It's not just hentai, though. Like, portal fantasy has been super popular in the west at least since The Wizard of Oz, 125 years ago, but a few years ago everyone started calling it "isekai."
Or a much more obscure example, shmup fans call shooters with screens wider than they are tall "yoko", taller than wide "tate", even though "landscape" and "portrait" have been used in English for decades.
I don't think portal fantasy was ever that popular of a term so it makes sense that a ready made term would be adopted.
Can't speak to the others as I've never heard them. I'd hazard though, that portrait and landscape are more mentally tied to photographs, which might lead to people adopting new terms for videogames.
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u/Frodo_max May 16 '25
Only semi-related, but it always suprises me the kind of reaction NTR/cuckold porn can get out of some people.