The Birth and History of Hentai

It’s not common to meet someone who’s familiar with Japanese anime porn. And although it seems weird to know about such stuff, it is one of the most popular genres of videos on tube-like adult sites. Hence, if you’re one of those people who don’t know what hentai is, we’re willing to explain everything in no time. Read the rest of our article and get to know your porn.

What Hentai Really Is

Although many people mistake it for anime, this pornographic genre is much more than cartoon porn. And you can’t blame them for this since it’s not easy to make a clear distinction of what hentai is. Namely, in the Japanese language, it means “an abnormal activity.” That said, you can also use it as a euphemism for sex that’s creepy or perverse.

However, in Japan, they don’t use it to describe your run-of-the-mill porn. Such content is more likely to be labeled as 18-prohibited or AV (adult video). The reason is, hentai is much more graphic and sexually extreme than anything else. It delves into rape, fantasy, and squid-like creatures having intercourse with schoolgirls.

But outside of Japan, ordinary people use the word hentai to describe anything that’s of anime or manga style. They don’t mind if the content they’re watching isn’t bizarre and extreme. The notion is that any Japanese-related pornography is either hentai manga or anime, depending on its format. But, hey, that’s why we’re here to make things a bit more clear.

This porn genre can come in many forms. From animation to comic-like books and drawings, hentai is omnipresent. And ever since the ’90s and the rise of video games, you can find titles full of pervy stuff like naive schoolgirls, aliens with tentacles, and other various hentai tropes. But let’s go back in time and see its evolution through different decades and eras, shall we?

Hentai Etymology

One of the most interesting parts of this story is how the meaning evolved since its inception in the early 20th century. It’s a true transformation, no doubt about it. That is to say, by the beginning of the 1900s, Japanese doctors and psychologists would use it to describe various disorders like hysteria. They would also have a place for hentai when describing abnormal abilities like psychic communication and second sight.

Nevertheless, its sexual meaning came from something else completely. The thing is, Japanese doctors would translate various German psychology books that would deal with sexual perversions. And to bring the subject closer to the Japanese language, translators would use the term hentai for abnormal sexual desires. Furthermore, uncensored hentai would find its place in various Japanese erotic art publications like magazines.

Erotic Manga as the First Form of Hentai

During the 1920s, this kind of content had its first big boom. Since literacy levels were going up, there was a void for all sorts of cheap entertainment, and one of them was hentai with its perverse content and girls with big tits. Before that, in the 17th-century Edo period, the Japanese people would find pleasure in woodblock prints we know as shunga.

Interestingly enough, the rising popularity of hentai made sexual perversion somewhat normal for its time. It wasn’t necessarily something bad or taboo like today, and ordinary people would discuss it since they were the target audience. Unfortunately, by the late 1930s, the country was getting ready for WWII, and such material lost its mainstream popularity. Of course, this didn’t last long.

The main form of hentai in the post-war decades was manga — Japanese comic books. But as animation grew in popularity, kinky sexual activities would find their way in cartoons. However, it was pretty underground, a somewhat subculture thing. And just like in the West, the sexual revolution of the ’60s would bring its ideas into hentai — male and female homosexuality.

Most Viewed by Men Around the World

Since every year one of the most popular porn sites in the world, Pornhub, reveals all sorts of interesting statistics, we were wondering what demographic enjoys watching hentai videos the most. And we weren’t surprised. Men are the main audience for such content. But why is that?

Well, we can think of a couple of reasons. Firstly, lots of men in the West love watching Japanese anime films. From the artistic style to sexy characters, it’s all set up perfectly for them to look for pornographic content that resembles their favorite titles.

On the other hand, anime hentai videos are pretty male-centric. How come? Well, most of the time, girls are submissive. They don’t serve any other purpose than to be objects for males to masturbate to. Either while gang-raped by thugs or while having non-consensual sex with a squid-like monster — they’re young, naive, and helpless.

What You Don’t Know About Hentai

Like classic porn, hentai can come in various genres. From homosexual to straight, you can see all sorts of acts and fantasies. They mostly revolve around fetishes and paraphilias but can also depict vanilla sex. Nevertheless, let’s point out some of the most interesting ones, shall we?

  • Lolicon is a subgenre of hentai that revolves around pedophilia. It shows underage girls having sex with older people. The Lolita term derives from Vladimir Nabokov’s eponymous novel from 1955.
  • On the other hand, we’ve got shotacon. It’s opposite to Lolicon, and it shows older people with young boys. The term comes from the Japanese slang for liking prepubescent males.
  • Bakunyu is a genre that revolves around girls with enormous breasts. The name itself means breast exploitation. The name itself means “breast exploitation.” It’s one of the most popular types of hentai, and it’s easy to understand why.
  • Tentacles hentai is pretty well-known because of its extreme content. It revolves around girls being raped by squid-like creatures in the most obscure ways possible. Pretty weird, isn’t it?
  • Futanari is a bit of a tricky one to describe. Why? Well, it’s a form of hentai that shows women with penile-like genitalia. They don’t have actual penises or vaginas, but somewhat of large clitorises.

Of course, this isn’t all. Hentai games and videos depict all sorts of niche fetishes. From bukkake to incest, you can see it all. Still, we think the former subgenres are the most interesting. At least for now. And if you’re looking for something to shock you, Japanese sex culture is pretty rich in history and detail. Do check it out.