Theme glossary

The following is a list of approved themes.

Terms that lack definitions are regarded as self-explanatory.

Narrative

 * Minimal Narrative - Only a few sentences here and there are used to narrate the work's story; little to no attention is paid to the protagonist's feelings. Note that sex scenes with a lot of text don't necessarily make a narrative more than minimal.
 * Rich Narrative - The work's story is thoughtfully constructed, with coherently behaving characters and an engaging plot dynamic. Expressive writing is only one component of narrative, so rich narratives don't all necessarily resemble high literature. As a rule of thumb, this theme could apply to any memorable story. Do not apply this theme to every work that has more than just a "minimal" narrative; most works' narratives are somewhere between minimal and rich.

Location

 * Contemporary Fantasy - Modern day Earth, but with fantastic elements.
 * Contemporary Sci-Fi - Modern day Earth, but with science fiction elements.
 * Future Fantasy - Takes place in the near or distant future of Earth, with the presence of fantasy elements.
 * Future Sci-Fi - Takes place in the near or distant future of Earth, with the presence of science fiction elements.
 * Historical Japan - Pre-industrialized Japan, depicted in a way that isn't necessarily historically accurate. May include the presence of fantasy elements like youkai (monsters) or supernatural ninjutsu.
 * Medieval Fantasy World - A world that isn't Earth, with fantasy elements like magic or monsters, in which states are typically feudal monarchies, the industrial revolution apparently hasn't happened, and inventions like cars, telephones, and computers don't exist or are extremely rare. Society resembles a fictionalized version of the Middle Ages or the European Age.
 * Modern Day - Modern day Earth.
 * Modernized Fantasy World - A world that isn't Earth, with fantasy elements like magic or monsters, in which society's state resembles the 20th or 21st century with the presence of apparent industrialization and inventions like cars, telephones, or computers.
 * Mythological Fantasy

Plot elements

 * Combat Sports - Such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and wrestling. Also applies to works where a large number of the fights consist of sparring.
 * Cohabitation
 * Confinement - Imprisonment of characters is a central theme of the story.
 * Gekokujou - Refers to a plot where a female character whose position previously required her to follows the orders of another character (an employee to a boss, a maid to a master, a slave to an owner) instead plots to overturn the status quo and dominate that other character. This is a Japanese term that can be translated as "the lower rules the higher", and which is in use as a content tag on the Japanese erotic doujin store DLsite.
 * Hero and Demon Lord
 * Slavery - The plot heavily features slaves who are kept or traded, which may or may not actually be legal within the fictional setting. Should not be confused with lifestyle BDSM. If they aren't called slaves and are just imprisoned and one-sidedly subjected to mistreatment, use the confinement theme instead.

Protagonist
There are no single protagonist or male protagonist themes because those are considered the default assumptions.


 * Both Female and Male Protagonists
 * Multiple Protagonists
 * Protagonist Choice
 * Femboy Protagonist - Also known as otokonoko (男の娘) or trap. This term refers to a male character who could be mistaken for a pretty girl; this is more connected to demeanor and body structure than whether he crossdresses.

Gameplay

 * New Game+ - After beating the game, able to play it again from the beginning with additional benefits or content.

Other

 * Abandoned - Development was halted before the main scenario of the work was completed. This term should only be applied to works where the creator has acknowledged it may never be completed, or has been out of contact for at least 6 months.
 * Free
 * In Development - Development of the work is considered to be ongoing, with future updates forthcoming. Note that if the work is categorized as "complete", that means the work is far enough into development that it already contains all major content and has a proper ending, so future updates would probably just add optional side content or other improvements.
 * Incomplete - The main scenario of the work is not yet completed. For further details, look at the standardized terms complete and incomplete.
 * Supporter-Only Content - For works that are or were in-development, the developer has released at least some of their work's updates only through private posts for paying subscribers on crowdfunding platforms like Patreon or Ci-en. Can be applied at the same time as Free; remove this theme once all the content is free, if that eventually happens.
 * Poor English - Apply this theme to original English language works which have problems with their spelling and grammar that make them somewhat awkward or uncomfortable for a native speaker to read.

General

 * Consensual - All involved parties are clearly willing. They're not being threatened, forced, or one-sidedly acted upon. Note that the definition of the term here is not modeled after any particular legal definition.
 * Lesbian Table-Turning - A female character who dominates another female character later in the story has the "tables turned on her" and is dominated by or has the lead strongly seized by that other female character.
 * No Penetration by Male - No male characters sexually penetrate the anus, vagina. mouth, or breast cleavage (paizuri) of any female characters.
 * No Straight Femdom - All femdom scenes in the work are lezdom scenes.
 * Only A Single Penetration by Male - There is only a single sex scene in which a male character sexually penetrates the anus, vagina, mouth, or breast cleavage (paizuri) of a female character.
 * Giantess/Shrink - A large portion of the femdom scenes in the work either has the dominating character be a giantess, or the dominated character be in a shrunken state.
 * Straight Table-Turning - A female character who dominates a male character later in the story has the "tables turned on her" and is dominated by or has the lead strongly seized by that male character.

Gameplay

 * Battle Fuck - Sex-based battles. The player character and enemy female characters engage in a battle system which doesn't involve physical violence, where they attempt to cause each other to orgasm by using sexual attacks that raise the other's arousal, with orgasms typically causing a reduction in sexual stamina, and reaching zero stamina being equated with loss of the battle. This is a Japanese term which is often abbreviated as "BF".
 * Group Sex Attacks - When fighting multiple female enemies, after one begins to use a continuous or multi-turn sexual attack, others have the ability to join in with a different sex attack at the same time.
 * Only Avoidable Table-Turning - All instances of table turning are avoidable if the correct choices are picked in-game.
 * Rape on Loss - Also known as Game Over Rape, but as defined it doesn't necessitate a game over. After the player character loses against a female enemy, she sexually dominates them, which they are unable to resist due to having been incapacitated or weakened from their loss. (This does not include cases where the same in-battle rape scene/animation just "continues" after the player's HP reaches zero. It should also not be applied to cases where an event with no gameplay component is triggered by the player and leads to rape.) After the sex scenes are over, the player might receive a "Game Over" or might continue playing after being brought to an inn or having time reversed. Games with this theme typically feature a large variety of female enemies with a few sex scenes each.
 * Rape on Loss (Bosses Only) - See the "Rape on Loss" theme. This is rape on loss that only occurs when losing battles against "boss" enemies, which are specific female enemy characters, and does not occur for generic female enemies.
 * Victory Rape - In the case that the player character is female, after winning a battle against an enemy, she sexually dominates them, which they are unable to resist due to having been incapacitated or weakened from their loss.

Protagonist

 * Dominant Female Protagonist
 * Submissive Female Protagonist
 * Submissive Futanari Protagonist
 * Switch Female Protagonist

Dominant heroine
All of these themes refer to cases where the term in question refers to a dominant female character. They should not be used in cases where the character the theme applies to is not dominant

In order to apply the theme for a character type, a disproportionately large amount of the work's content should involve that character type.
 * Dominatrix - Someone who spends the majority of the work dressed in the style of a dominatrix.
 * Futanari - This refers to any female character who has a penis. For now, this does not place importance on whether the character also has a vagina. This definition may be altered in the future based on feedback.
 * Maid
 * Monster Girl - This may include a minority of succubi. If a significant portion of the monster girls are succubi, the "Succubus" theme should also be added. This theme should be applied for cyborg girls too.
 * Mother - Refers to the protagonist's mother.
 * Ojou-sama - Often translated as "young lady". A young woman who has the demeanor of a rich person or someone who is used to wealth and high social status.
 * Older Sister - Refers to the protagonist's older sister.
 * Shorter Girl - A large portion of the heroines in the work are at least two heads shorter than the character they dominate. Should not be used to refer to situations with fairies or other small non-human women.
 * Succubus
 * Taller Girl - A large portion of the heroines in the work are at least a head taller than the character they dominate. Should not be used to refer to situations with mini-giantesses, giantesses, or girls dominating a shrunken character.
 * Younger Sister - Refers to the protagonist's younger sister.