Quote:
Originally Posted by relentlessflame
I think, if you take this too far the other way, it's just as bad, because then you're just saying that a capable female action hero can't have her femininity emphasized when she's in combat.
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Well, a physically attractive character is going to be physically attractive almost regardless of the scenes that he or she is in. But the thing is that true sex appeal doesn't need a close-up zoom shot of a character's breasts, or a lingering shot on a character's butt, or a panty shot. I'm not saying that such shots should be avoided like the plague throughout the entire anime, but if a particularly scene is meant to be an intense action scene where we're supposed to be emotionally invested in this combat and to be held in suspense as to how it'll play out, it might not be a good idea to break all of that with a random panty shot.
Femininity can (and probably should) still be there, of course, but that can be achieved through character design as much as anything.
Part of the reason why I love magical girl anime is that the magical girl costumes are extremely feminine, and also carry a certain elegance to them.
Madoka Magica is a perfect example of this - All of the Puella Magi costumes for the main cast in that show just exudes femininity, but none of them rely on blatant fanservice to achieve it.
I don't think there was a single panty shot in all of Madoka Magica, but the sort of passive, automatic sex appeal of its cast is still there and clear as day. Mami Tomoe is clearly a buxom blonde bombshell, and that's as obvious in action scenes as it is anywhere else. They didn't hide her breasts (which would be going too far the other way, yes), but they didn't need "
~Boing!~" sounds or impossible jiggling either.
Now, I recognize in more lighthearted works that this more boing-y style of fanservice may in fact be fine here and there. For example, there was no scene in Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate that I felt was too fanservicey - The fanservice that was in that show felt well-placed and helpful to showcasing the character's strengths (including, yes, their beauty).