What does Netorare NTR mean?

"Netorare or NTR is a subgenre of anime, manga and other media that address the theme of betrayal in their plots. This genre explores infidelity in romantic relationships, whether between boyfriends, spouses or any other form of connection that presupposes a degree minimum loyalty.

Typically, these audiovisual works highlight the perspective of the betrayed person, who, in the vast majority of cases, is represented as a man. In this Post, we will discuss this genre in more detail and examine how it portrays aspects of real life in Japan."

The meaning of the word netorare

Netorare [寝取られ] literally means putting on horn, betraying a loved one with another. The word netorare is literally the verb netora [寝取れ] in the passive form. The verb netore literally means stealing another's spouse or stealing another's lover.

The word Netorare is derived from the ideogram [寝] which means to sleep, lie down or go to bed, and from the kanji [取] which means to take, steal, eat, etc. The funniest thing is that Google gets lost when trying to translate this word or variations of it, since Japanese ideograms convey the idea of many meanings and synonyms.

The word netorare can be written with only one of the ideograms, or even without the ideograms. The meaning is the same, but for some reason google translates it in funny ways like: sleep sex, get naughty, take a treat and other nonsense translations. That's why it's always good to use the famous desu

Sometimes Netorare is abbreviated as NTR, the main purpose of the genre is to cause jealousy by presenting a story where the protagonist is taken from the heroine, seduced by someone else. Any other variation of the verb netoru like netori, netorimasu and netorimashita is related to stealing another's spouse.

Netorare - uncovering the Japanese cheating genre

Anime and Manga about Netorare

When people search for netorare, they are looking for related Japanese works. Whether anime or manga, people apparently like to see the suffering of others, this mixture of feelings of love and hate is usually very emotional.

Read also: Meaning of hentai and Ecchi - Differences, Genres and Anime

Caso ainda não saiba, a maioria dos animes da categoria netorare são hentais, mas existem alguns Ecchi ou histórias shoujo inocentes que abordam o tema. Vamos recomendar abaixo a lista dos principais animes e mangás relacionados com Netorare (Os mangás estão por últimos).

  • Kuzu no honkai;
  • School Days;
  • White album 2;
  • Nozoki Ana;
  • Rumbling hearts;
  • Peach girl;
  • NTR: Netsuzou Trap;
  • Nana;
  • Yosuga no Sora;
  • This is a Japanese title and it translates to "The Eternity You Desire" in English.
  • Dorei-ku;
  • Koi to Use;
  • Sakura Trick;
  • Kimi no Iru Machi;
  • Strawberry Panic;
  • Maria-sama ga Miteru;
  • Peach Girl
  • Ginen Shounen;
  • Onani Master Kurosawa;
  • Renai Shijou Shugi;
  • Okusama wa Joshi Kousei;
  • Salad Days;
Netorare - uncovering the Japanese cheating genre

Fidelity x Reality

I believe that in order to understand the “soul” of this genre, the meaning of faithfulness needs to be clarified. After all, to set up a betrayal, it is necessary to have fidelity, even if it is unilateral. In case you still don't know the meaning of loyalty, in short:

  • Fidelity is the practice of the adjective faithful; who shows zeal, one who has respect for someone or something;
  • Consistency in commitments made to other people;

With the terms clarified, we can start putting into practice the plan to explain Netorare more deeply. To begin with, betrayal is a common thing in many types of anime, manga or other genres. If you're confused, remember that cliché where the villain always goes over to the hero's side.

This is a kind of betrayal, as this villain always makes commitments to other people on the side of evil, of course there are exceptions but it was just a way to clarify the betrayal theme. It may be shocking, but what changes this type of betrayal to a love affair is the fact that in lovemaking, the person who will be betrayed is more “intimate”, so to speak.

And to scare even more, we have cases where the level of intimacy between both cases can be equivalent, putting in other terms, there can be cases where the intimacy of the couple can be as superficial as the relationship between fidelity between the villain and his partners.

Netorare - uncovering the Japanese cheating genre

The article is still halfway through, but we recommend also reading:

Why is love betrayal so shocking?

You've heard the phrase "nothing lasts forever", it applies to everything, and this one has no exception, even the universe won't last forever, one hour or another it will disappear at the same speed it appeared.

But even though we know this, people insist on continuing to think that love is eternal. And this thought is so fixed in society that for people love is a sacred thing.

This love mentioned does not have a specific type, it is vague. That's because there are many forms of love, and that's why this paragraph above was left so vague. However, we can sift through these types and leave only one, love between couples.

As this one is so quoted in books and movies where one does everything for the other. But there are details they don't mention. For example, with time this love diminishes, or even in the moments that love ends.

I believe that because of this thought and the lack of dissemination of others, we are so shocked by love betrayals. I am, of course, generalizing this statement, as I know very well that while these things affect most people, it is not global.

Netorare development

In this type of Japanese genre, it is usually the woman who cheats on the man with another man, but other types can also happen, such as cheating with another woman, or even homosexual relationships between men. Anyway, the possibilities are many, but it doesn't change the fact that someone will cheat on their partner.

As it is more common to be women, we will treat the examples within this type. Let's take the cliché example, the woman cheats on her partner with another. As in most cases, we will observe the situation through the eyes of the protagonist, who is the one who has been “changed”. In his eyes, they had the perfect canvas. He would talk to her normally, hang out with her, have fun together, have some steamy moments, etc.

It really does look like the woman is wrong in this case, but before we throw stones at her, let's ask what prompted her to do so. We will then see from her point of view what the screen was like between them right after we explain some reasons that lead women to change their partners (attention, for men who identify with the theme, I advise you to pay close attention).

Netorare - uncovering the Japanese cheating genre

reasons for betrayal

Distance: whether material or psychological, if the couple is not close to each other, at one time or another the relationship will wear out and culminate in betrayal

shortage: yes, if either party is not getting the affection they want from their current partner, they will certainly look to someone else for affection.

Betrayal: seems ironic, but just as kindness begets kindness, betrayal begets betrayal.

Time: as I already mentioned in the text, nothing lasts forever, and in these cases love ends, which may or may not take time. And when it ends, there are only two acquaintances sharing a relationship that I don't know what the name is. And since they don't want to admit it, they try to ease their emotions with other people.

like someone else: less frequent but also important. In this case, the person is with someone else just to try to forget about someone they like. However, we can say that this is just a patch, and if the person she really likes shows signs of wanting something, that person will undoubtedly cheat on her current partner.

Lack of sex in the relationship: In my opinion, women like sex as much as men, but they don't have the courage to admit it, even because of cultures and other influences. But the fact is that if you lack sex, you lack other things like affection, the pleasure of being with your partner until you finally lack fidelity.

Jealousy: I don't even need to explain that too much jealousy ends the relationship. Just quote that phrase “whoever seeks, finds” or even “a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.

lack of innovation: Monotony as well as jealousy ruins any relationship. After all, if it is monotonous, it becomes boring and predictable, which later becomes irritating and saturated, and in the end it becomes unbearable. And we already know what this will lead to.

These are reasons that the men of Japanese society end up letting exist.

Points of view on Netorare

As promised, we will now put the girl's point of view on the relationship. The fact is, the protagonist was not interesting to her. In her view, they had a routine that was good at first, but over time it became predictable and boring.

She knew it would happen today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day after tomorrow. In short, it became monotonous and boring, and she didn't want that anymore.

Why didn't she say that? Well, there may be cases where this can happen, but in this case they suffered from another problem which is also in the list above, distance.

Just because you're in a relationship doesn't mean you're intimate with the other person. This can take a while to happen, months or years to get close enough, years or decades to almost fully understand your partner.

From his point of view the relationship was perfect, but they weren't close enough for him to know what she was thinking, and she wasn't safe enough to say she wanted new things. Given the points of view, stone or not is up to each one.

Netorare - uncovering the Japanese cheating genre

Netorare - Post exchange

There are cases where the couple separates, in others the couples remain together, but without one knowing about the betrayal of the other and in other cases the partner knows about the betrayal, but does not want to separate.

In the first example fidelity is broken by both, in the second case fidelity is not broken and in the third case fidelity may or may not be broken.

Anyway, these three cases can fit into this Japanese genre, but the third is common, with fidelity being broken by one of the parties. That is, in the example, the woman betrays her partner and then they separate.

After ending the relationship, we will see all the regrets and regrets that the protagonist has. If I were to define it in one word, that word would be lamentation.

And these lamentations are the basis of the psychological drama of the entire main plot and even some additional ones that may come to pass.

Basically, after being betrayed, the protagonist starts to get sad, lonely and other adjectives of that kind. With that lamentation, he may or may not try to move on and whether or not he will get over it.

Netorare - uncovering the Japanese cheating genre

Conclusion of the Article

After these references, this Post came to the end of its content. I rarely consume this type of Japanese genre, perhaps because it's not very common, after all the protagonist who dodges the girls, and the girls who don't think of another man other than the protagonist, is such a fixed cliché that almost no one dares to break it.

I honestly like this cliché break, that's maybe the sadistic impulse I have. It's great to see cliché breaks where the protagonist who doesn't do anything interesting ends up suffering, it makes me feel confident.

Not because he likes the misfortune of others, but because he knows that this work is true, it's realistic. I like the cliché, but it's irritating to see that the protagonist ignores the heroines' feelings and doesn't have some kind of punishment for it.

If you agree with me or disagree, comment below. I hope you enjoyed the reading and reflections, if you have any doubts, questions, criticisms, or suggestions, just comment. Thank you, my dear reader, for reading this far. And until the next article.

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