Shameful Otaku Secret!

As a public service, here’s a list of terms you might find useful, if for no other reason than you won’t be caught with Wikipedia’s entry for Moe on your browser.

Anime - Cartoons. From Japan.

Fanservice - If you have to ask, you probably don’t feel like you’re being “served” by it, and that’s OK, it’s pretty nast a lot of times. Fanservice basically means elements of a show or movie that are nothing more than animated concessions to “fans,” i.e., admitted otakus: sometimes it’s overblown robot transformations or elaborate fight scenes, but usually “fanservice” is synonymous with “panty shots.” Shows often have a single episode that blows all fanservice out for an entire episode, as with the final episodes of Love Hina or Shakugan No Shana I. Sometimes it’s peppered throughout, and sometimes a comedic show like Pani Poni Dash! will have a lot of fun playing hide-the-fanservice with creative shots.

Gainax - Animation studio who came out in the 90s based on the strength of their opening animations for their own fan-curated anime cons. They were conceived as the ultimate by-otakus, for-otakus creator, and have made some of the most revolutionary and interesting shows around, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Fooly Cooly, and Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. They are not beyond reproach, however, as proven by This Ugly Yet Beautiful Piece of Shit. Notorious for over-spending and under-planning early in a series, making endings somewhat dodgy affairs.

Harem - A genre of dramas or comedies in anime where one lone idiot is plagued by the problem of too many girls. Realism levels in this genre vary wildly. Tenchi Muyo is one of the earliest, and Love Hina is maybe the ultimate classic example, but in recent times variations have included Key’s cavalcade of tragedy soaps like Kanon or the highly, uh… inverted School Days. As in the case of Elfen Lied, harems can slip their way into other genres.

Kyoto Animation - A small studio whose shit does not stink, largely thanks to their super popular dramas based on Key’s Visual Novels, and to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. They like their eyes big, their skirts short (at least in the visual novel adaptations). They’ve even done robots, in Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. People like them. True fact: Googling “Kyoto Animation sucks” yields zero results (verification pending).

Light Novel - Nothing like a visual novel, this is a partially illustrated book with no big words, and lots of dialog. They’re made to be a fast read to appeal to manga readers (and destined for eventual anime adaptation). Haruhi Suzumiya is one of the most famous series of light novels.

Moe - Rhymes with “oh hey!” or “0day” in case you’re wondering, and resists attempts to translate to pig latin. Big eyes, pity, tragic pasts, weakness or sickness, shyness, and of course pathos. In spite of its being bandied about a lot, this seems to be sort of a nebulous quality to English-speakers. I’ll actually let Anime News Network handle it. It’s a popular thing nowadays. Girlfriends across Japan are losing out sex to the desire for moe, or at least that’s how I imagine it in my head when I see the sheer number of animes exploiting this trend.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - A show about robots, I think.

OP - The opening music and animation from an anime show. Don’t ask me why it stands for opening theme.

Tsundere - Essentially a character who seems crusty or hard-assed on the outside, but is really just as moe as any other on the inside. This gives the illusion of “depth,” while simultaneously giving the lonely and shy anime viewer a false sense of security about confident women. The title character of Shakugan No Shana is TV’s current prime example.

Visual Novel - A video game that may or may not be sexy, probably is creepy, and is somewhere between a wank tool and a choose your own adventure. Spawned a genre of anime that is very popular currently. Usually animes take the harem route, since visual novels often expect players to explore storylines of multiple girls. Examples are as varied as the animes they inspire: Kanon, School Days, Clannad, and True Tears (though apparently very loosely) all began life this way.