Its really weird to me that the west is so scared of sexuality in general.
I know its a tired argument but its true that they wont bat an eye to some horrific amounts of violence, but as soon as anything remotely sexual pops up then they start clutching their pearls.
To be fair, the religious foundation of the west is abrahamic so being scared of sexuality is normal, what I find odd us how much effort the west has made to seperate church and state but still maintains the same religious foundation that said it has seperated from.
Also considering the shit that has been going on in the "normal" porn industry. Id rather watch hentai where I know that none of the people working on it are some minors that have been kidnaped and forced into sex slavery.
Makes you wonder why countries like France bans hentai but is fully onboard with movies like cuties.
I would extend that to the entire "sex work" industry, strippers, prostitution and what not is disgusting to me, the females involved are trafficked and forced to participate.
thats an interesting point, there is definetly a good way to make sex an integral part of the narrative.
My favourite romcom is Hoshizora no Memoria, I loved the characters, story, music and art etc. I love it because it helped me during a time where I was struggling in life but also because it's what I believe all romantic comedy should be, you have 2 characters get to know each other, become a couple, have sex, and then resolve further issues in their relationship. Dare I say it, it's realistic.
The whole, will they, won't they, isn't realistic nor is it interesting because people don't work like that. Which is why I argue eroge, the ones written for a male audience in particular portrays a realistic relationship because sex is part of it.
although, funnily enough is that "weird and extreme" reputation that got me interested in hentai in the first place so I dont really watch/read much vanilla stuff.
I don't know if you consider monster girls "weird or extreme" but that was what got me to start collecting hentai manga and I found many short stories that stuck with me to this day.
While I always stick with wholesome vanilla works, I do venture to find different things in it that interest me, for example several years ago I found the Towako magazine compilation which is just Loli and some the the stories are pretty good.
[Amagaeru] Youkai Koryouriya ni Youkoso was one that I enjoyed a lot from the magazine. Same with the works of Batta and Binsen.
I mainly look for romance when I read hentai things and anything outside of that isn't really for me.
