futanari ふたなり

Since this is one of those words that you can indeed find in anime forums, here's the meaning of the word futanari in Japanese, and its English usage too.

Definition

In English, futanari means something like "hermaphrodite, " meaning someone possessing both sexes' genitals. The term futanari is normally used in reference to hentai pornography.

A common theme surrounding futanari is having the hermaphrodite character have an inhuman amount of sexual disposition and sexual development (size of breasts, genitals, etc.). This (probably) is due to the fact that a futanari has both sexes. So it would be at minimum twice as sexual than a single-sex person.

Genital Variations

There are a number of variations of depictions and designs of futanari which all still count as futanari.

A futanari may or may not have a vagina.

A futanari may or may not have testicles.

In some cases, a futanari has a penis and a vagina with a clitoris, in other cases, the "penis" of the futanari is her clitoris, which, for some ungodly reason, has grown to the size of a penis.

In some cases, the penis of a futanari is not even a human penis. For example, someone might have thought "her penis is the size of a horse's" and then decided to actually make it a horse penis.

In some cases, a futanari has more than one penis.

And then kamisama only knows what the hell else people have designed for their futanari.

Cause

Although a real-life hermaphrodite would be expected to have been born that way, in fiction, the way a futanari becomes a futanari isn't limited to natural causes. Some of the ways a character may become a futanari include:

A drug which makes women grow a penis.
A surgery that gives a woman a penis.
A magic spell which makes women grow a penis.
A strap-on dildo which becomes a penis.
A creature of some sort which turns into a penis when attached to a woman's crotch.

And so on.

Note that the common pattern here is to add a penis to a woman's body, not the opposite.

Mythological Futanari

In some cases, a futanari character may actually be naturally a futanari instead of just turning into a futanari mid-way. This generally boils down to two ironically opposite mythological cases:

A futanari demon.
A futanari angel.

In the first case, the idea is that a sex or lust-related demon, succubus, etc. having both sexes is a matter of course. On the second case, angels and similar mythical deities are sometimes said to have no sex, both sexes, or feature some form of androgyny, which serves as basis for a futanari scenario.

Not Futanari

Since a futanari without a vagina is technically not an hermaphrodite, some people do not consider this to be a futanari. In this case, the meaning is closer to "dickgirl" or "shemale" in English, katakanized to Japanese as shiimeeru シーメール. Note that to be considered a futanari here the character would have to have boobs.

A futanari without a vagina and without boobs, in other words, a girl that's actually a guy, or, rather, a guy that looks like a girl, is called a "trap," or, in Japanese, otokonoko 男の娘.

A trap that doesn't look like a girl is generally called a "man," otoko 男.

Conversely, a futanari without a penis is normally called a "woman," onna 女, with exception of the reverse-futanari, which looks like a man, with exception of the case in which they do have boobs, then it's a "reverse trap," onnanoko 雄んなの子.

On top of that, a "man" who physically turns into a "woman" is not a futanari, but literally a woman, like, I literally said they turned into a woman, what the hell else could they be? In this case the term used is "gender-bender," nyotaika 女体化 for turning into a woman, nantaika 男体化 for turning into a man.

The act of a man just wearing "female clothes" is called josou 女装, and women wearing "male clothes" is dansou 男装. The act of crossdressing isn't considered to be futanari either.

See the chart below if you feel lost.

Futanari Characters in Anime

The futanari characters have such a tremendously disturbing amount of popularity so great that it even warrants its own convention full of pornographic doujinshi: the "futanari market," or futaket. But despite this, the appearance of futanari characters in anime for general audiences is pretty much zero.

(NSFW / adult link: futaket website)

I mean, that's pretty much obvious. Why would there even be futanari characters in non-porn anime, anyway? That doesn't make any sense, does it? Let's think about this logically. A futanari is a character with both sexes: penis and vagina. You can't... show... either of those on TV. The best you can do is say "this character is a hermaphrodite." And even if you do that, ultimately, what's even the goal here? What's the point of a futanari character? How does a futanari character contributes to the plot? Why a futanari and not just a woman? It's very obvious the dick doesn't make it better, it's entirely devoid of purpose. That's just the author putting his sick fetishes into a pure, innocent story.

However, turns out the world of anime is broader than we thought.

There is, actually, one time a futanari character was warranted. And that was the single, singlest, singlemost time, ever. And I don't think it will ever happen again.

That time was in Maze☆Bakunetsu Jikuu MAZE☆爆熱時空, where Mill is a futanari princess. Now, if you're wondering what in the actual fuck could have possibly happened to make a futanari character necessary, the answer is simple: the protagonist, Maze, is a girl, by day, who turns into a guy, by night. So the "hero," Maze, is a gender-switcher, and the "heroine," Mill, is a futanari in love with both male Maze and female Maze, and with the sexual capabilities to match both. Truly, this is most perfect couple ever! Inconceivable!

Ironically, this is only true in the manga (and probably in the novel, too). Because they butchered this lone gem of perfection in the anime adaptation by making Mill female instead.

Does Futanari Make You Gay?

It's a prevailing question, a doubt, in the minds of many people, regarding whether or not futanari makes you gay.

Logically speaking, futanari is not gay. There are two theories that undeniably prove this:

Gay is some guy x guy stuff, and futanari is only at most half-guy. So the most it could be is only half-gay (guy x futanari), at minimum half-lesbian (girl x futanari). Never fully gay. Therefore it's not gay.
Having sex with a woman with a strap-on is certainly not gay, and a strap-on is a fake penis. By extension, a futanari, which is just a woman with a real penis, is not gay either.

Ultimately, though, the most widely accepted theory is that nothing can really "make" you gay. If you're straight, you're straight even if you have sex with other men. And if you're gay, you're gay even if you have sex with women. Something trivial like futanari is unable to make anyone gay. Only you can make yourself gay.

Written in Kanji

The word futanari is normally written without kanji, often being written with hiragana instead, as simply futanari ふたなり. It may also be written with katakana, as futanari フタナリ.

When written with kanji, it would be futanari 二成, composed of the kanji for the word "two," futatsu 二つ , and the verb "to become," naru 成る, so you could guess the meaning of the word would be "becoming two."

It may also be written with the kanji futanari 双成, in which case the futa is from a word like futago 双子, meaning "twins (children)." Historically, it has been written as futanari 二形, meaning "shaping like two," or having two forms (male and female).

Meaning in Japanese

The term futanari in Japanese does mean "hermaphrodite," and it's used in works of fiction like futanari is in English, however there is a couple of things worth noting.

First, futanari refers only to an "hermaphrodite" person. That is, for animals that possess both male and female sexual organs, hermaphrodites, the term would be shiyuudoutai 雌雄同体. The meaning of the kanji of this word being literally "female male same body."

Second, futanari is at most a term of legends and fiction. In real life, someone who for some reason shares both sexes in some way isn't called a futanari, and isn't called a "hermaphrodite" either, they'd be at most called "intersex," which in Japanese would be han'in'you 半陰陽.

The terms futanari-musume ふたなり娘 and futanarikko ふたなりっ娘 are used in Japanese to refer to futanari girls. And futanari-kyara ふたなりキャラ to "futanari characters.

The "existence or not," umu 有無, of testicles, balls, in futanari is termed tama-ari 玉あり and tama-nashi 玉無し, respectively.

Futa

The term futa ふた is simply an abbreviation of futanari. If futanari mean "hermaphrodite," then futa means "herm" or something.

This abbreviation is used in derived terms. For example, futakemo ふたけも refers to futanari kemono.

Hutanari & Huta

The word hutanari, and its abbreviation, huta, are the same thing as futanari and futa, but romanized differently, that is, the romaji system used to created the romaji from the Japanese words differs: the same ふ kana can be fu or hu depending on the system used.

According to the Hepburn system, used by westerns, it's fu, but according to the Kunrei-shiki system, used by Japanese people, it's hu. So you can guess whoever wrote the word hutanari or huta was a Japanese person.

Male Futanari, Otoko-Futanari 男ふたなり

In Japanese, an otoko-futanari 男ふたなり, literally "male futanari," is a hermaphrodite, with both penis and vagina, but without boobs. Basically, if the common futanari is made adding a penis to a woman, a male futanari is made adding a vagina to a man.

By the way, although the common futanari is not gay, this kind of futanari is definitely gay. It's pretty much the yaoi version of futanari.

Reverse Futanari, Gyaku-Futanari 逆ふたなり

In Japanese, a gyaku-futanari 逆ふたなり, literally "reverse-futanari," is not even a hermaphrodite. It is, instead, a man with a vagina instead of a penis. In other words, the word gyaku-futanari means "cuntboy" in English.

Note that, technically, "the reverse of futanari," futanari no gyaku ふたなりの逆, would not be a man with a vagina, but a person without either genital. So the term is wrong, but that doesn't stop it from being used.

Futanari Disambiguation Chart

I realize this is a confusing mess so here's a chart.

Origin of The Word

Unfortunately, the word futanari comes from some very, very ancient Japanese. Like, from a thousand years ago. So it's not very interesting to know where it came from, as it has little to do with manga or anime, and it's more like... there just was this word since ever.

In the "Heian period," or Heian jidai 平安時代, which was from years 794 to 1185 in the Gregorian calendar, the term futanari 二形 was used to describe an intersex person. Since then, the term has been loosely used to describe a number of ambiguous sex situations and people in a number of ways.

However, ever since it started being used in manga and doujinshi (1990 onward), the term futanari has become associated with the 2D world instead of the real life. This is pretty much because a futanari character in 2D happens obviously more often than a real-life intersex futanari person.