Japanese Anime and Manga (comic) Terms

Hey everyone! Blogger was acting wacky with me, and arranged the lettering for some older posts all weird, but I think I fixed it all. (It was getting me frustrated haha.) Anyways, if you're interested in lurking in an anime/manga forum, or just recently got into it and are not familiar with a lot of fan terms, I thought of making this page to help out.  I would like to point out that some terms are my interpretation of the definition, since some terms have vague meanings. I will try to update this list if new terms pop up, and provide links for sources. (For now, this is just based on my personal knowledge after lurking around different forums!)

Anime- I discovered a small group of people that actually don't know what it stands for. Anime is the abbreviation of animation. (Shocking I know.)Outside of Japan, people use it for all animation produced in Japan. In Japan it's used for any animated show or film, regardless of country.

Manga- The general Japanese word for comics. (I heard there was a few other terms, but am not familiar with them.) Like "anime" the term is used to refer to Japanese comics from outside countries, while in Japan it's used to refer to comics in general, regardless of country.

Kawaii- Japanese word for cute, or anything related to cute. (Adorable, endearing,etc.)

Moe- Moe is one of those vague terms I talked about and can be a rather confusing concept to get, because it can mean different things to different people. The term was created sometime in the mid 2000's. For some people, moe became the replacement word for kawaii, and you might see some people use the words interchangeably. Generally it means having a protective feeling towards a character, and having the viewer develop the sense that they want to take care of or they feel for that character. On the other side, some people use the term moe as an attraction to a character, and establish stereotypes to fit the character in. This can be a preference because the viewer might relate to the archetype, for a romantic interest in that type, or more commonly with extreme fans, an erotic interest. Although the most popular definition is the endearing one, the term moe can mean something different depending on who you are talking to, so for that reason, I'm going to try avoid using the term, or give a very minimal usage when I do. :p

(This page will have the archetypes listed later.)

Akihabara- A district in Tokyo that used to be known as the area to go to for advanced electronics. Over the years it has become the popular spot for anime and manga fans, and you will find many shops selling to fans. Fans will abbreviate it as "Akiba" sometimes. The popular trend of maid cafe's can be found around here, and it still  has stores selling advanced electronics.

Manga (Comic ) Only Terms:

In Japan comic magazines are catered to different age groups and genders. There are general magazines though that don't have any particular preference, and some magazines will have comics, even though the basis of the magazines isn't comics. (Such as a fashion magazine or electronic magazines.)

Shonen - Shonen is comics aimed for boys, but some magazines have a large female readership too. Some sites will say it's comics aimed for boys around 10 - 18, but the age can be slightly younger or higher, and different magazines will target different age groups.

Shojo- Girl comics. Although girls don't have a problem reading comics not aimed for them, it is usually rare to see a guy admitting to reading stories published for girls. Again, many magazines are for girls, but some will target older audiences than others.

Seinen- Comics for young men. Depending on the magazine, the main demographic is for teens to early college age males, but some magazines might cater to multiple demographics and target a wide span of age groups, such as men in their late 20's and early 30's. (Though with the recent term I found out below, you can say that would mean those magazines are targeting the seinen and seijin demographics. :p)

Josei- The female equivalent to seinen. It's comics for young women,with some magazines targeting highschoolers and college age girls, or magazines for older women in their mid or late twenties.

Seijin- I only found out about this term recently, and will add more as I get more information. Seijin is men comics, or comics older than the seinen category. It's rarely used outside of Japan, so I don't have much information on it, other than comics for men around 30+ years are seijin, as well as all pornographic comics. Update: I had to ask a Japanese friend of mine and from what I understand, "seijin" is comics that are usually for men past their 20's. The Japanese wikipedia page lists adult comics (pornographic comics) with this term as well, so unless otherwise notified it's a term for both categories, for comics aimed at men and for pornographic manga.

(I have no idea if there is a term like "seijin" for the female demographic. As of this time at least.)

Manhua- Chinese comics. It's a term that'll pop up in forums from time to time.

Manwha- Korean comics. Many are very similar in style to regular Japanese comics, so some people might mistaken the two.

I found two sites, (both forum links), that mentioned the term seijin. As I mentioned before, it's
hardly talked about on english forums, and I doubt many foreign anime fans are aware the term
exists. The first mention of it was a discussion I found on the Anime News Network forum, but it's
old, from 2005. (Mind you, the way the posters argued about it then does not mean they have the same opinions now. There was less information on demographics in the early- mid 2000's.)
The second was a more recent topic from Manga Updates, (it's a few years old), where someone
requested seijin manga, and contains some info on seinen as well.


This page will constantly be updated, and I will cite some more terms and links in the following days, so you can read more about the terminology if you want. If you want to add a term to the list, just post one in the comments, and cite some proof (a link to a website/popular blog,etc), and I'll add it. ^^