Basics

There are a few Japanese words you should know.  Here’s a list of common manga and anime terms.  I’ve provided a pronunciation guide with each.

Anime (AH-nee-may) – Anime is a French word for “animation.”  It was adopted by the Japanese to describe all Japanese animation.  (It might seem odd that a French word is used to describe Japanese animation – but it’s true.)

Bishoujo (bee-SHO-jo) – “beautiful girl.”

Bishounen (bee-SHO-nen) – “beautiful boy.”

Chibi (CHEE-bee) – “small.” It usually refers to a child-proportioned version of a manga or anime character.  Chibi are usually used to add a little humor, or as a joke within the story. For example, if Faye from Cowboy Bebop is shown as a little girl, that version of her is the Chibi version.

Doujinshi (doh-JEEN-shee) – manga created by fans (like you).  Most of the time it involves people creating their own stories using their favorite manga, anime, or game characters.  Doujinshi is extremely popular in Japan.

Kawaii (kah-WAH-ee) – “super cute.”

Manga (MAHN-gah) – “whimsical or careless drawings.”  Stands for Japanese comic books.

Otaku (oh-TAH-ku) – nickname given to someone obsessed with being a fan.  If you dress up like Goku from Dragon Ball Z on a regular basis, you’re definitely an Otaku.

RPG – Role Playing Game. Many manga and anime artists help design characters, backgrounds, and levels for video RPGs.

Shoujo (SHO-jo) – “young girl.” The term refers to comics that are aimed at young girls.  Also stands for “girl’s manga.”

Shounen (SHO-nen) – “young male.” The term refers to comics aimed at young males.  Also stands for “boy’s manga.

Now let’s take a look at the two basic types of manga.  Most anime falls into the shounen category, but elements of shounen and shoujo manga appear in almost every anime series. (After all, the creators want boys and girls to watch their series, so they try to add elements and story lines that will appeal to both.)

Shounen (boys’ manga)

Shounen started with Tezuka Osamu, who was the creator of Astro Boy.  Astro Boy was a robot comic created in 1951, and in 1963 was one of the first manga characters to be animated in his own cartoon.

Astro Boy was also translated into English, and was on American television in the 1960s, making it one of the first anime series to be shown inAmerica.

Osamu changed the way manga was written and drawn.  He drew in a style that was closer to how movies look than how comic strips look.  He showed his characters in close-ups, in unusual angles, and created a sense of action that hadn’t been used before.  He wrote exciting and suspenseful stories, and they didn’t always have happy endings – which was very unusual for manga at the time.  (If you have ever read any, comic books in America during the 1950s and 1960s almost always had happy endings, too.)

Many shounen manga comics are about Japanese history, combat, action, science fiction, robots, and even sports like soccer or tennis.  Very few American comic books are about sports, but it’s very common for Japanese manga
to feature sports or sports heroes.

The theme of shounen is conflict or struggle or fighting, where a hero and his friends always have to overcome impossible odds.  In the course of the story, they usually learn about friendship, about being loyal to each other, and about sticking with something no matter how hard it might seem.  There’s almost always a point in every story where the heroes are about to give up, but their friendship and inner strength usually see them through.  Shounen stories feature martial arts, weapons, and a kick-butt attitude.

Shoujo (girls’ manga)

Shoujo manga developed in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s.  Many female artists and writers created stories aimed at middle-school girls.  The stories featured character, relationships, and growing up.  As manga readers aged, the artists developed stories for high school girls, and then later for grown women.  Some shoujo manga today tells stories that are like daytime soap operas, full of romance, relationships, and adult topics for women.

Shoujo manga tends to focus on “real life” stories, and there is very little fantasy or science fiction.  (You won’t often see a robot, a super villain, or martial arts in shoujo manga.)  Shoujo manga is about relationships, friendship, romance, and family stories.  It also contains a lot of silly humor, and sometimes can be hugely cute.

Basic Elements of Anime Style

Since artist’s styles are different, most manga and anime looks a little different.  (Even though sometimes the styles are so alike it may seem like the same person drew everything in different series, that’s just not the case.)   But there are some drawing styles that have developed over the years that are common to most anime.  Here are a few of them:

Hair:  Hair is usually wild and either flowing or spiked, depending on what the “hot” style is at the time.  A character’s hair is also used to tell something about the character without having to actually say it or explain it – the wilder it is the wilder and more unpredictable the character usually is.

Noses:  Noses are very small – sometimes characters don’t even seem to have noses.  If they do, they’re really really small.  There are several theories about why anime character’s noses are small, but the simplest are that Japanese noses tend to be small, unlike American noses, and also that noses aren’t very expressive:  they don’t tell much about what a character is feeling (other than if they smell something nasty.)  Eyes can show anger, surprise, or disbelief; mouths can too.  Noses just don’t do much.

Mouths:  Mouths are very small when they’re closed and very large when they’re open.  Most characters also show a lot of teeth when they smile.  You almost never see lips, either – that’s a detail that isn’t necessary, although the trend is changing.  Some highly-detailed manga characters now have lips.  Posters and illustrations for advertisements will also show lips, even though the actual characters in the anime may not have them.  Again, that’s to keep things simple, easier to draw, and less expensive.

Eyes:  Eyes are large and exaggerated.  Sometimes they take up one-third of a character’s face.  Huge eyes make a character seem young and innocent, and also allow the artist to use them to show emotions.  In general, heroes tend to have large eyes, and villains tend to have smaller eyes.

There’s another reason eyes are large in manga and anime.  In Japan, actors in plays used to shave their eyebrows and paint fake eyebrows higher up on their foreheads.  The idea behind it was to show beauty, even though it sounds kind of odd to us.  Shaving eyebrows and painting them higher up caused people in the audience to think the actor’s eyes were bigger.

Drawing large eyes isn’t unusual for American cartoons, either – especially older cartoon characters.  Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters all have large eyes; it’s supposed to make them look innocent and sweet.  Manga and anime artists are doing the same thing – the only difference is that they’re also influenced by Japanese theatrical history, giving them another reason to make character’s eyes larger than normal.