Hentai: Literal Japanese translation is "pervert". In anime/manga this is basically animated porn. It's characterized by overtly sexualized characters, sexually explicit images, and plot. Anything can go, and here is usually some form of unrealistic body parts usually sexual parts.
As a Christian I absolutely refuse to touch this stuff! Unfortunately it's everywhere and sometimes I can't even search certain characters without coming across a bucket load of these in just a simple google search. Man that right there just reminds me how dark and fallen the world is.
Ecchi: Literal Japanese translation is "sex". Ecchi is basically a step below hentai. It's characterized by softer notes of sexual themes. It's erotic, but not all out sex or anything vulgar, this can include panty shots, the occasional nipple, sexual humor, and other forms of fan services that doesn't actually contain sex.
That makes it sound not that bad however Ecchi is a form of fan service for sex, which in my mind is porn. You can't hide what it is by just not showing the actual act, if it leads to some sort of sexual arousal then call it what it is porn. Being in the world I know that there are levels of porn, I would put Ecchi is a man looking at a playboy magazine and Hentai is watching a porn video. Again I can't look through anime/manga style pictures without coming across a bucket load of these images in a simple google search.
Yuri: Explicit Lesbian relationships
Yaoi: Explicit Homosexual relationships.
These two go hand in hand as they both refer to same sex relationships. As an artist I absolutely refuse to draw either one of these because it goes against the truth of the Bible, which calls it a sin plain and simple. Both Yaoi and Yuri are becoming more apparent with the rise of the same sex relationships in the US, and I personally don't like it.
Uke: This is a sex term in Yaoi that goes along with Seme, these two refer to position in sex. This can also depict a type of male character that is younger, shorter, sweeter looking. These male characters are often very feminine looking. Uke characters can be a Japanese version of a Metrosexual.
Gosh, this one is a hard one to define because it usually refers to Yaoi sex, yet I have found its other definition. I dislike this so much...If you are going to make a male, make them masculine! If they end up looking feminine then give it some hip shape and some form of a chest, or at least say "she's" flat chested! I know we, in America, have a term for this too however it's doesn't usually go with a homosexual relationship. I understand making a character Uke and then giving them a female companion that's what we call a Metro here in America, but that is not the norm for Uke characters.
Next are a few challenges that may or may not have an actual term:
Genetic Sexual Attraction: This the correct term for having a sexual attraction to someone you are related to.
I don't have a problem with this in certain cases like Luke and Leia's attraction to each other in Star Wars before they fully knew they were brother and sister. What I have a problem is "shipping" (making a couple) siblings together when they know they are siblings from the beginning! Hello, that isn't healthy and just gross! I'm sort of okay with cousin's being paired together, for similar to the norm of when this type of attraction is the not knowing of each other. Pure and simple the modern culture of the world I live it frowns upon this, and I have the same feelings about it.
-Nudity is a big challenge within anime/manga art. Let's face it female warriors in most fantasy video games means no armor basically. As seen here in a picture of a Skyrim female warrior:
Another point of nudity is in the form of magical transformations. Almost every magical girl anime has transformations that have a form of nudity with a costume change, even Erza (pictured above) falls into this.
While I find nothing wrong with the way they do this, it has been viewed as a form of fan service. I have watched a few anime series that have this as depicted above: Sailor Moon, Fairy Tail, Tokyo Mew Mew, Digimon Tamers, & Digimon Frontier. With these I find the person who gets sexually aroused by them sick, and find nothing wrong with the way they depict transformation because it's showing a more of a silhouette.
Bottom line with nudity, I draw for me not to be a service to people's sexual needs. If I want to show something I cover up parts as I did with this:
I do want to note with this drawing the two characters are married and that is the only way I will draw couples with some nudity, but overall I refuse to draw nudity due to the fact that it leads to sexual arousal in some humans.
-Next is the "top heavy twigs" or the large boobs. I have watched/read some series with these character and while I know there are woman out there with larger boobs and the ideal body with them, *cough* American models *cough*, I know they are not the average. Example of these characters would be Lucy from FairyTail, Orihime and Rangiku from Bleach, and Blair from Soul Eater. I don't have too much of a problem with these characters since this is a part of Japanese anime. Though as with everything there comes a point where it becomes too much and purely ridiculous:
This is a prime example of a "what in the right mind is this?!" with the plump chest. Sadly this style is well loved by some.
Now think of a more reasonable larger size, add a thin flat belly, a very accentuated hourglass hips, maybe a larger than needed behind, pencil legs & arms and you've got what I call a top heavy twig. Bottom line these are the animated versions of American Models, actresses, and Pop stars.
Overall I rather have more realistic bodied characters than have something that can come across as a hooker. Normal females are extra large in the chest, small in the waist, and large in the behind without having something done to them or have a ton of problems. Truth be told, the large chest naturally goes with a larger woman. "Angels" as some companies call them do not exist in real life without blemishes that might be internal rather than external.
-Violence and blood are another challenge. We have here in America what is called cut anime, this is where they edit the Japanese versions to conform them to American standards. This includes many to have less violence or blood in order to match with the standards for the demographics of the targeted audience. This can be a challenge in drawing as to have PG-13 art. I want my art to be free of "mature content" filters. You can show both in a moderation just like movies can as I have done with this piece:
-FoxCat ya later.
Well done. As a comic book reader I try to steer clear of this.
ReplyDelete