hentai 変態

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.

Manga: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 僕は友達が少ない (Chapter 7)

• In The West
  
  • Sub-Genres
• In Japanese
  
  • ド変態
  • Examples
  • Kanji
  • "Transformation"
• Equivalent of "Hentai" in Japanese
  
  • Doujinshi vs. Hentai

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:

• ecchi エッチ
  (drawn) softcore pornography.
• yuri 百合
  (drawn) lesbian pornography.
• shoujo-ai 少女愛
  (drawn) softcore lesbian fiction.
• yaoi やおい
  (drawn) gay pornography.
• shounen-ai 少年愛
  (drawn) softcore gay fiction.
  • BL is either of the above.
• bara 薔薇
  (drawn) gay pornography, the less popular kind.
• guro グロ
  (drawn) gore pornography.

Terms related to hentai:

• bukkake ぶっ掛け
  Covered in semen.
  • kakeru 掛ける
    To pour on. (besides dozens of other meanings.)
  • gansha 顔射
    Facial. (ejaculation.)
• futanari ふたなり (also 双成)
  Hermaphrodite.
  Shemale. (in some cases.)
  • Exclusively used in pornography. Doesn't refer to real trans people or hermaphroditic animals, although historically referred to intersex.
• ahegao あへ顔
  Panting face. O-face.
• shibari 縛り
  Rope bondage.
  • shibaru 縛る
    To tie. To bind.
  • kousoku 拘束
    Restraints. (Japanese term for bondage in general.)
• netorare 寝取られ, netori 寝取り, netorase 寝取らせ
  NTR, NTL, NTRR, NTRS
  Having wife, girlfriend, etc. taken by another man.
  Cuckolding.
• paizuri パイズリ
  Boob job.
  • oppai おっぱい
    Boobs.
  • suru 擦る
    To rub.
• chikan 痴漢
  Molester. (usually in a train.)
• seme 攻め and uke 受け
  Top and bottom (in gay hentai)
• nakadashi 中出し
  Ejaculating inside. Creampie.
  • naka ni dasu 中に出す
    To put out inside. (literally.)
    To ejaculate inside. (a way to interpret it.)
• inmon 淫紋
  Womb tattoo. "Lewd crest."
• ryona リョナ
  Violence, punching, torture, etc.

See also:

• Sex-Related Terms.

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 ド, "super," which's also found in words like do-S ドＳ, do-m ドＭ.

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:

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*

Manga: Hayate no Gotoku! (Chapter 2)

• chi... chika-dzukuna, hentai...
  ち･･･近づくな　変態･･･
  [Don't] get closer, [you] pervert...

Kanji

The word hentai is written with two kanji:

• hen 変
  Change.
• tai 態
  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 態
    Condition. State. Attitude.
• hentai 変体
  Transformation.
  • tai 体
    Body.

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

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.