Common TermsThe worlds of hentai, anime, manga and Japanese cartoon erotica are filled with some fun, but confusing terms! Take a look here to see if the ones that are giving you the most trouble have been defined. I'll be adding to this glossary all the time, so be sure to check back if you can't find that strange word the first time you look!
Bishojo -- Often spelled Bishoujo - Is the Japanese term used to refer to pretty girls. Bishoujo known as a girl game or adv game is a type of Japanese video game centered around interactions with attractive anime-style girls. In most cases bishoujo games with adult content are a subgenre of hentai games (H-Games) in Japan.
Cosplay -- Is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing (or undressing) as characters from manga, anime, hentai and video games plus bishojo, and less commonly, live action television shows, movies, animation, or Japanese pop music bands.
Doujinshi -- Often spelled Doujin or Dojin. Fanzine, Japanese comic book, adult manga (see below), often drawn by amateurs and usually published without professional license. A large underground industry.
Enjo-kosai -- Shortened form enko, means 'compensated dating' and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship, and possibly sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-age girls to housewives. A common misconception is that enjo-kosai always involves some form of sexual activity. The term enjo-kosai first appeared in the Asahi Shimbun on September 20, 1994. In the opposite case of women paying men, it is called gyaku-enjo-kosai, or 'reverse compensated dating'.
Etchi (Ecchi) -- Lewd. This term is comparable to the term 'fresh!' used just after someone makes a lewd statement. This term is less intense than hentai, but can mean about the same thing.
Futanari -- Other common terms used to describe futanari characters are 'dickgirls' or 'shemales' - a compound word meaning 'two form' in Japanese can mean both the subjects of a special type of pornographic anime or manga (commonly known in the West as hentai), or the genre itself. The futa term depicts hermaphrodites, intersex or other individuals with female body-types and sexual organs resembling penises, whether or not those organs are in fact enlarged clitorises, or they possess both male and female reproductive organs. Technically, the term also encompasses male characters with both sets of sexual organs, but these are usually excluded.
Gekiga -- Graphic novel - is Japanese for 'dramatic pictures'. The term was coined by Yoshihiro Tatsumi and adopted by other more serious Japanese cartoonists who did not want their trade to be known as manga or 'irresponsible pictures'. It's akin to Will Eisner who started calling his comics 'graphic novels' as opposed to 'comic books' for the same reason.
Hen -- Strange, weird; sometimes used to denote a transformation.
Hentai -- Historically, this term meant a transformation or metamorphosis. Later changed to mean an abnormality, hentai is now used almost exclusively to mean pervert, perverted, or perversion. In reference to anime, it is used to denote anime for adults.
Kawaii -- Cute; often used to refer to those loveable big-eyed characters of anime and hentai.
Kogal -- Kogals, or spelled Kogyaru in Japanese, are a subculture of girls and young women in urban Japan. They are characterized by conspicuously displaying their disposable incomes through unique tastes in fashion, music, and social activity.
Lemon -- The 'no-holds-barred' form of Yaoi (see below). These stories include graphic sexual contact between men, and focus very little on relationships and actual story lines.
Lime -- A story with strongly implied sexual content, but no actual graphic descriptions or depictions. Lime is the second level of Yaoi (see below), and is more intense than Shonen-ai (see below also).
Lolicon -- also romanised as rorikon and loli, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase 'Lolita complex'. In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls, or an individual with such an attraction. Outside Japan, the term is less common and most often refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein childlike female characters are depicted in an erotic manner. The phrase is a reference to Vladimir Nabokov's book Lolita, in which a middle-age man becomes sexually obsessed with a twelve-year-old girl. The equivalent term for attraction to (or art pertaining to erotic portrayal of) young boys is shotacon (see below also).
Mamono -- A simple or mythological demon.
Manga -- Japanese comics. Very few are published in color. The term originated with woodblock prints which appeared in 19th c. Japanese literature, many of which had semi-erotic undertones.
Nijijin -- Refers to a 'rainbow person'; someone who gathers under the rainbow flag for gay pride.
Oni -- A demon, ogre, or other supernatural being considered evil and/or dangerous.
Seiyuu -- A voice actor for anime.
Shonen-ai -- Man love. Very similar to Yaoi (see below), but anime/manga with this theme focus more on the relationship between the men than the actual sexual/physical contact or behavior. This would be considered the first of three levels of Yaoi, and the tamest.
Shotacon (Shotakan) -- Translated loosely, this refers to first sexual experience with very young boys, shota is a theme very prevalent in a lot of hentai manga and doujinshi.
Sukebe -- Oversexed - a person who is overly interested in sexual gratification is called a sukebe, it is also a term for general lewdness, making its loosest definition overlap somewhat with the meaning of the word ecchi.
Urabon -- A very rare underground Japanese book containing uncensored sex photos, and it is currently banned in Japan due to Japanese regulations that picture and movie content must be censored by using mosaic matrix blurring. You may visit these Japanese Urabon Tube and Urabon Hentai Videos sites with full examples.
Urusei -- A foreigner or alien.
Yaoi -- An acronym, not an actual word. Yaoi stands for yama-nashi (without climax), ochi-nashi (without a conclusion) and imi-nashi (without content). Basically, this means that the whole point to what you are reading or watching is to get the male characters into bed together. Gay hentai, created for men, or women who like watching men together. There are three levels to Yaoi: Shonen-ai, Lime, and Lemon.
Yuri -- Lesbian hentai, created for women, or men who like watching women together. This term originated with numerous female characters named Yuri.
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