r00dplz

Hentai (変態 or へんたい^?)  listen (help·info) is a kanji compound of 変 (hen; "change", "weird", or "strange") and 態 (tai; "appearance" or "condition"). It also means "perversion" or "abnormality", especially when used as an adjective.^[1]:99 It is the shortened form of the phrase(変態性欲^?, hentai seiyoku) which means "sexual perversion".^[2] The character hen is catch-all for queerness as a peculiarity—it does not carry an explicit sexual reference.^[1]:99 While the term has expanded in use to cover a range of publications including homosexual publications,^[1]:107 it remains primarily a heterosexual term, as terms indicating homosexuality entered Japan as foreign words.^[1]:100[2]Japanese pornographic works are often simply tagged as 18-kin (18禁^?, "18-prohibited"), meaning "prohibited to those not yet 18 years old", and seijin manga (成人漫画^?, "adult manga").^[2] Less official terms also in use include ero anime (エロアニメ^?), ero manga (エロ漫画^?), and the English acronym AV (for "adult video"). Usage of the term hentai does not define a genre in Japan.

Hentai is defined differently in English. The Oxford Dictionary Online defines hentai as "a subgenre of the Japanese genres of manga and anime, characterized by overtly sexualized characters and sexually explicit images and plots."^[3] The origin of the word in English is unknown, butAnimeNation'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 novels and games.^[4] 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.^[5][6] 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".^[7] The Anime Movie Guide, published in 1997, defines "ecchi" (エッチ etchi^?) as the initial sound of hentai (i.e., the name of the letter H, as pronounced in Japanese); it included that ecchi was "milder than hentai".^[8] A year later it was defined as a genre in Good Vibrations Guide to Sex.^[9] At the beginning of 2000, "hentai" was listed as the 41st most popular search term of the internet, while "anime" ranked 99th.^[10] 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",^[11] and "erotic grotesque",^[12] prior to being identified as hentai.^[13][14]

The history of word "hentai" has its origins in science and psychology.^[2] By the middle of the Meiji era, the term appeared in publications to describe unusual or abnormal traits, including paranormal abilities and psychological disorders.^[2] A translation of German sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing's text Psychopathia Sexualisoriginated the concept of "hentai seiyoku", as a "perverse or abnormal sexual desire".^[2] Though it was popularized outside psychology, as in the case of Mori Ōgai's 1909 novelVita Sexualis.^[2] Continued interest in "hentai seiyoku", resulted in numerous journals and publications on sexual advice which circulated in the public, served to establish the sexual connotation of 'hentai' as perverse.^[2] Any perverse or abnormal act could be hentai, such as committing shinjū (love suicide).^[2] It was Nakamura Kokyo's journal Abnormal Psychology which started the popular sexology boom in Japan which would see the rise of other popular journals like Sexuality and Human Nature, Sex Research and Sex.^[15]Originally, Tanaka Kogai wrote articles for Abnormal Psychology, but it would be Tanaka's own journal Modern Sexuality which would become one of the most popular sources of scholarly information about erotic and neurotic expression.^[15] Modern Sexuality was created to promote fetishism, S&M, and necrophilia as a facet of modern life.^[15] The ero-guro movement and depiction of perverse, abnormal and often erotic undertones were a response to interest in hentai seiyoku.^[2]

Following the end of World War II, Japan took a new interest in sexualization and public sexuality.^[2] Mark McLelland puts forth the observation that the term "hentai" found itself shortened to "H" and that the English pronunciation was "etchi", referring to lewdness and which did not carry the stronger connotation of abnormality or perversion.^[2] By the 1950s, the "hentai seiyoku" publications became their own genre and included fetish and homosexual topics.^[2] By the 1960s, the homosexual content was dropped in favor of subjects like sadomasochism and stories of lesbianism targeted to male readers.^[2] The late 1960s brought a sexual revolution which expanded and solidified the normalizing the terms identity in Japan that continues to exist today through publications such as Bessatsu Takarajima's Hentai-san ga iku series.^[2]