The following is a short list of words and phrases that come up pretty often in anime/seiyuu-related blogs, websites and radio programmes and I hope someone out there finds this useful. A lot of them are very general terms that apply to everyday life and other entertainment sectors, not just the anime world.
It’s not in alphabetical order at the moment, I’m still pondering on whether to list it that way or to group them according to relevance.
Feel free to point out any errors or suggest any words & phrases that you think should be listed here in the comments box. Oh, and sorry for switching between Hepburn romanization and wapuro - for the record, modified Hepburn is my preference but I get lazy when dealing with macrons~
Seiyuu Glossary for Dummies
Seiyuu/Industry specific
1.People
seiyū (声優) – voice actor. Just like anime, (I believe) the plural of seiyuu is still seiyuu and not seiyuus.
idol seiyū (アイドル声優) – seiyuu who pursue idol-type careers in addition to voice work. An ‘idol’ typically refers to young, aesthetically-pleasing female entertainers who branch out into different types of entertainment sectors such as singing and photoshoots. Idols usually have a large presence in print media and on TV shows. Mizuki Nana is currently the most popular idol seiyuu in the business.
haiyū (俳優) - actor. Divided into joyu (女優;actress) and danyu (男優;actor).
kantoku (監督) – director. In particular 音響監督 (onkyo kantoku;sound director), who direct the seiyuu during recording.
tarento (タレント) – ‘Talent’. Basically a media personality/entertainer who covers a variety of gigs including but not limited to, singing, presenting TV shows, acting, modelling etc etc. Nakagawa Shoko is one of the most common examples of a マルチタレント (multi-talento), such is the width and breadth of her entertainment activities.
geinōjin (芸能人) – entertainer.
kashu (歌手) – singer.
2.Recording Work
daihon (台本) – script. The seiyuu all get their own copies for reading/practising purposes and you can see that a lot of them write notes etc on their scriptbooks. They’re the books that seiyuu hold and read from when they stand at the mic during recording.
fukikae (吹き替え) – dubbing. That means replacing dialogue that was originally in a foreign language with Japanese.
voice-over (ボイスオーバー) – Not to be confused with dubbing, voice-overs usually retain the backing track in the original language in addition to the voice-over. This is commonly heard in interviews.
narration (ナレーション) - different to fukikae and voice-over in that it is original work in Japanese, and involves a voice telling a story to viewers/listeners over some background animation. Think Wakamoto Norio in Hayate no Gotoku!.
shūroku (収録) – recording. Usually used in reference to drama CDs and radio shows. Alternatively, レコーディング (katakana for ‘recording’) is also used.
afureko (アフレコ) – short for ‘after-recording’. This term describes the voice dubbing sessions that are recorded after an initial animated video has been produced. If you watch seiyuu afureko interviews, you’ll notice that most of the time they’re just matching their lines to a bunch of scrawled, unfinished moving blobs and not the finished product. The majority of anime use the afureko method for recording character voices.
genba (現場) – the scene where something takes place. I listed this because you often hear アフレコ/現場 (afureko/genba) being mentioned and in that case it refers to the recording studio.
puresuko (プレスコ) – short for ‘pre-scoring’, and the opposite of afureko. Here, lines are recorded before any animation is done. So it’s something like recording a drama CD, and the animators will now have to match the mouth flaps and character movements to the voices instead of the other way round. This technique is not used very often, but director Matsuo Ko seems to be an advocate of it with Red Garden and now kure-nai both using puresuko recording. Other anime that featured puresuko include Akira, Koi Kaze and Mononoke.
serifu (台詞) - dialogue, lines.
bōyomi (棒読み) - wooden voice acting; monotonous and lacking intonation & emotion as if reading straight off the daihon. 棒 (bo) means stick. The seiyuu most recently accused of boyomi is Omigawa Chiaki, voice of Maka in Soul Eater. Most tarento trying their hand at voice work (Yamada Yu, Matsumoto Kana) usually come off as boyomi.
3.Industry
gekidan (劇団) – theatrical group. Some seiyuu are signed to gekidan, people like Paku Romi & Miyano Mamoru for example.
yōseijo (養成所) – shortened from 声優養成所 (seiyuu yoseijo), which means seiyuu training school.
jimusho (事務所) – agency, office.
gravia (グラビア) – gravure. The word is derived from the term ‘photogravure’ (a glossy mag printing process), and in Japanese entertainment refers to pictures where idols show off their bodies in bikinis, swimwear, tight clothing etc (but not nude). A gravure idol is thus, a model who does primarily sexy photoshoots.
satsuei (撮影) – photoshoot. So a グラビア撮影(gravia satsuei) means a gravure photoshoot.
shutsuen (出演) – performance, appearance. XXXに出演する (XXX ni shutsuen suru) means that ‘So-and-So is going to appear in XXX show’. Adding on to that, 出演者 (shutsuensha) means performer (者 = person).
isseki (移籍) – literally ‘registry transfer’, this is the word to describe a seiyuu moving agencies.
nama hōsō (生放送) – live broadcast.
saishūkai (最終回) - final episode.
butai (舞台) – scene or setting i.e. 舞台は江戸時代 (butai wa Edo jidai) – the setting is during the Edo period.
sakuhin (作品) – work, production.
bangumi (番組) - programme, as in テレビ番組 (terebi bangumi; TV programme).
General
1.Website-related
kōshiki (公式) – official. As in 公式サイト (koshiki site – official website) etc
kōshin (更新) – update, renew. i.e. 公式サイトが更新した (koshiki site ga koshin shita) – the official website has been updated.
hatsubai (発売) – on sale. Referring to release dates for goods releases. 好評発売中 (kohyo hatsubaichu) means ‘Now on sale’.
shokai genteiban (初回限定版) - first press limited edition [usually refers to CD/DVD]
tsūjōban (通常版) - normal edition.
oshirase (お知らせ) – notice, notification.
hōkoku (報告) – news announcement.
jōhō (情報) – information. 最新情報 (saishin joho) means latest news.
happyō (発表) - announcement.
kuwashiku (詳しく) – in detail. You usually hear/read it like 詳しくはxxx (kuwashiku wa xxx) which is translated ‘to find out in more detail, go to xxx’.
tokuten (特典) – literally ‘special favour’, used to describe those goodies & extras that come along with a media release i.e. Nowadays, CDs usually come with a tokuten DVD. 特典映像(tokuten eizo, special video) is also another common phrase.
tokushū (特集) - special feature, a term usually used in magazines.
tokugi (特技) - special skills, you see this on profiles a lot.
shumi (趣味) - hobbies
ketsuekigata (血液型) - blood type
shikaku (資格) - qualifications
2.Blog
uchiage (打ち上げ) – literally ‘launch’, uchiage is something you’ll come across in blogs a lot. It’s something like an after-party, where the cast and staff for a production go and have a meal or karaoke etc after their work is done for the day.
ochakai (お茶会) – tea party, although 会 means meeting. Seiyuu with food obsessions or those with too many friends and too much time on their hands go to a lot of ochakai. Matsuki Miyu for example.
nomikai (飲み会) – drinking party. Drink as in alcohol, a useful word to learn if you’re a fan of Ito Shizuka, Hirohashi Ryo or Ueda Kana.
shashin (写真) - photograph.
purikura (プリクラ) – short for ‘print club’. I’m sure you know what these are, it’s those photo booth thingies that produce cute, sticker type photos. A favourite with the girls.
o-tomari (お泊まり) - stay overnight (at somebody’s house).
3.Rubbish/slang
kyonyū (巨乳) – big boobs. Probably only useful if you’re a regular visitor to the 2channel boards, there’s a thread named 巨乳声優 (big-boobed seiyuu) somewhere. My personal vote for kyonyu seiyuu No.1 goes to Koyama Kimiko btw.
hinnyū (貧乳) - the opposite of kyonyuu. 貧 literally means ‘poor’. I think 80% of Asian women fit in this category.
yuri (百合) - literally means lily (the flower). Refers to strong feelings/love between two females. The origin of the phrase is unclear, but is rumoured to have come from the Barazoku magazine in the 70s (see wiki). Supposed yuri sentiments between female seiyuu are commonly displayed, but BL between male seiyuu is just…not that apparent.
animegoe (アニメ声) – literally anime-voice, a not-so-flattering term used to describe high-pitched childlike voices, usually female celebrities. Some entertainers who possess animegoe include Aiuchi Rina and half the Momusu members, heh. People like Kugimiya Rie and Kaneda Tomoko are some of the names that immediately come to mind when thinking of animegoe amongst seiyuu.
puroresu (プロレス) - short for pro-wrestling. Some seiyuu are into puroresu…well, Kadowaki Maii anyway.
4.Interview keywords
shōkai (紹介) - introduction
setsumei (説明) - explain
rensai (連載) – serialization
katsudō (活動) - activities
yakugara (役柄) - character, role.
midokoro (見所) - highlights (of something i.e. an anime)
zadankai (座談会) – discussion, meeting. As in キャスト座談会 (cast zadankai).
zasshi kiji (雑誌記事) - magazine article.
inshō (印象) - impression (of something/someone). 第一印象 (daiichi insho) means first impression
seikaku (性格) - personality, character.
miryokuteki (魅力的) - charming, fascinating
My boom (マイブーム) – means something like ‘my current interest’ i.e. 最近のマイブームはカラオケです (saikin no ‘my boom’ wa karaoke desu) – my current obsession is going for karaoke. Incidentally, ‘karaoke’ is a portmanteau of the words kara (空; empty) and okesutora (オーケストラ; orchestra). Alternatively, the phrase ハマっているもの (hamatteiru mono) can be used to describe something one is currently obsessed with.
5.Others
moridakusan (盛り沢山) – varied, many. Early on I had trouble figuring out what the heck the word was; I kept hearing ‘More Redux-san’ whenever the phrase 盛り沢山の内容 (moridakusan no naiyo, various contents) came up. Moridakusan can be used to describe anything from DVD extras to a live-event to the contents of a radio show.
Monhan (モンハン) – short for Monster Hunter, that dreaded PSP game that the majority of female seiyuu seem to play.
norinori (ノリノリ, のりのり) – literally ‘in high spirits’, derived from the root word 乗る (noru, to ride) & NOT seaweed. Can be used describe situations where somebody seems overly excited i.e. この人、ノリノリだね (Kono hito, norinori da ne) – this person is kind of norinori don’t you think? In English, I’d probably use equivalent phrases like ‘This guy’s had too much sugar’ or ‘He’s on crack/magic mushrooms/insert drug name’.
vomic (ヴォミック) - a portmanteau of the words ‘voice’ and ‘comic’, refers to a Shueisha-produced video format of adding seiyuu voices to manga stills. See here for more info.
Acronyms
CV – acronym for ‘Character Voice’, which was, & is still in use at times in place of seiyuu.
PV – acronym for Promotion Video. More commonly known as MV (Music Video) in other parts of Asia.
AV - acronym for Adult Video. More commonly known as p0rn in most parts of the world.
CM – acronym for Commercial Message. More commonly known as an advertisement in most other parts of the world.
NG – acronym for ‘No Good’; a situation where someone messes up. For example, a seiyuu messing up their lines would make it an ‘NGテイク’ (NG take).
Special Kitamura Eri Otaku Mini-Glossary (for reading blog):
kaosu (カオス) – chaos.
toketsu (吐血) – vomiting blood. A term used when she’s fapping over somebody (Chihara Minori etc). Can also be extended to 猛吐血 (moutoketsu; fierce blood vomiting) and 悶絶吐血 (monzetsu toketsu;fainting in agony & vomiting blood).
nu (ぬー) – nickname for Hirota Shion.
sassen (さーせん/サーセン) – an abbreviation of sumimasen, which means sorry.
wwww - Japanese equivalent of lolololol.
Like most Japanese blogs, KitaEri’s also uses a boatload of emoticons; it’s impossible to cover all of them.
ε==ε==(ノ゜Д゜)ツ ||WC|| - somebody rushing towards the toilet (WC = water closet).
(*´д｀*)ハァハァ - fapping.
ヽ(゜∀゜)メ(゜∀゜)メ(゜∀゜)ノ - singing and dancing around.
((( ；゜Д゜)))ガクガクブルブル - an indication of fear.