Abbreviations and general terms

AFAIK: as far as I know
AHRLI: Ayeka Hating Ryoko Loving Idiot (referring to the characters from the popular animé Tenchi Muyo). A title I am proud to wear. ^-^ The opposite is RHALI, which speaks for itself. ^-^
Breaking the fourth wall: when characters in an animé e.t.c. acknowledge the outside world and the fact that they're merely characters. The Tenchi manga does this a lot, having characters saying "hey, didn't this happen in the OAV?" and prodding the sound effects. It's usually very funny. ^_^
BTW: by the way
Canon: in animé, games, e.t.c., what is known to be true; the creator's perspective on things (e.g. in FF6, it's canon that Terra is half-Esper).
Fangirl: in animé and other fandoms, a female fan obsessed with her favourite series/character e.t.c. to the point where it is considered unhealthy by most, even otaku. Many people consider it derogatory, but some of us... uh, I mean some people, call themselves fangirls with pride. The scariest breed by far is the yaoi fangirl, who's obsessed with bishounen and writing fanfics based around the after-dark antics of Sephiroth and Vincent. Tomoyo from Card Captor Sakura is probably the über-fangirl. Also comes in the male form fanboy.
Fanfiction (also fanfics): fan-written stories based on animé, video games, e.t.c. The trend probably started with Star Trek, when fans would write alternate storylines or scenarios (usually involving relationships between Kirk and Spock; hence the genre slash (see yaoi), from the way the names of the characters involved were divided), and later, post them online. Fanfics are a way for fans to express their thoughts, opinions or alternate ideas on a show and its characters, or just fulfil fantasies (this latter type of fanfic can be pretty lame: "I love Ryoko! I hate Tenchi! Let's totally disregard the plot and character development and have Ryoko marry some original character who just happens to be a whole lot like me...."). Fanfics aren't strictly legal (being that they use an existing show and its characters), but most authors put disclaimers in their work saying that they aren't making a profit and that the characters don't belong to them, and nobody really minds too much. In Japan, the equivalent of the fanfic is doujinshi.
Fan service: gratuitous shots (i.e. ones that have no purpose in the storyline) added to animé or manga purely to please fans. Fan service usually comes in the form of close-ups of certain parts of a female character's anatomy or brief flashes of them in a state of undress, although in certain cases the term can also cover cameo appearances by animal mascots and the like (the obligatory shot of Ryo-Ohki sitting on Sasami's head going "Miya!" is a textbook example).
FYI: for your information
Hammerspace: the "fourth dimension" from which animé and manga characters pull weapons, objects, e.t.c. that seem to appear from nowhere. So named after the trademark weapon of Akane Tendo from Ranma 1/2.
IC: in character (of a SoulBond, a character in an animé, e.t.c.) In other words, acting normally. The opposite is OOC.
IMHO: in my humble opinion
IMO: in my opinion (for when one is not feeling so humble ^_^)
IRL: in real life
Lemon: a fanfiction containing detailed sex scenes. Lemon usually only refers to fanfics; in non-fanfiction media, e.g. fanart, it's usually called hentai. It has a milder equivalent, lime. Apparently originates from an animé called Cream Lemon (no, I haven't seen it).
LEO: Low Earth Orbit. What Akane's mallet (see Hammerspace) typically sends people into.
LOL: laughing out loud
Magical girl: a genre of animé in which the main character(s) are cute, typically school-age girls with the secret ability to transform into superheroines (often accompanied by token animal mascots). Sailor Moon is probably the best-known magical girl series; Magical Girl Pretty Sammy is probably the best-known parody of the genre. Magical girl series fall into the shoujo category of animé.
MB: message board
Mundane: a person devoid of imagination and creativity; someone who exists solely in the "Real World" and denies all possibilities of alternate worlds and realities; a non-otaku.
Newbie: someone new to the Internet (or a message board, a game e.t.c.) There's nothing wrong with being a newbie - everyone was one once, after all - and the term usually isn't derogatory.
OAV: original animation video (also OVA). Refers to an animé released straight to video, without being seen on TV first. New series and those unsuitable for TV due to content are usually made into OAVs. OAVs don't have the stigma that straight-to-video series in the West often do; indeed, they're often better than TV animé, which usually has to be toned down or edited for either time or content. OAVs can also be subtitled, leaving the original Japanese voicetrack intact, whereas a TV series released in the West would usually be required to be dubbed, and stay that way when released on video. In short, I like OAVs. ^-^
OOC: out of character (of a SoulBond, a character in an animé, e.t.c.) In other words, acting in a way which isn't normal for them. Characters may act OOC for humorous purposes, or in order to express their feelings in a way that they normally wouldn't (in the Tenchi manga, after Ryoko has a heart-to-heart chat with Sasami, she says "That was really out of character"). The opposite is IC.
OST: original soundtrack (i.e. music taken directly from the soundtrack to a game or animé, rather than "inspired by").
RL: real life
ROTFL: rolling on the floor laughing
RPG: role-playing game (oh dear Mana, if you don't know this one just why are you here?? ^-^;)
R/v: reality-version (see Inner voices.)
SB: SoulBond (see Inner voices.)
Sweatdrop: an exaggerated bead of sweat appearing on the head of an animé character to signify embarrassment, nervousness, e.t.c.
WAFF: warm and fluffy (or fuzzy) feelings; usually used to refer to lighthearted, romantic fanfiction. Has an adjective form, WAFFy.

Japanese terms

Ai: love
Aishiteru: I love you. Other terms along this train of thought are suki da yo, "I like you", and daisuki da yo, "I really like you".
Anata: you. As with watashi, there are several ways to say "you" in Japanese, but this is the most polite. One form that's often heard a lot in animé is kisama, which has the connotations of "why, you little.... [fill in the blank]" and is often heard during climactic battle scenes.
Animé (correctly pronounced "ah-nee-may", but most people say "anee-may"): Japanese animation. Actually, the word animé is strictly Japan's word for animation in general, not just their own (so to the Japanese, Disney stuff would be "animé" too), but fans generally like to use the word to distinguish Japanese animation (which many fans are loath to class as mere "cartoons", being that the media is more the equivalent of America's movie industry in terms of depth, age range and genre range) from Western, kiddy-centric, animation. Animé is occasionally referred to as Japanimation by old-timers and ill-informed critics, and sometimes wrongly referred to as manga by non-fans.
Ara: expression of surprise or shock. This is usually the feminine term; the masculine variant is oro.
Arigato: thank you. Also "domo arigato" (more polite), "arigato gozaimasu" (politer still), or "domo arigato gozaimasu" (now you're really sucking up ^-~).
Baka: idiot, stupid person. Textbook uses in animé: "Ranma no baka!" (Akane), "Anta baka!" (Asuka). In these cases, often punctuated with a slap/mallet impact. ^_^;
Bakemono: monster, evil spirit. Ayeka calls Ryoko this in Tenchi Muyo, though she really has no right. ^_^
Bishounen: a cute/pretty boy (in animé, usually a boy who looks like a girl). Has a female equivalent, bishoujo (which means a cute/pretty girl, BTW, not a girl who looks like a boy ^-^;). Bishounen are often referred to as bishies by fangirls, although the same doesn't seem to be common with bishoujo and fanboys.
Chibi: very small, cute and wide-eyed. The opposite of "Amano", which means characters drawn in a tall, thin, ugly, Westernized style. ^-~
Daijoubu?: are you okay?
Dokidoki: heartbeat, pulse (especially in reference to one's heart beating fast because of emotion)
Doujinshi: fan manga, the Japanese equivalent of fanfiction. Often (but by no means always) of a sexual nature. Many well-known mangaka (manga artists) started out drawing doujinshi before they turned professional.
Ecchi: perverted (usually used in a fairly mild sense, unlike its darker cousin, hentai)
Furigana: small Japanese characters placed next to kanji to help children to understand them. Used a lot in manga.
Genki: literally, healthy or full of energy; more often used to mean acting like you're on a serious sugar high. Genkiness is usually permanent, however, and should generally be considered a Good Thing. Sakura from Card Captor Sakura is the typical "genki" girl.
Gomen: sorry. Also "gomen ne" or "gomen nasai": "I'm very sorry" or "I'm very very very sorry with cherries on top". ^-^ Another, even more polite way of saying it is sumimasen, which can also mean "excuse me". Mihoshi says this a lot. ^-^
Hai: yes. As in "Hai, I'll do your homework", "Hai, I'll clean your room", "Hai, you can wipe over all my save games on FF9".
Hayaku!: hurry!/quickly!
Hentai: though this isn't its original meaning in Japanese, fans use it to refer to animé, manga or images of an explicitly sexual nature, often unlicenced (e.g. Card Captor Sakura hentai is definitely not authorised by CLAMP ^-^;;;;) Can also refer to a perverted person ("you're such a hentai").
Hiragana: a form of Japanese phonetic writing (kana). More complex than katakana, and generally used to write words of Japanese origin.
Honto?: really? Also sou ka?
Ichiban: number one
Itai!: ouch!
Ja ne: see you later!
Kakkoi: cool
Kami: god(s), goddess(es).
Kana: Japanese characters used to spell out words phonetically (i.e., based on sounds, like the English alphabet), as opposed to kanji. See also katakana, hiragana, furigana.
Kanji: complex characters used in the writing of Japanese; they originated from China and are ideograms, which means they represent a picture or idea rather than the phonetic spelling and pronunciation of a word, unlike kana. There are thousands of kanji and comparatively few kana, which means that words (particularly names) that have very different meanings in their original kanji all look the same when translated to kana - or romanji (English characters), which can only be translated back to kana. This is why it's so hard for animé fans to find out the intended meanings of characters' names (and why a lot of Japanese people appear to have the same name).
Katakana: the simplest form of Japanese phonetic writing (kana), and the easiest to grasp for newcomers to the language. Usually used to write foreign words.
Kawaii: cute
Kimochi: feelings
Kirei: pretty
Kitsune: fox
Ko: child (often part of names). "Koneko" is "kitten".
Koibito: sweetheart, lover
Kokoro: heart
Konnichiwa: hello, good afternoon
Konbanwa: good evening
Konyanyachiwa: "konnichiwa", but in Osaka dialect. Best when yelled loudly at random people in a Kero-chan voice.
Korosu!: I'll kill you!
Kowai: scary
Kuso!: damn! (Or something stronger. ^-^) Also chikusho.
Maneki neko: beckoning cat (a ceramic figure of a cat holding up one paw, supposed to bring luck or money depending on which paw is held up)
Manga: Japanese comics or animé-style drawings.
Masaka!: no way! it can't be!
Miko: priestess. In animé fandom, most often used in the sense "____ no miko", or "priestess of ____", meaning a protector, worshipper e.t.c. of a particular animé character. (Basically it's a fangirl-ish way of proclaiming your obsession for them. ^-^)
Minna: everyone (hey minna!)
Nani: what. "Nani" translates to "what" in all senses of the word, as in "What are you doing?", "What, really?" and "WHAAAAT?!?!? You spilt coffee all over my Pokémon card collection?!"
Ne: used for emphasis (as in, "It's good, ne?", with the rough meaning of "It's good, isn't it?", or "Ne, Tenchi..." which equates to "Say, Tenchi...").
Neko: cat. Also the name of Super Play's much-maligned Subscriptions Tiger.
O-: prefix meaning "big, great, honourable".
Ohayo: good morning. Also "ohayo gozaimasu" if you want to be polite.
Onee (usually suffixed with -chan, -san, or -sama): older sister. Also a general term of affection/friendship (otaku usage) or respect (Japanese usage) for a girl or young woman. Pronounced "oh-nay".
Onegai: please. Or, a surefire way for particularly cute members of the female gender to get the webmaster's undivided attention. ^-^
Oni: demon. Not to be confused with onii (if you mean demon it's prounced oh-nee, if you mean older brother it's pronounced oh-nee). Unless, of course, your older brother is a demon, then they're interchangeable. ^_^
Onii (usually suffixed with -chan, -san, or -sama): older brother. Also a general term of affection/friendship (otaku usage) or respect (Japanese usage) for a boy or young man.
Onsen: hot spring (floating or otherwise ^-^)
Otaku: what obsessed fans of video games, animé, e.t.c. call themselves. It's also what you should be. If you're not, see seppuku. ^-~
Oyasumi-nasai: goodnight
Ryu: dragon
Sai: Used in conjunction with a number to refer to a person who is that number of years old; e.g. a "14-sai" is a 14-year-old.
Sake: rice wine; aka "Toonami tea" because all references to it are redubbed as "tea" in Toonami's showings of Tenchi Muyo, although the characters still get mysteriously drunk on it. =P (Actual tea, BTW, is ocha, or simply cha.)
Sakura: cherry blossom. Often seen in animé because they are symbolic of life and love; beautiful, fragile, and short-lived.
Seiken Densetsu: literally, "legend of the holy sword" or "holy sword legend" (seiken="holy sword", densetsu="legend").
Seirei: spirit (rei is also spirit)
Seiyuu: voice actor/actress (in animé).
Seppuku: Japanese ritual suicide, committed when a person believes they have dishonoured themselves.
Settei: a term often used in the yaoi fanfiction community to mean one's reality-version (see Inner Voices) of a world/setting. It can refer to assumptions based on the canon (e.g. in my settei of NGE, Misato didn't kill Kaji) or non-canon deviations (e.g. in my settei of Tenchi Muyo, Ryoko does have a sense of taste). Not used in SoulBonding as far as I know, but a useful term nevertheless.
Shoujo: literally, "girl". A genre of animé which features distinctly female-orientated themes, e.g. romance and "magical girls". Shoujo animé often portrays characters, even boys, as more sensitive and emotional than in shounen animé. Shoujo animé includes shows like Magic Knight Rayearth, Card Captor Sakura, and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Shoujo animé is not to be confused with shoujo ai (see yaoi), which is generally aimed at a male audience.
Shounen: literally, "boy". A genre of animé which features distinctly male-orientated themes, e.g. giant robots and martial arts. Shounen animé usually portrays its characters as tough and heroic, with little emotion or romance. Shounen animé includes shows like the Mobile Suit Gundam series and Dragonball Z (you could also call the Poké/Digimon wave shounen, I guess). Shounen animé is not to be confused with shounen ai (see yaoi), which is generally aimed at a female audience. (Gee, you think the shoujo and shounen definitions are similar much? ^-^;)
Sora: sky
Sugoi: cool
Tanoshii: fun
Tanuki: a mythical Japanese animal looking something like a raccoon. They often appear in games, where the word is usually translated to raccoon (examples: Kikikaikai/Pocky and Rocky, Goemon). Statues of them are often placed outside stores to bring luck.
Tomodachi: friend
Usagi: rabbit
Wai!: expression of shock, surprise, e.t.c.
Watashi: I. Note that this is only one of many ways of referring to the self - watakushi (very formal, used by royalty etc.), atashi (slightly flirtatious, girls only) and boku (tough guy speak) being three - but watashi is the most common and the most polite without sounding overly formal, and the one you should probably use if you're in any doubt.
Yaoi: Animé, manga or fanfiction featuring... um... sexual encounters between two guys. Apparently comes from "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi" meaning "no climax, no point, no meaning" (actually I'd have thought climaxes were an important part of this genre, or maybe that's just me ^-^). Has a milder form (usually only implying cute kissy/cuddly stuff), shounen ai (from the words for "boy" and "love"). The female equivalent of yaoi is yuri (which literally translates to "lily", but I believe actually comes from the animé "Dirty Pair", in which Kei and Yuri were a popular pairing in fanfics), and shoujo ai is a lesser-used term for the female equivalent of shounen ai. In American fanfiction, gay relationships are often defined as slash.
Yebisu: extremely good beer, as drunk by Misato-san (and Pen-Pen ^-^).
Yuki: snow
Yume: dream(s)

Japanese suffixes

-chan: added to the names of people who a) are younger/inferior in status to you, and/or b) you like, are on close personal terms with, or think are cute. ^-^ It's generally considered offensive (in Japan, but not necessarily amongst otaku) if you don't know the person well. It's sometimes also added to the names of female and/or younger forms of animé characters to distinguish them from their original forms (e.g. Ranma-chan - female Ranma, Washu-chan - Washu's 12-year-old form), but this is usually a fan usage. Pets and animal mascots (Ryo-chan, Kero-chan, P-chan) also get it. Names are often shortened when you use -chan, e.g. "Shin-chan" (Shinji). Fangirls tend to suffix their online names with -chan, presumably because they want to be thought of as cute, and not because they want to be thought of as inferior. ^-^;;; People you could refer to with -chan are: your kid, your puppy, your best friend (usually girls only, unless you're *really* young), your boyfriend/girlfriend/intended, someone you want to be condescending to/cut down to size.
-kun: similar to -chan, but slightly more impersonal and more masculine. Usually added to the names of people younger/inferior in status to you who you aren't so close to or don't know so well. People you could refer to with -kun are: your friends (usually boys, or tomboys ^-^), your friend's puppy, the new kid at your school who you don't really know but want to be nice to, the really pretty snobby rich girl at your school who you want to cut down to size. (Not Tomoyo. She's pretty and rich, but not snobby. Tomoyo-haters will be fed to the carnivorous four-foot high radioactive green rabbits.) A classical condescending use of this can be found in one of Tenchi Universe's "Space" episodes, where Kiyone's superior calls her "Kiyone-kun" - sort of the equivalent of patting her on the head. ^_^;;;
-san: the general suffix of respect. Usually added to the names of people you are on equal terms with (whether you know them closely or not), people you want to make a good impression with (business clients, e.t.c.), and people you look up to (but see the following terms also). People you could refer to with -san are: your work colleagues, your new neighbours, your parents, your scary older sister.
-sempai: added to the names of people who you consider your superiors (but not family). As anyone who's seen subtitled (or original Japanese) Evangelion knows, it can also imply having a bit of a crush on the person. ^-^ Unlike the previous terms, it can be used on its own to refer to someone as well as added to their name. People you could refer to as -sempai are: the girl in school who's a year up from you who you've got a bit of a thing for, the local bully (to keep him sweet), your boss.
-kohai: the opposite of -sempai. People you could refer to as -kohai are: the girl who keeps following you around school starry-eyed calling you "sempai".
-sensei: generally only added to the name of someone who teaches you. Like -sempai, it can be used on its own to refer to a person. People you could refer to as -sensei are: your geography teacher, the martial arts guru who trained you from the age of five in hand-to-hand combat.
-sama: the ultimate term of respect. People who you could refer to as -sama are: gods/goddesses (God in the Christian sense is known as kamisama), the girl in school who's a year up from you who you've got a *serious* crush on, royalty.
-ichii: Captain or Major, apparently. Don't ask me where I learnt this! It wasn't from that lemon fanfic, The Misato Chronicles! Really, it wasn't! ^-^;;; People you could refer to as -ichii are: Misato. Or any other Captains or Majors you happen to know. ^-^
-hime: I think it means Princess. I've heard it used in several fanfics with reference to a chara who's a princess, and if I remember right "Princess Mononoke" was "Mononoke Hime" in Japan. However, feel free to correct me. People you could refer to as -hime are: um... princesses? ^-^;
-dono: A title of respect somewhere around the level of -san, or so I'm led to believe. Not really used in Japan nowadays, but still popular in animé, especially that with a fantasy or historical theme. Washu also says it a lot, which I guess is to be expected given her age. ^-^; People you could refer to as -dono are: the same people you'd refer to as -san, if you're a medieval knight or 20,000 years old. ^-^;
-nee(chan/san/sama), -nii(chan/san/sama): The suffix forms of onee and onii. Sasami uses them a lot, though it's interesting to note that while she'll happily use "Tenchi-niichan" (older brother Tenchi) and "Ryoko-neechan" (older sister Ryoko) all the time, she's never once been heard to use such a term of endearment towards Ayeka, who is her sister... ^-^ People you could refer to as -neechan, -niichan etc. are: your older sister/brother, or close friends.

Symbols and smileys

Double colon (::): on this site, used before and after an action to denote it's an action. For example, ::laughs maniacally:: or ::looks bored::. Other people use angle brackets (e.g. <laughs>), square brackets (e.g. [laughs]), etc.
([speech] - [person's name]): If you see this, you're witnessing an interruption by one of my SoulBonds. (Interrupt? We do not! - Karl.) Like that. ^-^; The format ([person's name]: [speech]) also crops up, particularly on the message board.
...: A series of dots, or ellipsis, represents an absence of speech - usually when someone wants to say something, but doesn't. A common feature of manga and Square RPGs, and often accompanied by a sweatdrop in the former.

Standard animé smileys:     ^_^     ^.^     ^^     ^o^     ^-^

Sweatdropping smileys:     ^_^;     ^.^;     ^^;     ^o^;     ^-^;     (the more ;s, the more sweatdrops!)

Blushing smileys:     *^_^*     *^.^*     *^^*     *^o^*     *^-^*

Big smile:     ^___^     (the more _s, the bigger the smile!)

Winks:     ^_~     ^.~     ^~     ^o~     ^-~

Ouchies!:     >_<     >.<     ><     >o<     >-<

More ouchies:     x_x     x.x     xx     xox     x-x

Really narked:     >_<*     >.<*     ><*     >o<*     >-<*     (the * is a vein sprouting... you can have more than one if you're *really* mad...)

Bored/tired/unimpressed:     -_-     -.-     --     -o-     ¬_¬     ¬.¬     ¬o¬     ~_~     ~.~     ~o~     ¬-¬     ~-~

Crying:     ;_;     ;.;     ;o;     ;-;     T_T     T.T     ToT

Bug-eyed:     O_o     O_O     o_o     O.o     O.O     o.o

Starry eyed:     *_*     *.*     *o*     *-*

KO'ed (swirly eyes):     @_@     @.@     @o@     @-@

Whiskered smiley (for catgirls etc.):     =^_^=     =^.^=     =^^=     =^o^=     =^-^=

Greedy/rich/Bill Gates:     $_$     $.$     $o$

My dragonkitty/dragonbunny smiley:     =^-^=~~>

Thumbs up:     b^_^d     b^.^d     b^^d     b^o^d     b^-^d

Victory!:     ^_^V     ^.^V     ^^V     ^o^V     ^-^V

Contributed by people on the Sword and Serpent Tavern message board:

The patented Lying Through The Butt Face^TM (thanks Rakkarr ^_~):     *_*;

Bags under eyes (thanks Mousse!):     =_=     =.=     =o=

Devil (thanks Girl Otaku!):     ^'_'^~>     ^'.'^~>     ^'o'^~>

Tucked up in bed (thanks Angel!):     _,,,_^_^_,,,_

Contributed by others:

Deep bow - hands alongside head, face to the floor (thanks Nozmo!):
m_ _m

~*~ return to child of mana ~*~