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I don’t talk about hentai enough here at Popverse, but that is about to change. Like any self-respecting anime fan, I’ve spent my share of time cruising some of the more risqué parts of the fandom. Just like the illustrious Samuel L. Jackson, I’m proud to say that I love anime and hentai too. Turns out, many of the people who created popular manga got their start drawing hentai.

For this week’s Popverse Jump, I’ll be illustrating how there is a straight line between some of your favorite anime and manga artists and their hentai roots.

Why is hentai a big deal?

I’m gonna start by assuring you that there is no shade being cast on those who create or enjoy hentai – or any other form of pornography, for that matter. It is a valid and lucrative profession and I respect the heck out of it. Think of this piece as a bit of an education for fans who aren’t quite as experienced in these matters.

In Japan, adult or pornographic fan art is a big industry. Big enough that there are whole markets dedicated to them. While some individual creators might encourage fans to draw hentai of their characters (or, in the case of Nier: Automata creator Yoko Taro, ask for it all to be collated and delivered to them in a handy zip drive), most manga companies turn a blind eye to the practice but don’t actively encourage it. Not everything sold at these markets is adult fan art; you can also find plenty of original stories and characters there too. However, take even a short stroll down artist alley at any comic con and you'll see that people love seeing sexy drawings of their favorite characters. 

Shueisha isn’t going to send a cease-and-desist order to artists the way, say, Disney might. Not because they approve, but because they indirectly benefit from this part of the industry. Not only is it a good metric for how active your fan community really is, but it also acts as a training ground for many up-and-coming manga artists. Because the best way to learn to draw anatomy is to draw naked people engaged in rather vigorous activity.

Who honed their craft as a hentai artist before switching to other, more mainstream manga? We’re glad you asked! I’m not going to directly link to any of the hentai mentioned here, mainly because it is all technically piracy and we have a strict editorial policy about that. But I will also encourage you to put Google to work for you.

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagataro’s creator made an adorable Naruto hentai

Looking back, we shouldn’t have been surprised that the creator of Miss Nagataro, a manga about a young boy and his crush/bully teasing him, dabbled in hentai. The tsundere trope is strong in this one. However, he gained notoriety after drawing a very sweet hentai manga featuring Naruto and Hinata in their married life together. We’ll throw a quick warning in with this one – Nanashi did some really cute work over the years, but he also did some pretty extreme ones that you might want to avoid.

The creator of Tomo-Chan is a Girl! drew a lot of butts before finding mainstream success

Fumita Yanagida created the feisty Tomo, who is a tomboy character with red hair and a fang tooth, which is a collection of some of my favorite things. However, he also had a budding career drawing ecchi books and stories, usually with a woman’s butt on prominent display. You can actually see his penchant for slice-of-life romantic comedies in this early work, along with plenty of backsides.

Ghost in the Shell artist Masamune Shirow made hentai after becoming a legend in manga

Not everyone got their start making hentai. Instead, Masamune Shirow, who created the iconic Ghost in the Shell, started making art books featuring sexy women in skin-tight outfits and compromising positions. Not all of it is outright hentai, but a lot of it is. I mean, the guy made one of the most iconic manga and anime series of all time – who’s going to stop him from knocking out a couple of hentai art books on the side?

Oshi no Ko artist created a hentai series called Wanna Do It Again?

While Oshi no Ko is more known for its weird murder mystery/reincarnation concept, the artist behind it, Mengo Yokoyari, was originally known for a hentai series called Wanna Do It Again? It follows, as you might expect, a young couple navigating the complexities of starting a sexual relationship. There are some sweet moments mixed in with extremely explicit illustrations. Everything you could ask for, really.

This is just a small sample of some of the popular hentai that have been created by people who got their start in hentai, sometimes as a hobby and sometimes as a profession. Because everyone has a naughty side they like to explore.

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