonies. The host of a party or awards party/show.

Micchi

2010-07-06, 22:56

Oh, and does anyone know what "M-C" is/means?

It could also mean 'Main Character', depending on the context.

felix

2010-07-07, 16:19

I can't believe no one explained doujins. The best I can describe them (and know about them) is that they are fan made material.

Dōjinshi (同人誌, often transliterated as doujinshi) are self-published Japanese works, usually magazines, manga or novels. They are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from dōjin (同人, literally "same person", used to refer to a person or persons with whom one shares a common goal or interest) and shi (誌, a suffix generally meaning "periodical publication"). Dōjinshi are part of a wider category of dōjin including, but not limited to, art collections, anime, hentai and games. Groups of dōjinshi artists refer to themselves as a sākuru (サークル, circle). A number of such groups actually consist of a single artist: they are sometimes called kojin sākuru (個人サークル, personal circles).

-- Courtesy of wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Djinshi).

kj1980

2010-10-01, 14:24

Crossdressing boy

Though the normal usage "otoko no ko" is a young boy (child age), "Otoko no Ko" works because of the dual means that are allowed in kanji. Rather than explain in detail, I'll explain it with diagrams:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/kj1980/otoko_no_ko-1.jpg

So it's simple as changing the "ko" from "child" to a "Ko" to a kanji that means "girl"

Can't figure out a good way to do this in English, so I'll just make the "ko" capitalized to "Ko" to make it distinct. If there's another method that works better, please provide an amendment.

Sample usage:

Kinoshita Hideyoshi from "Baka Test" and Bridget from "GUILTY GEAR" series are great examples of an Otoko no Ko.

cyth

2010-10-24, 18:55

Otaku Boom

Associated with Seichi Junrei (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=620280&postcount=35) (pilgrimage). It denotes instances where other Japanese industry sectors received economic boosts following the otaku's involvement in their business. For example, otaku visiting the Washinomiya Shrine featured in Lucky Star boosted the local economy. Some companies and interests outside of the otaku industry are starting to take advantage of this phenomenon. As a result, anime featuring real-life scenery are now more common than ever.

Shinji01

2011-12-19, 07:18

MisaoFan

2011-12-22, 13:35

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/y104/kj1980/tsundere2.jpg

Usage example:

My childhood friend has blonde, twin-tail hair. She is the epitome of a [i]tsundere.

There's a error. Tsunderes also apply to males, who appeared at first cold then loyal characters. So, female equivalent of tsundere is tsunderekko.

sona-nyl

2011-12-24, 12:00

kj1980 is japanese (I think, If I'm wrong do tell me) and probably has a much better understanding in how the term is used than you have. Also while males can be referred to as tsunderes they usually aren't. kj1980 made his post back in 2006, I have never seen a male character been referred to as a tsundere earlier than the recent years.

I'm really tired right now. So I think my grammar may sound a little weird. Will fix it later.

kj1980

2017-07-14, 16:27

isekai-kei

The rash of light novels/anime with similar recurring themes involving the main character, typically a loser or normie in IRL, suddenly transported to another world by some means in which the character becomes a hero/heroine of the story.

The influx of isekai-kei storylines comes from wannabe light novelists who uploads web-novels and stories involving this situation because it is the most easiest to write, with publishers themselves taking up and publishing these stories because it's a formula that works for now and anime companies taking up these titles in hopes of churning easy profit.

Not-so-good-example

People be talkin' that Zero no Tsukaima was the OG isekai-kei don't know that Aura Battler Dunbine was the real OG isekai-kei anime and it wasn't moe, it was hardcore mech!

Aura Battler Dunbine OP:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhcyn6

kj1980

2023-01-08, 05:15

Okada Toshio

I'm not going to go into detail of this person's bio or background as there's already a Wikipedia page of him (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshio_Okada).

However with the advent of people clipping Youtube videos of V-Tubers and translating clips of Hololivers and such, leading to a new/next level of interest in Japanese culture, as well as new generation of anime fans, increasing interest in Japan, etc., it might be of certain interest of those who wish to know more about the hardcore nerdy/geeky side of Japanese otaku culture from the self proclaimed Otaking himself.

If I were to place the closest equivalent, Okada Toshio-san would be like the "Quentin Tarantino of anime/manga" but not as a director, but as a complete nerd/geek (positive statement) of knowing A LOT of anime/manga history, sci-fi, background, relevance, influences and how it all ties in together, to this day.

For the most part, it seems like most new anime watchers outside of Japan do not really watch older shows, anime geared for kids like Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon, or have no interest in Japan made sci-fi/tokusatsu flicks like Shin-Godzilla or Shin-Ultraman. It is a shame as there are A LOT of things to learn about instead of passing these over which ties into the grand scheme of otaku and Japanese culture, which for those living outside of Japan who are interested in knowing more about the whys, hows, whens, etc.

Take it for a grain of salt, but let's see if introducing a Youtube video of Okada Toshio's Top 10 picks of the most influential Japanese anime in the past 100 years (https://youtu.be/fUQrtcLhwNo) and An analysis of how Toriyama Akira is a great manga artist (https://youtu.be/7gdeOYD82oA) would be of any interest to see if it leads to some kind of interest, clippings, translations, or perhaps even as a guest to anime cons abroad.

Forewarned, translating his video(s) would require quite an extensive knowledge of Japan, anime/manga history, otaku subculture, science fiction, other outside influences, authors and books, and beyond. But for those who understand Japanese his videos are quite interesting watch.

fUQrtcLhwNo 7gdeOYD82oA