Anime is the japanese word for animation. The actual word is borrowed from the French term for animation. Animation is one of the most popular mediums of storytelling in Japan. Anime in general is characterized by a much higher art quality than traditional American animation, and much of the time contains more complex plots and storylines. The stories often deal with real life situations of death and love, emotion and emotional growth, presenting them in a mature and believable way not present in most western countries cartoons. Anime is released in three different forms: television series, original video animations, and theatrical releases.
Unlike American animation, not all anime is targeted to young audiences. Since anime is designed for all kind of audiences, there are brands of anime that contain levels of violence and sexual reference that most American people would never expect to find in an animated show or movie.
Vocabulary
Anime - Rough translation of animation
Ecchi - Pervert.
Eyecatch - A brief sequence played at the beginning and end of the mid-episode commercial break in most anime series.
Hentai - Pervert. Abnormality. Sexual perversion. Used also to describe a certain class of anime, manga or otaku (as in "H-Anime").
Japanimation - American term used for Japanese animation. Not to be used around die hard anime fans.
Manga - Comics. Manga is what comics are called in Japan. The word manga was coined by the artist Hokusai in 1815, usually translated to mean "irresponsible pictures".
Otaku - Fan. Closer to fanatical. Not always a good thing.
OAV or OVA - Original art video or original video animation. Direct to video release, as opposed to being realeased to theaters or TV first.
Super Deformed - Refers to a common gag in which a character's head is drawn disproportionately large. The intent is usually to imply that a character is like a child, and therefore inferior or incompetent, when faced by some enemy or stressful situation. Some anime have characters which are ALWAYS like this, to emphasize silliness.