So you have found or heard of this strange creature known as ‘anime' and have decided to study it more extensively. Where do you begin? There is not, and there likely never will be, a definitive anime which is considered the ‘best' by all or even most individuals. However, most could agree that there are many which are set above the rest.
But first off, some generic Anime terms that are important or useful to understand.
Anime: While in Japan, it refers to animation in general, in other countries it refers specifically to the animation style of Japan. The topics, genre, and aim of the series are highly variable. The age category of the viewers is likewise designed to range from children to young adults and hitting everywhere in between.
AMV: Anime Music Video. These are fan videos which take either one or several anime and place the animation to music. They are considered by many to be an artform to themselves. See animemusicvideo.org for more info.
Bishonen/Bishoujo: Beautiful boy/girl resp. These are specifically characters who are designed to be attractive. Bishonen characters are normally drawn with feminine frames, while bishoujo characters are normally physically attractive characters who are young in age.
Doujinshi: This is a fan based work that is normally put into a manga format. However, the actual range is anything from manga to video games.
Eroge: A game in Japan which features sexual content, usually as anime. This is found very often in the Visual Novel format, hence the association.
Fanfiction: Fiction written using characters from the intellectual property of an established plot and universe. The authors do not claim rights to the characters, but use the story as a means of expression or as a means to manipulate series as they wish it to happen.
Fansubs: These are fan based creations in which an individual or group will take an anime in an unedited Japanese recording (called a RAW) and will translate the dialogue and place subtitles with a video editor. While they are often considered a ‘gray area' of legality, websites which distribute these will cease if they receive a request from official distributers.
Harem Anime: Despite the sound, it is normally not a single character having sexual relations with numerous others. It is instead normally a single character (normally male, but not always) who is being romantically pursued by numerous members of the opposite gender. It is usually within the realm of reason (4-5) but some can get utterly ridiculous in number (see Maho Sensei Negima).
Hentai/H/Ecchi: Hentai is Japanese for Pervert. These are all different terms for sexual content which features anime style characters. They normally have different associations. Hentai is normally ‘hardcore' in nature, while H content is normally found in games. Ecchi is mostly associated with softcore, sometimes non nude, content. Also, all of these are the reason to put on safe search whenever you are using Google for anime images -_-.
Magic Girl: A character who is a normal girl, often a student, who will transform into an alternate persona in order to fight whatever happens to be the villain of the series.
Manga: Manga is a Japanese type of comic or graphic novel. They are almost all in black and white inked drawings, and a good deal of anime is based off of these (or the other way around).
Mecha: Giant piloted humanoid robots. Many anime focus upon these mecha and their pilots.
Otaku: Japanese for Nerd. The implications in America is someone who really likes anime or other Japanese media forms. It has a much more negative connotation in Japan.
Scanlations: The same process as fansubs, but with manga instead.
Seiyu: Japanese word for voice actor or actress.
Shonen/Shoujo: These refer specifically to anime which is aimed at boys and girls, respectively. They often feature an underdog type character of the respective gender who nevertheless rises to become equal to or surpassing their superior rivals.
Subs: Subtitles. A good number of anime connoisseurs will only watch anime in the original Japanese with subtitles. The reasons are varied, the most often heard reason is the superiority of the voice actors in Japan.
Visual Novel: This is a form of video game in Japan. They are very much akin to a choose your own adventure story such as those found in books in the USA. They normally feature a background picture with characters in the foreground whose expressions change as their mood does. Text is usually displayed in a box at the bottom of the screen with choices to make at intervals. They are associated normally with Eroge games (see above), but are not necessarily all erotic in nature.
Yaoi/Yuri: Homosexual relationships, male and female respectively. May or may not be sexualized.
