Oh, one that I forgot – hentai. A very important one, because Hirano-san used to draw hentai manga. (It means “perverted”, i.e. pornography.)

This strip is especially for my foreign readers, and for those of you who aren’t into manga/anime in general as much as some fans.

Email: I’m from Germany, and for that I don’t understand every single word. But there’s one word I can’t find in any dictionary: “bishounen.”

Email: How come in manga (usually) they call people by their names, then with a weird ending?

Erin-hime no Ai no Otaku-Japanese Guide Punch!

For starters:
Shounen means boy and shoujo means girl. You can get a lot from those two. For example, shounen manga (like Hellsing) is manga specifically targeted at boys. Bishounen are pretty boys (usually the long-haired feminine type.)

Bishoujo are, likewise, pretty girls. And shoujo manga like (Sailor Moon) is for girls. And shounen-ai (boy love) is male/male relationships. Less common is shoujo-ai.

Yaoi is used to refer to m/m porn, but yuri is used for anything with f/f relationships, no matter what the rating.

As for suffixes, they go after names in Japanese to denote degrees of respect. The most common:

Alucard-san: The standard respectful form of address.

Seras-chan: More familiar, used when addressing a friend or someone younger.

Walter-kun: A bit less familiar than -chan. Also, more commonly used to address males.

Integra-sama: Used to show a very high degree of respect. (Equivalent to “Sir Integra.”)

Pip-[blank]: Not using a suffix at all is only used to be every familiar. Say, between a married couple.

A few other words that you’ll see among otaku (anime/manga fans):

Kawaii – Cute
Chibi – Little. Specifically, those miniature figures with big heads are called “chibis.”
Sugoi! – Wow!/Amazing!
Baka – Stupid
Nani? – What?
Neko – Cat
Sayonara – That’s all, folks!