...is derived from a Japanese word meaning "erotic", "lewd", "sexy", or "lascivious" when used as an adjective, or sexual intercourse when used as a noun. The nuance of ecchi varies with context, but in general the word itself is comparable to "naughty" or "dirty".
The origin of the term ecchi is uncertain. Ecchi in Japanese is attached to the Japanese pronunciation of the Roman letter "H" which is the first letter in the Japanese word "Hentai", which may be a backronym. The prefix "H-" is sometimes used to refer to pornographic genres: H-anime, H-manga, etc. (that's how we refer to adult only stuff here at the store - 'H'). Ecchi is another way to say "perverted" in Japanese, but its connotation is not as strong as Hentai. Chotto Ecchi (chotto meaning "slightly") refers to anime that has some light sexual themes.
The word sekkusu is also used in Japan for sex, and Japanese native words for sex (such as 性交 seikō) are often replaced by words of foreign origin such as sekkusu or neologisms such as ecchi.
Anime that contain a lot of sexual humor but no outright pornography are most often correctly referred to as 'ecchi'. Examples vary widely, but include series like Love Hina, Amazing Nurse Nanako, Harenchi Gakuen, Ninja Girls, Yumeria, Kanokon, Kiss×Sis, Please Teacher, Girls Bravo, Dears, Maburaho, Tenjho Tenge, Chobits, Hanaukyo Maid Team, Kemeko DX, Sora no Otoshimono, Sakura Diaries, Shuffle, Golden Boy, Sumomomo Momomo, Green Green, Rosario + Vampire, Asu no Yoichi (good grief, the list goes on and on!) and of course, my favorite - Mahoromatic!
Remember everyone, dirty thoughts are bad...
1 comment:
Hi Robert,
Mahoromatic is one of my favs too. That first video was messed up but amusing. Also your list... is it worrying i've seen the majority of those? It is isn't it >_> (i swear my favourite genre is romantic comedy tho!). Thanks for another amusing word of the week :P
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