The word hentai, it seems, also became the basis of the Japanese slang ecchi (エッチ), which is the Japanese pronunciation of the letter “H.”
It’s no doubt for the best that Kafka’s book is called Henshin (変身) in Japanese and not Hentai (変態).
The first Japanese character (変) in the word hentai (変態) literally means “strange” or “curious” (変), while the second kanji character (態) means “state” or “condition.”
Hentai also means “metamorphosis,” as in the complete changes insects make into their adult form.