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I've been watching B Gata H Kei, and, let's say, it occupies little enough of my attention that I have time to worry about what the title means.

I know it doesn't mean "Yamada's first time", the title that Funimation gave the show for the US release. According to Wikipedia, the literal translation is "Type: B, Style: H". Some episodes of the show imply that "B" is a reference to the main character, Yamada's, bust size, and "H" is a reference to her "ecchi" nature. Where does the rest of it (the "Type", "Style" part) fit in, or is it just meaningless?

Torisuda
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    "B gata" would normally refer to blood type, but in this case it's probably also being used to refer to her bust size. In any case, I don't think there's an easy way to translate the title to English completely. – Logan M Jan 15 '15 at 04:39
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    I haven't watched this anime, but I think there might be a social bias propagated by media that bigger bust size equates to more promiscuity. B size is not considered big, so I think the anime wants to convey the idea that people with small bust size can also be promiscuous. What do you think? – Gao Jan 15 '15 at 04:53
  • @GaoWeiwei A plausible bit of reasoning, though not supported by the show itself so far. Plus, I don't give this show enough credit to come up with something that intelligent :) – Torisuda Jan 17 '15 at 02:00

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Okay, so a bit of a Japanese lesson:
'B-gata' would normally refer to the blood type. The Japanese are pretty fond of associating blood types with certain personality traits; and a B-type person is considered to be a bit impulsive, passionate, but their actions 'don't come across clearly' to others. (That seems to describe Yamada's character rather well, doesn't it?)
On the other hand, 'H-kei' normally has to do with 'ecchi' (the Japanese word for 'sex' that came from the pronunciation of the letter 'H' that is an abbreviation for the word 'Hentai'. Phew.) and 'kei' refers to a type (or even a lineage) of something.
Generally put, 'kei' (系) is a classifier for objects (living or non-living) that comes from a tree kind of structure, while 'gata' (型) literally means 'mold' or 'model' and looks at a classification of objects into categories.

All this being said, the official meaning of B-gata H-kei is that the 'B' stands for 'Bousou' (暴走), which can be translated to a 'rampage'; and the 'H' stands for 'Hentai' (変態), which we know is the word for perverted behavior. So the title refers to how Yamada is a rampaging sex-crazy pervert.

I tell you all these pieces of information because they form a sort of pun. The second explanation is the 'correct' one of sorts (in that it's official), but that does not negate the pun that exists in the title - whether it was intentional or not. There is reason to believe the 'B' could also refer to bra-size, as many people have pointed out. That adds to the pun as well, perhaps.

Anyway, I hope this sheds some light on the meaning of 'B型H系'. I can't post too many links here, but check out beta.jisho.org to look up the meanings for the Japanese words I used. Also, this is where I got the 'official' explanation of the title:
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1040891740
It's all in Japanese. The person who had answered that question wrote that this explanation wasn't mentioned in the manga, but in a weekly magazine called Young Jump.

Also, this link: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1139264431
The answer there talks about how the blood types of all characters in the story are actually never mentioned (as of the time of that answer), though the fact that Yamada is a B-cup is known. It also mentions that Yamada as a character is modeled after Sanri Youko (the mangaka) themselves and so speculates that Yamada's blood type could be the same as Sanri-sensei's. (Unfortunately, their blood type is also unknown.)

I'm not a native Japanese speaker (just an enthusiastic learner!) so I might not be entirely correct. But I hope this answer helps, somewhat. Anime titles often have many hidden meanings in them, and it's fun to look for all their possible interpretations.

mikosama326
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    +1, but [Chiebukuro is basically the Japanese version of Yahoo Answers (it _is_ run by Yahoo, after all)](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/5998//6005#comment15457_6005). I see no reason to believe the explanation about 暴走 and 変態 without some sort of source to back it up. (I mean, yes, he claims that it was mentioned in Young Jump, but seriously, Chiebukuro is terrible sometimes.) – senshin Jan 16 '15 at 02:23
  • +1 from me too. Yamada describes herself as "B gata" in reference to her bust in one episode of the anime, but the pun on blood types that you mention is quite plausible. – Torisuda Jan 17 '15 at 01:57
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I always assumed the translation was B-Cupped Slut, as that is what she calls herself, B Gata referring to her boobs, and H Kei, being like hentai style, which is simular to Slut. I still think this is what is intended by this name, though honestly they probably didn't consider translation when creating the name, but I imagine Japaense people would read this the same as if we read "The B Cupped Slut" as the title.

TPK
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After reading all the comments so far, one obvious interpretation not mentioned by anybody is contained in the title of the 11th episode, "Year 2 Class H`s Christmas Eve!" and on the signs above the door to Yamada's homeroom at school, which appear at various points in the show. The characters of the show are all in "B Class" (second year HS students) and "H Group" (homeroom H).

That said, it is also obvious that the title is intended by the mangaka as a very profound pun, with multiple layers of meaning. So, all the other interpretations offered in this thread are right too.

Michael Jacobs
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