The H-Bomb: Hentai

To every other non-Japanese fan of anime, more often than not he or she gets ridiculed for watching “silly cartoons”, and this is normal. If you have not, I salute your awesomeness.

For every other non-fan of anime, he or she sometimes will make the association between anime and hentai, and then you wonder, “How the heck did you make that assumption?” Well the answer is that for some reason, the stereotype exists that all anime fans watch hentai, that “tentacle rape” stuff. I blame “Urotsukidoji” for propagating the hentai stereotype… not! That reminds me I need to watch “Urotsukidoji” myself to see what all the hype’s about.

Hentai, the h-bomb, is the magical word that acts as the anathema to all anime fans. Nothing gets under my skin than being made fun of for watching “tentacle rape” stuff.  Now don’t get me wrong. I have watched hentai series with tentacle rape in it and enjoyed a couple of those. (“Cambrian”, the “Angel of Darkness” series) However, no one with any decent dose of self-respect would ever openly admit that in public and not even to your peers (except the select few). And the attitude that some of these guys are packing when they start insulting you? Makes you want to pound their faces in and wipe that sneer or expression of disgust off their faces.  Then I’d T-bag them as icing on the cake.

Of course, there’s no point in being wrapped in anger or doing what was aforementioned a sentence ago. Blowing off jerks like those and acting like they’re talking nonsense is all part of being an anime fan. I myself employ a, “You don’t ask, I don’t tell,” policy regarding my hobbies, and it works pretty well. However, we do this not because we do not like hentai, but rather we do this to be conform to the social norms set by the current society so that we don’t stick out like a sore thumb. I don’t know about you guys, but my life would be (and is) whole lot easier if people did not call me, “Pervert!” or “Hentai freak!” in public and I’m sure you guys wouldn’t like it either. Solution? Don’t take the bait, and don’t give yourself away either, e.g. being an idiot and shouting “I love animated sex cartoons, hurr durr!”

Though I’d love to disabuse the ignorant masses of the notion that hentai is just about “tentacle rape” or that all anime fans watch hentai and are sick bastards, it just isn’t going to happen. Trying to debunk a stereotype like that one is like trying to bang your head against the wall with the expectation of breaking it. While I don’t need to tell others that I like hentai, I won’t fool myself into thinking I don’t. For all its ups and downs (poor plot progression, poor character development, cheap animation, rehashed plots), I still like it, won’t deny it. I just happen to find things like non/consensual sex, bondage, nurses, maids, schoolgirls, and incest (bro/sis, son/mom) to be very appealing. Is that so wrong? I like to jack off to hentai instead of boring, repetitive porn. Is that so wrong? I like having plot in my hentai. Is that so wrong? Amongst anime fans I probably won’t hesitate to answer what I like if asked, and I have absolutely no qualm in sharing that amongst this little niche of anime fans either. I just find it a damn shame that anime-fans can’t walk out in the open without being labeled a sicko for liking hentai.

If you read this post and agree, you’re not alone. I’m sure there are plenty of other people out there that have taken flak for liking anime and, by association, hentai. This issue will continue to persist so long as people don’t understand the wonders of hentai. Even so, you should not have to give up the things you like just because someone’s being an insensitive jerk. Know that there are legions of anime fans who wouldn’t give up their hentai collection unless the fate of the world depended on it, and even then maybe not. The next time someone is trying to piss you off by labeling you a hentai watcher, be cool about it and they’ll leave you alone soon enough. After all, they don’t know what they’re missing out on.