Girl Trouble
by Lyn Jensen
“Hentai” is one of the more controversial terms in a manga (or anime) fan’s lexicon. It’s all but synonymous with adults-only porn to some, to others it refers to nothing more provocative than glimpses of young women’s underwear. Sometimes it’s applied narrowly to heterosexual content, other times it applies to homosexual content as well. Using the term can create confusion, and also risk the wrath of whatever moral watchdogs may be lurking.
Perhaps that’s why examples of sexually explicit manga are rarely marketed stateside. (Interestingly, however, the American manga market seems more open to gay-themed yaoi than straight-themed hentai.) An alternate term, “fan service,” is often applied to the suggestive, but less explicit, comics that service the male fan with scenes of young women in their panties (or out of their panties), wildly exaggerated views of women’s busts and the like. But that material, too, is rare in America.
One popular “fan service” manga series that is available in the U.S. is Eiken, by Seiji Matsuyama, published by AnimeWorks Press, a division of Media Blasters. Over 18 volumes bursting with silly adolescent humor, a teenage student keeps getting into far more than his share of girl trouble. Try as he might, young innocent Densuke just can’t stay out of compromising situations with the busty schoolgirls of the Eiken club, or with their faculty advisor-a teacher so awkward the students have to take care of her.
Even though much of the series’ humor relies on gimmicks-like schoolgirls busting out of their clothes, the clumsy teacher caught in the nude with the schoolboy (he can explain everything, honestly)-the overall effect is relatively inoffensive to women. It may remind fans of British comedy and the polite way the British have of getting away with racy humor. It’s so ridiculous, all so characteristic of human shortcomings, that few adults are likely to bother being seriously offended by it.
Just the same, Eiken is an adult comic, and Media Blasters has seen fit to bestow upon it an 18-and-older rating and a “parental advisory” warning. Volume 5 is due in July. In Japan the series was published from 2001 to 2004 by Shonen Champion, which caters to an older, wider range of readers and offers more diverse comics than the world-famous Shonen Jump.