Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The hentai streaming platform wars

2024; Taylor & Francis; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/23268743.2024.2418000

2326-8751

Aurélie Petit,

Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

This article investigates the digital conflicts that occur between different Japanese pornographic animated media (here referred to as 'hentai anime') platforms on the anglophone internet. Drawing on the 'hentai streaming platform wars' metaphor to illustrate the growth of a hybrid streaming ecology of pirated and licensed animated releases, the article offers a framework to investigate what happens to animation during the platformization of porn, and to pornography during the platformization of animation. By providing a detailed history of the American hentai anime market, from its arrival through fan-distributed video networks up to its current challenges on both legal and pirate streaming platforms, the article demonstrates that the historical conflicts within the hentai streaming ecosystem do not call for tech-solutionist approaches (tracking and deplatforming content). Rather, the article will ask for the pornographic industry as a whole to revaluate how it considers animated productions during porn platformization.