Hentai: Difference between revisions

[[File:The kanji for Hentai.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|The word ''hentai'' written in [[kanji]]]]

 

 

''Hentai'' is defined differently in English. The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford Dictionary Online]]'' defines it as "a subgenre of the Japanese genres of manga and anime, characterized by overtly sexualized characters and sexually explicit images and plots."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/hentai |title=hentai |encyclopedia=[[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford Dictionary Online]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806121703/http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/hentai |archive-date=6 August 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The origin of the word in English is unknown, but [[AnimeNation]]'s John Oppliger points to the early 1990s, when a ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' erotic ''[[doujinshi]]'' (self-published work) titled ''H-Bomb'' was released, and when many websites sold access to images culled from Japanese erotic [[visual novel]]s and games.<ref name="john">{{cite web|first=John |last=Oppliger |url=http://www.animenation.net/blog/2007/10/19/ask-john-how-did-the-word-hentai-get-adopted-into-english/ |title=Ask John: How Did the Word 'Hentai' Get Adopted Into English? |publisher=[[AnimeNation]] |access-date=25 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006164915/http://www.animenation.net/blog/2007/10/19/ask-john-how-did-the-word-hentai-get-adopted-into-english/ |archive-date=6 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The earliest English use of the term traces back to the rec.arts.anime boards; with a 1990 post concerning [[Happosai]] of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' and the first discussion of the meaning in 1991.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.arts.anime/DUwhE32RLN4/D_OGfPXqd_0J | title=Ranma 1/2 | date=8 February 1990 | access-date=29 April 2013 | author=Newton, Mark}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.arts.anime/TSxYG7Zo5pk/discussion | title=Some little questions | date=12 April 1991 | access-date=29 April 2013}}</ref> A 1995 glossary on the rec.arts.anime boards contained reference to the Japanese usage and the evolving definition of hentai as "pervert" or "perverted sex".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.arts.anime/P-b8LL4ZYiA/vZVc_7gqwrwJ | title=rec.arts.manga Glossary | date=17 March 1995 | access-date=29 April 2013 | author=Sinclair, Iain}}</ref> ''The Anime Movie Guide'', published in 1997, defines {{Nihongo|"[[ecchi]]"|エッチ|etchi}} as the initial sound of hentai (i.e., [[Ecchi#H|the name of the letter ''H'']], as pronounced in Japanese); it included that ecchi was "milder than hentai".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTtDAQAAIAAJ&q=hentai | title=The Anime Movie Guide | publisher=Overlook Press | author=McCarthy, Helen | date=27 October 1997 | isbn=9780879517816 | access-date=22 December 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221122801/https://books.google.com/books?id=LTtDAQAAIAAJ&q=hentai | archive-date=21 February 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> A year later it was defined as a genre in ''Good Vibrations Guide to Sex''.<ref>{{cite book | title=Good Vibrations Guide to Sex: The Most Complete Sex Manual Ever Written | publisher=Cleis Press | author=Winks, Cathy | date=7 November 1998}}</ref> At the beginning of 2000, "hentai" was listed as the 41st most-popular search term of the internet, while "anime" ranked 99th.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P2-5045822/forget-sex-and-drugs-surfers-are-searching-for-rock-n-roll | title=Forget Sex and Drugs. Surfers Are Searching for Rock'n'roll as the Net Finally Grows Up | work=[[The Independent]] |location=London | date=18 January 2000 | access-date=25 April 2013}}</ref> The attribution has been applied retroactively to works such as ''[[Urotsukidōji]]'', ''[[La Blue Girl]]'', and ''[[Cool Devices]]''. ''Urotsukidōji'' had previously been described with terms such as "Japornimation",<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.questia.com/library/1G1-17165499/holy-akira-it-s-aeon-flux | title=Holy Akira! It's Aeon Flux | last=Marin | first=Cheech | journal=[[Newsweek]] | volume=107 | issue=7 | access-date=29 August 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505125057/http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-17165499/holy-akira-it-s-aeon-flux | archive-date=5 May 2014 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}</ref> and "[[Ero guro|erotic grotesque]]",<ref name=wp>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-943760.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611135351/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-943760.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=11 June 2014 | title=Movies; 'Overfiend': Cyber Sadism | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=26 April 1993 | access-date=25 April 2013 | last=Harrington|first= Richard}}</ref> prior to being identified as hentai.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/80213/Urotsukidoji-I-Legend-of-the-Overfiend/overview | title=Urotsukidoji I: Legend of the Overfiend (1989) | access-date=25 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227003431/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/80213/Urotsukidoji-I-Legend-of-the-Overfiend/overview | archive-date=27 February 2009 | url-status=dead | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=[[The New York Times]] | author=Clarke Fountain | date=2009 | df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Paula |last=Span | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-728801.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611135356/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-728801.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=11 June 2014 | title=Cross-Cultural Cartoon Cult; Japan's Animated Futuristic Features Move From College Clubs to Video Stores | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=15 May 1997 | access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref>