Much as we at Hentai Playground love to fill your impressionable minds with lewd and lascivious thoughts on a (near) weekly basis, we also feel a strong duty to educate. Maybe it’s just our love of school uniforms manifesting in unusual ways. In any case, we think that learning more about the world of hentai can only serve to enrich your enjoyment of it. We therefore present the start of what we hope will be a long-running series that will combine to form a *dramatic pause* Dictionary of Hentai. So without further ado, let’s start at the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start).

Ahegao

Formed by a combination of “ahe”, meaning…well, we’ll get to that in a moment…and “kao/gao” meaning “face”, “ahegao” is a popular staple of hentai that describes a face that is so overcome by pleasure that it has lost all semblance of reason. Usually the eyes are rolled back in the head and the tongue is lolling out. A sign that the (usually, but not necessarily female) character has entirely succumbed to the sensations she is experiencing, and often represents a final stage of corruption of a noble heroine. But where does “ahe” come in? 

Japanese sources are not entirely sure. One suggestion is that it’s the sound a face that looks like that would make trying to say “ヘェ〜” (“Heeee”, that not-at-all grating expression of surprise). Another is that it comes from “ahen”, the Japanese word for opium. Whatever the truth, the word is here to stay, so it’s clearly important you learn about it. That’s why I’ve picked out the game NTR Legend, for your further education.

In NTR Legend, you play as a fuckboy (easily identified by his blond hair and sunglasses) who earns money sexing chicks at the chick-sexing factory so he can afford to hire the next-door neighbor (married) to clean his apartment, in order to sexually harass her. During the sex scenes, there’s a convenient ahe-cam view so you can see her ahegao in all its glory. Take notes, as there will be a test at the end of the semester.

Aku-ochi

Here’s a sort-of related genre next for you in “aku-ochi”, literally “falling to evil”, but translated elsewhere as “corrupted morals”. Most commonly, it refers to a virtuous female character–often a warrior of justice, but sometimes just a regular gal living her life–who falls victim to vice, usually some time around the first ahegao. It’s common in fantasy RPGs with female heroines, but also in the NTR genre, where regular housewives betray their husbands for a nice fat, cock. Sometimes the corrupted character becomes a villain themselves, perhaps to inflict the same sexual torture on their former allies. Sometimes they just become willing sex objects, spending all their time craving cock. Fun!

This genre’s extra credit assignment is Meritocracy of the Oni & Blade, a game about busty swordswomen bent on revenge. The path of vengeance never runs smooth, of course, and it won’t take much for these fine, upstanding warriors to give in to the power of pleasure.

Anaru

Okay, first things first, “anaru” is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word “anal”. So where’s the lesson, you ask? Well, I think it’s worth bringing up because in Japanese, “anaru” most commonly means “anus” (i.e. the hole of the butt), so it’s used as a noun, not an adjective. However, the term anal sex (“anaru sekkusu”) is also used, so if you think about it, the term in Japanese is kinda like “buttsex”.

There are thousands of doujins where the ass is shown love–too many to choose from, really–but if you don’t mind putting in a little management work to earn some anal fun, try out Pick-Up Beach! By carefully managing male arousal, female arousal, beach popularity and the popularity of various sex acts, you can have your way with the girls on the beach, including convincing them to do anal. If only real life was so simple.

ASMR

There’s probably not a need to explain ASMR to the current internet-savvy generation, but much like a soccer mom telling you her life story before giving you the recipe for beef stroganoff you clicked on her page to learn, I have content to needlessly flesh out here. ASMR, of course, stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, and refers to the tingling sensation that some people experience around their scalp, possibly traveling down their neck towards their upper spine, in response to indirect stimuli, such as sounds or movements. It is most commonly associated with audio stimuli, with whispers, brushing, crinkling, scratching, bubbling and other sounds being widely used as “triggers” to cause the phenomenon. Interestingly, only about 20% of people actually experience tingles from ASMR.

Now, you may associate ASMR most strongly with a bunch of girls in low-cut tops licking 3Dio mics on Twitch, but did you know that a lot of hentai audio works also make use of ASMR? You did? Well, I guess this was just a huge waste of both your time and mine, then. Ah well, the least I can do is give a recommendation for something to listen to to help you forget this happened. Like this one, from Aoharu Fetishism’s Super Whisper series:

If you’ve ever wanted to experience both the excitement of having sex with your horny step-sister behind your mom’s back AND the tingles of ASMR, then this is the audio for you. Produced by Aoharu Fetishism using a Dummy Head Mic, you can be sure that every angle has been covered as your incest-adjacent lover whispers, licks, and sucks you in all the ways you’ll love. And if you don’t get tingles, stay tuned to learn about Japanese family dynamics. This is meant to be educational, after all.

That’s all for the Dictionary of Hentai for now, but rest assured we will be back. There are lots of letters to get through, after all.

Feel free to speculate about what will make it into the B Chapter on DLsite’s Discord, and, as always, follow us on Twitter!