F³: Frantic, Frustrated, and Female

F³: Frantic, Frustrated, and Female, also called just F³ (Japanese title: Nageki no Kenkô Yûryôji - literally The Sorrow of a Perfectly Healthy Girl) was originally a five-volume Hentai manga series by Wanyan Aguda. It is better known in the West from its three-episode OVA series, produced in 1994 by AIC and Pink Pineapple.

F³ tells the story of a young woman named Hiroe Ogawa, who has an embarrassing problem -- although she has a perfectly normal sex drive (indeed, maybe even a bit on the high side), she cannot orgasm, which is causing problems between her and her boyfriend. The story starts when her older sister Mayaka walks in on one of Hiroe's frantic but fruitless masturbation sessions and resolves to take matters into her own hands, so to speak.

Sadly, despite her best intentions, it doesn't work. After exhausting herself trying to "help", Mayaka resorts to hypnotizing Hiroe into orgasming -- but a badly worded suggestion makes it only happen when Mayaka touches her, regardless of how innocent a touch it is, and instantly happen then. Cue entirely too many innocent and accidental touches by Mayaka, who seems to keep forgetting what she's done to Hiroe.

Concerned, Mayaka takes Hiroe to see The Professor, a researcher at a top Japanese laboratory who has been working on "The Ultimate Sex Machine". Not only does it not help poor Hiroe, she overloads it, destroying it and the laboratory.

In subsequent episodes, Hiroe resorts to lesbian sex and more lesbian sex (to no avail), then finds herself possessed by a succubus, turned into a futa, and forced to rape the other characters until an exorcist can imprison the demon in a blow-up doll. Poor Hiroe never does find a solution to her problem (or indeed, even have the hypnotic suggestion removed) -- the story simply stops. The manga is worse in this regard, because it goes on for five entire volumes until it, too, reaches a similar lack of a happy ending.

The OVAs were originally released in North America by ADV Films' Hentai division, SoftCel Pictures; they were later re-released as F3: Ménage À Trois. In the wake of ADV's 2009 collapse it was briefly distributed by ADV's successor company Section 23 Films, but was later re-licensed by Critical Mass Video under its original English-language title, and redubbed with a completely new cast.


 * Author's Saving Throw: In the first episode Hiroe is explicitly shown engaging in less-than-wholesome activities with her sister, Mayaka. And the end of the episode shows their mom getting in on the act. Every subsequent episode has a tongue-in-cheek note that explains that Hiroe and Mayaka are just "like sisters" and "Mom" is actually their landlady, despite the fact that they all have the same family name.
 * BDSM: Yayoi has a closet full of S&M gear, whips and sex toys.
 * Bowdlerise: The various translators make no bones about the need to Hand Wave the relationship between Hiroe, Mayaka and Yayoi in order to get to get past the censors in various jurisdictions.
 * Caught with Your Pants Down: Opens with this trope.  Hiroe, unable to climax, has her big sister Mayaka walk in on her.
 * Demonic Possession: Hiroe is possessed by a Succubus in episode 3.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): Seen in both episode 2 and 3.
 * Explosive Overclocking: Hiroe's inability to orgasm is so profound that "The Ultimate Sex Machine" destroys itself trying to overcome it.
 * Failure Is the Only Option: Hiroe never gets a satisfactory cure/solution to her sexual issues.
 * Futanari: Mia Chigusa, the exorcist from episode 3.  And Hiroe herself under the power of the possessing succubus.
 * Hypno Fool: Hiroe is given a poorly-phrased post-hypnotic command by her sister Mayaka — and as a result has an orgasm each time Mayaka touches her.
 * Mad Scientist: The Professor from episode 1.
 * No Ending: Neither the manga nor the OVAs ever reach any kind of resolution; they simply stop with Hiroe still suffering from both her "condition" and the current futile attempt to help her.
 * No Name Given: The Professor.
 * Parental Incest: Yayoi getting in on the act, if you disregard the subtitles' insistence that they're really just neighbors who happen to have the same family name.
 * Sister-Sister Incest: Again, if you disregard the subtitles' insistence that they're really just neighbors who happen to have the same family name.
 * Suspiciously Vague Age: Just how old is Hiroe?  Mayaka appears to be college-age, but Hiroe...
 * Take Our Word for It: Although Hiroe and Mayaka call each other "big sister" and "little sister" respectively, and both call Yayoi "mother", subtitles insist that the two teens are merely neighbors in a boarding house and Yayoi is just their landlady.  Depending on the translation, this can come across so earnestly it's unintentionally funny, or with a certain sly wink-wink-nudge-nudge tone.
 * Totally Eighteen: Hiroe.  Honestly.