I've decided that due to the number of fairly new fans that join
our happy little hobby every day, it might be beneficial to set up a glossary page so they will
know what some of the commonly used words on this site mean. I hope this helps!
- Bishoujo: Loosely translates to "beautiful girl." Female characters that are
extremely beautiful are often called bishoujo.
- Bishounen: Loosely translates to "beautiful boy." Male characters that are
extremely beautiful are often called bishounen, as odd as that might sound. Tamahome from "Fushigi
Yuugi" is a bishounen (heck, the Seiyuu Celestial Warriors are ALL bishounen! ^^;).
- Circle: Refers to a group of creators. Typically you see this reference in
regards to doujinshi and manga. For example, "Cardcaptor Sakura" is made by the circle CLAMP.
- Chibi: Means "small." Items that are super-deformed (SD) and look cute are
usually referred to as chibi.
- Doujinshi: Fan comics. Usually based on pre-existing characters from manga or
anime, fans in Japan will make their own unofficial comics and sell them at conventions. Some big names
started off in doujinshi, such as CLAMP.
- Douga: The pencil sketch that is used as the basis for an animation cel. Pencil
sketches typically come with cels, but can also be found by themselves. In case of series created
via digital animation (such as "Azumanga Daioh") there are no cels and only the pencil sketches
exist. The sketches are sometimes regarded as having the same value as cels in this case since
no cels actually exist.
- Genga: These are original sketches done by the key animators as a guide for the
animators to make the douga for cels. Usually there's one genga drawing for about every 3-5 cels,
give or take. These are obviously harder to find than douga.
- Manga: Japanese comics.
- Obi: The paper advertisement sometimes found on an art book or manga. It
wraps around the cover.
- SD: Super-deformed. Basically a cartoonish version of a character, usually
drawn small with a child-like appearance. Can also be considered 'chibi.'
- UFO Catcher: These are plushes usually only found in crane machines. Because
they can only be obtained through the crane machines and are not available for sale in stores,
they're usually pretty rare.
- Yaoi: Basically means "boy love." Yaoi can be as simple as two male
characters having a romantic moment to more graphic depictions (typically the light yaoi that
focuses more on the romantic portion of two characters' romance and does not focus on the physical
portion is often called "soft yaoi." Yaoi that focuses on a physical relationship is often
called "hard yaoi.").
- Yuri: Basically means "girl love." Pretty much the exact same thing as
yaoi, except the characters are female instead of male.
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