2channel Shift_JIS art ("AA").

An example of American Shift_JIS art.

Shift_JIS art is artwork created from characters within the Shift_JIS character set, a superset of ASCII intended for Japanese usage. Naturally there are many similarities between Shift_JIS artwork and ASCII art. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Shift_JIS (SJIS) is a character encoding for the Japanese language developed by a Japanese company called ASCII and adopted by, amongst others, Microsoft. ... Image:ASCII fullsvg There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ... ASCII art, an artistic medium relying primarily on computers for presentation, consists of pictures pieced together from characters (preferably from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII). ...

Shift_JIS has become very popular on web-based bulletin boards, notably 2channel, and has even made its way into mainstream media and commercial advertising in Japan. A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A forum discussion heavy in emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ... 2channel , 2ch for short) is a Japanese Internet forum, thought to be the largest in the world. ...

Within the Japanese community, Shift_JIS art is sometimes abbreviated as SJIS art, but is most commonly referred to as "AA" meaning ASCII art, although it rarely restricts itself to the 95 printable characters within the ASCII standard.

As with ANSI art, SJIS art is sometimes used for animation. However, due to technical advances, SJIS art also appears in the form of Macromedia Flash files and animated GIFs. A screenshot of TheDraw editing an ANSI art picture of a shuttle; the purple text blinks ANSI art is a computer artform that was widely used at one time on BBSes. ... // == Macromedia Flash == ==]] Using Macromedia Flash 8 (bundled in Studio 8) in Windows XP. Maintainer: Adobe Systems (formerly Macromedia) Latest release: 8 / September 30th, 2005 OS: Windows (no native Windows XP Professional x64 Edition support), Mac OS X, Linux (i386 only, via wine [1]) Use: Multimedia Content Creator License: Proprietary Website... An example of a GIF image. ...

Unlike Western ASCII art, which is generally designed to be viewed with a monospace font, Shift_JIS art is designed around the proportional-width MS PGothic font supplied with Microsoft Windows, which is the default font for web sites in Japanese versions of Windows. This dependency has led to the development of the free Mona Font, each character of which is the same width as its counterpart in MS PGothic, for the use of users of other operating systems such as Linux and non-Japanese-capable versions of Windows. For the origin and evolution of fonts, see History of western typography. ... Gothic Gothic typeface (ゴシック体, goshikku-tai) is the second most commonly used style of printed Japanese characters, after Mincho. ... Windows redirects here. ... Mona Font is a Japanese proportional font for X Window System. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ...

Shift_JIS art in Japanese media

The Japanese movie and television show, Densha Otoko (電車男, Densha Otoko^?), frequently included Shift_JIS art both during screen transitions and within the story itself. One of the recurring characters during the series was a Shift_JIS artist who would often draw full-screen Shift_JIS works of art as a way of expressing his support and encouraging the lead character. Densha Otoko translated as Train Man) is a Japanese movie, television series, manga, novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a twenty-three year old otaku, who intervened when a drunk man was harassing several women on a train, and who himself ultimately begins dating... Densha Otoko translated as Train Man) is a Japanese movie, television series, manga, novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a twenty-three year old otaku, who intervened when a drunk man was harassing several women on a train, and who himself ultimately begins dating...

See also

• ASCII art
• ANSI art
• East Asian emoticons
• Giko Cat
• Mona (ASCII art)
• >>1-san
• Mona Font
• Soy Sauce Warrior Kikkoman

ASCII art, an artistic medium relying primarily on computers for presentation, consists of pictures pieced together from characters (preferably from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII). ... A screenshot of TheDraw editing an ANSI art picture of a shuttle; the purple text blinks ANSI art is a computer artform that was widely used at one time on BBSes. ... An emoticon (pronounced (IPA) ) is a small piece of specialized ASCII art (usually two to five characters, always on a single line) used in text messages as informal markup to indicate emotions and attitudes that would be conveyed by body language in face-to-face communications. ... Giko Cat or Giko neko (ギコ猫) is a character-based Japanese fictional cat. ... Mona saying Omae mo nā Monā (モナー) is the most well-known Shift JIS art character. ... >>1-san (>>1さん) is a common Shift_JIS art character on the popular Japanese BBS 2ch, usually standing in for the user who started a given thread. ... Mona Font is a Japanese proportional font for X Window System. ... Soy Sauce Warrior Kikkoman in his famous pose The Soy Sauce Warrior Kikkoman (醤油戦士キッコーマン Shō-yu Senshi Kikkōman) — or just Kikkoman (キッコーマン Kikkōman) as most people know him — is a superhero featured in a famous parody flash movie based on the Kikkoman Japanese soy sauce brand. ...

Further reading

• Tarou, Maruheso, ed. 2ちゃんねる AA大辞典 ("Ni-channeru AA Dai-Jiten" (romanized), meaning "2channel AA BIG Dictionary".)

ISBN 4-7973-2275-6.

Tokyo, Japan: Softbank Publishing, 2003.

• 2-ten Project, ed. 2典 ～2ちゃんねる辞典～ ("Ni-channeru AA Jiten" (romanized), meaning "2channel AA Dictionary".)

ISBN 4-8354-4033-1.

Virtual Cluster / Book-ing, 2002.

External links

• 2ch.net AA Saloon (Japanese)
• 4-ch.net ASCII Art board
• AA Daijiten (Japanese)
• Jinbutsu Daijiten (Japanese)