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Otaku Vocabulary
If you've been online for very long, I'm sure that you've noticed that there are numerous
terms floating around in the realm of anime/manga websites. Some are
self-explanatory, though several may need to be explained to the newbie. Listed
below are some common terms and their definitions.
General Terms | Fanfic Terms | Anime Title Abbreviations
Manga - Japanese comics
Anime - Japanese animation
Fanfiction - Stories written by fans, using characters from anime/manga series
Fanart/Fanmanga - Pictures/manga drawn by fans of characters from anime/manga series
Doujinshi - Published fanmangas
Mangaka - Person who draws manga
Doujinshika (Djka) - Person who draws doujinshis
Shounen manga - Manga aimed at boys
Shoujo manga - Manga aimed at girls
OAV/OVA - An acronym that stands for "original animated video" or "original video animation".
BGM - An acronym that stands for "background music"
OST - An acronym that stands for "Original
SoundTrack"
A/U - A term meaning "Alternate Universe"; basically, any story that takes place in an alternate time/setting/etc than the canonical one.
YAOI - This is actually an acronym for 'yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi', which means 'no mountain (ie peak; climax), no point, no meaning'. As the acronym suggests, fannish yaoi tends to emphasize the sex over the emotions and can do without plot entirely. This term is used in reference to male/male relationships.
YURI - Also an acronym, though I'm not sure what for. From what I've seen, YURI is basically the same as YAOI, except with female/female relationships. I haven't read much, though, so I could be wrong. If anyone knows for sure, I'd appreciate some confirmation.
Shounen-Ai - Literally meaning 'Boy's Love', Shounen-Ai emphasizes the emotional/romantic relationship between the two males, rather than the sexual aspect.
Shoujo-Ai - Literally meaning 'Girl's Love', Shoujo-Ai is basically the same as Shounen-Ai, except that it focuses on the romance between two females.
PWP - Term meaning "Plot? What Plot?" This term is usually used in reference to YAOI/YURI or Lemon fics. A PWP story focuses solely on the sexual aspect of the story; there is no plot (hence the term)
Lemon - Fics with fully shown sex scene(s)
Lime - Fics with implied sex scenes; fade to black, that sort of thing (you know it happened, you just don't see it)
BGC - BubbleGum Crisis
BSSM (or just SM) - Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
CB - Cowboy Bebop
CCS - Card Captor Sakura
DB(Z, GT) - DragonBall (Z, GT)
FY - Fushigi Yugi
GSC - Gun Smith Cats
GW - Gundam Wing
IY - Inu-Yasha
KTK - Koutetsu Tenshi Kurumi
MKR - Magic Knights Rayearth
NGE (or just EVA) - Neon Genesis Evangelion
OS - Outlaw Star
RGU - Revolutionary Girl Utena
RK - Rurouni Kenshin
SAK - Steel Angel Kurumi
SE:L - Serial Experiments: Lain
SKU - Shoujo Kakumei Utena
SM(J, R, J-X) - Saber Marionette (J, R, J to X)
TM - Tenchi Muyo!
VPM - Vampire Princess Miyu
WK - Weiß Kreuz
YST - Yoroiden Samurai Troopers
YYH - Yu Yu Hakusho