Terms used by anime fandom (not all of which are real Japanese words). The links on the left lead to definitions of the term. The links to the right go to the more general term, which is where the examples go.
See also: Japanese Media Tropes and Visual Novel Fanspeak
Anime Demographics
- Shonen → aimed at boys ages 12-18.
- Seinen → aimed at adult men ages 18-40.
- Shoujo → aimed at girls ages 12-18.
- Josei → aimed at adult women ages 18-40.
- Kodomomuke → aimed at younger children, mostly unaffected by the Animation Age Ghetto.
- Minna → Multiple Demographic Appeal
Anime Genres
For a more comprehensive list, see the page Anime Genres.
- Cute Girls Doing Cute Things → A cast of female characters in a Slice of Life show that revolves around an activity.
- Guro→ Short for ero guro nansensu
(erotic grotesque nonsense), an art movement focused on Surreal Horror and Squick. English fans mostly just use it as a synonym for Gorn.
- Hentai → Means "pervert" or "perversion", used by English fans to label porn. (The usual terms in Japanese are "ero-manga" for comics, "ero-anime" for animation, and Eroge for games.)
- Ecchi → The moonspeak pronunciation of the English letter "H", which, in Japan is a catch-all term for naughty stuff, but in the west usually refers to Fanservice-heavy, but non-explicit anime and manga.
- Harem Genre → Stories in which the protagonist is surrounded by a group of admirers who compete to get their affections - in essence, a Love Triangle with more than three participants. Since the genre originated in comedies involving a male lead with an Unwanted Harem (and many fans still assume that all Harem genre stories are of this type), stories where the protagonist is female are sometimes termed a 'reverse harem'.
- A Love Dodecahedron is a story in which multiple, possibly overlapping, Love Triangles and/or Harems conflict with each other.
- Isekai → Trapped in Another World, fantasy works in which the protagonist is transported to a different existence, and usually has to find a way to return to their own world. Subgenres may involve being Trapped in TV Land or The Game Come to Life.
- Returner → A story where the protagonist has an isekai plot as their Back Story, and returned with unusual powers or items. They might struggle to readjust to normal life, stumble across The Masquerade and become an Outside-Context Problem for Earth's native supernatural beings, or have to deal with people from the other world following them over. Almost never an actual Sequel to an existing isekai story.
- Iyashikei → A work made to soothe or comfort the audience, with characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments.
- Jidaigeki → Historical drama set in feudal Japan.
- Time Travel series, especially Time Travel Romances, are often used as a variant of Isekai (see above).
- Magical Girl (Mahou Shoujo) → A teenage or pre-teen girl, often an Ordinary High-School Student, who lives a magical double life, traditionally with elements of a Coming of Age Story. The most popular subgenre consists of female superheroes who gain powers and fight evil.
- Mecha → Referring to the genre and many subgenres of robot shows as well as the robots that star in them (in actual Japanese, "mecha" is short for "mechanism"note and the usual word for a robot is... robot). Usually divided into two categories.
- Real Robot → Mecha Anime that usually runs on 'hard' science, or at the very least a general adherence to what would happen in real life. Hard specs for mechs are common, as are darker themes. Frequently overlaps with During the War. (Examples include most iterations of Gundam, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Code Geass, etc.)
- Super Robot → Hard specs are usually thrown out the window in favor of Rule of Cool, Rule of Drama, and other such "soft" science like powering your robot with love, courage, friendship, or, in a pinch, high velocity music note . Generally Lighter and Softer, though not always. Frequently overlaps with Super Hero. (Examples include Mazinger Z, GaoGaiGar, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and the like.)
- Netorare → A genre involving the Cuckold trope. Commonly abbreviated in English as "NTR".
- Panty Fighter → A Fighting Series focusing on girls which leans heavily on Fanservice, especially panty shots.
- Sentou Bishoujo → Literally "combat bishoujo"; a story about one or more attractive young women kicking butt with cool armour or weapons. Sometimes has a Transformation Sequence (many Magical Girl Warriors qualify as Sentou Bishoujo), though their outfits may include at least some portions of armour plating or combat gear rather than going for the full Frills of Justice look. Examples include Katana Maidens, Kill la Kill, Magic Knight Rayearth.
- Sentou Bishounen → "combat Pretty Boy", the Spear Counterpart. Often resembles an animated version of Sentai, but with fewer female characters and more visible faces. Examples include Brave Command Dagwon, Ronin Warriors and Saint Seiya.
- Yaoi → A genre involving male-on-male romantic or sexual relationships, written primarily for a heterosexual female audience. Also called Boy's Love or "shonen ai"; English-speaking fans tend to use this only for the milder, non-sexual examples, but in the Japanese fandom, boy×boy is always called BL no matter how explicit.
- Bara Genre → male-on-male romantic and sexual relationships written for a gay male audience, and focusing primarily on Manly Gay characters. Historically, this has been very distinct from Yaoi, which generally focused on Pretty Boys and a strict masculine/feminine dynamic, but in the late 2000s and early the 2010s Yaoi began to break from its earlier formula, if only a little.
- Yuri → The Distaff Counterpart of Yaoi, involving female-on-female romantic or sexual relationships. Also called Girl's Love or "shoujo ai" in the case of the milder, non-sexual examples, though as with yaoi this distinction is not made in Japan (where yuri magazines tend to care more about things like the W.A.F.F. of a relationship than whether it's strictly romantic or not). Unlike with Yaoi and Bara, there has always been a large overlap in the demographic for both male Yuri Fans and the female LGBT Fanbase, though the fan focus is generally different.
Character Types
- Bishoujo → An attractive girl or woman. By definition, restricted to actual shoujo (girls/teens) in Japanese, but English fans use it to refer to characters of all ages.
- Bishōnen → A Pretty Boy, generally an androgynous one. Like bishoujo, is extended to a wider range of ages in English slang (where it is often shortened to "bishie").
- Bokukko → A tomboy who refers to herself with the masculine Japanese Pronoun "boku". A rare variant "orekko" uses the extremely masculine "ore" instead.
- Chuunibyou → Literally "Middle School Second-Year Syndrome", more figuratively "teenage delusions of grandeur". Refers to a person who acts as if they are somehow special or superior to those around them, exhibiting behaviour like imitating foreign cultures, acting smarter than they really are, or living in an elaborate fantasy world of their own invention. The most stereotypical type of chuuni is a Hipster who claims to have otherworldly traits like a Magic Eye, Mark of the Supernatural or Superpowered Evil Side, and may insist on being referred to by odd pseudonyms.
- -dere → A group of romantic archetypes characterized by the ways they express their feelings (or fail to). The terms are formed as a Portmanteau of some personality trait with the word 'deredere' ('lovey-dovey' or 'lovestruck'). The term is almost exclusively applied to female characters, though male characters may fit the types. While several such archetypes exist, the most common ones are:
- Dandere → A Shrinking Violet who is unable or unwilling to express her romantic feelings.
- Himedere → A girl who hides her feelings behind the mask of a haughty noblewoman who wouldn't be caught dead with commoners. Often either a Fallen Princess who does this as a general coping mechanism, or sees your relationship as Forbidden Love and is pushing you away out of fear that it can only end in tragedy. The similar kamidere feigns a god complex instead (and may or may not be an actual god).
- Kuudere → A Sugar-and-Ice Personality, icy with a sugary interior.
- Tsundere → She says she's not your girlfriend, but she alternates between swooning over you, sulking at you and dishing out physical abuse. In older usages the progression is more linear - i.e. a character who goes from rude and unfriendly to affectionate and loving over the course of the story.
- Yandere → She loves you. She really does. She's also completely insane, will follow you everywhere, and will do absolutely anything, and we mean anything to have you all to herself, even if she has to kill other girls. And don't even dream of rejecting her. She'd rather see you dead than with someone else.
- Dojikko → Cute Clumsy Girl
- Genki Girl → Genki means "energetic". Very energetic.
- Kawaiiko → Little-girl cuteness personified, to saccharine and beyond
- Burikko → A kawaiiko who's a nasty person underneath.
- Kichiku → Sexy, sadistic boyfriend
- Kichiku Megane → Sexy, sadistic boyfriend with hot little glasses
- Kusogaki → "Shitty brat"; a smug kid who knows exactly how to push adults' buttons, mocking or bullying them mercilessly; essentially a combination of Enfant Terrible and Smug Snake, Played for Laughs. Stereotypically depicted laughing at adults for their mistakes and calling them "Zaaaaako!" (noob, mook or small fry).
- Mesugaki → "Female brat";note a kusogaki girl who focuses on sexual harassment. Usually this is limited to teasing, but she is generally aware that her actions can get other people Mistaken for Pedophile (or sometimes Mistaken for Gay), and enjoys the power that this gives her over them. Sometimes extended to particularly aggressive girls in the Little Devil vein, who usually target boys closer to their own age and are more likely to be a Loving Bully than doing it out of malice.
- Erogaki → A (usually male) kusogaki with the personality of a Dirty Old Man.
- Little Devil → From koakuma, usually translated literally but could also be rendered as "imp". The Tease, especially a young/cute one; sometimes a Fille Fatale.
- Megane → Boys with glasses, for glasses-fetish fangirls. Available in several flavours.
- Meganekko → Bespectacled Cutie. Literally "Glasses Girl", mixed with a good dose of Moe; unlike the western stereotype, the glasses are essential to her attractiveness.
- Moe → Qualities which make you want to hug or protect a character, usually derived from them being highly cute.
- Gap Moe → Moe that emerges when a character shows an unexpected side (such as a Boisterous Bruiser Tomboy turning out to be terrified of ghost stories), from the gap between expectations and reality. The basis of the appeal behind archetypes like Tsundere, Kuudere and Tsunshun.
- Token Mini-Moe → formerly termed loli, used to refer to a girl (or boy) with a very youthful appearance.
- Mukokuseki → When a Japanese character does not look Japanese.
- Oba-san → Ma'am Shock, or when a character is offended by being called "Oba-san" due to the implication that she's old. The term is also used to describe an Apron Matron or any middle-aged, motherly character.
- Otoko no musume → Dude Looks Like a Lady
- Seme → The dominant male partner in a yaoi story.
- Senpai and Kohai → 'senior/superior' versus 'junior/subordinate', terms used to denote seniority, whether at work or between students. There is an expectation that the senpai (older student or more senior employee) will act as a mentor to the kohai (younger student or newer employee), and the kohai will in return give their respect to the senpai.
Fandom Terms
- Ahegao → The Immodest Orgasm, more specifically, a close-up of someone's 'O face'. While the term originated among viewers of Hentai, it abruptly experienced Memetic Mutation in the mid-2010s through a large number of Image Macros based on clips or stills from Hentai and Ecchi anime and manga. These began to go mainstream as image macros from non-ecchi series started showing up in similar context depicting them as Accidental Innuendo, which fed back into itself as references to the meme started to show up in ecchi series themselves. This has led to a mixture of tittering and eye-rolling from various fans.
- Baka → Just the Japanese word for "dummy" or "idiot".
- Boys' Love Notes → Contains a list of fanspeak terms commonly used in Yaoi.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl → A girl who really likes to play dress-up.
- Dark History (Kuro Rekishi) → An embarrassing time in someone's past which they would rather forget, or a collection of works they created in that time. Originates from ∀ Gundam, where "The Dark History" referred to The Beforetimes and investigating it was considered taboo.
- Densha Otaku → A major fan of trains.
- Doujin → Amateur works created by a "doujin circle" and distributed through Fan Conventions, most famously Comiket. Are often, but not always, Fan Works based on an existing property. Doujin are a popular medium for novice creative types to gain experience, as well as for professionals to produce works that they couldn't release commercially. Many are published only once, though a number of specialist reseller shops have sprung up which cater to collectors.
- Doujinshi → Doujin comics and magazines. Makes up the majority of doujin output.
- Doujin Soft (Doujin software) → Doujin video games, generally for PC (which is still a niche format within Japan). Often receives an initial release while still simple and early in development, to be followed by a series of improved versions at subsequent events. Usually considered distinct from Indie Games, though they may become indie if commercialized and ported to more mainstream platforms.
- Fujoshi → The stereotypical female yaoi fan. Literally means "rotten woman".note Male yaoi fans are sometimes referred to as fudanshi ("rotten man"). The yuri counterparts are himejoshi ("princess girl") and himedanshi ("princess boy").
- Fuku Fic → A fanfic of Ranma ½ that features Ranma wearing a Sailor Fuku akin to those in Sailor Moon, possibly including a Crossover between the two series.
- Gaijin → "Foreigner", i.e. a non-Japanese person. Currently gaikokujin ("foreign national") is considered the more politically correct term within Japan, but foreign anime fans freely apply it to themselves due to N-Word Privileges.
- Kawaisa → Japanese cuteness
- Lolicon and Shotacon (Lolita Complex and Shotarou Complex) → An adult romantically or sexually attracted to "lolis" (young or young-looking girls) or "shotas" (the same for boys), respectively. English usage is usually restricted to people who like fictional characters (even In-Universe); in Japanese they sometimes include attraction to real children as well, but as slang terms they have less bite than "pedophile" and are more likely to be flung around as a joke. As for the terms loli and shota themselves, reactions vary on applying them to fictional characters, but applying them to real-life children is generally considered creepy just about anywhere (for simplicity, TVTropes requests tropers to avoid using them regardless of situation). Not to be confused with Lolita Fashion and derived terms such as goth-loli, or with guys actually named things like Shouta or Shotarou.
- Siscon → A person (usually a man, but not always an adult... or male) attracted to their sister. As above, the term is usually used as a gibe directed at someone displaying a Big Brother Instinct, rather than being intended seriously. The Spear Counterpart is called "brocon".
- Various other "-con" terms also exist, such as a "Megane-con" being someone who thinks Glasses Are Sexy.
- Menhera → "Mental healther", i.e. a person with mental health problems. Generally implies that someone is hard to deal with but also sympathetic. Does not refer to any condition in particular, but is most strongly associated with acute stress, avoidant personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder.
- Nakama → In anime speak, a group of mostly unrelated people that have bonded into something like a family. Not used that way in actual Japanese, where it typically just denotes allies or teammates.
- "Notice Me, Senpai!" → a character wanting the approval and affection of an older or more experienced character; can apply to either a "Well Done, Son" Guy or someone who is suffering from Unrequited Love (or even Mad Love). Often describes someone who is a Yandere, especially the Stalker with a Crush typenote . Generally used derisively, as it implies that they are acting mainly out of insecurity rather than love.
- Occidental Otaku → Affectionate Parody of non-Japanese fans of Japanese stuff.
- Otaku → Hardcore nerd. English anime fans adopted the term to refer to themselves, but it is not a compliment in Japan — over there, the word carries the connotation of someone who's let their love for something go to unhealthy and obsessive extremes.
- Otaku O'Clock → the Watershed
- Pettanko → Flat-chested character, normally always that of a girl's chest. A Fan Nickname is DFC (Delicious Flat Chest) on imageboards.
- Sakuga → Literally just "animation", but used by English speakers to mean a scene in anime with especially detailed and high-effort animation, possibly through conflation with positive uses of sasuga ("just what I'd expect").
- Takahashi Couple → Belligerent Sexual Tension
- Tenchi Solution → Marry Them All, in which the protagonist of a Harem Series, instead of choosing one girl, chooses all of them.
- Tensei → "Reincarnation"; appears frequently in the titles of isekai stories. Due to the genre's tendency towards Overly Long Names "<blank> Tensei" is also a common template for Fan Nicknames for such series.
- Zettai Ryouiki → The area between the hem of a mini-skirt/hot pants and socks; also graded depending on socks length. Only considered "true" if it's thigh-high or overknee socks (grades A and B, respectively). Rank Inflation to Grade S happens by combining Grade A with Girlish Pigtails and Tsundere.
