Whenever Japanese materials such as mangas (comics) or anime (animated cartoons) have explicit sexual images or storylines, they are referred to in Japan as ‘hentai’. Hentai is a Japanese slang term that loosely translated means ‘sexually perverse’ or ‘perverted’. Hentai can come in almost any form or cover any topic. There are light hentai categories such as ‘ecchi’ (soft porn) and more extreme examples such a futanari (dickgirls). Recently there has been a growing sexual fetish in hentai storylines known as the ‘furry’ craze.
Furries are humanlike characters that have animalistic features and tendencies. While the concept is not new in Japanese mythology, (there are several ‘demons’ and spirits that take animal form) it was in the 1980’s when anthropomorphic characters were fully discussed at a science fiction convention. It has now become a world-wide phenomenon with a extremely dedicated and loyal fan base. Furry fan clubs can be located everywhere from Japan to Denmark. There are a large number of furry hentai forums that are dedicated to the fetish.
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