Japanese otaku lingo discussion thread

[kj1980]

This is the thread dedicated for the discussion of the Japanese otaku lingo thread (sticky) at the top of this forum.

[Srin Tuar]

i found this interesting as well:

http://matthew.animeblogger.net/arch..._selection.php

[tsuraramai]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Interesting! So while internet slang has seen "hentai" appropriated into the English language as a loanword to mean "erotic images, usually manga style", it's essentially a mistranslation caused by the fact that pornography is such a taboo subject that only unpaid amateurs were able to try their hand at the translation of the lingo. Of course, "hentai" is now one of those words that's made its way into the English language to mean something other than what it originally did in its other language - it's like how "anime" in Japan simply means "animation", but in English the word specifically refers to Japanese animation.

Also, what does "moe" mean?

A lot of US anime-fan lingo is misused...

not just "hentai"...

one of the more perplexing:

"yaoi" & "shounen ai"

The first term began in Japan to refer specifically to gay PWP doujinshi porn. The second was to refer to a particular early genre of angsty forbidden love stories between school-aged boys. Both aren't really all that widely used, and the second's actually taken on pedophilic connotations ("boy lovers" use it to refer to pederasty).

Meanwhile, in the US, fans use "yaoi" for EVERYTHING remotely homosexual: story with no sex at all, slash fanfiction, fanfiction where two boys kiss, a music video where two guys touch each others' faces, an action that's particularly "Gay" ("zomg, that's so yaoi!"), the ACTION of doing something gay ("will yaoi for money" signs), etc...

A few fans will shout at you for calling something with no sex "yaoi" and will say it's, instead, "shounen ai".

And what's all this called in Japan?

"Boys Love"... in ENGLISH ^^;;;

So the english-speaking fans are all talking about it Japanese (incorrectly)... while the term used in Japan is already in English ^^;

Kind of like when you get fanboys telling you all about their favorite anime "Onegai Sensei", when the actual title is in english to begin with ^^;;

Simply by BEING japanese, some words are instantly attractive and gain wide (often improper) usage simply because, at the time they entered the lexicon, no one quite knew how to use them.

It happens a lot. But it happens a lot in reverse too You should see what crimes against english pass for legitimate loanwords in Japanese. Or even worse, what some of the kids into rap and r&b think of as legitimate "street lingo" ^_^

But hey, language is always changing. Today's mistake is tomorrow's dictionary entry.

As for "moe", it's is that special something that makes youthful, adorable characters so gulldarned attractive. Some insist that it's not sexual or fetishistic at all, that it's just the urge to protect someone smaller and sweeter than you are. Others will equate it to lolicon.

But "moe" is the heart and soul of the current anime industry, especially in Akihabara. Google "moe" and "moe zangyou" for a good zillion articles on the subject

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by RedFrame

Does the full mean of M.O.E is...
M.agnificient
O.utrageous
E.ntertaining

That's the abbreviation of the entertainment company that makes moe~ anime.

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

Okay... this isn't exactly otaku slang, it's more 9 year old girl slang...

But I'd still like to know exactly what an "ikemen" is? the closest thing I think is just some "hot guy".

Also... do the japanese otaku have any slang word for western anime fans? you know, something really insulting that they only call us when we aren't looking ? Like "nise-taku" or something?

1. bingo

2. we just refer to you guys as 外人ヲタ (foreigner otakus)

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by kj1980

Expect a very broad answer:

Moe

Moe can be any or a combo of things listed by Sushi-Y in post 35.
Moe is the backbone of the multibillion yen otaku industry.
Moe is what NoSanninWa "got" all of a sudden back in November 2004　(reading that with post 549 and post 550 would make a really good 4-koma manga!!)
Moe is something that can't be described, it's something that you know you are moe~d when it hits you.
When moe warms your heart and melts your brain out of uber-moe~ness, you are officially considered to be an otaku in my eyes (that's saying a lot).
Your moe may not necessarily be my moe.

I never understood moe until I watched the first episode of Ichigo Mashimaro. I didn't find the show that interesting until I got to one of the scenes near the end, when you see the three girls sleeping. All of a sudden I was hit with incredible feelings of warmth & adoration (and the inexplicable desire to protect them) that almost made me want to cry.

.... Yeah, moe sounds kind of crazy when you try to describe it with words. I can really relate to NoSanninWa's post, except that in my case it was a different character(s) who inspired that feeling.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by RedFrame

@KJ1980
i dont know if it is otaku lingo or just your style but what is "wwww" at the end of your post ?
is it some kind of signature for you ?



(kj1980 sorry for asking if it rude for me to ask this kind of question )

a VIPPER way of saying (warai), which in English would be similar to LOL. The more w's, the more I'm laughing. And before you ask, I'm not explaining what a VIPPER is.

[DaFool]

Well considering we haven't actually been in a Japanese studio nor any of its Korean outsourcers, that's pretty well researched.

For western animation at least:
Storyboard and model designs (this is where episode director fits in) ->Layout (Layout director) -> Key Animation (Animation Director who's primary concern is movement according to Storyboard and X-sheet) -> Clean-up (separate department with its own director ) -> In-between (also separate department)

You could outsource pretty much anything after the Pre-prod (first step), and even send each department to a different studio if they like.

Hmm, "Layout Sakkan" and "2nd Key" animation...that's really interesting. Well, usually only Japanese animation has all the detailed shadows and all. For one thing, they seem to have more specialist mechanical directors .

[wao]

I don't have any clips/gifs offhand, but if you've seen enough anime you've probably seen the Gainax bounce: i.e. when a (usually well-endowed) girl jumps or does something and her boobs bounce. Apparently it started off with Gainax. I think there was a bit of it in Daicon IV which was made by Gainax founders before Gainax was formed.

As for the animation production process, you might have already been to AIC's guide on how anime is produced in general, particularly this page. (Note how the colour designer is actually in pre-production. An interesting case is Mushishi where there was a separate colour designer for each episode because each ep had a "Theme Colour". Seems like they planned the storyboards and colours and so on WAY ahead of time.)

For sakugakantoku, perhaps "Key Animation Supervisor" would be a more fitting title? That is what they used in Jin-Roh. But it's deifnitely not "animation coordinator" (that would be closer to, say, 制作進行 which is something I still don't know how to translate nicely) And I will stab you if you say "Art supervisor" because when you say "Art" in anime credits it's easy to get mixed up with the background art.

DaFool: I think the biggest difference is that in Western animation the animation director is more concerned with the movement while in anime it's more of the drawings. After all, the focus is very different in both, and like you pointed out Japanese animation has much more detailed designs with shadows and such. I should think that the animation director in anime also looks at the timesheet though, so that basic timing is still there.

There's a lot I"m really confused about anyway - a lot of this could be quite mistaken - so someday I hope I can go to Japan and visit a studio and ask them once and for all...

[Soluzar]

Originally Posted by Guido

What is the Gainax Bounce?

In addition to the other comment, I've heard American anime fans sardonically refer to the picture artifacts caused by bad telecine as the "GAINAX Bounce", although that was done in conscious awareness of the more usual definition of the term. It's not at all hard to notice the effect of the picture seeming to bounce up and down in their older releases.

[xris]

Originally Posted by physics223

What does moe really mean? I've heard it has different connotations, but what does it REALLY mean?

If you read (or search) this thread, you will see it's not really possible to give an exact answer since it means different things to different people.

Originally Posted by kj1980

Expect a very broad answer:

Moe

Moe can be any or a combo of things listed by Sushi-Y in post 35.
Moe is the backbone of the multibillion yen otaku industry.
Moe is what NoSanninWa "got" all of a sudden back in November 2004　(reading that with post 549 and post 550 would make a really good 4-koma manga!!)
Moe is something that can't be described, it's something that you know you are moe~d when it hits you.
When moe warms your heart and melts your brain out of uber-moe~ness, you are officially considered to be an otaku in my eyes (that's saying a lot).
Your moe may not necessarily be my moe.

[LytHka]

"Otaku" has a perfectly valid English translation: "Fanatic".

Example: People that are into certain music groups, bands or artists and buy a lot of their merchandise are actually otaku. But they're labeled as fanatics (or less severely as "fans") in the West. They aren't labeled as otaku, because "otaku" in the West is refering exclusively to fans of japanese animation and comics, while in Japan, you are otaku if you're passionate about practically any kind of hobby, as long as you adjust your lifestyle/finances to it.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by Ayu-ayu

A friend of mine in Japan has told me that lately the term "DEEP" is being used to refer to a certain class of otaku that are heavily into moe stuff.

An example he gave is that for SF anime otaku, the great "trinity" is Yamato/Gundam/Evangelion, while for a DEEP, it is something more like Doremi/Nadesico/Mai-HIME. ....orz

I was wondering if kj1980 or another native fan could elaborate on this or comment?

See example above regarding Onee-chan. Knowing these things are considered "DEEP" by normal people.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Srin Tuar

Supposedly, the ゼロの使い魔's light novel sold over 1.25 million copies. Assuming most of the sales were in Japan, and that noone bought multiple copies for themselves, that would mean that 1 in 200 people in Japan got a copy. If thats not a mainstream social phonemenon, then the otaku population must be very large and have significant purchasing power.

I'm assuming that sales figure would actually be for all 8 light novels released so far, which'd put the per volume sales at around 156,000 each. Still great, of course, and beyond the "inner" otaku circle by most estimates.

And as usual, thanks to kj1980 and all the participants for this very useful thread.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by tun

Well, yes, but is there a term for the romance between those osananajimi?

Surprisingly....no. It's just called osananajimi no kankei, which is literally "childhood friend relationship." Either that, or it's also called an oyakusoku, which is a slang term for "cliché" (as with other typical cliché like guy falling down grabbing the girl's breasts, etc. etc.).

In either case, even if there were a word that could be born, there aren't that many abbreviations that clicks for and osananajimi romance. Osana-roma? Nah, too corny. Nope, as of now there doesn't seem to be anything that describes that relationship other than the literal wording itself.


And as everyone might've noticed, I have clipped out posts that do not fall under providing info on Japanese Otaku Lingo - six pages of material cut down into three.

[Nanatuha]

Originally Posted by kj1980

light novel
These novels are initially serialized on a monthly magazine (just like mangas are initially serialized in a weekly/monthly comic magazine).

It may cause a misunderstanding. Not ALL light novels are serialized on a magazine.
Long piece is usually newly written. (Usually that's the story to be made to a anime.) Short piece is published as a book after be serialized on those magazine once like kj1980 said. There are a lot of series that have both, too, but the ratio of unserialized ones is probably higher than serialized one's in whole light novel published.

[solomon]

nice work on the lexicon kj190. However, i must give major kudos to wao for the lenghty info on sakuga. Ive long been an animation buff/aspiring artist but the entire true nature of the japanese animation process was always a true mystery. The proprietor of Anipages.net who keeps an eye out for animation worth of praise in anime, gave some good info but still nothing as detailed an informative as wao did.
As for dai-ni genga ive only seen it in movies high end ovas and spectacularly animated tv shows like Planetes, Kamichu and Eureka Seven to name a few. The hypothesis wao gives is valid but i immedietly think that the assignment of animation shots would be broken down amongst more and more animators (genga-sha?) especialy for very fluid shows that would need the extra attention

[bayoab]

And Toku is short for Tokusatsu.

[Okita Souji]

Found this on youtube. Hosted by Shoko Nakagawa. This show explains a bit of otaku lingo and includes types of otaku.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3vsMxhzus

Since my Japanese isn't very good, what's the reason for otaku to be spelled ヲタク　instead of オタク?

[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by Okita Souji

Found this on youtube. Hosted by Shoko Nakagawa. This show explains a bit of otaku lingo and includes types of otaku.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3vsMxhzus

ﾜﾛﾀw

Originally Posted by Okita Souji

Since my Japanese isn't very good, what's the reason for otaku to be spelled ヲタク instead of オタク?

Because オタク has that traditional, negative image associated to it. Whereas modern otaku-culture has become much more mainstream and well-known. So to seperate the "old" otaku image from the "new" otaku image, they changed its spelling from オタク to ヲタク (pronounced pretty much the same way).

It's all the same if you ask me though. ^^;

[Furudanuki]

A question for those who would know about such things...

The term "Meganekko" refers to a girl who wears glasses. Is there a similar term used to describe a girl who habitually wears traditional Japanese clothing? For example, someone like Masako in Ghost Hunt.