What is "chibi"

n. 1 (context countable anime manga English) A child-like character with exaggerated features, particularly in anime. 2 (context uncountable anime manga English) A style of cartooning in which the characters are drawn to be very small and cute.

is a Japanese slang word meaning "short person" or "small person" - it originally derived from "Chitchanabito" or "Chitchana no Hito"; although is used at times for children. The word has gained currency among fans of manga and anime. It means someone or some animal that is smaller in stature compared to the majority. It can be translated as "little", but is not used the same way as chiisana [小さな] (tiny, small, little in Japanese) but rather cute. A prototypical example of the former usage in the original Japanese which brought the term to the attention of Western fans is Chibiusa, a pet name for the diminutive daughter of Sailor Moon formed from Chibi Usagi ("Little Rabbit").

In English-speaking anime and manga fandom ( otaku), the term chibi has mostly been conflated with the " super deformed" style of drawing characters with oversized heads or it can be used to describe child versions of characters.

Chibi style is usually used in depicting scenes which are cute and/or humorous, and it is extremely rare for it to be used for an entire anime series. It is often used at OVAs, ONAs and manga, such as the Chibi Maruko-chan series.

Chibi may refer to:

• Chibi City, Hubei, China; also contains Chibi Town
  • Battle of Red Cliffs (winter of 208/9 AD), also known as the Battle of Chibi
  • Red Cliff (film), a 2009 movie about the Battle of Chibi
• Chibi (musician), the lead singer of the band The Birthday Massacre
• Chibi (term), a Japanese word for diminutive person
• Chibi Vampire, a Japanese manga series that ran in the shōnen magazine Monthly Dragon Age from October 2003 issue until February 2008
• Chibi Maruko-chan, a Japanese manga series and TV show about the everyday life of Momoko Sakura, a little girl and her family living in suburban Japan.
• Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol (2007), known in Japan as Sakasete! Chibi-Robo! (咲かせて!ちびロボ!?, lit. "Make It Bloom! Little-Robo!"), is a video game for the Nintendo DS and the sequel of the original Chibi-Robo! for the Nintendo GameCube
• Chibi-tachi, a Doya Town character in the Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー Ashita no Jō?) boxing manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and associated anime series and movie
• " Chibi-Usa's Adventure, The Dreaded Vampire Castle" ("Chibi Usa no Bouken! Kyoufu, Kyuuketsuki no Yakata", airdate April 8, 1995), Special Episode #3 of List of the Sailor Moon Super S episodes
• Chibi, or super deformed, a style of anime caricature
• ChiBi, or Cherry Belle, the Indonesian Girl group