VN Jargon: A few words (questions and discussion welcome)
Entry posted by Clephas
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VN jargon can be one of the most confusing things on the planet for newbies, when they first start playing VNs. I say this as a straight-out statement because jargon-related questions are some of the most common ones I get from newbies, and jargon-related misunderstandings are pretty common. However, I'm not making this post to explain each piece of VN jargon's definition and the like, but rather to poke a few holes in the illusion of the 'stability' of the VN lingua franca that people like me tend to let people believe in for the sake of convenience.
First, the idea of the VN term that everybody assumes is used widely in Japan but really isn't. In VN otakudom, this is pretty common. First, I'll give you the examples I'm aware of off-hand.
1. Visual Novel- yes, this is a term that was coined by the Japanese, but it only ever took off here (there are occasions where it is used in Japan, but not in quite the same way we do). However, it has become the umbrella term for an entire medium over here, an umbrella term the Japanese don't use that way primarily because they lump all 'games' in together as the same medium. I see visual novels as a storytelling medium, but the Japanese see them as games, despite the lack of any real gameplay. This is not a matter of absolute definitions but rather a mindset, so I'm not going to insist my personal interpretation of the word is absolute here. The closest thing Japan comes to umbrella terms for VNs is 'bishoujo geimu', 'otomege', and 'gyaruge' (the first referring to male-oriented VNs with beautiful females, the second referring to female-oriented VNs of a certain type, and the third being a term that tends to change wildly depending on who is using it).
2. Charage- yes, you've heard me use this word a few times in the past... and indeed it did get used sometimes by Japanese makers or players to describe VNs of the type I use it to describe. However, if you want me to be straight about it... a few others and myself basically took the term, used it like crazy, and made it a piece of the jargon for the sake of our own convenience. It caught on here but it never caught on in Japan. Occasionally I still see someone use it in a Japanese board, but it is primarily a term used and defined by western players.
3. Chuunige- Actually, I'm pretty sure this was invented by the Fuwanovel community, lol. I use it because it is so convenient to describe the genre, but before it came around there was no jargon for the type of VN this has come to define. I actually laughed hysterically the first time I saw the term 'chuunige' pop up in a Japanese forum used casually to describe Dies Irae, and when I saw the easter egg in Semiramis no Tenbin where the writer said he'd been asked to try making a 'chuunige' I rofled hard. However, I'm about 90% sure we, the Western vn-players coined the term, even if it went over there at some point.
Terms that mean pretty much the same thing on both sides of the water do exist.
1. Nakige- for better or worse, this is probably one of the most well-defined VN genres. That is probably because Key did such a good job of forming the foundations for it, and the term caught on really well over there.
2. Utsuge- similar to above, this is a term that is used on both sides of the water, more or less in the same manner.
3. Otomege
Now that I've ranted on all that... I should probably give a few examples outside of VNs where this has happened... or at least one. Manga and anime are terms we use to describe Japanese comics and animation. However, in the eyes of the Japanese, both are umbrella terms for all comics and animation. Of course, there are terms that have gone over there that have also gone through mutations of their own (they are known as pseudo-anglicanisms), so don't be surprised if you come across katakana words whose meaning doesn't even resemble what they sound like (the katakana word for an apartment, for instance). While there are a lot of common points of understanding on both sides of the water, there are also a lot of points in our jargon that have warped and changed to fit our understanding or have been adopted here even though they got tossed to the side over there. Anyway, for those whose experience with the community has been confusing, Western VN jargon is, for better or worse, only just escaping its formative stages, so be patient with us lazy (and somewhat senile) old-timers. Jargon exists for everyone's convenience but defining jargon is a pain in the butt, as meanings change over time little by little.
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