The recently coined adjective ero-kakkoii combines an abbreviated form of erotic, with the word kakkoii, which is used to describe people or things with a cool, stylish, or shapely appearance. The word is strongly associated with Koda Kumi, a young J-pop singer known for her sexy dance moves and revealing fashions. Koda's popularity exploded in 2005, during which she won the Japan Record Award and gave a dazzling performance on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen, a hugely popular music program broadcast annually on New Year's Eve.

Although women generally dislike the indecent connotations of ero, when it is combined with kakkoii the word assumes a more positive nuance of "sexiness" that women find favorable. Some have also mixed the word kawaii ("cute") in with their descriptions of Koda, producing additional variations like ero-kawaii and ero-kakko-kawaii.

Another compound adjective seeing frequent use is kimo-kawaii, which fuses kawaii with kimoi (a shortened form of kimochi-warui, meaning "weird" or "gross"). Kimo-kawaii refers to someone whose looks or personality are a little bizarre, but at the same time endearing. In recent years Japanese youngsters have taken to this trend of combining two adjectives with conflicting or opposite meanings to better express their own sensibilities. (February 22, 2006)