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I see this alot, and it bugs me. People will say things like "do you want an anime or a hentai?". Hentai IS anime. It is like saying "do you want a cookie or a chocolate chip cookie?" hehe. It's just a style of anime.

So I was just curious how many people looked at it the hentai OR anime way, versus the hentai as a form of anime way.

Hmm...

Many things to consider... Although both hentai and anime are considered fiction... hentai can present itself to be more realistic in VERY FEW situations. Animes are rarely realistic at all, and the only time that they are would be when they are a " Slice of Life " based shows..

I guess I see the whole situation as Hentai vs Anime... They are completely different in the sense that Hentai can be a LITTLE more realistic... In terms of.... Bleh I dunno

Both "genres" present themselves as completely fictional things so... Bleh

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It's not labor, it's just an unreasonable amount of forced favors ~ Peter

Yea... its crap I know

Comparing hentai and anime is like comparing movies and porns.
You have extreme cases where both genres are totally irrelevant and you have cases where they are in the middle of both
In the end it boils down to which anime and hentai are you comparing. You have heavily plot based hentai and also hentai that are just plain adult stuff
You also have heavily plot based anime and anime that are extremely ecchi

Unless of course you considering everything that's animated is called anime, then yes hentai is anime then :P Just like how porns are considered films too...

Hentai is an anime genre. yes its true...

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Needless to say anything... Though I've been gone for very long... What in randomness happened here?

just a genre of anime, nah nah nah

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yea i agree with dvtq and hyaweh hentai is an anime genre .

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------Z-A Ecchi Group member---------

Hmm, in topics like this its how we define (operational definitions) the word, more then what is the background subject.

I think the key here is 'genre'.

I looked at it like this: If I say I wanted to see a movie tonight, genre's would be brought up: like romance, war, action, terror, thriller, kid, etc.

But would 'porn' be used in the same way 'action, romance, sci-fi' would be in today's society? I say: no, it wouldn't.

But that's on a day to day level.
On an academic level (thus how does one define the word), then yes, hentai is a genre of anime.
But at a social level (again, use of word/definition) it would not be.

I simply do not believe that in either our society, or Japanese society, the genre of 'hentai' would have the same weight and connotation as 'action/military/magical girl/etc' would.
To be more blunt, for the vast majority of anime genre's you break out the popcorn and chips, but for hentai you break out the lotion and Kleenex.

I define hentai as porn, and porn in society carry a much different emotional and mental baggage then 'just a movie'.
Course that societal debate is one that even those with Ph.D's, let alone politicians, still rage/talk about.

To further support this split (on a social, not academic level) notice the evolution between the words Ecchi and Hentai.
Of course, this is easier for us 'oldsters', but nonetheless:

Background: 'Hen' is a root for 'strange' in Japanese, Hentai has evolved into sexual perversion (via society), but academically is only really means a 'strange person' with no sexual overtones. Again, this just shows etymology (spelt? - the evolution and history of a word)

'Ecchi' comes from the Japanese trying to pronounce the letter 'H', as in 'H' in Hentai. Cute history.

How it comes to this discussion is this: Back 10+ years ago, Ecchi and Hentai both meant the same thing: Japanese anime porn.
But over time people (Americans I mean) began to recognize a difference: Ecchi started to be used to recognize the line that isn't being crossed by the animators - which is usually detailed pelvis genitalia and overt sexual acts/penetration.
Basically put, the panty-shots, short skirts, sexual innuendos, etc. While Hentai remained the same: Anime porn.

It is this societal 'line' which has created the English term Ecchi to be in the same genre levels as 'action/Sci-Fi/Romance' etc when defining anime, while Hentai is relegated elsewhere.

As another point, any site that has both Anime and Hentai usually separate them by using those exact words. Anime has its own Tab, and Hentai has another complete tab. This is not always the case, but more often then not, Hentai has its own complete separate listing, but Ecchi anime's do not.

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I could keep going, but I've probably bored enough of you.

This is what (IMHO) it boils down to:
If we define this academically, then yes - hentai is simply a genre of anime.
But if we define this by societal constraints, then no - porn doesn't make a movie (thus hentai does not make an anime).

And let's not even delve into the exceptions! The hentai which actually contain 90% plot, and only one or two explicit sex scenes (notable examples: Kite, Pia Carrot, Futari Ecchi) (see Null00's post)

Well I read what Yuuji wrote, yep that's pretty much it, it is a Genre.. but as it's Anime Porn.. It has been 'set aside' if you will =P

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thanks beefjurky ;p
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I do not know if I should be happy, that someone agrees with my assertion.

Or should I be sad, being that Zanet proficiently summarized my entire long-winded spiel into one succinct sentence.

*hands Zanet an Occam's Razor*

This makes it two