nawaami ナワアミ

In manga, nawaami ナワアミ, "rope net," is the term the ropes drawn in the background of panels.

They're also called kake-nawa カケナワ, "thrown rope," guriguri グリグリ, and hebinawa ヘビナワ, "snake rope." Some of its names come from the fact that they're drawn using the same technique as kakeami カケアミ.

Manga: Black Jack, ブラック・ジャック (Chapter 1, 報復)

• Examples
• References

kakeami カケアミ

In manga, kakeami カケアミ is a cross-hatching pattern used to shade objects and backgrounds using lines that form "webs," "nets," ami 網, which are "thrown over" each other, kake 掛け.

For example, in the panel below, the top part of the background features a single kakeami pattern, while the boat is shaded using a gradation of increasing layers of kakeami.

Manga: AQUA (Chapter 5, 希望の丘)

• Design
  
  • カケグラ
  • ナワアミ
• References

odoro おどろ

In manga, odoro おどろ are lines drawn on the background of panels that look like an ominous dark smoke, or shadow-tentacles, coming out from the edges of the panel into whatever bizarre thing is in the panel, or into a character who feels all weirded out.

They're also called odoro-sen おどろ線, "odoro lines."

Manga: Mob Psycho 100, Mobu Saiko Hyaku モブサイコ１００ (Chapter 55, 知らない)

• Usage
• Examples
• References

Focus Lines

In manga and anime, "focus lines," shuuchuu-sen 集中線, are lines used to give focus or emphasis to an element. They're drawn coming from the corners and edges of a manga panel or screen, and go toward the focused element, which is usually at the center.

Manga: School Rumble, スクールランブル (Chapter 61, A Star is Born)

• Light Streaks
• Usage
  
  • Directionality
  • Importance
    
    • Emergence
    • Relevancy
  • Impact
    
    • Action
    • Prominence
    • Outburst
  • Muster
    
    • Concentration
• References

Shaking Lines

In manga and anime, lines are drawn surrounding an object when it's supposed to be wobbling, trembling, or shaking, or, alternatively, lines drawn around a character when they're trembling or shaking because they're afraid, startled, shocked or excited.

In Japanese, they're called yure-sen 揺れ線, "wavering lines," or furue-sen 震え線, "trembling lines."

Anime: Kimetsu no Yaiba 鬼滅の刃 (Episode 11)

• Usage
• Styles
  
  • Smooth Curves
  • Stiff Straight Lines
  • Segmented Lines
  • Shaky Lines
  • Spiky Lines

Motion Lines

In manga and anime, "motion lines," dousen 動線, are lines used to show the motion of an object. They're particularly used in manga to make otherwise static panels appear dynamic.

Manga: Ashita no Joe あしたのジョー (Volume 1, Page 89)

• Trajectory Lines
  
  • Turning Lines
  • Walking Smoke
• Speed Lines
  
  • Explosion Lines
  • Camera Lines
  • Stirring Lines
• Wobbling Lines
  
  • Shaking Lines
  • Stiff Lines

taresen たれ線

In manga and anime, taresen タレ線, "dripping lines," or tate-sen 縦線, "vertical lines," refers to parallel vertical lines drawn on the background or on a character's face when the character feels down, feels sad, feels disgusted, among other negative feelings.

It's also spelled taresen 垂れ線, because it "drips," tareru 垂れる.

Manga: Yotsuba to! よつばと！ (Chapter 8, よつばとおえかき)

• zuun
  ずーん
  (sound effect used when a character suddenly feels down.)

In anime, these are often rendered blue, but blue lines can also be used in a number of other ways. See the article on Blue Lines for a complete list of meanings.

• Examples

Nosebleed

In manga and anime, when a character has a "nosebleed," hanadi 鼻血, it's often because they're thinking something perverted, lewd, indecent, sexy, and so on.

Character: Nike ニケ
Anime: Mahoujin Guruguru 魔法陣グルグル (2017) (Episode 6)

• In Japanese
• Why Characters Have Nosebleeds
• Examples
• Explosive Nosebleed

seiteki na imi de 性的な意味で

In Japanese, seiteki na imi de 性的な意味で, literally "with the sexual meaning," or "in the sexual sense," is a handy phrase used to clarify a possibly ambiguous statement, making sure a double entendre is understood with its indecent meaning, as opposed to its innocent meaning.

Manga: Mahou Shoujo Ore 魔法少女 俺 (Chapter 4, 魔法少女☆増えた)

• Usage
  
  • 〇〇的な意味で
• 意味深
• References

Peko-jita ペコ舌

In Japanese, Peko-jita ペコ舌, literally the "tongue," shita 舌, of Peko, refers to drawing characters with a tongue sticking out at the corner, and sometimes with eyelashes, resembling or parodying the iconic candy character Peko-chan ペコちゃん.

The word shita した becomes jita じた as a suffix due to rendaku 連濁.

Character: Nyaruko ニャル子
Anime: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 這いよれ！ニャル子さん (Episode 7)

• ペコちゃん
• Examples
• References

Snot Bubble

In manga and anime, a character is drawn with a snot bubble coming out of their nose when they're sleeping, taking a nap, or just dozing off, sleepy.

This is called hana-chouchin 鼻提灯 in Japanese: hana 鼻 means "nose," and chouchin 提灯 means "paper lantern."

Character: Miyauchi Kazuho 宮内一穂,
Anime: Non Non Biyori のんのんびより (Episode 2)

• Examples

chouchin 提灯

In Japanese, chouchin 提灯 means "paper lantern," because it's a lantern made out of paper, also known as "Chinese lantern," because often you'll see it as the iconic red one.

Anime: Shokugeki no Sōma: San no Sara 食戟のソーマ 餐ノ皿 (Episode 4)

• Meaning

Soul Coming Out of Mouth

In manga and anime, sometimes a character's soul comes out of their mouth, as if they had just died and were about to go to heaven. This expression is used when a character figuratively dies of something, like dies of shame, or dies of shock, or dies of exhaustion, dies inside, and so on.

• tamashii ga kuchi kara deru
  魂が口から出る
  [Someone's] soul leaves of [their] mouth.
• kuchi kara tamashii ga nukeru
  口から魂が抜ける
  From [someone's] mouth [their] soul comes out. (in the sense of being cut loose, separated, extracted.)

Character: Dino ディーノ
Anime: Blend S, ブレンド・S (Episode 5)

• Examples

Hair Strands Sticking Out

In manga and anime, when a character's hair is suddenly drawn disheveled, with strands sticking out of their hair, it generally means the character is overwhelmed, at loss, stupefied, or not knowing how to deal with an incredible situation.

Not to be confused with ahoge アホ毛, which is when the hair strand sticking out is part of the design of the character.

Character: Akaza Akari 赤座あかり
Anime: Yuru Yuri ゆるゆり (Episode 1)

• Examples

Head Smoke

In manga and anime, sometimes smoke is drawn coming out of a character's head or ears when they're thinking too hard, when they're embarrassed, or when they're angry.

Left: Kumai Natsu クマ井ナツ
Right: Amayadori Machi 雨宿まち
Anime: Kuma Miko くまみこ (Episode 1)

• Examples