Parents and Anime Panel (Otakon 2008)
Sorry for the foul up with the hand outs. Here is the flyer as a Microsoft Word Document, a Rich Text File or a Adobe Reader file. (Don’t worry, they’ve all been virus scanned.) I will also have the Power Point up soon.’
After the break is the text for the Flyer.
- .doc file
- .rtf file
- .pdf file
Fannish Terms (As used in America)
yaoi - male/male relationships, can be graphic. Also called ’slash’.
shōnen-ai - young male/male relationships, usually less graphic.
seme/uke - stereotypical dominant/submissive roles in male/male relationships
yuri - female/female relationships, can be graphic. Also called ‘femme-slash’.
shōjo-ai - young female/female relationships, usually less graphic.
hentai - adult or pornagraphic.
cosplay - dressing up as a character. (costume + play)
crossplay - dressing up as a character of the opposite sex. (Don’t worry, it’s common at conventions.)
lolita - a style of dress for girls based on Victorian children’s clothes. Usually frilly blouses, knee-length skirts, and quite feminine and modest.
loli-con/shota-con - used to describe something that is sexualizing children. Has nothing to do with the clothing style.
How to Tell the Rating on Anime/Manga
Publishers are much better about providing ratings on their manga and anime now and most stores will not sell adult materials to minors. Anime on TV will have the usual TV warnings (violence, language, adult situations) and child friendly anime will be shown during the day while anime for older audiences will be shown later at night (like Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim) Some titles released for theatres may also have an MPAA style rating (P, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17).
If a title is imported from Japan, adult works will sometimes have hentai, ecchi, seinen (’adult’) on the packaging or ‘ero-’ as a prefix. When in doubt, you can almost always find the rating online.
Remember, just because it’s a cartoon, doesn’t mean it’s safe for kids!
Sources for Information on Anime/Manga
http://www.wikipedia.org - Good for basic information and links to official websites.
http://www.google.com - Turn Safe Search on before you search for anything.
http://www.abcb.com/parents/index.htm - Has recommendations for anime of various ratings.
- Official websites will usually be ‘nameofanime.com’ or will be through a publisher’s site.
- Take information from any fan sites your find with a grain of salt. Fans are biased towards their favorite anime and some fans write erotic fan art and fan stories for even the most family friendly series.



