Modern Japanese hentai has been greatly influenced by the early American comic book style and the cartoon animation of pioneers such as Walt Disney. Japanese mangas (comics) borrowed heavily from the look the characters in such early full length animations as ‘Snow White’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Prior to 1945, the look of the characters in early Japanese mangas was distinctly oriental in both coloring and facial features. After the occupation of Japan by American forces (from 1945 until 1952) the Japanese populous was inundated with American style comics and cartoons this created a new style where ‘occidental’ features dominated the facial features of Japanese characters in both straight and hentai publications.
Japanese hentai are comics and anime that have sex and sexual relations as the main theme of the material. To someone unfamiliar with this style of comic it might seem odd to see wide round eyes, flowing blonde hair and a milky white skin on an essentially Japanese character.
To draw a Japanese hentai the eyes are the most important feature. The eyes in both mangas and anime productions have a distinctly Japanese touch. There are three basic eye shapes: triangular, oval and rectangular. The pupil must always contain at least one highlight and often has as many as three. Oval eyes are typically used for cute or happy characters, triangle eyes are for ‘bad guys’ or mean anime types and the rectangle is for the innocent look. The pupil is almost always oval in shape with an exceptionally large iris. Since the majority of mangas are in black and white, the color of the eye is not as important as the shape and the wide-eyed look that they always seem to have. Eyelashes, when shown, are long and dark and the eyes are usually widely spaced in the exact center of the face. Depending on whether it is a serious or comedic storyline the eyes can be either horse shoe shaped lines when closed or they can be slightly open as slits.