Fanservice, Does It Bother You?

I must say, i'm not a huge fan of fanservice, but it only really bothers me if it isn't relative to the story, like just random panty shots in an otherwise serious conversation, as there's no real need for it.
 
GolGotha said:
I must say, i'm not a huge fan of fanservice, but it only really bothers me if it isn't relative to the story, like just random panty shots in an otherwise serious conversation, as there's no real need for it.
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What I meant is when people expect fanservice (i.e nipple exposure) from shows like Triage X when considering it's from the guy that made High School Of The Dead, expect none of that at all, how sad do you have to be to expect nipples at all in anime
 
I may be in the minority here but fanservice which relies on wobbly boob physics and panty shots does bother me. It is immature and pandering. Also because it is culturally accepted in Japan (which it shouldn't be), it is expected to a degree. Of course, I can watch an anime with bits of fanservice but I dislike the male gaze coming out of nowhere. I cringe when I see an otherwise good anime ruined by unnecessary pandering. It takes the viewer out of the immersion completely and that is not a good thing.
 
I'm not a fan at all. It's the one aspect of anime that I really, really could live without, if I'm honest.

I guess it's one of those things where you have to accept that the jiggly boobage and pantsu are a part of the cultural trappings - something I've sort of accepted since I learned early on that anime is something you have to take on its own terms as a product of foreign origin.

But if, as has been suggested to me, certain studios in Japan are now considering the impact of their work in the West, I'd really, really love to see that stuff tamed. At its very worst, it makes things difficult to watch.
 
Only bothers me if my parents walk in while I'm watching... Ha, umm, in all seriousness though - nope, it doesn't bother me - if anything I enjoy it if it's done well.

What does slightly bother me more is the slightly OTT, goofy obsession some shows seem to have with boobs in particular - or characters with ridiculously sized boobs flapping around everywhere.

Also, if fanservice starts to cross over into women getting brutalised or violently degraded, then it becomes pretty iffy. For example in Blood C where one of the twins gets her legs pulled apart, then ripped apart: 'It hurts!!!' and then eaten
 
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I don't mind it so long as it's done well. It's difficult to think of a time it's really bothered me; it's usually quite obvious when a new series is going to go down that route.

I can also forgive the male gaze stuff when Japan caters so well for the female gaze too. There's plenty of fan service on offer for both camps.

R
 
As long as it's not distracting from the story, no I have no problem with it. As Lutga said, if it's done well, I quite enjoy it. I also think that it depends on the show and what tone it's going for.
 
neptune2venus said:
I may be in the minority here but fanservice which relies on wobbly boob physics and panty shots does bother me. It is immature and pandering. Also because it is culturally accepted in Japan (which it shouldn't be), it is expected to a degree. Of course, I can watch an anime with bits of fanservice but I dislike the male gaze coming out of nowhere. I cringe when I see an otherwise good anime ruined by unnecessary pandering. It takes the viewer out of the immersion completely and that is not a good thing.
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Yeah I agree with this. Not a fan at all.
 
I have to admit though, there is an interesting argument to be had around: where does the line fall between heavy fanservice and soft porn?

Apparently, many fans have professed to preferring echhi shows like Testament of Sister New Devil (or whatever it's called) to hardcore hentai because there's more of the 'tease' to it.
 
Rui said:
I don't mind it so long as it's done well. It's difficult to think of a time it's really bothered me; it's usually quite obvious when a new series is going to go down that route.

I can also forgive the male gaze stuff when Japan caters so well for the female gaze too. There's plenty of fan service on offer for both camps.
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I agree with Rui here entirely. A lot of people of whatever gender like sex and sexuality is a part of life, so I don't see why it shouldn't be included just because some people feel uncomfortable with it. If people don't like the fanservice heavy shows, it's probably best not to watch them, it's not as though this is every show we're talking about here.

I'm staunchly pro freedom of expression in any form whether it offends people or not. This seems to be becoming an unpopular view these days, as a lot of young people online appear to be becoming a strange mixture of super-PC "you can't say that" liberals and reactionary social conservatives in the Mary Whitehouse mould (hooray, the worst parts from the left and the right) who think anything remotely offensive to anyone should be banned or at least discouraged from being made. Which I genuinely find a horrifying development, along with this:

HdE said:
if, as has been suggested to me, certain studios in Japan are now considering the impact of their work in the West, I'd really, really love to see that stuff tamed. At its very worst, it makes things difficult to watch.
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Would you watch other things you had no interest in or found unappealing HdE? It's this desire to censor and sanitise things they don't like (but which OTHERS DO) that I really hate about this modern attitude. Instead of complaining about the media they don't enjoy, why don't they just not watch it and instead consume media they DO enjoy? Why are people so much more uncomfortable with sexuality than they are with violence?
 
To take Lutga's point further I personally prefer softcore stuff in general because shows which are actual porn tend to feel pressure to feature sex and other 'must have' content at regular intervals, which naturally detracts from the amount of time available for other niceties such as getting to know the characters properly first. I love sex, but if it's just two random people doing it it's never going to be as interesting as characters to whom you've become attached. This is where fanfic and doujinshi fill a gap in the market too.

Having said that, the specific example of The Testament of Sister New Devil was one of the rare examples of a show where I found the fan service actively offputting because it was so unsophisticated and crude. That wasn't because fan service itself is terrible, though, it's because The Testament of Sister New Devil wasn't a very sophisticated show. I'm sure some people like that but give me something like Queen's Blade any day - it's just good, (mostly) clean fun in a world where women aren't ashamed of their sexualities and it doesn't pretend to be anything more. I doubt anyone in the history of anime fandom has ever accidentally watched Queen's Blade expecting something like Mushi-shi and been shocked.

ayase said:
Instead of complaining about the media they don't enjoy, why don't they just not watch it and instead consume media they DO enjoy?
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I feel this way a lot when I see people complaining that too many titles are being made for female viewers these days (a depressingly frequent topic of Internet rants). Just watch the ones aimed at guys, then - if the complainers spend as much money on them as the ladies do I'm pretty sure they'll keep being made! Reading reviews for anime titles like UtaPri and Diabolik Lovers is dangerous for my blood pressure because I have to dodge so many grumpy whines from people who think everything has to be aimed at them and them alone.

R
 
I think 'fighting girls' shows like Freezing and Ikki Tousen generally nail the fanservice stuff just because they usually end up being so OTT about it. This girl just kicked another girl and her shirt ripped open? Happens every day, right! It knows what its audience wants, and just gets straight to it. I enjoy my fanservice best when it's served with comedy - when you can just laugh at how ridiculous it all is; hence one of the reasons why something like High School DxD is so much fun too.
 
Lutga said:
I think 'fighting girls' shows like Freezing and Ikki Tousen generally nail the fanservice stuff just because they usually end up being so OTT about it. This girl just kicked another girl and her shirt ripped open? Happens every day, right! It knows what its audience wants, and just gets straight to it. I enjoy my fanservice best when it's served with comedy - when you can just laugh at how ridiculous it all is; hence one of the reasons why something like High School DxD is so much fun too.
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This is pretty much how I feel about fanservice too. I enjoy Ikki Tousen a hell of a lot because it's so ridiculous. I like fanservice less in other types of show. Like Nozomi's boob grabbing in Love Live just feels so out of place there.
 
I like fanservice for the most part.

there is only 1 Ecchi show av ever stopped watching and that was Maken-ki 2, and that was mainly because I was annoyed that it was just 10 filler episodes of censored fanservice and the plot and evil organisation from season 1/manga were completely abandoned.
 
st_owly said:
Lutga said:
I think 'fighting girls' shows like Freezing and Ikki Tousen generally nail the fanservice stuff just because they usually end up being so OTT about it. This girl just kicked another girl and her shirt ripped open? Happens every day, right! It knows what its audience wants, and just gets straight to it. I enjoy my fanservice best when it's served with comedy - when you can just laugh at how ridiculous it all is; hence one of the reasons why something like High School DxD is so much fun too.
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This is pretty much how I feel about fanservice too. I enjoy Ikki Tousen a hell of a lot because it's so ridiculous. I like fanservice less in other types of show. Like Nozomi's boob grabbing in Love Live just feels so out of place there.
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I agree with that one. The rest of the show is so PG, Nozomi boob grabbing kind of takes you out of it. I think that's the only example I can think of from shows I've seen where it feels out of place IMO.
 
Rui said:
I can also forgive the male gaze stuff when Japan caters so well for the female gaze too. There's plenty of fan service on offer for both camps.
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I suppose it depends what you watch but the vast majority of anime caters towards a specific demographic so I'd disagree that there's lots of female gaze.

Rui said:
I feel this way a lot when I see people complaining that too many titles are being made for female viewers these days
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But us ladies only have the catered choice of BL or shoujo shows which are few and far between compared to everything else.

Fanservice is fine when an anime is clearly denoted as such (ecchi and stuff like Ikkitousen). But I don't want it in my serious, gritty shows. For example, a woman falls over and panty shot. Immersion spoiled! This aspect is why some people have a Daily Mail impression of anime and it's embarrassing. I'm not saying get rid of fanservice because that would be censorship but it doesn't need to be so ubiquitous.
 
I have to admit, sometimes I do feel like I'm more surprised when a series *doesn't* have fanservice in it. I absolutely adored Shirobako recently - it's an incredible show - but all the way through I kept thinking to myself 'I can't believe there hasn't been a single bit of fanservice (in the sexual sense) in this yet. Not to say that I wanted any in it - it's stronger without it - just that I was surprised considering current trends.
 
I think fan-service is something I've become a lot more tolerant of in recent years, but I wouldn't actively seek it out. It can be pretty squirm inducing at times, but it only really bothers me if it crops up in a series I would have otherwise recommended to people who don't normally watch anime.

I'll be interested to see what the reaction is when the Prison School anime hits in summer. Based on the manga, it's one of the few 'fan-service' titles I'd go to bat for, taking the concept to ludicrous extremes, but it's also surprisingly well written and very, very funny.
 
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