Shift_JIS art

ASCII art (アスキーアート, Asukī Āto), or AA, is text-based visual art that utilizes the Shift JIS character set from Japanese Windows computers. Some non-Japanese users may call it Shift_JIS art or SJIS art in order to differentiate it from the various forms of ASCII art.

They shouldn't be confused with one-line emoticons called Kaomoji, but it is possible to give Kaomoji bodies and make them into ASCII art.

Requirements

CSS/HTML tags

For the most part, non-Japanese websites don't render Shift_JIS art correctly, so you will either have to mess with CSS files, the <style> tag, or the style="" attribute, and use something that looks like:

font-size: 16px; 
line-height: 18px; 
font-family: 'MS PGothic', 'ＭＳ Ｐゴシック', Mona, 'MS PGothic AA', IPAMonaPGothic, 'IPA モナー Pゴシック', sans-serif;

If you have the power to upload font files to your website, you could upload the one of the AAHub Fonts as a fallback, add the CSS they provide, then add the font name to “font-family” in the above CSS code.

Compatible fonts

MS PGothic / Mona Font

It should be warned that if you do not have the correct fonts installed on your system, the art will continue to look broken unless you have one of these fonts installed. So, here's a list of fonts that should work:

MS PGothic / MS Gothic Proportional (v5.10) - The original font as it was the default font for Japanese text back then. However, it's a proprietary font that Monotype Imaging owns.
モナーフォント / Mona Font (v2.90, 2003-09-09) - The best known public domain font, based on Shinonome Font. It was made for non-Windows users,¹⁾²⁾ but spread among English users.
~~IPAモナーフォント~~ / IPA Mona Font (v1.0.8, 2008-04-27) - Another alternate font, but forked from “IPA Font” (IPAフォント).³⁾ It has conflicting licenses, but the original IPA Font license prevails.⁴⁾

To reiterate, the original font is “MS PGothic” but if I recall correctly, “MS PGothic” wasn't available by default on non-Japanese Windows computers, which is why World2ch pushed “Mona” font.⁵⁾ Nowadays, I think the “MS PGothic” font is a default on newer Windows compoters, so Windows users don't have to install alternate fonts, but I could be wrong and “MS PGothic” could've changed since then.

AAHub Fonts

The AAHub, maintained by the "AAHub Developer" (aahub開発者, AAHub Kaihatsu-sha), provides a completely new set of AA-compatible fonts and tools. One major difference with their fonts is that most of them don't break when you zoom in too much, unlike the old fonts. It isn't clear if these fonts are curated by a single person or multiple people under a single name.

Font name	File size			Additional notes
Font name	tff	woff	woff2	Does it look pixelated?	Supports block elements?	Supports EFIGS diacritics?
aahub	2.6MB	1.6MB	1.3MB	X	O	X
aahub_light	94.9KB	57.9KB	43.9KB	X	O	X
aahub_light4	315KB	213KB	168.1KB	X	O	X
ipamona	5.9MB	4.1MB	3MB	X	X	O
monapo	2.6MB	1.6MB	1.3MB	X	O	X
Saitamaar	2.6MB	590.9KB	398.1KB	O	O	O
saitamaar_light	299KB	93.3KB	73.1KB	O	O	O
RobotoJAA	4.6MB	2.8MB	398.1KB	X	O	O
textar	3.1MB	2MB	1.6MB	X	O	!
textar-min	1.7MB	928.1KB	758.7KB	X	O	!
ume-pgc4	4MB	1.9MB	1.3MB	X	X	!
monaya	1.9MB	1.2MB	1015KB	X	O	X
giko2	1.8MB	523.5KB	352KB	O	X	O

Other Fonts

To be collected and written.

Verification test

※ In the right environment, nothing should be shifted and the columns should line up:
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　　| 　 　 .|＼|／　|　　　　　｜　　 .｜
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　　| ∧∧.|/⌒ヽ、| ∧＿∧ .| ∧∧ |
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　|(,,ﾟДﾟ)||,,ﾟ Θﾟ）|（； ´Д｀）|(=ﾟωﾟ)|

※ It's probably fine if their legs don't line up, just focus on the columns for this one:
|　　　 ∧ ∧ 　 　 | 　　 　 ∧∧ 　 　 | 　　 ∧___∧　　　│　　　∧＿∧　　　 |
|　　　 (*ﾟーﾟ)　　　|　　　　(,,ﾟДﾟ)　　　|　　 （ ´∀｀ ）　 　│　　 （・∀・ ,,）　　 │
|　　 　 U　 |　　　│　　 　(i　　i).　 　 |　　 （　　 　 ） 　 　| 　　 （　　　　）　　 │
| 　　～|　　|　　　│　　 ～|　　|　　　 | 　　 i　　 　 i 　 　 |　　　 |　｜ ｜ 　　 .|
|　　　　Ｕ Ｕ　　　│　　　　し`Ｊ 　 　│　　（,__,ﾊ,__,） 　 　| 　　 （＿（_＿） 　　 |

Programs

Instead of opening Notepad and setting the font to Mona Font, you can use programs to make new text art or edit existing text art. I personally use OrinrinEditor, but many other programs exist:

Ascii Art Editor / AAE (v2.61, 2002-08-24) - An old editor from the Windows ME era. It's been surpassed by (´д｀)Edit, but some crafters still prefer their auto-tracer. There are many known bugs⁶⁾ but ignoring this, you need Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime to run it. It also has a guide.
Shitarabian / したらびあん (vβ５_050326, 2005-04-03) - Developed in C++. An old editor from the Windows XP era, not intended for crafting. It has a manual and a separate auto-tracer tool.
(´д｀)Edit (v3.015.4.0, 2009-05-15) - Developed in Delphi 6. The popular all-in-one program, praised for its tabs, presets, and own tracing tool.
OrinrinEditor (v0.341, 2015-01-27) - Developed in C and C++ by “Orinrin ◆kozSKULDqI”. It's the most popular editor that aims to eliminate incompatibilities with older software. The developer is still alive under the name, “SikigamiHNQ”, despite the lack of recent updates.
- OrinrinViewer (r11, 2013-06-17) - A derivative program used to view MLT files in a tree format.
- OrinrinCollector (v1.2, 2012-05-17) - A derivative program used to add to MLT files.

External links

AA Saloon, AA Story, Mona, Nida, Kaomojis on 2channel - The five boards seen under 2channel's AA category. The first board was actually “Kaomojis”, then “Mona”, and then the rest.
- SJIS Room on 2channel - The English AA board of the 2ch Embassy, but nobody knows what it's for, so a lot of video links get spammed here due to how the board is set up.
ASCII on 4-ch - The oldest English AA board that's still alive today.
ASCII Art on Niconico Encyclopedia
ASCII Art on 2channel's Wiki

ascii

¹⁾

"2ちゃんねる用フォント「モナー」" (February 10, 2001). 2channel /unix/.

²⁾

"モナーフォント 2" (January 26, 2003). 2channel /unix/.

³⁾

“IPA” is short for “Information-Technology Promotion Agency” (情報処理推進機構, Jōhōshori Suishin Kikō).

⁴⁾

"Commons:An essay on the copyright status of IPAMonaPGothic, and its suitability for use in open source projects and on Wikimedia Commons". Wikimedia Commons.

⁵⁾

"AA&FLASH;". World2ch /mona/.

⁶⁾

Ascii Art Editor can't handle text art larger than 60KB, data can be lost once it exceeds a certain size, and you may find “stealthy line breaks” that aren't visible within the editor.

Nameless Rumia's Wiki

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