Ecchi, H, and Hentai
Every once in a while, conversations I have with some people related to the Japanese adult entertainment gets extremely confusing, where I’d perceive that the other speaker is contradicting him/herself.
The root of the confusion is that I consider “Ecchi” and “Hentai” to be the same thing, whereas the other speaker does not.
Now, of course the Japanese terms H / エッチ (ecchi) and 変態 (hentai) do NOT mean the same thing. In their adjective usage, H/エッチ can mean being sexually provocative, having a “dirty mind”, being a pervert, or just in general having to do with sex; whereas 変態 merely means being abnormal. In their noun usage, H/エッチ means sexual intercourse, whereas 変態 means a pervert.
However, when it comes to the English popular usage, the term “hentai” takes on the adjective form of H/エッチ, and in fact “H” (in its adjective form) is pretty much treated as an abbreviation of “Hentai” (whether it actually is or is not would be an academic debate/research for another time). The term “hentai” in its English usage can be used for anything sexually related, even if it is not technically “perverted” (A stroy-driven pure love series eroge would NOT be considered to have any “perverted” material, but it would count as a “hentai game” in English). It’s usage has expanded from the original Japanese term 変態.
On the other hand, the usage of the term “ecchi” in the English-speaking circles seems to have shrunk from the original Japanese term H / エッチ. Why that has been, and how much it has shrunk, is something I still haven’t figured out, and which is the reason why in various conversations I would not remember its popular English usage differs from its Japanese usage, and get extremely confused.
For me, my intuitive understanding will probably always remain that “Ecchi manga” = “H manga” = “Hentai manga”, and “Ecchi game” = “H game” = “Hentai game” (which is also equal to eroge).
