No, no, if this wound up in your feed, it is not a mistake. I usually write about political horserace's/redistricting, or, these days, about books and writers. This particular post is for the Manga And Anime Fans At DailyKos group at Dkos. Yep. We have all kinds. I'm a bit of an all-kinds type of person myself. I do enjoy appreciating more esoteric things, such as Zen Koans, or the films of Akira Kurosawa, and classical Ryukyuan folk music, (Ikue Asazaki is a wondrous modern example), however, like my appreciation of Western Culture, in the East I also am a fervent fan of pop culture phenomena and genre oriented, fun stories.
Thus I'm a big manga fan. This diary is my attempt to document terms that you might need to know if you want to start following mangas and animes. It's for future reference, and to serve as an introduction to my loosely organized upcoming diary series, Manga You Should Be Reading. It's also sort of a rough slate. To be added to, and to build off info our members give.
First off Otakus…hmm, well, I should define Otaku then. It's a word that stems from a very formal way of referring to one's house, and thus has come to be used in Japan for people who don't have any personal connections with anyone because they spend all their time in their house obsessing, (and not necessarily over just anime and manga). In Japan, it's an insult. In America, it's a term of endearment. Thus, if this is your first encounter with the term Otaku, congratulations, you are now a 5th Seat, the lowest wrung of the ladder. On this Bleach, (not the stain-remover), based scale, which goes from 5th seat, (lowest) to Butterflaizen (highest), I am, alas, a mere Vice-Captain, (Lieutenant in the English versions).
Let me spell some different manga terms for you, (most of which will serve as the focuses of my upcoming series, which will one at a time, except for the areas I haven't read much):
Shoujo: This word literally means young girl. This is the term for mangas aimed at teenage girls.
Shounen: Again, literally young boy. Aimed at teenage boys.
Seinen: Aimed at older guys. (20s and up) Tend to be darker, less humorous, etc.
Josei: See above, except for women.
Yaoi: Ah, this is the boy-boy relation stuff. In Japan this term refers to only stuff with graphic sex scenes. In America it's loosely tossed onto anything with even the slightest homosexual undertones. Oddly enough, it's mostly popular with girls, who serve as the core of its fan base. (As a note, I really haven't read much yaoi, beyond the quirky gender-bending stuff that goes on in a lot of shoujo mangas).
Here are important sub-terms :P
1. Bishounen, (or, Bishie in more slangy uses): a bishounen is a cute, feminine boy.
2. Seme: The 'man' or 'pitcher' I guess you could say, in the male relationship. It goes a bit deeper than that, but it's hard to understand without an appreciation for Japanese stereotypes with homosexuality. This term and its function both descend from Bushido code, and is part of a fascinating sub-gender identity culture. The basis for it is that seme would be the stronger person, and would protect the other. Traditionally, it meant that an older more experience samurai would take a younger one under his wing, you could almost call it a form of apprenticeship, but with a sexual element.
3. Uke: I've pretty much explained this term now. This is the feminine guy in the relationship. I hate using American terms like "catcher" because they don't really contain the same sense of sub-gender identity that 'uke' does.
Yuri: (back to manga genres). Girl meets girl. Again, kind of like girls with yaoi, yuri is very popular with guys, but I'd say it has its own fanbase among girls, depending on what level it is. Like with Yaoi, the term Yuri in Japan is generally reserved for very graphic lesbian relationships, but in America it’s a much broader term.
Ecchi: Sexist humor? Perhaps that's a good way to put it. It's corny humor, a bit like Three's Company only a lot more sexually involved. I don't care all that much for ecchi, but it's very popular among guys. This is where the term 'fan service' comes in, in my mind at least.
With this I think I've covered all of the manga genre terms that would be unfamiliar to English speakers, (at least all of the big ones). Let's get down to prefixes. I have a haphazard knowledge of the common ones that come up:
(O)Ni: -the 'o' is not always used. This is the prefix for "older sister".
(O)Nii: This is the prefix for older brother. I thought I had the difference in pronunciations down, but recently I was confused again. (A more powerful Otaku shall have to help me).
Oji-old man basically
Oba- old woman/old hag
Oka-mother
(Father? Grandmother, Grandfather, uncle, aunt? Again I need greater Otaku's to help me with these, I'm looking at you Dom9000)
Honorifics: This is where it gets fun
Sama: shows immense respect or social positon
Dono: (similar to the above, though I think sama is at the pinnacle)
Kun: usually a respectful but casual way for girls to refer to guys, apparently though it can be used by anyone, and be a sign of condescension
Chan: young kids, (boys and girls), refer to themselves and to others by this, and adults will often refer to children this way. It's a very childish honorific. Friends who are not children, but have been good friends since childhood, may still refer to each other with 'chan'.
San: basic, and respectful, formal, but not extremely so.
Sensei: the respectful and formal way to refer to a teacher.
Senpai: A respectful, but friendly and casual way to refer to an older classmate or friend, or senior coworker. (Can't believe I forgot about this one in my first draft).
-Rin (added to the name itself, very cutesy and girly)
There are others, but these are the biggies.
Tons of stuff can be added to these. Some of them go with the familial prefixes. Like: Onisama, (in non-familial contexts, can have a very homosexual connotation, 'big sister'), Oniisama, Oniichan Onichan, Oniisan Onisan. Just examples.
Inconsistent translations of manga have left me bewildered about the spelling and pronunciation. Also, there are plenty of things I'm sure I skipped, but these are the more common ones. Personally I prefer when mangas keep the honorifics in translation, perhaps with little translator's notes the first time they appear. They are not hard to get a grasp of, and they are a crucial element of the language and story that is lost when taken out. It's a layer to the language that English just doesn't have. Keeping the terms is both more loyal to the original, and it enriches the story, and getting a grasp of them is not hard.
Anyway, it's been fun rambling. Hopefully to a very small group of fans who will not laugh too hard at my meandering nerdom. Please comment and add your wisdom if you have any. I'll keep adjusting this until we have something we can refer back to if we get future questions, lol.
P.S. Please vote in the poll. I'm interested to see how you think.
Update: From Mole333:
Older brother is ani (your family) or o-nii-san
Older sister is ane or o-nei-san
For grandfather/grandmother I know o-jii-san and o-baa-san.
mother: o-kaa-san (formal) or ha-ha (informal)
father: o-too-san (formal) or chi-chi (informal)