Selected Anime Terms

From: http://www.animeacademy.com/fut.php here are a few Japanese or anime terms commonly used for your interest.

Edited:

Anime (ah-nee-meh): Japanese animation. Not to be confused with Western animation in any way. After you've seen one you'll know.

Bishoujo (bee-sho-jo): A pretty girl. Often have large eyes and bit tits if reached puberty (age 13 is the minimum age of consent in Japan last time I checked so...)

Bishounen (bee-sho-nehn): A pretty boy. More often than not has long hair and it is sometimes hard to discern the gender of an anime bishounen. Big eyes are also a distinctive feature on occasion. Guess making men look feminine is the only way to make them look good! Ah well.
Chibi (chee-bee): Small. Chibi characters in anime are short and consequently cute. Often used as a prefix. Usually seen briefly during the break. Also see Super-Deformed

N.B. When I use the term chibi I generally mean super deformed as well or in general any similar style. It should be noted again that this is not always a measure of the seriousness of an anime and is frequently used to lighten the mood in serious anime as a pose to light hearted anime where it is common.

Cosplay (Costume Play): A very popular activity during anime conventions, also referred to as masquerading. It consists of dressing up as an anime or video game character to participate in contests or simply for fun

Dub (Dubbed Anime): As opposed to a subtitled anime, dubs have voice tracks in languages differing from the original Japanese voice actors

N.B. I will tell you whether I watched the anime in Japanese or English (I usually watch whatever is available) and if I have seen the anime in both I will try to compare them.

Ecchi (eh-chee): Indecent. Comes from the Japanese pronunciation of "H" which in turn is the first letter of hentai (pervert). In anime, ecchi can describe mild sexual scenes

Eye Catch: Prolonged frames of art used midway into an anime and often display its name along with a quick tune. It is used as a transition before and after commercials of anime series airing in Japan. Most distributors leave eye catches in VHS and DVD releases

Fan Service: Scenes or situations serving little purpose to the story but designed to arouse the viewer, mostly female, with bare skin or offbeat action. The ever-so-popular shower scene is a good example of fan service

N.B. Will warn of Fan Service

Hiragana (hee-rah-gah-nah): One of the three types of Japanese lettering consisting of 46 syllables. It is a basic script and can be used to name anything of Japanese origin. Can be identified by its smooth and curved characters

Honorific: Short status indicators place immediately after one's last name. Used frequently in Japan, these can be confusing since they make someone's name appear altered in specific occasions

-chan (chahn): Small or baby. Used among very close friends and relatives, especially females

-kohai (ko-hah-ee): One's junior. Usually substituted with –kun or -chan

-kun (kun): Used among very close friends and relatives, especially males

-sama (sah-mah): Lord. Used when addressing people of utmost respect or when referring to gods. Usually employed in concurrence with a title but can also be used with a name

-san (sahn): A close equivalent to Mr. and Mrs. Used as a respectful method of addressing people of similar status

-senpai (sen-pah-ee): Upperclassman. Used in relation to fellow classmates of higher level or age

-sensei (sen-say): Teacher, master or doctor. Used either at school or while being involved in a discipline or art


Kawaii (kah-wah-ee): Cute. Often used on its own when observing a situation or character having any distinct level of cuteness.

Mahou Shoujo (mah-ho sho-jo): Magical girl. A unique anime genre displaying girls with super powers. Tittle tattle in my book. Not the kind of stuff I'd recommend to the 15-18+ age group I wriute anime reviews for.

Manga (mahng-gah): Japanese comics often possessing a linear storyline that extends to several volumes. The manga industry exploded in the early 1950s and was used as inspiration for many anime

Mecha (meh-kah): Typically used when talking about giant, human-controlled robots but can also mean any type of destructive, mechanical weapon. Constitutes a genre featuring futuristic warfare

Nosebleed: According to Japanese belief, boys get nosebleeds when they are sexually aroused. This can happen quite often in shounen anime. It is supposed to be analogous to an ejaculation.

Otaku (o-tah-ku): A fan on an extremely obsessive level. In Japan, a derogatory term. Used anywhere outside of Japan, otaku automatically refers to an anime obsession

N.B. I swear I am not one of these

OVA (Original Video Animation): A direct-to-video release often divided into a handful of 30-minute episodes. Also known as OAV (Original Animated Video)

N.B. OVAs and TV Series vary in length, 4 episodes being very short, 13 Episodes being short (or a Half-OVA/TV series), 26 episodes being the norm and can also come in collections of 50, 72, 90 and 100+ episodes for the longer ones.

Ronin (ro-neen): A student who has failed a university's entrance exam.

Sake (sah-keh): Alcoholic beverage typical to Japan. Made of fermented rice and brewed much like beer. Made to be served cold or warm

Sentai (sehn-tah-ee): A group of superheroes typically wearing assorted outfits. More of a sub-genre, sentai are featured in many anime, notably Bubblegum Crisis and Gatchaman

N.B. Makes for interesting discussion. Will warn of all-male groups poisoned by presence of irritating loud mouthed female characters. Like the legendary Cowboy Bebop for example.

Super Deformed: An anime art style in which characters have very small bodies shouldering large heads. Super Deformed often leads to exaggerated facial expressions and movement. Also see chibi

Sweatdrop: A comical facial expression in which someone is drawn with a giant sweat drop next to their head. Indicates personal embarrassment or a reaction to another character embarrassing him/herself

N.B. I will consider it a part of Chibi

Not sure how to review Anime?

Even though I did ok in english exams I have come to realise in the last few months I really don't know how to write a review. But that doesn't matter. I'm not a professional or even a rookie but I just write a structured draft on word then spellcheck, review and post.

For anime it is a bit different as one finds that they are far more complex than they seem:

Here is a genius guide on the site Anime Academy that tells you how to write a review effectively. I'm going to start my reviews once I've read each one thoroughly. Its easy to learn how to write a review but hard to write one well.
This doesn't just apply to anime but to movies as well. The characters and development, music, setting, picture, story, themes and symbolism can all be talked about and applied when writing a review.
Give it a go if you don't have a clue how to write a review!