A Parent's Guide to Key Words in Japanese Import Media

If you’ve been paying attention for even a little while, you’ll have noticed that Japanese imports have, in recent years, taken the animation, video game, and comic industries by storm.

If you have children that are following what some call “Japan mania” (a term I’m not particularly fond of myself), you may want to be aware of what you’re giving them before you give in to their requests for the latest in a series of cartoons, comic books, or games. Japanese cartoons and the cartooning industry can differ greatly from those in the Western world; there are many cultural differences that defy assumptions and cause some unpleasant surprises for the uninformed. Japanese cartoons and games aren’t always oriented towards children; they’re sometimes used less for simple entertainment, and more as a sophisticated storytelling medium. Storylines and graphics can range from things suitable to a toddler, to mature and complexly interwoven plots for teens and adults...to a few things that should be best left in the hands of Photoshop Brushes only.

If you buy translated imports from places such as Barnes & Noble and other mainstream stores, you generally don’t have to worry about the latter; most are edited by companies such as Viz and Tokyo Pop, with clearly written markers in English depicting age-appropriateness. However, there are still certain things you should know before buying Japanese import media for your child, especially if you don’t speak a lick of Japanese. You may spare yourself a bit of a shock later.

First, let’s look at your basic terminology.

Manga

A manga is a comic book or graphic novel: usually pocket-sized, perfect-bound, and much thicker than your average Western saddle-stitched comic book. While Western comics are generally full-color, manga often have black-and-white pages created in ink and halftones; only the covers or a few inserts are in color. A single manga may contain several “episodes” of a storyline. The key thing to remember about manga is that they’re original works, created by the company or person that owns copyright to a specific story concept. The authors and artists of manga are called manga-ka.

Doujinshi

Doujinshi are like manga, but are generally done by artists other than the original circle, as either a tribute or a way to explore side characters and storylines left to the imagination in the original work. Because doujinshi are rarely monitored or censored by the original artists, they can range anywhere from short stories containing brief moments of character silliness to X-rated situations depicting characters from the story involved in various sexual acts.

Anime

Anime is the Japanese word for animation, but has come to represent the rather distinctive look recognizable as a unifying theme even among the most diverse of Japanese animation styles.

Otaku

A lover of manga, Flash Animations, and video games, to the point of fanatic obsession. Westerners often label themselves otaku and wear the name as a badge of pride, but in Japan the connotations aren’t exactly flattering. At best it can imply that the person refuses to grow up and focus on something more productive than an obsession with cartoons; at worst it brings to mind the serial killer Tsutsomu Miyazaki, who was reputed to be the source of the common slang use of the term after the media described his obsession with pornographic anime and manga. (Bet that’ll make you stop and think twice next time your son or daughter pins an ”otaku” badge to their backpack.)