So, the terms get thrown around a lot… I thought I’d stir the pot and see if I got some opinions…
Amongst the uneducated masses (at least the ones that have something of a clue), there is a prevelant idea that hentai and bishoujo are the same thing–shoot, I’ve even seen the word hentai get used on this BBS to refer to the games, and not the sex scenes.
One question that comes to mind is: are the hentai scenes really necessary to make it good bishoujo? For example, I’ve already seen the American production company, MegaTech, dissed because they tried to cater to a mass market by making R-rated games, and I read a scathing review of Himeya Soft’s Eve: Burst Error because there are no hentai scenes in it–just underwear shots, and the sex is all "off camera."
But I enjoyed playing my MegaTech games (as silly as it may seem), and the plot of Eve kept me riveted. I don’t think the hentai was necessary at all… just the bishoujo.
On the other hand, some hentai, even while “extreme,” can further a good story line… G-Collections’ Chain: the Lost Footsteps contains a brutal rape scene that truly bothers me–but at the same time, it makes the death of an otherwise fairly flat, insignificant, and otherwise unsympathetic character more poignant and dramatic. In other words, it lends impact to the story, rather than simply being a rape scene.
Ultimately, I’m a “middle-of-the-road” kind of guy. I personally don’t care if my bishoujo contains hentai (although, granted, I’d like to see the girl get naked…), although I think it would be kind of nice if the publishers could give the consumer some kind of indication of what they were in for. The only outcome I can ever be sure of is on a dating sim… at the end, if I get one of the girls, there will be a love-making scene.
As I said… feel free to comment or opine