
Anime has spawned one of the largest sub cultures on the net as it stands today, it has a massive fan base and although there are chat rooms for everything nowadays, anime has more than

it's fair share. Along with this massive influx in chatting, web building, emailing etc etc, the anime culture also has it's own unique ascii emoticons used amongst it's fans.

Unlike western ascii smileys where the emphasis is often in the mouth, anime ascii smileys have their emphasis in the eyes of the emoticon. left and right brackets frame the face and the smileys are read as they are seen, from top to bottom. Users often add arms and / or hands by using < and > either side of the emote like so
<(o_O)>
| (^_^) or (^-^) |
smile. |
| (`_^) or (^_~) |
wink. |
| (>_<) |
in pain. |
| (<_>) |
sad. |
| (^o^) |
singing. |
| \(^o^)/ |
very excited (rasing hands). |
| (-_-) or (~_~) or (=_=) |
annoyance, sleeping. |
| (-.-)zzZ |
sleeping. |
| (¬_¬) |
eyeing something or someone, rolling one's eyes. |
| (<_<) or (>_>) or (c_c) |
skepticism, looking around suspiciously. |
| (;_;) or (T_T) |
crying. |
| (@_@) |
dazed. |
| (o_O) |
confused, surprise, disbelief. |
| (O_O) |
shocked. |
| (0_<) |
flinch, nervous wink. |
| (._.) |
intimidated, sad, ashamed. |
| ($_$) |
chaching! |
| (x_x) or (+_+) |
dead, knocked out or giving up. |
| (n_n) |
pleased. |
| (u_u) |
annoyance, sarcasm, sometimes disappointment. |
| (9_9) or (+_+) |
rolleyes. |
| (e_e) |
up to mischief. |
| (o_e) |
twitching eye. |
| (*_*) |
starstruck. |
| ;o; or ;O; |
crying loudly. |
| (I_I) |
"What?", mellow. |