The Hermaphrodite in Erotic Anime and Manga
Ryan Mathews
admitting this fact on the net, because all of my friends are already
quite aware of it. :-) I enjoy manga and anime in nearly all its
forms, erotica being just one of them. Like all other forms, erotic
manga and anime run the gamut from engaging stories to mindless T&A,
from art to crap.
There is one recurring theme in erotic manga and anime that makes me
scratch my head, however. This is the concept of the hermaphrodite.
An hermaphrodite is an individual with both male and female sex organs.
In the real world, such people are incredible rare. Fully functioning
hermaphrodites are practically non-existent, despite what Donahue might
have told you. In the erotic anime and manga world, however, they make
up a surprisingly large segment of the population.
I wasn't aware of this fact until recently. I believe the first anime
hermaphrodite I saw was the main character in ST. MICHAEL'S ACADEMY,
which isn't even an erotic anime, IMHO. It's a curious anime. I have
an unsubbed copy, and can't really follow it, even though I've watched
it twice. So when the main character, a rebellious young girl, turns
out to be a fallen hermaphroditic angel, and makes love to another girl
in a brief, non-explicit scene, I simply thought it a curious ending to
a curious anime.
Then SoftCel, Anime 18, Graphic Visions, Venus Comics, and Eros Comix
came onto the scene, bringing a flood of erotica into the market, and I
slowly realized just how prevalent the hermaphrodite is as an erotic
concept.
Just in the last year in the U.S. ...
LA BLUE GIRL 3 (Anime 18) - The heroine engages in a "sex battle" with
an hermaphrodite ninja.
EMBLEM 1 (Venus Comics) - A woman hired to tutor a young girl finds
herself the captive of a clan of hermaphrodites who need a normal woman
to reproduce.
MAGICAL TWILIGHT 1 (Graphic Visions) - A girl mysteriously grows a
penis while masturbating, then tricks a girlfriend into having sex with
her in the school restroom. (Not exactly a classic... :-) )
TEMPTATION 2 (Eros Comix) - A young woman is seduced by her
hermaphrodite friend on the day of her wedding.
SEXHIBITION 2 (Eros Comix) - Two girls become hermaphrodites in a
virtual reality world to punish a male "netter" who was masquerading as
female.
It continues. Next March, two more such stories hit the shelves.
SoftCel's F3 #3 features the heroine being possessed by a male demon
and growing a penis, while Eros Comix HOT TAILS 1 has a young
hermaphrodite confessing her "problem" to the school nurse and losing
both her virginities in one day.
And this is just the stuff that's made it to the U.S. Check a table of
erotic manga at a convention, and you may find a title devoted to
hermaphrodite stories. Some are even quite valuable. A dealer at
Anime Expo wanted $100 for one such book, safely sealed in a bag.
I apologize if the examples bore you, but the point I'm making is the
curious frequency of a concept I consider to be on the fringe, at least
by Western standards. I'm beginning to think it's a rite of passage of
the erotic manga writer to write at least one hermaphrodite story. In
fact, if I included related concepts, such as stories featuring
pre-operative transsexuals ("she-male" being the vulgar term), and
gender-switching stories, there would probably be enough material to
write some kind of thesis.
So the question I have to ask is, what is the basis for the appeal of
this erotic concept in the Japanese culture? There's plenty of other
fringe/fetish concepts in erotic manga and anime, bondage, rape, all
those things that have made UROTSUKIDOJI the darling of the net :-),
but those are just about as common in Western erotica as in Japan.
Hermaphrodites can be found in Western erotica but they're nowhere near
as common. I'd be curious to hear any insights, much as the "lolita
complex" was once discussed on the net.
One last point, and please don't flame me: Whatever the basis for the
appeal, I can't help but wonder if it helped the popularity of RANMA
1/2 way back when it was starting.
--
---------- Ryan Mathews
Email: math...@ix.netcom.com "I like you! You wanna be a
SnailMail: 401 Mortimer Drive #410 guinea pig for my experiments?"
Bedford OH, 44146 -- Washuu-chan
ToonRunner
William Geiger
Sailor
Suits 8) Theres something 'different' with the hermaphrodite, being able
to please men and women of both persuasions has a deffinate appeal.
Seperated at birth?
Hikaru-Chan:"Happy! Happy! Lucky! Lucky!"
Stimpy-kun:"Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!"
ju...@slip.net
Mathews ) wrote:
>
> There is one recurring theme in erotic manga and anime that makes me
> scratch my head, however. This is the concept of the hermaphrodite.
> An hermaphrodite is an individual with both male and female sex organs.
> In the real world, such people are incredible rare. Fully functioning
> hermaphrodites are practically non-existent, despite what Donahue might
> have told you. In the erotic anime and manga world, however, they make
> up a surprisingly large segment of the population.
>
Well I've noticed the same thing. Near as I can figure it (this is a
modification of a report I got from an instructor in "Film and Society"
class) this is a semi logical extension of the tentacle porn genre.
"how..?" you say? Well its like this: Your average flic tries to get the
viewer to identify with the protagonist (the doer) No less in erotica, if
not more so. But in erotica there is the event that the average male will
(mostly subconciously, happens mostly with those with "issues" about their
masculinity) become jealous of the guy in the flic gettin it. Now in
Japan this isn't likely to be a homosexual issue because that isn't nearly
as taboo as it is in puritanical ol US. Hell, in a lot of Japanese
circles it isn't considered "Manly" to be with a woman! *
So what the tentacles provide is the sense of penetration that a girl -
girl encounter might not, without the male presence to inspire jelousy. Or
a body to get in the way of the view, for that matter. THe Hermaphrodite
may represent an evolution of that phenomenom. Now there is a human
presence to identify with, easier than inhuman aliens/demons (at least for
the average psyche) And the hermaphrodite is always curvy and sexy ( as
opposed to the maleish stocky reality) very feminine. Of course having
the male organ allows him/her to dominate any female in sight. And
because he/she has the female set as well, he/she can be dominated in turn
when necessary.
Sorry to be so long winded, but the sexual psyche of Japan is a big
area to explore. No matter what their PR department would have the rest
of the world think. Anyone else notice the sudden cessation of the import
of men's magazines to stores such as Asahiya and Kinokuniya stateside?
When I asked, I was told that they wanted to clean up their image with the
growth of non-japanese american anime shoppers. At least in CA. 'sniff, no
more Urrecco.
Ja ne.
Jubei
* foot note: There was a case where a baseball team owner pulled his team
from the playoffs when word got out that one of the team members had gone
on a date with a woman! Gasp! Then there is the traditional
Master/Student relationship.
--
Russell Isler
Pixel Pusher
NorthStar Studios
San Mateo, CA
http://www.slip.net/~jubei/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When we get the transient facts,
then we feel the Info-high.
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M.G. Petrino
harmony and combined); Check out Fellini's Satyricon :)
Tigersan
ju...@slip.net
Petrino) wrote:
Good Point! I forgot about that. hmmmm. Gotta go watch some European
films for a change.
Jubei
Elizabeth HL Horn
M.G. Petrino <tige...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Hermaphrodites can also represent a spiritual ideal (male/female in
>harmony and combined); Check out Fellini's Satyricon :)
>
>
>Tigersan
Sandra Bernhard once talked about a red-light district in Milan with
transvestite male prostitutes; it was more popular with men who
considered themselves heterosexual than the district with actual
women. She theorized that if men could find some way to completely
satisfy their desires for women without needing *actual* women, they
would. There is also an old Japanese belief about transvestitism that
no *actual* woman can be as beautiful to a man as a skilled
transvestite--the theory being that such can know what men *really*
want better than an actual woman (if you've ever wondered why Japanese
"H" stuff can be so outre, by now you're probably beginning to
realize their sexual mores weren't won on a game show).
From a mythological standpoint, it might be noted that hermaphroditism
was an element among certain figures of the Hindu pantheon. Just as
with CLAMP, et al., Hinduism has a lingering if distant effect on
Japanese storytelling. And, obviously, if the hermaphrodite represents
a spiritual union, they are also a sexual union, making for more
"possibilities." By the way, hermaphroditic characters in anime go
back to the MAZINGER Z of anime's original ill mofo, Go Nagai.
--Carl "And she comes and she goes but she mostly goes" Horn
Kenji
> Sorry to be so long winded, but the sexual psyche of Japan is a big
>area to explore. No matter what their PR department would have the rest
>of the world think. Anyone else notice the sudden cessation of the import
>of men's magazines to stores such as Asahiya and Kinokuniya stateside?
>When I asked, I was told that they wanted to clean up their image with the
>growth of non-japanese american anime shoppers. At least in CA. 'sniff, no
>more Urrecco.
>
>Ja ne.
>
>Jubei
>
I wondered why my Lemon People subscription was canceled...
--
_____________________________________
Urusei/ __ _ _ /
Yatsu/ / /______ __ ___ __//// /Q
ra+D/ __/ __ ___/ ___ / / /__/ / / /te
oug/ /___/ / / /__/ / / /__/ / / /yHo
ra/ _/ / ____/ / ____/ / /ney+
m/ /__/ /_____/ /_____/ /Mezon
/____________________________________/Ikkoku
email: Morobos...@ntc.zelcom.com ^_^;
Steven E. Barnes
>> Sorry to be so long winded, but the sexual psyche of Japan is a big
>>area to explore. No matter what their PR department would have the rest
>>of the world think. Anyone else notice the sudden cessation of the import
>>of men's magazines to stores such as Asahiya and Kinokuniya stateside?
>>When I asked, I was told that they wanted to clean up their image with the
>>growth of non-japanese american anime shoppers. At least in CA. 'sniff, no
>>more Urrecco.
>>
>>Ja ne.
>>
>>Jubei
>>
>I wondered why my Lemon People subscription was canceled...
More likely, they were scared of getting busted by
the vice squad. It happened to the SJ Kinokuniya.
-steve