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Anime Fanservice


Oakmi

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Let's talk about a hot button topic those in my circles have been discussing as of recently. Fanservice. That's right I want to know what your thoughts on it are. From just a little ecchi to outright softcore/hardcore what is your take on it and why. Do you feel that it adds entertainment value? Does it detract from the overall enjoyment? I have my ideas on it but am reserving voicing them for now. 

Cheers! 

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Personally I'm not fascinated by it, I know some people are really into it and enjoy it a lot, but it doesn't get my attention and I don't even notice when something's supposed to be fanservice. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just that it doesn't affect me at all.

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Ok so, as someone who easily gets attached to cute female characters I will say that it sometimes adds to their "cuteness" and puts a smile on my face making me care more about them. That being said, if it is too blatantly obvious that the purpose of an entire episode was fanservice it can also become a bit annoying or cringey so I'm gonna settle on this: In my opinion fanservice can be used in a positive way if isn't going completely out of the way of the story or isn't awkwardly thrown in.

Edit: It also really depends on the genre of the show. In some cases where the setting is really laid-back and the main focus at the time is friendship or something I can deal with it. It's most annoying when it is obviously out of place and feels more forced than it should. 

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I don't really like it when an anime has fanservice, so I don't watch ecchi, but I don't judge people who do. 

 

But it can really annoy me when an awesome female character, such as Lucy Heartfilia, is repeatedly used for fanservice. She is such a kickass character with a lot of depth and character development, yet she's often used as someone to ogle at. 

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It probably just depends on the genre or the demographic. If it's something aimed at an older audience, I guess I could see the fanservice playing into that. Something like an adventure show aimed at like a bunch of ten-year-old kids, I don't want to see it. Then again, it depends on how it's done if I can tolerate it or not.

For me, personally, though, unless it's blatantly obvious, I don't really notice it much.

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For the most part, I find it obtrusive and detracting from the storylines. Oftentimes you see it in harems, where there is a set relationship between two of the characters but someone can't stop themself from squeezing someone else's titties. Yep, I just said it.The relationship between the titties girl and the main doesn't exist except to squeeze titties and annoy the main romance character. Pointless. Frustrating. Annoying.

 

At this point, I am relieved to find shows that don't have a beach episode (straight fluff and service).  Happy when I find a show where women wear clothes (scantily clad bikini armor heck no!). 

 

Truthfully, I may feel differently if it were scantily clad men (where's my speedo armor guy? The handsy woman grabbing some hunk's stuff?). But it never seems to be. ~sighs~ 

 

That being said, some anime do it well. The Girl Who Leapt Through Space for instance. Really well done. Two golden balls hahaha.... it had jokes, that actually had me laughing. 

 

Anyways, I can see where some people may like it, but for me, fanservice is usually something to roll my eyes at, not admire. It seems to be here to stay so I try to ignore it as best I can. 

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It's there.  Usually I find it mildly cringeworthy.  Occasionally it achieves amusing or annoying status.  Most animes could easily do without it.  Very rarely does it add anything significant to a story.  When I do come across it I generally just ignore it.  I tend to not care for the types of animes that are the worst offenders anyway (harem/romance).

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Thanks for all your great insight and answers. I personally can't stand it, but can overlook it if it's not blatant or overly sexualizing characters. Titles like "Prison School", "Queens Blade" are nothing more than deliberate sexual pandering. Stories like those hold no value other than to objectify women, especially the latter. As for the "Titty Grab" (Thanks Beocat) shouldn't be in any title unless the scene is portraying rape or sexual assault because that's what it is. A good example, "Seven Deadly Sins" where he gropes a unconciouss female lying on a bed. Kneads her breast like he's making bread. In no way is any "Titty Grab" funny or comedy, and should never be placed in that context. Sadly however it is by some.

Anyway, surprisingly most people I've surveyed or spoke to don't like fanservice, some tolerate it but very few will actually go out of their way to watch it. Yet the North American Territory gets deluged with titles that feature ecchi fanservice or blatant nudity more so than titles that don't. So the question is "Why are titles like that fast tracked to release in the states?" Is there a actual market for it or is there a false perception about Americans that say we're oversexualized nudity addicts who can think between the sheets or when we have a handful of breasts? 

Fanservice is also very one sided for the most part. I cannot understand why we see a lot more nude females than males (Thanks again Beocat for the observation). Oh and another of my pet peeves (Ahem "Sacred Blacksmith) is metal armor that breaks with a sword swing just so the breast can be shown. Really? Are we all that childish and stupid. I can suspend my disbelief for a bit, but that is asking way too much and is mostly irritating, not funny. 

@efaardvark, I sincerely believe that writers insert nudity, sex or fanservice into their story because they lack faith in their story. They know that sex sells and by inserting it absurdly into a good story is dumb. I really wish that writers wouldn't sell themselves short like that. Can't count the times I've watched a good story and then BAM, fanservice, nudity or sex just stuck in there at the most stupidest time. 

@ssjup81I agree that it should be a target demographic, and really should only be in titles rated "R" and above. But sadly I have seen titles rated "PG-13" with a lot of fanservice, nudity and sexual situations that really should be inappropriate for the demographic they are intended for. 

So with that I guess that for the most part I dislike fanservice in any anime title, unless it actually adds context to the story. Unfortunately most of it doesn't. But there is one thing that pissed my off so much that I almost dropped it, "SAO: Ordinal Scale" when they deliberately pandered to the drooling masses by putting Asuna in the tub and giving them a titty/ass shot. It added NOTHING to the story, and was only there for the fapping masses (Forgive me if I offend but I am still mad about this). 

I digress, thank you for reading my rant and rave, and keep the viewpoints coming. I'll be doing a show on this and want to get as much feedback and input as possible. 

 

 

 

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On 27/01/2018 at 12:55 PM, Oakmi said:

From just a little ecchi to outright softcore/hardcore what is your take on it and why. Do you feel that it adds entertainment value? Does it detract from the overall enjoyment?

I quite like plausible minor fan service, I mean if a character gets undressed naturally or takes their top off during a boxing or fighting session and doesn't stop the pacing of the main plot - sure why not?

Then you have silly fan service such as clothes destruction (*cough* Dog Days) which gets old quick.

It's true a lot of fan service is oriented around female characters but male characters also get a little fan service too... Shinya Kogami from PSYCHO-PASS comes to mind as well as just about all the characters in Hakuouki.

As for classification labelling, well here in Australia they're a lot stricter here compared to your PG-13 rating... all it takes is one scene to up the rating.

For context, two examples below:

High School DxD (MA15+) - to be expected given it's an ecchi title:

33181-1336632.png

 

GATE (Season 2) - (R18+) - I was a little surprised given most of this series was quite light-hearted at the start, but then remembered there were indeed some lewd scenes during one of the arcs:

40183-1434518.jpg

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Personally as a girl, I really think they're kind of irrelevant. In my own humble opinion (which do not intend to offend anyone of all sorts) , I think fan service is somewhat a way of saying that "Let's hype all the fan service since the only people watching anime are men."  If some male fan service are offered I might change my mind :naughty: If people want fan service that much then maybe the producers could put some fan service bombs on OVAS like some animes do and stay away from the main flow of the anime. It gets out of hand sometimes which kind of distracts the viewers from the main plot of the anime. :) But if the anime is mainly an ecchi then that's not issue. Ecchi lives for fan service <3 *ecchi queen before* lol ~

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On 1/30/2018 at 4:39 AM, Yona Hime said:

i dont like it at all, if an anime has alot of it then ill probly loss interest :\

 

I'm that way as well, unless I specifically went into it wanting/expecting it. The trouble with it is that so many titles being released are pushing that envelope that it reduces the amount of decent non-ecchi titles out there to watch. And I do love to watch anime. I can overlook the minor incidents, but when it become problematic I just turn it off and mark it down as "Dropped". 

 

1 hour ago, RyePotatoes said:

Personally as a girl, I really think they're kind of irrelevant. In my own humble opinion (which do not intend to offend anyone of all sorts) , I think fan service is somewhat a way of saying that "Let's hype all the fan service since the only people watching anime are men."  If some male fan service are offered I might change my mind :naughty: If people want fan service that much then maybe the producers could put some fan service bombs on OVAS like some animes do and stay away from the main flow of the anime. It gets out of hand sometimes which kind of distracts the viewers from the main plot of the anime. :) But if the anime is mainly an ecchi then that's not issue. Ecchi lives for fan service <3 *ecchi queen before* lol ~

Which brings up a decent point as well, there are seemingly more women/girls watching anime than there has been in the past. I'm finding almost equal quantities now in the demographics. Yet they still insist on directing their fanservice towards men/boys. 

 

On 1/30/2018 at 8:45 AM, Optic said:

I quite like plausible minor fan service, I mean if a character gets undressed naturally or takes their top off during a boxing or fighting session and doesn't stop the pacing of the main plot - sure why not?

Then you have silly fan service such as clothes destruction (*cough* Dog Days) which gets old quick.

It's true a lot of fan service is oriented around female characters but male characters also get a little fan service too... Shinya Kogami from PSYCHO-PASS comes to mind as well as just about all the characters in Hakuouki.

As for classification labelling, well here in Australia they're a lot stricter here compared to your PG-13 rating... all it takes is one scene to up the rating.

For context, two examples below:

High School DxD (MA15+) - to be expected given it's an ecchi title:

33181-1336632.png

 

GATE (Season 2) - (R18+) - I was a little surprised given most of this series was quite light-hearted at the start, but then remembered there were indeed some lewd scenes during one of the arcs:

40183-1434518.jpg

Think you can send me a outline of your rating systems there? That would be a boon to my research. I never thought that there would be a different rating system in place per region as well as it didn't really play into it at first, but now have adjusted my view on that. 

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On 04/02/2018 at 10:48 PM, Oakmi said:

Think you can send me a outline of your rating systems there?

Certainly. I refer you to our classification board in Australia:

http://www.classification.gov.au/Guidelines/Pages/Guidelines.aspx

You can also search anime titles on that website to get an idea of the ratings applied in Australia vs. the US.

The only ratings which ask for ID (proof of age) would be MA15+ and R18+ in Australia.

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19 hours ago, Optic said:

Certainly. I refer you to our classification board in Australia:

http://www.classification.gov.au/Guidelines/Pages/Guidelines.aspx

You can also search anime titles on that website to get an idea of the ratings applied in Australia vs. the US.

The only ratings which ask for ID (proof of age) would be MA15+ and R18+ in Australia.

This helps a lot, thanks for the link! (y)There is quite a discrepancy when it comes to ratings in the U.S.; and I noticed that there is even a "Banned Content" or "RC" in your country. Interesting point I didn't know. 

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Fanservice can definitely work depending on how it's done. If there's just a little here and there I'd approve of it and I would totally watch it, but if there tends to be a lot of fanservice in an anime in my humble opinion it's probably just a poorly written anime with too much fanservice.

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I personally think it detracts from the overall story. The writers force their characters out of their previous situation and into some miraculously convenient bath house just for the sake of some cheap laughs. I definitely think that most shows need SOME form of comedic relief, but it doesn't have to be the main character and his friends getting nose-bleeds after seeing one of the supporting females naked. ^_^

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9 minutes ago, Baku said:

I personally think it detracts from the overall story. The writers force their characters out of their previous situation and into some miraculously convenient bath house just for the sake of some cheap laughs. I definitely think that most shows need SOME form of comedic relief, but it doesn't have to be the main character and his friends getting nose-bleeds after seeing one of the supporting females naked. ^_^

Exactly, I'm re-watching "Kamisama Dolls" and instead of progressing the story and answering some questions, we have episodes where the MC female is in compromising positions or state of clothing. For a short 12-ep run you would think that the authors time would be better spent on telling the story rather than inserting fanservice. I will say however that there is one episode that they go to the (All famous episode) beach, only to find that its been closed for a typhoon. So people expecting the bathing suits and such get greatly disappointed, which I construe as good comedic relief, unlike the "Always falling down Moe, or as you said, the famous nose bleed. And that brother/sister fetish that seems to be prevalent in some titles. For instance, "Kamisama Dolls" where not only do you have the "loli" trope but the "Brother Love" one as well. 

14 hours ago, NotSoNora said:

Fanservice can definitely work depending on how it's done. If there's just a little here and there I'd approve of it and I would totally watch it, but if there tends to be a lot of fanservice in an anime in my humble opinion it's probably just a poorly written anime with too much fanservice.

I don't mind it in some character designs as long as it's not over exaggerated such as breasts tend to be. Firstly, excessively large and weird shaped breasts are not sexy just bizzare, and second, its distracting when they keep moving long after the character stops. I also dislike it when the author assumes that its seinen just because they write some fanservice/nudity/sexuality into the script that doesn't have anything to do with the story.  

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Oh ho ho... always a fun question. And I must ask, Oakmi, may I ask if you kept count of the responses you got, because I would like to use this question in my Card Sharks surveys for a future game on the con circuit. (I'd need 100 answers.) It's a very simple but interesting question, and to date I haven't asked it. You will be credited, of course.

As for my own opinion on it, for what anime I've watched, because I admit that I haven't seen a whole lot (I'm working on it), I've stumbled upon some fanservice/ecchi stuff while trying to find something I'd be interested in watching. Yes, it gets old after a while in those shows, and as much as you try to come into the shows trying to follow the plot, you know you have to turn your brain off at the same time, because you know the nudity or super innuendo is coming at least 5 times an episode. It's actually a surprise when a fanservice anime manages to NOT infuse it into an episode, or at least puts honest emotion behind it.

And that's the big hook here. One of the first anime my wife and I tried together was Ai Yori Aoshi. And I think that anime succeeded in striking a balance between when to do outright fanservice, a physical awkwardness, and when to exhibit honest romance, an emotional awkwardness. And that made it feel more genuine. There was no outright nudity, just a few teases, but I think even if there had been, it was written smartly enough that its appearance would have made sense.

So there IS a way to strike a balance, however difficult. If more tried for it, it would probably be a bit more accepted.

(In all this, I'm realizing we're all fixating on the chest. Not one mention of upskirts.)

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19 minutes ago, Sonic Whammy said:

(In all this, I'm realizing we're all fixating on the chest. Not one mention of upskirts.)

Haha, yes we all focus on the chest.  It bounces around, expands past the size of the watermelons that grow around here, and apparently cause orgasms when gently bumped into by accident.  Hard not to focus on something so...in your face LOL

 

The upskirts are a problem, but those actually don't happen too much.  Usually a gust of wind, a sudden blush, then a loud slap.  Ahh....always followed by a loud slap....never a moan, whimper, squeal, or drool like with a boob squeeze.  Now, ignoring upskirts, the butt-shots can be annoying.  Truthfully, I have put some anime down half-way in for doing "doggy style" shots.  It seems to happen a lot with girls in skin tight jumpsuits.  Where are my crotch-shots of guys?  There has to be some out there, right!?  Anyways, I remember stopping My-Hime and not finishing it when my defective disc froze on this one scene of Mai sobbing her eyes out.  It was doubly unfortunate that the position she was sobbing in and the "camera" angle had her frozen in what looked to be a blow job of one of the main guys.  Yep....with my dirty mind, if I hadn't seen the previous minute of the scene I would have sworn that is what that frame was expressing.  I never bothered replacing the disk after being stuck looking at that.  That was a tricky one the animators snuck in.  If that disc hadn't been defective and glitching so badly I bet I wouldn't have noticed it at all in the scene. 

 

I do want to throw something else out that I didn't mention before.  Spas and bathhouses....now, I had a sister....and I had friends who were girls too.  I don't EVER remember comparing bra sizes with them or feeling one another up in the pool or ocean.  I always wonder why girls in anime can't seem to get enough of touching each other's boobs once they wrap a towel around themselves.  Can anyone confirm if my experience has been an outlier here?  I see these scenes and go "wow....they need to back down on the hormone injections...these girls are as horny as herd of dairy cows in heat!"  (If you have never seen a field of dairy cows in heat...then you probably won't understand that....)

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6 hours ago, Beocat said:

The upskirts are a problem, but those actually don't happen too much.  Usually a gust of wind, a sudden blush, then a loud slap.  Ahh....always followed by a loud slap....never a moan, whimper, squeal, or drool like with a boob squeeze.  Now, ignoring upskirts, the butt-shots can be annoying.  Truthfully, I have put some anime down half-way in for doing "doggy style" shots.  It seems to happen a lot with girls in skin tight jumpsuits.  Where are my crotch-shots of guys?  There has to be some out there, right!?  Anyways, I remember stopping My-Hime and not finishing it when my defective disc froze on this one scene of Mai sobbing her eyes out.  It was doubly unfortunate that the position she was sobbing in and the "camera" angle had her frozen in what looked to be a blow job of one of the main guys.  Yep....with my dirty mind, if I hadn't seen the previous minute of the scene I would have sworn that is what that frame was expressing.  I never bothered replacing the disk after being stuck looking at that.  That was a tricky one the animators snuck in.  If that disc hadn't been defective and glitching so badly I bet I wouldn't have noticed it at all in the scene. 

I do want to throw something else out that I didn't mention before.  Spas and bathhouses....now, I had a sister....and I had friends who were girls too.  I don't EVER remember comparing bra sizes with them or feeling one another up in the pool or ocean.  I always wonder why girls in anime can't seem to get enough of touching each other's boobs once they wrap a towel around themselves.  Can anyone confirm if my experience has been an outlier here?  I see these scenes and go "wow....they need to back down on the hormone injections...these girls are as horny as herd of dairy cows in heat!"  (If you have never seen a field of dairy cows in heat...then you probably won't understand that....)

See, I don't think the butt shots cause as much of a reaction as seeing up the skirt. I think it's the whole seeing what you're not supposed to see thing. Natural reactions and stuff.

And agreed on the goofiness of the bathhouses scenes. If there IS anyone out there IRL who's legitimately had that kind of interaction with other women, I think I'd easily be more shocked than anything else. I'd still want to hear the story, though.

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