Fan Service

Fan service (elements of an anime/manga placed intentionally to peak the audience's interests whilst not necessarily helping the plot) can come in many different forms, ie violence or epic battle scenes, but is most commonly delivered through sexual means. The rate of fan service is only on the rise so they must be doing something right, but what do you think about the sexual themes appearing in anime after anime? Would you watch them as much without the added fan service or are you still waiting for that female protagonist who's back wouldn't break?

Hmmm. I currently watch Highschool of the dead. And like most may know, it contains a lot of fan service. Mostly sexual. I dont mind if anime has a little fan service...but it has to be so that it doesnt interruot the action all the time.(fan service cant be the main point in anime) Like in highscool of the dead... I mean I enjoy the show alot, but it could be even better if it could take things seriously for awhile. And I mean serious by NOT flashing panties in every 5 seconds. Although I must admit...it newer bothered me while watching the show. But you know.. It could have been something more. Another animeI recall that has some fan service is Black Lagoon. (Yeah I like mindless action sometimes) In this show the fan service was more subtle. Atleast a little. There werent many panty shots but the female characters did wear very little clothing. It might affect a little that this show was made for matured audience who likes action. It could affect the fan service type. I mean guns and drinks appeared as they are in real life. Also the action was ridiculous at times. I think that was Partly intentional fan service. And finaly I will mention Great Teacher Onizuka. Here the fan service is used for mostly humor purposes. And it actualy fits onizukas style. This is what I think. :D

Best fanservice award goes to Code Geass, with Kallen Kouzuki, CC, Nina, and Shirley running around either completely naked or in a skimpy outfits, or other more R-rated things in Nina's case. >:D

Geass confirmed for best anime ever.

Personally, fan-service doesn't bother me cuz I'm a guy but seriously...sometimes shows take themselves a bit too seriously and fan-service is the easiest way to mellow out and let us relax from the plot and/or action haha

Livewire said:

Best fanservice award goes to Code Geass, with Kallen Kouzuki, CC, Nina, and Shirley running around either completely naked or in a skimpy outfits, or other more R-rated things in Nina's case. >:D

Geass confirmed for best anime ever.

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awyeaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.
implying CC isn't my favorite female anime character

Livewire said:

Best fanservice award goes to Code Geass

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oh my god

I despise fan service. I can't think of a lot of examples, but the fact ninety percent of the girls in Vividred Operation were clad in basically nothing but a t-shirt and panties feels super unnecessary to me. The same goes for Maou from Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, basically all the female characters from Bleach, and Tsunade from Naruto. Why are your breasts so enormous? It just made characters like Jiraiya (Naruto) more hound dog-ish than they needed to be.

I don't mind fan service at all, but sometimes a bit much is a bit much. Most of the time though, I'm a fan.

I don't mind fanservice because it's extremely tame in comparison to what fans draw. There is so much bad pornography based on pretty much every anime series that it makes the potential fanservice in it look like nothing. Doesn't mean that all fanservice is necessary, though.

Antemortem said:

The same goes for Maou from Maoyuu Maou Yuusha,

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I'm extremely glad that someone brought this up because Maoyuu Maou Yuusha is a perfect example of unnecessary fanservice. The show itself lays the foundation for a nice lesson in economics a la Spice & Wolf, but Maou's chest is talked about almost as much as the actual plot.

I don't mind it really. Pretty much for the same reason Sweet Witch gave, but I know there's a fair amount of good pornography for pretty much every anime series as well.

Unfortunately, like most porn on the internet, the bad generally outweighs the good.

Are we talking about fan service in the absolute general sense, or just cheesecake? I mean, I like fan service in the sense that we're talking about mythology gags, references to historical bits and whatever else, but even a person can overdo that. It's especially worse when the fan service in question falls flat (or, in another case, is handled by someone totally different from the context of the original, which is something I see a lot of in the modern Simpsons, for example (why do I still watch that show, I wonder?)).

Unfortunately I can't think of any anime versions of that, considering I don't watch a whole lot of anime to begin with, but I know some western cartoons like to do a lot of referencial fan service. Games, too, but this isn't the video game section.

AzaleaLightning said:

Most of the time though it doesn't add anything to the plot and is purely eye candy

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It never really adds anything to the plot! XD

AzaleaLightning said:

blatant panty up-shots :p

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Like one of the very first shots of Vividred Operation. I mean, come on, you're already offering fan service in the form of the least amount of clothing possible on each character, need you go the extra mile by taking such angles? As appealing as it may or may not be, it certainly is unnecessary.

Sora no Otoshimono

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Fan service overload! I think one of the least fan service'd anime I've ever seen is Inuyasha. Even with the amount of woman that are supposed to be physically appealing, their designs weren't overdone in any particular fashion, and are thus much more respectable. You know, characters like Sango, who is attractive to most minor characters that are introduced.

Antemortem said:

Like one of the very first shots of Vividred Operation. I mean, come on, you're already offering fan service in the form of the least amount of clothing possible on each character, need you go the extra mile by taking such angles? As appealing as it may or may not be, it certainly is unnecessary.

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Antemortem said:

Fan service overload! I think one of the least fan service'd anime I've ever seen is Inuyasha. Even with the amount of woman that are supposed to be physically appealing, their designs weren't overdone in any particular fashion, and are thus much more respectable. You know, characters like Sango, who is attractive to most minor characters that are introduced.

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My rule of thumb is that if I don't notice it it's not bad.

I haven't watched anime in a while because ones I try to watch start get bogged down with fanservice. And I'm not just talking about sexual kind, but the kind where (oh geez, how do I describe this?) you get these overdone tropes that are clearly meant to appeal to fans (like that moe stuff) and when they do fit in with the plot it's seemingly because they've engineered the entire plot to include fanservice.

It's annoying outside of anime, too. Like when you watch a normal television series and it's around Christmas time of course you have to have a Christmas episode and someone learns the importance of believing in miracles. :|

Yeah, I guess I'm in the 'against' camp.

Livewire said:

Best fanservice award goes to Code Geass.

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Aki Sora would like to have a word with you good sir.

Personally I don't like this specific kind of fan service much at all, it tends to ruin a great story when it's a serious scene and the main protagonist's breasts are happily bobbing around in the background! It's not always a bad thing since it can definitely make things a lot more light hearted when used correctly, but I think it should be cut waaaay back for the majority of anime since it seems to be going a little overboard in recent times. When I'm watching an anime and trying to get involved with the story/characters, I don't want to be picturing her in her underwear lmao. Although I don't say no to the countless cute male protagonists.

Fanservice can either make or break an anime. Sometimes, fanservice is the main aspect for a comedy-based show that doesn't take itself seriously, but it can also be used for relaxation after a big event from a more serious show. If a show tries to take itself seriously but tries to slap in fanservice scenes all over it (Ikkitousen is guilty of this), then it's a recipe for disaster. Also, women with breasts that defy the laws of physics aren't all that beautiful.

Fanservice is good in small doses, but sometimes it can go overboard. I hate it when every attractive female is wearing practically nothing. Fantasy games are even bigger offenders than anime series - most of them include bikini armor for their female characters (though at least you don't have to make your female characters wear it).

Honestly, I hardly notice fan service. I would be watching an anime and people would tell me that there's a bunch of fan service in it and chances are, I wouldn't have noticed at all until after they said that to me. Even if it contains a ton of fan service in it, I probably wouldn't notice it. Great example would be Shuffle and High School of the Dead. That said, I'm not bothered by fan service. I'm pretty indifferent to it, though, even though I'm a guy. Sexual scenes in an anime don't really do anything for me.

I don't mind it, but I'm not a fan of it because it isn't necessary. And if it isn't necessary, then it is a waste of time.

AlexOzzyCake said:

Fan service (elements of an anime/manga placed intentionally to peak the audience's interests whilst not necessarily helping the plot) can come in many different forms, ie violence or epic battle scenes, but is most commonly delivered through sexual means.

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I'm really not a fan of this at all. I'm glad that the anime that I've watched (which is admittedly a very small sample) has either minimal fan service (I guess Faye in Cowboy Bebop) or has used it as a comedic device to comment on its own ridiculousness (FLCL). If the same costume choices and camera angles were used in live-action programs, there'd inevitably be so much more public outrage and complaint, but because it's animation (and animation from Japan, at that rate), it seems to get a blanket seal of approval from the fanbase which just strikes me as weird. Most of it is a cultural thing, obviosuly, but it really annoys me when similar things are done in live-action properties (i.e. Megan Fox in Transformers) so I'd probably stop watchin an anime that relied too heavily on fan service.