The first anime I had ever seen was “Gigantor”. Then “Battle of the Planets” (originally called “Science Ninja Team Gatchaman” in Japan), and later “Mazinger Z”. Back then, I had yet to hear the term “anime”, and I had no idea they were all made in Japan. The one thing I did take notice of immediately, was that all of the characters seemed to be some weird adult/child hybrid or something. It would take my full introduction to the world of anime (Japanese for animation) and manga (Japanese for comics), to truly take notice of this bizarre (and some might say disturbing) aspect of Japanese popular art. This happened while managing a comics and collectibles shop in New York’s West Village in the ’90s. I became familiar with all of the popular titles: Bubblegum Crisis, Project A-ko, Ghost in the Shell, and many more (Go Nagai and Masamune Shiro were two of my favorite manga artists). When I discovered hentai, I was intrigued. I started ordering these large magazine-sized black and white hentai comics, with colorful covers. Each month, I eagerly awaited new issues and had built up a small collection.

Now I understand that cartoon characters aren’t real people (in many, they aren’t people at all, but animals or machines). However, in manga and anime, determining the children from the adults can be a little confusing. (though certain situations within the story can help in identifying them). You have “adults” behaving like children, and “children” performing the duties of adults. The generational lines are somewhat blurred. For instance, Gigantor was this huge robotic weapon controlled by a twelve-year-old named Jimmy Sparks. In Pokemon, there don’t seem to be any adults at all, and children wander the world in search of battles for their pet monsters to engage in. There’s Project A-ko, where classmate B-ko who is clearly a teenager, has a crush on C-ko, who looks (and behaves) as if she were eight years old. A-ko herself looks to be closer to B-ko’s age, but C-ko is her best friend. But regardless of the age of any of the characters, they all have one thing in common: cute features (even Yu-Gi-Oh’s grandfather looks like a kid wearing a fake beard). The “cute factor” in anime and manga is what makes every character look like a child. Is it the oversized eyes? Maybe. But the topless A-ko or naked B-ko masturbating in the pool while thinking about C-ko pales in comparison to anything found in hentai.

The controversial lolicon (“loli” for short) or shota styles of hentai may be the most frowned-upon of all hentai in the west, but many westerners generally have a problem with hentai, because of their childlike facial features and wardrobe. This became my quandary as well. I lost interest in the art form because I no longer found it pleasurable, and found myself constantly fretting over whether or not I had any business enjoying it. Not until recent years had I become interested in hentai again, with the understanding that there are no children whatsoever in hentai. It’s a style of art, and either you like it or you don’t. Since my initial foray into hentai, the genre has grown exponentially, with new styles popping up seemingly every year (including the aforementioned lolicon and shota). One day a few years back, I stumbled upon futanari (or “futa” for short) and became hooked. Futanari are intersex beings with exaggerated features and abilities, and I find them incredibly fascinating. My previous apprehension of hentai had dissipated, and I stopped overthinking the matter. This brings me to the subject of this article.

One day while surfing the internet for futanari images, I stumbled upon an image that blew my mind. Digging further, I discovered that it was a screenshot from an animated short by someone named Mantis-X. The first short I watched was at PornHub, and there were others by him there as well. I was immediately blown away by what I saw. Believe it or not, the sex was the least interesting thing about it (not to say it isn’t thoroughly enjoyable). There is a lot to love about Mantis-X’s animation; the display of color, style, expression, movement, music, etc. But you really have to see it for yourself to fully appreciate it. One of the things that always made me feel uncomfortable about adult anime or manga was the fact that the female characters seemed like unwilling participants in the sex. In other words, they were rape scenes (which is a whole other article altogether). But the women in Mantis-X’ videos initiate the sex and there’s a confidence in the characters lacking in much of adult animation. Believe me when I say that there is literally nothing like the illustrations and animation of Mantis-X

(I decided to publish an update to this interview today, December 7, 2021. It’s been a couple of years since my chat with Mantis-X went live. I didn’t notice it in the beginning, but after a few months, I noticed that a lot of my followers on Instagram had unfollowed me. Some of whom I interviewed for this magazine. I had posted a Safe For Work illustration by Mantis-X on Instagram instructing my followers to check out the article here. I’m almost a hundred percent certain that that’s why I lost those followers. I had already deleted the post after a few weeks because it looked out of place in my feed, but the damage was already done. Even one of my friends unfollowed me. Last year, I “hid” the article by unpublishing it. I didn’t want the negative attention that it was receiving to kill my magazine.)

(But, lately, I considered republishing it. Maybe remove some of the images that may have been too much for some. I mentioned in my introduction to this interview that what fans of manga and anime call “lolicon” or “loli” can be problematic. Despite the characters not actually being children, a lot of westerners don’t see it that way. They see wide eyes, colorful hair, and cute outfits, and they can’t help but see children when they look at loli. Some even hate regular hentai because, again, the Japanese pop style of cartooning makes the characters look like children in their eyes. There’s nothing I can do about how people choose to view art. I’m just the presenter, not the creator.)

(The reason I wanted to do this interview was that I was truly impressed with Mantis-X’s animation. He is truly an artist and his animation is like no other. It’s brilliant! Had I wanted to, I could have embedded one of his videos here, but I figured it might offend the sensibilities of some of our readers. I really didn’t want the article to be graphic and I thought that I had done a good job of that. Obviously not. I’ve published articles that contain nudity and sex here, here, and here. No one complained, no one unfollowed my Instagram account. I didn’t expect that this article would sink my magazine. I still think it’s a great interview and an insightful one at that. So, I’m going to give it another try and see what happens. Wish me luck.)

I’m going to assume that your artistic talents developed at a very early age. Have you ever had any other aspirations of what you wanted to do with your skills, other than what you are doing now?

Well, I've always loved to draw. I've never been especially amazing at it, but I still loved doing it. I'd be the kid in class doodling on his homework during lectures etc, and taking all the art classes. As for aspirations, other than what I am doing, not really. I used to do CGI as a hobby and now it's my livelihood. I would like to dip my toe into mediums other than animation but we'll see.

When did you decide to do adult anime, and what prompted your decision?

It was mid-2016. Crazy how fast time flies, it seems like yesterday! I was in a rough financial spot and I was looking for some supplemental income. I saw others making a few bucks doing similar things so I figured that I would try my hand in it as well.

Who were some of your influences, artistically?

Hmm, quite a few people! AskRay/Boshi and Nanashi stick out in my mind though.

What are you using to render your animation?

I use an older version of Blender. 2.76 to be exact. It's a great piece of free software!

Do you consider yourself an artist, animator, or both?

I'm going to have to go with "both". I build and model my own characters, as well as animate them!

Your characters also seem very expressive, and exhibit more personality than what I would expect; from facial expressions to body language. The movement is also very fluid. Do you work with models at all? If not, how do you achieve that level of expression and articulation in your characters?

Well, thank you! I find expression and body language are quite important for the subject matter, so I spend a lot of time on that! Since I make my own models I am able to give them all the various shape keys they need for the expressions. Also coming up with tricks over time to help aid in the process. There's a lot you can do with Blender and I'm still only scratching the surface! The body animations themselves are handled by a standard "IK" rig system found among similar animation suites.

If I remember correctly, you have animations that are as long as four minutes. How much time does it typically take you to create one animated segment?

Aye, the average animation length is generally around 4 minutes. Although I have a few around the 8/10 minute mark as well. Each animation is split into smaller segments that focus on various things during that segment, allowing me to easier transition between poses or settings. It takes me about 3-5 days per segment, depending on complexity, length, and how many hours I work on it each day. Animating the overall movements is usually the quick part, fine-tuning the small details can take much longer.

In addition to the animation itself, are you involved in all aspects of your creations: character wardrobe, music, sound effects, concepts, etc., or do you work with a team?

I currently do everything solo. When modeling a new character I'll often use their official outfit, or a modified version thereof. If not I'll design a unique and sexier outfit for them to wear during my animations. Some characters even get multiple outfits depending on how long I've been using them for. Music and sound effects are usually found from various sources.

I remember several years back, when lolicon became huge, and there was a lot of controversy surrounding that particular art form. However, manga, hentai, and anime have always had characters who were clearly meant to be adults, but look child-like for the most part. The use of small bodies, bright-colored hair, and cute outfits abound. Do you know why this is a recurring theme in Japanese pop culture (at least in comics and animation)?

I cannot say for sure, all I can do is make guesses. I will say that cute things seem to be much more popular in that region than in the west. The line between "cute" and "childlike" is blurred when it comes to humanoid characters, causing a lot of these controversies. Even cute characters with curves and huge bosoms aren't exempt from them these days.

There seems to be an ever-increasing number of variant types of hentai popping up on the internet. What types have you not done yet, and what types are you not interested in doing at all?

Hentai is only limited by imagination and/or technology! I look forward to seeing what new mediums pop up for the art form. I can only dream of days of the holodeck or some sort of augmented reality at a consumer level.

That being said, from a subject matter I mostly stick with the more vanilla stuff. I have dabbled into tentacles and wouldn't mind revisiting that. Although I can say that both guro and vore are never going to happen.

Is there a plan in your future to do something long-form, like maybe thirty minutes to an hour-long?

No plans for that at the moment. If I ever did such a thing, however, I would probably make it a more story or plot-based animation. Similar to commercial Hentai videos. As of now, there's little plot beyond "They bang each other" in my videos. Maybe with some mild themes.

I would like to thank Mantis-X for taking the time out of his super busy schedule for this interview. If you would like to see more of his artwork and videos, you can find his work at pixiv and FANBOX. Subscribe to his SubscribeStar page here, and follow him on Mastodon.