Possible Genres
Rating Scale
Terms I Use

• Backstory - What happens in an anime before the anime begins. There are many series that have great backstory like Cowboy Bebop and Slayers Try.
• Character Development - How little or how much a character changes throughout the course of the series.
• Harem - Just like a real harem! There's maybe one or two men and many, many women.
• Hentai - Used by western audiences to mean something erotic, it actually translates to "weird".
• "It Pulled a Spiral!" - This means that an anime had a lot of momentum going into the last couple of episodes but decided to not resolve anything. It also helps if the main character's brother/sister is missing and he/she is never found in the end. See: Spiral, Gravion.
• Kawaii - Sooo cuuuuute!
• Loose Ends - Unanswered questions and things that just don't make a whole lot of sense.
• OVA - Original Video Animation - This is an anime that had neither a TV release nor a theatrical release. It is instead released entirely on video or DVD. OVAs are usually short series lasting anywhere from 1 episode to about 13.
• Plot Device - An object, person, or event that is used to further the plot. Famous plot devices are the Fushigi Yuugi "I Love You But Can't Love You" and Cardcaptor Sakura's "I Need to Say Something but Keep Getting Interrupted".
• Plot Hole - It's an area of the plot where something impossible has happened, disrupting the continuity of a series. Also, sometimes I use it to say that there are SO many loose ends that it opens a rift in the fabric of time and space.
• Pacing - How slowly or quickly an anime flows.
• Super-Deformed - An art style used in many cases to show comedy or cuteness. The characters are usually very small with big heads.