Jargon and Abbreviations

The Web is the fastest growing segment of the Internet. Since we hope to see a steady stream of new surfers hitting our site, we have put together this quick information page that will be available in all issues of AMPlus.

Anime

What is anime? That's pretty much what we're here for. In Japan, "anime" is the shortened form of the word animation and the Japanese use "anime" to refer to all forms of animation. Outside Japan, however, "anime" is used to refer to a particular stylistic form popularized in Japan and often referred to in some circles of fandom as "Japanimation". Why is it popular? In Japan, there is less stigmatization of animation being for children. Consequently, there are a wide range of stories and genres for the artform, resulting in a more diverse selection than anything Western animation has to offer.

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics. And like anime, the topic diversity is greater. Genres of manga include romance, sports, horror, cooking (yes, cooking), gambling, comedy, and history.

BGM, OP, ED, IS, Image

Almost every anime title in existence has released some kind of Soundtrack CD (or Album), and CD reviews commonly use one or more of these terms:

BGM

BGM stands for "background music". Any music that is playing in the background of one or more scenes is technically BGM. However, a common convention is for BGM to refer only to instrumentals and not vocals. BGM and BGM instrumental are often used interchangeably.

OP

The opening theme.

ED

The ending theme. Long running television series very often employ multiple OP/EDs. To distinguish amongst them, OP/EDs are typically numbered. OP1 refers to the first opening theme used by the series.

IS

Any vocal that plays during a scene of a title that is not either an OP or ED is an "insert song".

Image

An image track is a piece of music, either instrumental or BGM, that does not appear as an actual BGM, but is released on a CD because it fits the general mood of the title. Whole collections of image tracks are often choreographed into an image album.

Drama CD

Drama CDs are the opposite of Image CDs. Whereas the latter adds songs to the series (like Taiho Shichauzo and Aa! Megamisama), the former adds stories. Generally, Drama CDs also carry a few image songs, but unless one knows Japanese, listeners get left in the dust. Good examples would be Bannou Bunka Neko Musume Nuku-Nuku (All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku), Tenchi Muyo, and Taiho Shichauzo (You're Under Arrest). For all those Koko wa Greenwood fans, at least four drama CDs have been done for the series, running about sixty minutes apiece. For those who are learning Japanese and have the interest, a drama CD or two can be pretty useful, although you may want to keep a very current Japanese English dictionary handy for some of the vocabulary used, slang words included.

Seiyuu

Seiyuu is the Japanese term used for voice actors. While this generally stands for voice actors in an anime (see above), it can also refer to voice actors in CD dramas (see below).

Shounen

Shounen, which means 'boys,' is used to denote anime and manga intended for a male audience. Examples include DNA^2, City Hunter, Bastard!!, Mobile Police Patlabor, Ranma 1/2, and Tenchi Muyo series.

Shoujou

Shoujou means 'girls' and denotes anime and manga aimed primarily at girls. Trademarks of the Shoujou style include very pretty characters (male and female) and an emphasis on romance. However, note that the shoujou style of anime is expanding into other genres, such as CLAMP's X manga, which is science fiction, and Kakinouchi's Vampire [Princess] Miyu manga. Additional shoujou titles include Koko wa Greenwood (This is Greenwood) and Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte (Please Save My Earth).

-- Roderick "Agitator" Lee