Kimi Rito’s The History of Hentai Manga is something that is not common in general – an academic text aimed for wider audience on the topic of adult materials which does not approach the topic from what I’ll call a sex-negative perspective. On more than a few occasions I’ve accounted works on sex work and pornography which are sex (and sex worker)-negative, or try to take a neutral perspective and end up on a somewhat patronizing point of view. Certainly, I haven’t encountered any which cover the medium from an art-history standpoint. Kimi Rito’s work does provide what I’d almost call a more art-history point of view – not in the form I’d have chosen, but still an interesting form nonetheless.
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