CANON
person on the show, but has her friends build her a robotic penis for her to be a futa herself. In “Field Trip” the club visits the hot springs to investigate the Manra festival, which club president Mao suspects is related to futanari. Soon enough, Chie, the master of the hot spring, is revealed to be futanari, taking the semen of the Futa Club to spray on a shintai, an object of worship, to bring about a prosperous harvest. The majority of the dialogue and sex occur between several futa characters, allowing them to have aural and bodily conversations without diegetic questioning or discrimination. Their bodies and genitals, while hidden for dramatic effect in Chie’s case, are for futa people only. As Sumika tells the nervous Chie as she strokes her penis, “our penises exist to make each other feel good.”8 This episode of Futabu!! supports Sumika’s comforting words by making the stigmatized bodies of the characters normal and desirable within a world of those who share the same bodies. The design of the characters in Futabu!! are similar to those in other hentai. Ai, Mao, Aya, Sumika and Akane all feature small noses, large but blank eyes, colourful hair and builds that emphasize their breasts. Their characterizations differ only by broad strokes: for instance, Mao is short and reserved while Aya is tall and boisterous. Ortega-Brena theorizes that “the animated body in general is markedly ‘less human’ than a live film body and therefore far less individualized, wide open to imaginary possession and inscription.”9 In creating characters who are differentiated only by superficial means, viewers can easily immerse themselves in any character. Throughout the episode, point of view shots are used to place viewers directly into the bodies of the futa characters. Chie’s viewpoint is shown most frequently, the narrative focusing on her embrace of girls with dicks just like her. Through her eyes, we see Sumika performing oral sex on her, as well as her spying on the Futa Club having sex in the hot springs. The pleasure Chie and the others feel is announced aloud, making the various sexual acts both aurally and visually present. While their breasts rub together, filling the entirety of the frame, Chie says “Sumika-san’s boobs . . . it’s like they’re sucking onto me” and Sumika 8 9
Hentai Haven, “Futabu!!” Ortega-Brena, 18.
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