There are two types - Anime (cartoons) and Manga (comics), both with their merits and flaws. Ignore Manga Video's usage of the name - they made a mistake when doing that, although Manga Books is appropriate. Anime and Manga are as diverse as each other - science fiction, drama, fantasy, modern life, etc, like films and books and they also resemble this; some anime inspire manga, while some manga inspire anime, like films give rise to books (The Abyss) and books give rise to films (Jurassic Park). There are also anime or manga versions of popular video games, but these are much better than the film and book equivalents (Street Fighter the movie compared to Street Fighter the animated movie.... 'nuff said.)

The same as books and films, anime and manga are similarly related; manga is normally much more complex than it's anime counterparts, where as the anime is more easily accessible and more visually appealing (Akira.... you try reading all the manga volumes!)

For further information, Helen McCarthy's book is excellent if you want to find out more. Her first book covers Anime in general and her second gives a list of almost every anime made from 1985 onwards.

There are some terms you may encounter - here's a brief list of the most common ones...

1.	Anime	Japanese cartoons in general.
2.	Bishounen	'beautiful boy'. This is artwork which has anhydrogenus male characters (blokes who look a bit like women). CLAMP is the main studio producing this type of work.
3.	Bishoujo	'beautiful girl'.
4.	Chibi - Child's body	the head is proportionally larger than the body, just like a baby's or small child's. (Often abbreviated to CB)
5.	Chan	suffix added to a word meaning 'darling' or 'little one'.
6.	Ecchi	mildly perverted.. like a 'Carry On' film. Or for you American viewers, mildly sexually based, based more on smut rather than things of an actual full sexual nature.
7.	Hentai	erotic, or sexual in nature. A stronger version of ecchi and is what has given anime and manga a bad name in general over here. (Urotsukidoji, Adventure Kid, etc.)
8.	Kawaii	cute in general. Includes Super deformed or other related themes.
9.	Manga	literally 'irresponsible pictures' (in the kanji writing that is). Comic books.
10.	Mecha	any powered armour suit, robot, or fighting vehicle. Can be used to describe the style of the anime/manga, or the actual machines themselves.
11.	OAV	Original Animation Video. Basically not a TV series of the anime, or a big screen movie. Think of it as a TV movie. This is what is normally found on videos here.
12.	OST	Original SoundTrack. Sound track for the anime.
13.	Otaku	Obsessive fan of anything; in this context, a Japanese derogatory term for anime fanatics. Some people in the West use it without any attached meaning though.
14.	Shojo	Japanese for girl: usually used to describe a style of manga. Shojo manga are drawn in a flowery, pretty, romantic style, and concentrated on romantic/emotional subjects. (ie, if you're anything like me, make sure there's a bucket nearby to vomit in...)
15.	Shonen	Japanese for boy. Normally action/adventure based.
16.	Super Deformed	another word for Chibi. Usually abbreviated to SD.
17.	Yakuza	the Japanese mafia.