If you ever see me using some unfamiliar terminology, you might wanna check here to find out what I meant by it. Not everything here is super obscure, but I figured I'd cover all the stuff that isn't immediately obvious to everyone.
4koma - Pronounced ‘yonkoma’, this is a type of comedy manga that splits up each gag into 4 vertical panels, sort of like a newspaper comic strip. Some notable examples include Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh.
Bait - A show that is purposely trying to reel in a specific audience through shameless measures.
BL - Short for ‘Boys love’. Gay guy on guy romance.
Canon - Refers to a story that is accepted as genuinely taking place in the timeline of a series. By contrast, 'non-canon' would refer to a show that features hypothetical scenarios, or goofy joke scenarios that are accepted to have not actually happened in the context of the series.
CG - In a visual novel, this is a full illustration used for a specific scene.
CGDCT - ‘Cute Girls Doing Cute Things’. A genre of anime that revolves around girls doing mundane activities. Most of the popularity of this genre spawned from Lucky Star and the other Kyoani shows that followed (K-ON, etc)
Chibi - A cutesy style of character design that shrinks the characters down into a minimal form. Typically used for comedic effect.
Coomer - If I ever describe an anime as ‘coomer’, it’s bordering on being hentai if it isn’t already. It means the show revolves heavily around sex or features a lot of nudity or some other kind of fanservice.
-core - I use this suffix a lot (fujo-core, spaz-core) to emphasize that a show is geared strongly in a certain direction. Something that’s fujo-core would appeal strongly and specifically to a fujo audience. Likewise if I ever use the term ‘capes-core’ here, that means the anime appeals strongly and specifically to ME.
Cour - A single cour of anime is around 12 episodes long. A show like Lucky Star would be described as 2 cour.
Cringe - I use this term for anime media that intentionally tries to make the viewer feel uncomfortable with awkward scenarios. Some examples include School Days, Watamote, and Uzamaid. It should be noted that this isn't inherently a BAD thing, but not everyone has a tolerance for it.
Dating sim - A visual novel that revolves around romance, traditionally giving you the option to choose which character you want to spend your time with.
Deen - An animation studio known for their wacky anime adaptations, mainly Higurashi, Fate/Stay Night (the 2000s one), and Konosuba. They have adapted a TON of BL material, as well as some niche yuri stuff.
ED - Ending theme (for an anime episode)
Edge - Also used with the terms ‘edgy’ or ‘edgelord’, this refers to shows that are excessively, or unnecessarily gory, bloody, or violent. This also applies to shows that indulge in other dark elements in an immature way. This doesn't automatically make a show bad, but it’s harder to take a story seriously when it starts using shocking elements purely for spectacle. However, sometimes that spectacle is the reason you’re watching the show in the first place, so for certain shows, those edgy elements work for the better (Mirai Nikki, Higurashi, School Days).
Eroge - A visual novel with explicit sex scenes in it.
Exposition dump - This is when an anime devotes an extended amount of time, sometimes an entire episode, to explain something complicated to the protagonist. This is often a detriment to the pacing of the show, and can be seen in shows like Index and Renai Flops.
F/SN - Short for Fate/Stay Night
Fanservice - Used to describe sexual visual elements made to keep the viewer’s attention. Stuff like bouncing boobs, closeups on butts or cleavage, etc. This can also include more fetishy stuff like girls pissing themselves (Grisaia anime adaptation says hi).
-fest - This is another suffix I tend to use often (crapfest, cramfest) which is short for 'festival'. If a show is a spazfest, it means there's a lot of spastic fast paced humor in it.
Filler - I almost never complain about filler in my reviews, though this refers to anime-exclusive episodes that haven’t been adapted from the original source. These can range from one-off breather episodes to full blown story arcs depending on the show.
Fujo - Short for ‘fujoshi’. Imagine an anime-watching room-dwelling nerd who hates sunlight, and now imagine the female version of that. That’s the stereotypical image of a fujoshi. They’re most typically known for enjoying BL (i.e. gay male romance). Obviously there’s more to them than just that, but that’s about all you need to know for the sake of anime reviews. Notable fujoshi characters include Tomoko Kuroki and Toko Fukawa.
Gacha - A video game genre that features many characters that you acquire by gambling your in-game currency on them and hoping you get lucky. The actual genre of gameplay varies, though it is often more simple compared to ‘real’ video games. These are traditionally made to be played on mobile phones, and share features like ‘action points’ that time-limit your daily gameplay, rewards for daily logins, as well as having multiple different currency systems. This genre includes games like Blue Archive, Fate/Grand Order, Idolmaster, etc.
Genderswap - When a character changes gender due to magic or some other kind or supernatural nonsense.
Genki - A character archetype for girls that involves being hyperactive and cheery.
H-scene - Short for ‘hentai scene’, i.e. sex scene, a feature of erotic visual novels.
Hack - Hack writing (or ‘hacky’ writing) is a term I use both affectionately and in a derogatory way. This refers to when a writer wants to do whatever the hell they want with the story, even if it means throwing subtlety and common sense out the window. Sometimes this style of writing can be entertaining (Mirai Nikki), though it can also weigh a story down if the writer goes completely overboard with their concepts and isn't willing to compromise (Charlotte).
Sometimes I use the term 'hack writing' to describe a writer who lacks creativity and relies on a genre's cliches to avoid having to come up with something original.
Sometimes I use the term 'hack writing' to describe a writer who lacks creativity and relies on a genre's cliches to avoid having to come up with something original.
Halfu - Someone who is half-Japanese and half-some other ethnicity. In anime, usually Russian or English.
Harem - Refers to the type of genre where multiple girls (more than two) are obsessed with the main character in a romantic way. Often you only see this in dumb comedies. Though there’s also the reverse genre (multiple guys interested in one girl) known as ‘reverse harem’.
Hentai - Anime porn
Imouto - Younger sister
Isekai - Essentially identical to the traditional fantasy genre, but with a slight spin. The main character will usually die in the first episode before being reincarnated into a fantasy world, often inspired by Dragon Quest video game elements. Some shows will focus more on their historical fantasy environment while others focus purely on video game progression elements (gaining XP and fighting the demon king). A lot of anime under this genre umbrella are low quality, but it’s not impossible to find gems here and there.
Iyashikei - This is the slice of life genre at its most relaxed. These are shows that feature almost no drama whatsoever. They tend to be dry and slow paced, and as such are an acquired taste. Notable examples include Yuru Camp and Aria.
Jun Maeda - Writer of popular romance-centric visual novel stories like Clannad, as well as popular anime originals such as Angel Beats. He likes baseball a LOT.
Kanji - Japanese script (technically Chinese). You need to learn thousands of kanji in order to read the Japanese language fluently.
Key - The studio behind popular dating sim visual novels such as Clannad, Little Busters, and Rewrite.
Kino - Cinematic excellence.
Kyoani - Kyoto Animation, creators of anime adaptations such as Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, and K-ON.
Light novel - Equivalent to western young adult novel series. These are book series marketed for teenagers and young adults that are intended to be published volume after volume, not uncommon for there to be 4 volumes put out each year until the series is finished. Light novel anime adaptations will commonly adapt each volume into their own story arc, often trying to cram as many volumes as possible into each cour. Hence why many LN anime adaptations tend to feel overstuffed when contrasted against manga adaptations.
LN - Short for ‘Light novel’
Lolicon - ‘Loli’ refers to young anime girls, typically elementary schoolers. The exact definition of ‘lolicon’ varies depending on who you ask, but generally a lolicon is a person who obsesses over loli characters (often to a sexual extent).
Mahou shoujo - ‘Magic girl’ genre. Includes shows like Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica.
Mari Okada - An anime writer known mostly for writing the script for Anohana, though she’s also been involved with writing anime adaptations such as Toradora and Black Butler.
Masahiko Oota - Not a particularly well known guy, but him and his writer/animation team are responsible for a lot of my favorite anime adaptations, including Yuru Yuri and Minami-ke. Other well-known adaptations of his include Gabriel Dropout, Love Lab, and Umaru-chan (lol). He’s also behind the Shikanoko deer anime from 2024.
MC - Short for ‘Main character’
Meme - In the context of these reviews, a meme usually refers to something specific about an anime that's been spread around the internet out of context. Such as Neco-arc from the Tsukihime games.
Meme - In the context of these reviews, a meme usually refers to something specific about an anime that's been spread around the internet out of context. Such as Neco-arc from the Tsukihime games.
Moe - Innocent cuteness, used to refer to anime girls whose main character traits are being cute and harmless. These characters can also be referred to as 'moeblobs'. Note that this term is often intended to describe characters that are around high-school age. In other words, an actual kid character would not be considered 'moe'.
Naro-kei - A relatively new term meant to describe light novel anime adaptations that originate from the website Shosetsuka ni Naro (syosetu.com). This is a website where anyone can submit their own (Japanese) light novel works, sort of like Archive of Our Own but for original material. A LOT of recent anime adaptations, particularly for isekai anime, have originated from this website. This includes shows like Tensura, Redo of Healer, Mushoku Tensei, Konosuba, Log Horizon, Re:Zero, you get the idea. You get a few highlights here and there, but a lot of these shows end up being crap.
Nasu - Refers to Nasu Kinoko, the guy who wrote the Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night visual novels. The ‘nasuverse’ pertains to anything revolving around his characters, including any of the many Fate spinoffs, and other Type Moon stuff.
Ojou-sama - Describes a sort of uptight rich-girl archetype who acts as if they're superior to everyone around them.
OP - Opening theme (for an anime or visual novel)
Otaku - An anime nerd.
P.A. Works - An animation studio known for their high quality visuals, often paired up with hacky stories like Glasslip and Charlotte. Only sometimes though. They've also put out plenty of hits like Skip and Loafer, and Clannad.
Pandering - See 'bait', this is when a show is shamelessly trying to appeal to a specific audience.
Protag - Short for ‘Protagonist’
Reaction image - In the context of anime, it’s just a goofy screenshot of an anime character that can be used as a reaction to somebody’s post on 4chan, twitter, discord, etc. Many shows from the 2010s onward take advantage of this niche and will sometimes put in extra effort to have various funny facial expressions that can be spread around online.
Route - A visual novel will often have multiple ‘routes’ you can take, leading to different endings. In dating sims, each route will focus on a specific character.
Sasuga - ‘as expected from’
Schlock - See ‘hack’, describes media with hack writing.
Second monitor - Used to describe an anime that is watched passively, i.e. on a second computer monitor while you're doing something else on your first monitor. It's the modern day equivalent to having the TV on as background noise.
Self-insert - This is when the main character has a bland personality, usually making predictable decisions and having an uncontroversial moral compass, making it easier for the general audience to fantasize what it would be like to be him during the story. This most often applies to visual novel protagonists since you have to play from a first-person perspective.
Shaft - An animation studio known for their prominent visual style. Known for shows like Bakemonogatari, Madoka Magica, and Nisekoi.
Shounen - An anime aimed at teenage boys. Includes stuff like Naruto and Boku no Hero Academia.
Silver Link - An animation studio known for various lowbrow and ridiculous anime adaptations like OniAi, Prisma Illya, Baka and Test, C3, and Nourin. Other notable adaptations include Watamote and Non Non Biyori
Slice of Life - This term is used in contrast to anime that rely more on action or supernatural elements. Slice of Life anime are more grounded in reality without heavy use of drama. The CGDCT genre falls under this umbrella, though this also includes other shows like Skip and Loafer.
Speedwatching - Used to describe the degenerate act of putting an anime on fast forward so you don't have to spend as much time watching it. I have never done this, and my rule of thumb is that, if you have to put an anime on fast forward just to bother finishing it, you shouldn't be wasting time on it in the first place. Or in other words, if you can't be bothered to watch the anime at its own pace, then you don't actually want to watch it.
Sprite - The images and expressions of the anime girls you interact with in visual novels.
Storyboard - The storyboard is the phase in the animation process where the pacing and composition of the show’s visual elements are first arranged. If an anime has bad pacing, it’s often either a problem with the script or the storyboard.
Straightman - Part of the manzai style of comedy popular in Japanese media. One character takes the role as the goofball, and the other plays as the straightman to react to their jokes.
Tsundere - A girl who pretends she hates or doesn't like a guy (usually the MC) and is bad at hiding that she actually likes them a LOT.
Type Moon - The studio behind Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime.
UI - User interface. In the context of visual novels, this is how the menus and text boxes look.
Visual novel - A story that is played on a game system or computer. These rarely feature traditional gameplay, and vary wildly in length and content. Visual novel anime adaptations tend to be rocky when the studio tries to fit the entire game into a short amount of episodes.
VN - Short for ‘Visual novel’
Waifu - A female anime character intended to be visually appealing.
Weeb - A weeb is the same thing as an otaku, that being an anime nerd.
Yuri - Used to describe girl on girl romance.
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