Saturday, September 2, 2017

hentai 変態

NSFW : this article may contain words or images you'd rather not have your boss see.
In the western anime fandom, hentai means drawn porn, while, in Japanese, hentai 変態 means a "pervert," or more literally something that's been "perverted" in the sense of changed.

ほら このシーンだって! そ そんなの見せるな  馬鹿!変態!
Manga: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 僕は友達が少ない (Chapter 7)

In The West

In the west, hentai means pornographic anime, it's a genre, and anime is produced in Japan, so hentai means drawn Japanese porn, including porn manga, but a lot of non-Japanese people draw in Japanese anime style, that must be hentai too, so hentai means just drawn porn that doesn't look like a cartoon.

Except that there's also pornography made in Japan based on the anime culture that's 3D. Well, that's not drawn, but it must be hentai too. And there's also light novels and erotic stories that have no drawings or graphics or anything in them but are somehow related to the anime culture, and that's hentai too.

The only thing that's not hentai is pornography featuring real people. So you could say hentai is only fictional pornography, or that hentai is something an author creates. Anyway, it's called hentai, and it's an art.

Sub-Genres

For reference, some related terms to hentai pornography.

The major genres:

Terms related to hentai:

See also:

In Japanese

In Japanese, hentai 変態 usually means a "pervert." As in a perverted person. It could be someone who's simply thinking perverted stuff, or it could be a criminal, a "molester," chikan 痴漢, a peeping-tom, a stalker, etc. Anyway, hentai doesn't mean in Japanese what it means in English.
  • Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko.
    変態王子と笑わない猫。
    The Pervert Prince and the Cat that Doesn't Laugh.
    • This is the title of an anime that isn't pornographic, to the surprise of many.

More literally, hentai 変態 means "perverted," as in, something that was perverted from normal to "abnormal." For example:
  • hentai seiyoku 変態性欲
    A perverted sexual desire.
    An abnormal sexuality.

Some derived terms include:
  • hentai sei 変態性
    Sexual perversion.
  • hentai koui 変態行為
    Perverted act.

ド変態

The word do-hentai ド変態 means "super pervert," or "super perverted" or "extremely perverted." It's just the word hentai plus the prefix do, "super," which's also found in words like do-S ドS, do-m ドM.

ド変態行為・・・・・・!?
Manga: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensai-Tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen かぐや様は告らせたい~天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦~ (Chapter 13)
  • do-hentai koui......!?
    ド変態行為・・・・・・!?
    A super perverted act!?

Examples

For reference, some examples of how hentai is used in Japanese:

ほら このシーンだって! そ そんなの見せるな  馬鹿!変態!
Manga: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 僕は友達が少ない (Chapter 7)
  • Context: a girl tries to prove she isn't watching porn because it's erotic, but because of the plot, by showing the plot part of it.
  • hora, kono shiin datte!
    ほら このシーンだって!
    Look, [for example, in] this scene!
  • so, sonna no miseru na
    そ そんなの見せるな
    D-don't show [me] something like that!
  • baka! hentai!
    馬鹿!変態
    [You] idiot! [You] pervert!
  • baan バーン
    *when something is presented or revealed* (mimetic word.)
    • In this case, the imagery on the laptop.
  • hyaa ひゃー
    *shriek or scream*
ち・・・近づくな 変態・・・
Manga: Hayate no Gotoku! (Chapter 2)
  • chi... chika-dzukuna, hentai...
    ち・・・近づくな 変態・・・
    [Don't] get closer, [you] pervert...

Manga Sen'yuu - hentai desuka? Phrase used to ask if someone is a pervert in Japanese

Kanji

The word hentai is written with two kanji:
  • hen
    Change.
  • tai
    Condition. State. Attitude.

So a "changed condition," as in an altered condition, a weird condition, etc.

Some phrases that share these kanji:
  • hen desu 変です
    "[It] is changed."
    • Something is strange, weird.
  • henka 変化
    Change.
  • henshin 変身
    Metamorphosis.
    "Change of body." Transformation.
  • taido 態度
    Attitude.
  • joutai 状態
    Situation.
    Condition. (e.g. injured, physical condition.)

"Transformation"

The word hentai 変体 mean s"transformation" in Japanese. In case you didn't notice, this is a homonym, it's read the same but spelled differently:

  • hentai 変態
    Perversion.
    • tai
      Condition. State. Attitude.
  • hentai 変体
    Transformation.

So while one hentai is about changing one's state, the other is about physically change one's body.

Franky from manga One Piece saying hentai 変体 "transformation" in Japanese

One example of shape or form hentai 変体 is the obsolete hentaigana 変体仮名. Which had the kana of hiragana altered in shape, hence hentai 変体, but didn't pervert their behavior anyhow, so not hentai 変態.

Equivalent of Hentai in Japanese

So now we know people don't call "anime porn" hentai in Japanese, so what do they call "anime porn" instead? What could possibly be the word for "anime porn" in Japanese?! If not hentai... then what?! What could it be?!?!?!?!?
  • ero エロ
    Erotic. Pornographic.
  • anime アニメ
    Anime.
  • ero anime エロアニメ
    Porn anime.

Who could have guessed... it's just the words "anime" and "porn" together.

By the way, the following also work:
  • adaruto アダルト
    Adult.
  • adaruto anime アダルトアニメ
    Adult anime.
  • juu hachi kin 18禁
    Forbidden for under 18.
    18 prohibited. (literally)
  • juu hachi kin anime 18禁アニメ
    Anime forbidden for under 18.

Also, ironically, the word ecchi エッチ in Japanese which comes from the pronunciation of letter H in English that was taken from the first letter of the word hentai in Japanese can be used to say "erotic anime:" ecchi na anime エッチなアニメ. Even though the word hentai itself can't be used that way.

Save for eighteen-kin 18禁, the words adaruto, ero and ecchi all come from English: Adult, Erotic, and H. All of them written in katakana, they don't have kanji. Why is that? What's up with this collection of Japanengrish?! Where are the "real" "true" "genuine" Japanese words for porn?
  • seijin 成人
    Adult.
  • mukeru 向ける
    To face towards.
  • seijin-muke 成人向け
    Towards adults.
  • seijin-muke anime 成人向けアニメ
    Anime for adults.

Though that word exists, the foreign words are just more popular. Maybe because katakana looks cooler than kanji on DVD and Blu-ray covers, or maybe because English sounds cooler than Japanese to Japanese people. I wouldn't know, that's just how it is.

Usage

Sometimes a synonym for eighteen-kin 18禁 is used instead, R-18, meaning, as one would expect, "rated 18." A word R-15 also exists for "rated 15." On top of that, there exists some perverted shoujo manga called R-18! and an equally perverted harem novel and anime called R-15, both having their titles based on the terms above.

Doujinshi vs. Hentai

It should be noted that doujinshi 同人誌 are publications by fans, and are often manga, and also often hentai, which might make some people think doujinshi, hentai and porn manga terms have some sort of relationship... which they actually don't.

A doujinshi isn't necessarily a manga and it's not necessarily pornographic either. So the word doujinshi is definitely not how you'd say "hentai manga" or "porn manga" in Japanese.

To say "porn manga" in Japanese you'd just do the exact same thing we did with "porn anime," just that this time the noun is manga 漫画 not anime アニメ.
  • ero manga エロ漫画
    adaruto manga アダルト漫画
    ecchi na manga エッチな漫画
    jyuu hachi kin manga 18禁漫画
    seijin-muke manga 成人向け漫画
    Porn manga.
Usage:

And since the word doujinshi doesn't mean porn by itself...
  • ero doujinshi エロ同人誌
    adaruto doujinshi アダルト同人誌
    ecchi na doujinshi エッチな同人誌
    jyuu hachi kin doujinshi 18禁同人誌
    seijin-muke doujinshi 成人向け同人誌
    Porn doujinshi.

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