Anime Character Gao Notation
Anime enjoys worldwide popularity and plays an important role in entertainment. However, certain characteristics of anime are thought to impede appreciation by a broader audience. Prominent among the shortcomings is the homogeneity of facial features in anime characters. Often, viewers report they can't adequately differentiate characters. This "face-blindness" interferes with storyline comprehension and negatively influences consumer satisfaction. Aiming to solve this problem, Anime Character gao Notation (ACGN),[1] a notation, which is fast, intuitive, and platform-agnostic, that describes the appearances of anime characters, is proposed.
Format[edit | edit source]
([moniker]|[full name]),[hair color],[hair style],[eye color],[gender(M|F|X)]opt,[role]opt
To describe a character C, the full syntax takes 7 arguments, where C is first identified with a unique identifier, with anthropometric information plus a role describing further who C is as related to others.
Usage of the system requires knowledge of CSV (very complex!), familiarity with Japanese transcription, and ability to tell the hexadecimal (RGB) value of a color on sight.
Syntax[edit | edit source]
ACGN name syntax[edit | edit source]
Name is written in English transcription (Romaji). To ensure compatibility with DOS, indicate long vowels with doubled letters instead of macrons.
ACGN color syntax[edit | edit source]
Color is described as #[hex value], where hex value is a three- or six-digit hexadecimal number of form RGB or RRGGBB. Traditionally, the color value is found by taking a screenshot of the character in question standing in natural light from above, then using the color picker in MS Paint to determine the hex value. In modern times, this process has been superseded by a poorly-understood multivariate biophysicochemical process called "look with your eyes and make a guess".
More stuff in another sub-bullet point, just to piss readers off, like every manual seems to like to do[edit | edit source]
Important: The header and contents must be separated by a newline. Do not omit the newline or the file would not be read correctly!
Binary protocol[edit | edit source]
The .acgn file (may also be .pr0n where there is copious fanservice) is a file format that describes the appearance of characters in a given anime with Anime Character Gao Notation.
| Offset | Data type | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Magic | 37 3D 78 00, ASCII for "7=x", representation of Japanese アニメ.
|
| 4 | Nul-terminated string | The name of the anime. Max length 120 to accommodate the anime with the longest name, The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants. |
| 124 | Integer | The season number. This value is 0-based so that single-season anime would be labeled 0, and programmers wouldn't get angry. |
| 128 | ACGN | One or more lines of Anime Character Gao Notation. |
Example[edit | edit source]
7=x.Date A Live.................................................................................................0... "Tohkachan",#315,#315 Yoshino,#4DF,#4DF Kurumi,#000,HETEROCHROMATIC Miku Izayoi,#DAF,#DAF Origami,#FFF,#88F Nia Honjo,#EEE,#8AF Mukuro Hoshimiya,#FEB,#FEB
The . characters indicate NUL bytes.
HETEROCHROMATIC is a pre-defined macro to describe characters with differently-colored irises. There are many more such macros but they are all undocumented.
Don't you love how a page in the anime category only rambles on about obscure programmer humor?