Ahegao

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Ahegao by Kira I.png
One possible representation of the ahegao expression.
Ahegao clothing.jpg
A visitor to Comic Con International in "Ahegao" clothing
Egirl example with ahegao.png
Ahegao in reality.

Ahegao ( Japanese ア ヘ 顔 ), English also O-Face , is a term from Japanese pornography that is used in many pornographic video games ( eroge ), mangas and animes ( hentai ) - also in hentai adaptations of well-known manga and anime series, i.e. dōjinshi  - is used. "Ahegao" refers to a certain facial expression of the characters during the sexual intercourse shown in the media .

The ahegao face has meanwhile established itself as a new fashion trend for erotic lovers in Japan . Manga and anime characters with the ahegao facial expression are sold on clothing . It is possible to imitate the expression.

history

According to a posting in a Nico Nico Pedia forum , the term ahegao goes back to the early 1990s. According to an article in Mel Magazine , ahegao found use in pornographic art forums and communities as early as the 1960s. These then became known in the West at the end of the 20th century due to their increasing popularity in adult forums on websites such as 4Chan or Fakku . Pornographic magazines used Ahegao to describe the facial expressions of female porn actors and their sexual satisfaction. In the same context, Ahegao was used in several posts on 2channel and its sister community for adult content BBSPINK and as a description for pornographic videos on adult-oriented e-commerce platforms in the first half of the 2000s.

Between 2003 and 2005, the first cartoonists of hentai mangas and producers of hentai anime began to use exaggerated depictions of unnatural-looking female orgasms during unwanted or forced sex or in hardcore BDSM works. In another posting states that the ero-guro - mangaka Suehiro Maruo used such illustrations in his works of the early 1980s.

In the mid-2000s, the term became more widespread among other things through the otaku scene. Ahegao has been so widespread since 2008 that it has become one of the most popular drawing techniques for depicting orgasms. Around the same time, the first dōjin series AHE appeared , in which ahegao acts as the main motif. From around 2010, major publishers began to use ahegao- related anthologies, around the same time that hentai fetishes became more popular in the general porn industry .

Ahegao and its modifications are also used in non-sexualized manga and anime series. According to an article by SRF on the Kompass program , which deals with the history of hentai , it is thanks to the Internet that the facial expression “Ahegao” has achieved worldwide fame. The dissemination as memes played a decisive role.

Thomas Baudinette, professor of Japanese studies at Macquarie University in Sydney said in an interview with Vice Magazine that the origin of Ahegao in Ero mangas and porn magazines is likely to be for heterosexual men in the late 1990s or the early 2000s and through these media could have got to the west.

Word origin

While the second part of the word kao or -gao ( 顔 ) translates as “ face ”, the first part of the word ahe ( ア ヘ ) cannot be formed with the Kanji alphabet. In Katakana , however, is that part of the definition of an acronym for aheahe ( アヘアヘ ) represents that a Stöhngeräusch describes. Ahegao literally means "moaning face" or "strange face".

Ahegao must not be confused with Ahoge ( ア ホ 毛 ). Ahoge is the description for the "hair antenna", i. H. a strand or two of heavily protruding hair made popular by Love Hina . Another distinction has to be made between Ahegao and Ikigao ( イ キ 顔 , from iki "to come"), which is much more realistic and occurs in many works that are more mainstream.

presentation

Typical features include rolled back eyes , a drooping tongue, and flushed cheeks . The faces of the characters are depicted deformed in Ahegao scenes. Representations of ahegao are mostly deliberately drawn in an exaggerated form to create a surreal effect. In a description in the Urban Dictionary , Ahegao is described as an "Anime / Manga version of a facial expression during an orgasm " that is "generally very sexual and disreputable". The ahegao face is used to represent various degrees of sexual satisfaction . The depiction of the eyes rolled back was initially associated with scenes of rape, which is why these are also known as rape eyes .

Patrick Galbraith, a professor at Senshū University in Tokyo, describes Ahegao as a shifted climax or as a loss of meaning and understanding in the wake of overwhelming pleasure. Baudinette explained that creators of Japanese pornography have to overcome high hurdles, since the distribution of pornographic works in Japan is prohibited by various censorship laws and can be punished with a fine or prison sentence. Japanese producers of pornographic works understood these regulations to mean that sexual organs and pubic hair are censored in all publications. Representations of sexual intercourse, however, are much more difficult to represent. Because of this, Baudinette assumes that these laws could have led to the birth of ahegao, since the producers of pornographic works were looking for a way to be able to depict physical ecstasy in the course of the depicted sexual intercourse.

Although ahegao is mainly used in pornographic manga, anime, and video games, ahegao can also be found in non-adult works, where this facial expression is mostly parodied.

Internet phenomenon

According to an article on the adult gaming platform Nutaku , the ahegao face in conjunction with the two-handed peace sign became a meme that became known in Japan under the name ア ヘ 顔 ダ ブ ル ピ ー ス ahegao daburu pīsu . A female character from the manga and anime series My Sister, My Writer is called Ahegao Double Peace .

In the social media , the so-called Ahegao challenge in the most females existed imitate these facial expressions and upload videos or pictures of it. Also Memes that address Ahegao, are increasingly divided on the Internet.

The ahegao facial expression is particularly widespread in the e-girl movement, which young women and girls, so-called e-girls, repeatedly imitate in videos that are then shared on TikTok .

Ahegao clothing

The ahegao face has meanwhile developed into a fashion trend. The most popular item of clothing in this trend is a hoodie with a collage of various ahegao faces from various hentai anime. The design and the sweater itself are often used for memes about the Weeaboo culture.

Collages of pictures by hentai artist Hirune, which show anime characters with facial expressions, have been circulating on the Internet since 2015. The first t-shirt showing such a collage was posted in a South Korean online forum in March 2016 . Smartphone cases, pillow cases and tote bags were also published with similar motifs. More items followed in the form of t-shirts, baseball caps, hoodies, and other pieces that were put up for sale on platforms like Redbubble or Paom .

In June 2016, the trend was picked up on Reddit and has spilled over into Western cultures since 2017. The US clothing brand Supreme worked with the Japanese artist Toshio Maeda , who is described as the “father of hentai” , back in 2015 . Since 2018, the erotic company Fakku has been selling official ahegao clothing, with drawings by the hentai artist Asanagi. In 2018, the Chinese fashion company Shenzhen Guangcai Trading applied for "Ahegao" to be registered with the US Patent Office and has been a registered trademark of the company since April 2019. In July 2020, Fakku! CEO Jacob Grady announced that he would have this entry checked and accused Shenzhen Guangcai Trading of using stolen images for their clothing motifs.

According to Thomas Baudinette, wearing ahegao clothing is unthinkable in Japan, as ahegao is closely related to the world of manga and is merely a trend within Japanese otaku culture and serves as an expression of the sexual attraction to imaginary characters.

criticism

While Ahegao was originally used as a funny element, there are now more and more people who describe the portrayal of Ahegao as sexist or misogynistic , as the woman is assumed to lose control during sexual intercourse through the use of this pictorial representation. Khursten Santos, on the other hand, does not necessarily describe the portrayal as sexist, since it was originally considered a comical facial expression of female sexuality, but can also be understood as a disguised crisis of masculinity. Stephen Reysen , a psychology professor at Texas A&M University , agrees. He describes Ahegao as no more sexist than other pornographic media. The representation glorifies an extremely unrealistic representation of female pleasure, but any kind of advertising, Pornhub videos or simple TV programs do the same. In his opinion, whether the portrayal is sexist depends on the viewer and the situation portrayed in the medium.

Organizers of various anime conventions in the United States announced in January 2020 that they would refuse entry to visitors if they were wearing ahegao clothing. This sparked a controversial debate within the anime community.

Due to the frequent use of the ahegao facial expression in the e-girl movement by underage girls, the facial expression has been criticized for contributing to the sexualization of minors. Especially since the e-girl movement uses not only facial expressions but also generally highly sexualizing poses, clothing and elements, and in some cases also serves fetishes.

literature

  • Kimi Rito: The Expression History of Ero-Manga . Ed .: Tōkyō Ōta Shuppan. 2017, ISBN 978-4-7783-1592-4 , pp. 392 (Japanese).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ahegao. Wordsense Dictionary, accessed July 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Mike Toole: The Anime Alphabet. Anime News Network , February 22, 2015, accessed July 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Iliana: Japan: New fashion trend on T-shirts causes a stir. Sumikai, October 1, 2017, accessed July 28, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Ahegao ア ヘ 顔. Japanese with Anime, August 5, 2017, accessed July 28, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Isabell Kohn: WHAT'S WITH THIS SEXY DERP FACE THAT'S SUDDENLY EVERYWHERE? Mel Magazine, April 2019, accessed July 9, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b c d mona_jpn: Ahegao. Know Your Meme , June 24, 2017, accessed July 31, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Jan Gross: Hentai: the art of drawn pornography. SRF , April 6, 2020, accessed on July 29, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Samantha Cole: How Censorship Created Porn's New Face of Pleasure. Vice , February 28, 2020, accessed August 2, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b The ABC's of Hentai, Part I. Black Girl Nerds, October 14, 2016, archived from the original on July 30, 2018 ; accessed on July 30, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b Artefact: The Evolution of the Ahegao. Sankaku Complex, July 2, 2010, accessed July 30, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Olivier Benoit: Chroniques Hentai: au-delà des interdits. Journal du Japon, September 26, 2016, accessed July 28, 2018 (French).
  12. ↑ Ahegao. Urban Dictionary , accessed July 28, 2018 .
  13. ↑ 明治 四 十年 四月 二十 四日 法律 第四 十五 号 Act No. 45 of April 24, 1907. Japanese Law Translations, accessed August 2, 2020 .
  14. ↑ AgentShawnee's Hentai Vocabulary 101. Nutaku.net , March 2, 2018, accessed July 30, 2018 .
  15. ^ A b Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: What are E-Girls / E-Boys? (The youth trend explained). Retrieved March 6, 2020 .
  16. ↑ a b c What’s the Story Behind This Egirl Face? An investigation. Retrieved March 6, 2020 (American English).
  17. ↑ a b c d e The Trend Of The Ahegao Hoodie. Medium.com, May 23, 2019, accessed June 16, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Ahegao. United States Patent and Trademark Office , accessed July 29, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Kim Morrissy: FAKKU to Contest Shenzhen Guangcai Trading's 'Ahegao' Trademark. Anime News Network , July 27, 2020, accessed July 29, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Megan Peters: Anime Convention Stirs Debate After Banning NSFW Clothes from Event. Comicbook.com, January 16, 2020, accessed January 25, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Spencer Batuli: Several Anime Conventions Announce New Ban on Attendees Wearing 'Ahegao' Clothing. Boundingintocomics.com.com, January 23, 2020, accessed January 25, 2020 .
  22. ^ Rebecca Jennings: E-girls and e-boys, the irony-laced subculture that doesn't exist in real life. August 1, 2019, accessed March 6, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Liz Sommer: The 2019 eGirl: TikTok And Beyond. April 2, 2019, accessed March 6, 2020 (American English).