I hate fanservice.

[♠Soul♠]

It's stupid and it makes it difficult to take your characters, and your story seriously. It reeks of being insecure about your story that you need to whore off your characters just for a few bucks.

And there's a difference between someone being sexually attracted to your characters and genuinely appreciating them. There's a reason why they're referred to as our "lower senses".

[Yexin]

i think you're not completely sure what "fanservice" actually means

"fanservice" is not just shoving overly-sexualized characters down the consumers' throats, it literally means and is "a service for fans"

just take DragonBall, it's full of fanservice, but it's not the "sexual" kind of fanservice, it's more about giving fans what they want or have always dreamt about: DB Heroes is the perfect example, what with all of its whacky transformations such as SSJ4 Gohan, Broly and the likes

now, about your opinion, i don't like it when it ends up being the most predominant element of an anime, a manga, a videogame or any other form of media whose main purpose is not, or is not perceived to be, fanservice

that's why i didn't like fanservice in FE Fates but didn't complain about it when i was reading Fairy Tail or Prison School

Edited June 18, 2021 by Yexin

[Etrurian emperor]

Fanservice is what you make of it. At best it can be a cute little distraction like beach events or by pleasing fans in ways that enhance the story rather than detract from it, such as by expanding on a popular character. 

Fanservices at worst can thoroughly undermine a game but it doesn't need to be. 

I think fanservice is just another tool in the toolbox.

[Use the Falchion]

3 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think fanservice is just another tool in the toolbox.

This is exactly it. 

To me, fanservice in a vacuum is purely neutral. Can it undermine things? Absolutely. But it's also an easy win for both creators and fans in the know, since it ideally doesn't detract from the story* and do anything silly. Certain games like Fire Emblem Heroes are built around fanservice, so it's weird to me to look at those and say it's purely bad and can't be taken seriously, when it wasn't really intended to be taken as seriously as you thought it'd be from the start. 

The Rise of Skywalker had both terrible fanservice (Finn being handed the promotion to general) and missed fanservice opportunities (Rey wielding a double-bladed lightsaber made out of her staff). Meanwhile, Endgame's fanservice was built into the plot of the movie and made people laugh, cry, and cheer. 

Or take the fanservice in Dark Deity. There are a TON of small references to things like Brandon Sanderson's work. That's totally fanservice, but it's not in the way of anything.

Heck, the entirety of Awakening is fanservice. It's the continent of FE 1/2/3/11/12, the story of FE 4, and certain gameplay mechanics from FE 8 and 9/10. Awakening's DLC is even more over the top fanservice, and it's amazing! 

And while I'm a fan of fanservice either being completely unrelated (the cameo of the doctor in Rogue One) to the plot or worked into the plot in a logical manner (Jarvis' cameo in Endgame), the line for Fanservice is also drawn different for different people. I've talked with people who think Luke force-lifting the X-Wing in TROS was terrible fanservice, where I find it to be a good call-back and completion of Luke's own arc. (Now how it's still functioning is another thing altogether.) If either Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr. had uttered the phrase "no $h!t, Sherlock" to the other during Infinity War or Endgame, I would have laughed my head off; but for someone else it may have taken them out of the entire movie. 

 

5 hours ago, Yexin said:

that's why i didn't like fanservice in FE Fates but didn't complain about it when i was reading Fairy Tail or Prison School

Humorously I felt the opposite for the most part. I started to dislike Fairy Tail towards the middle and end because it felt like too much fanservice compared to the mangaka's previous work in Rave Master, and I couldn't get into Prison School because of...well...everything about it. But the latter is a taste thing, and I still ended up reading the former until the end, so what does that say about me? In terms of Fates, I do think in some ways they absolutely went overboard in terms of fanservice, but Fates feels like the posterchild for "too much of a good thing" and "trying to recapture lightning in a bottle." 

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Use the Falchion

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I LOVE Fanservice. It's like they're making a bunch of bullshit just to suit MY tastes.

Could do without all the tits though. What do I look like, a socially repressed Japanese teenager? It would be strange for any adolescent movie or tv show to turn into a soft core porno, but that describes anime to a T.

[Ertrick36]

From Wikipedia:

Quote

Fan service (ファンサービス, fan sābisu), fanservice or service cut (サービスカット, sābisu katto), is material in a work of fiction or in a fictional series which is intentionally added to please the audience, often sexual in nature, such as nudity. The term originated in Japanese in the anime and manga fandom, but has been used in other languages and media. It is about "servicing" the fan – giving the fans "exactly what they want." Fan service can also refer (by means of text, symbol, image, sound) to other stories that contain visual elements.

The idea of fan service is founded on the notion of titilating one's audience in suggestive or sexual manners.  Of course it has evolved to include non-sexual forms of "fan service", such as making Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta a thing in Dragon Ball Heroes World Mission, but the foundational idea of the term is steeped in softcore sexual content.

It is not inherently detracting from the story or themes a piece of media, but there are ways it can detract from these things if written poorly.  I do think it's a bit of a low-ball to use fan service in teen-targeted media, since teens are the easiest to please with this type of material, but that's business for you.

My main issue comes if they deliberately turn a character who wasn't previously sexualized into a sex object.  I can't think of any examples of this in Fire Emblem (simply putting characters into swimsuits doesn't count), but it's a prominent element in the sub-genre of fan fiction to an abhorrently disgusting extent.  I'm talking turning a strong, capable woman into a dainty sex toy for some fat loser or an innocent virgin into a promiscuous person who just can't get enough.

In Fire Emblem Fates (and to a lesser extent other recent Fire Emblem games) people complained about the panty windows, overly exposed breasts, and just Camilla in general.  I don't really see any of that as inherently problematic (well, Camilla's flanderization in FEH is problematic, but that's another topic for another day).  Sure, all that stuff is kinda stupid, but if Fates actually had a good story, the fan service wouldn't be enough to detract from that story.

 

I would say in some circumstances softcore sexual content can even be good.  Too often do I think people treat sex as a taboo to a detrimental effect, and while the Japanese entertainment industry has its fair share of issues I'm glad they can at least embrace more sexualized stuff than us in the west.  Just as long as they're respectable and don't, you know, sexualize minors, I don't see an issue with it.

[AnonymousSpeed]

These replies are 90% cope.

[UNLEASH IT]

11 hours ago, Yexin said:

i think you're not completely sure what "fanservice" actually means

"fanservice" is not just shoving overly-sexualized characters down the consumers' throats, it literally means and is "a service for fans"

just take DragonBall, it's full of fanservice, but it's not the "sexual" kind of fanservice, it's more about giving fans what they want or have always dreamt about: DB Heroes is the perfect example, what with all of its whacky transformations such as SSJ4 Gohan, Broly and the likes

now, about your opinion, i don't like it when it ends up being the most predominant element of an anime, a manga, a videogame or any other form of media whose main purpose is not, or is not perceived to be, fanservice

that's why i didn't like fanservice in FE Fates but didn't complain about it when i was reading Fairy Tail or Prison School

You thought fanservice was the most predominant element of Fates?

[Original Alear]

IIRC, in the "what's in the next episode" portions of Evangelion, Misato would always talk about budget concerns and promising more fanservice. At the time, I didn't know what fanservice was, and I kept thinking the characters were going to fan each other to keep each other cool.

And then there's (Kanami Chidori?) from Full Metal Panic who wields a fan.

And there's a difference between someone being sexually attracted to

your characters and genuinely appreciating them. There's a reason why they're referred to as our "lower senses".

Emphasis mine: do you think artists are ever attracted to the things they themselves produce?

I tend to dislike fanservice when I play a video game or watch a show with those things. But I don't mind fanmade fanservice.

I don't think sexual attraction is "low." It can lead to bad/dangerous things, but I think platonic love can as well.

[Yexin]

13 hours ago, UNLEASH IT said:

You thought fanservice was the most predominant element of Fates?

if i did, i wouldn't have complained

[♠Soul♠]

You guys have all made really nice responses, and I agree with most of them. I am well aware all of "fanservice" isn't sexuality, but I think I've made it clear that it was what I was referring to. I also don't think a little bit is really all that bad, like in the case of the beach DLC in Awakening. Seems fairly tame, and I really enjoy Awakening as a whole (even if it started upping this "fanservice" trend).

 

[XRay]

I guess I am the opposite. I am okay with sexual expressions. I find America's obsession with prudishness to be annoying and naive at best or outright obnoxious and hurtful in most cases.

People can yell obscenities at each other and enjoy gory violence in movies, but going outside butt naked to cool off is too much and is considered an obscenity that is not protected under the First Amendment. In a land where people go to church or religious gatherings regularly to cleanse their conscience and show off their spiritual purity, 99% of its people cannot even be bothered to clean their ass properly with soap and water after they poop.

[♠Soul♠]

wtf

[XRay]

We have some of the highest rates of teen pregnancies in the developed world. We have some unhealthy assumptions/attitudes about sex. This is not limited to America, but sex crime is probably way underreported due to shame and embarrassment. If sex was not treated so hostilely as some evil taboo and is talked about and accepted more openly like diet, politics, climate change, etc., society would be better off.

Edited June 21, 2021 by XRay

[Gordin]

I don't see what's wrong with fanservice. Just because you may not be the intended audience for it doesn't mean it's bad. I don't care about the overabuncance of tits myself, but just because I don't, doesn't mean that I should claim it's garbage and ruining the game. Just let other people have nice things. Besides, fanservice in FE has almost always been a thing (Lyn crit animation anyone?), and many other games have it aswell. Just look past it, be happy for the people who like it, and wait for fanservice geared towards your taste instead (Resplendent Gordin who doesn't look like a shota IS please! Give me that fanservice! I want him to look like he did in new mystery T_T)