Like any other pop craze, manga has accumulated its own fan base and with that its own lingo. Here's a list of 20 common terms relating to manga.
In manga, a “bishojo” is a beautiful girl, “seinen” are manga for adult men, and “cosplay” is dressing up as a favorite anime or manga character. These are just a few of many terms—both Japanese and English—that should be in every manga and anime fan’s vocabulary.
20 Common Manga Terms:
- Anime:The animated version of manga. An anime will usually start life off as a popular manga series before being turned into an anime.
- Bishie: This is a gender-neutral term Western anime and manga fans have coined to refer to both bishojo and bishonen characters (see Bishojo and Bishonen).
- Bishojo: “Bishojo”, also spelled “bishoujo”, means “beautiful young girl” in Japanese and is sometimes confused with “bishonen”, a term usually referring to beautiful male characters. Bishojo can be found in both shojo and shonen manga.
- Bishonen: “Bishonen”, also spelled “bishoujo”, translates to mean “beautiful boy” and can refer to beautiful and/or androgynous male characters. Bishonen are popular in shojo manga.
- -chan: This Japanese honorific tends to hold cute connotations and is usually used to refer to children and young women, as in “Kyoko-chan”.
- Cosplay:Short for “costume play”. Cosplayers are people who enjoy dressing up as their favorite anime and manga characters, most often at anime and manga conventions.
- Doujinshi: Roughly, this term means “same stuff, different people” and refers to fan-created derivatives of popular manga and anime series.
- Fan Service:Fan service refers to any element in an anime or manga that please fans but does little to add to the storyline.
- Hentai: A small niche market of manga that contain explicit sexual content.
- Josei: Also known as “ladies’ comics”. Geared towards adult women, this type of manga tends to be more realistic than shojo and has more mature storylines.
- -kun: A Japanese honorific commonly referring to children and teenage male characters, as in “Daisuke-kun”, but can also refer to young females.
- Mangaka: A gender-neutral word referring to a person who creates manga; a manga artist.
- Mechs: Giant, man-driven robots often found in manga and anime. Typically they are bipedal machines of war.
- Otaku: Although this word has very negative connotations in Japan, fans in the West often use to refer to someone obsessed with manga or anime.
- -san: A gender-neutral Japanese honorific used similarly to that of Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc. It can refer to anyone of equal status and its use is considered both polite and respectful.
- -sama:Another gender-neutral Japansese honorific, “sama” is often used when referring to someone older and wiser and conveys great respect, even more so than “san”.
- Seinen: “Seinen” (young man) manga target male audiences around the ages of 18 to 30. It is the male equivalent to josei manga, with more mature storylines than its counterpart, shonen.
- Shojo: “Shojo”, also spelled “shoujo”, is manga geared towards a young female audience. Shojo manga usually have plots that focus around romance and character development.
- Shonen:The male equivalent of shojo, “shonen” (also spelled “shounen”) is geared towards a young male audience with storylines that center on action and adventure.
- Yaoi: Manga with storylines that focus on homosexual male relationships. Interestingly, more women read yaoi than men, and it’s often created by women mangaka. In the West it is sometimes referred to as “shonen-ai”.
Sources:
Related Articles:
The copyright of the article 20 Common Manga Terms in Manga is owned by Jenn Ostrowski. Permission to republish 20 Common Manga Terms in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
 |
Comments
Dec 15, 2008 2:59 PM
Guest :
1 Comment: