Ecchi Fanservice: Does it really add anything to a show?

[NoemiChan]

Well, the girl I'm talking is tomboyish too, and has a sarcastic laugh (her trade mark), she smiles whenever she talks but comes back to her cold look when alone... she is sometimes a joker.... oh.. I find that weird now.... I often have that "toki toki" sensation when I was around her.... *a sign of a loli maniac...hahahaha

[Gamer_2k4]

Originally Posted by warita

I heard that small girls (I mean really small) tend to have a bite, probably because they are compensating for their size. So they make themselves noticeble by being loud and strong willed.

I've seen nothing to dispute this; I had a sorta-girlfriend a few years ago who was five foot even. She was...a handful.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by warita

What really surprises me is, that the anime fans dont get tired of it. There are so many ecchi/harem series and it is the same thig over and over again. So the name of the characters change, the haircolo changes too, but the plot is always the same, and if you are lucky, they will add a little twist here and there so that you know you arent watching the same thing as last season. Doesnt that get repetetive and boring?

I think we need to be distinguish what we're talking about here. Up until your mentioning the plot, I thought that you were talking about any fanservice, but it sounds like you're talking about harem ("ecchi") series.

As far as those types of series go, I generally avoid them. They don't hold my interest, but it isn't because it's repetitive or boring; I just have limited time and there are many other things that I'd like to watch.

If harem-type series are successful, the viewer is able to superimpose himself on the main character and derives a sense of joy and pleasure from watching as relationships and intimacy are formed with the female characters. I think it's fairly universal among males that there's a certain thrill in getting close to girls who they didn't know previously. That doesn't ever get boring; you might as well ask why men don't tire of sex, given that it's the same thing over and over again each time. It's something that's "hard-wired."

Anime series do throw things out to female viewers, but I'd agree with you that it seems most series cater toward a male audience. From what I understand, there are quite a few manga series that cater to female readers, though (although probably still more that cater to males).

Originally Posted by Gamer_2k4

She was...a handful.

So many openings for a perverse joke here

[Akito Kinomoto]

I personally don't mind fanservice most of the time but I think that some of the stigma surrounding it would be removed if more studios bothered to use it with more subtlety and in the truest sense of the word. By inconspicuous I mean that the director shouldn't assume that the audience is mostly idiots who need it beaten over their heads that this is supposed to be sexually stimulating and by correct I mean that fanservice is used as an initiative to keep watching moreso than the payback for continuing the watch. The former usage of semi-erotic material is incorrect because it's often used to bring in fans instead of catering to the preexisting audience like the term fanservice actually suggests.

Spoiler for Example of a good fanservice scene:

To elaborate, I’ll briefly talk about a fanservice scene at the end of an anime called Jinki: Extend which so far has been the single best execution of semi-erotic content I’ve ever seen. Taking place after the big, climatic battle of the series, it involves two of the main characters sharing a futon and blanket, one of them asking whether the other’s bust has grown, and then judging by what they were saying the two of them were engaging in a body fondling tug-of-war under the covers with the camera view not going underneath the sheets.

It’s a very well-done fanservice scene for two reasons. One, as I alluded earlier, it’s subtle. Think about why the animators didn’t choose to show what was happening inside the blanket or contrive enough movement to remove the item in the first place. My take on it is that overt sexuality is so often used that its application can eventually lose its affect even among people who watch these shows solely for semi-erotic stimulation via desensitization. This is where the first strength of this fanservice scene from Jinki: Extend lies: rather than being, for lack of a better word, explicit, much of the sexuality is derived from the character’s words. It lets the viewer discern what is happening on his or her own instead of forcing the point down our throats.

The second reason this is a strong moment of fanservice is its location within the anime’s timeline and what happened prior to it. Silly as it might have started, Jinki: Extend slowly became more serious before leading up to the final fight and having this bit of character interaction after the conflict was resolved provided a much needed counterbalance to the preceding drama. I would imagine that after a soldier returns from the warzone or a martial artist has finished competing that he or she would expect to relax which is what Aoba and Rui, the names of the two characters I mentioned in the fanservice scene, did along with almost the rest of the cast. The attachment the viewer would grow over the course of the series for the characters would make him or her feel the cast’s sense of relaxation, especially after a heated situation, more prominently than if the scene was placed in the beginning to entice people to keep watching the show.

[Dhomochevsky]

I'm really tired of people complaining about fanservice or ecchi shows all the time like they are higher instance of moral or taste.

There are shows that have ecchi in them and there are those that don't.
Many people like the ones with ecchi.
If you don't like ecchi, then don't watch them. If you still do, it's your own damn fault, not the show's fault for showing it to you, not the other people's fault for liking it.

There are at least a dozen popular anime tropes that I don't like. If I spot them in a show, I drop it, or I endure it. I don't go around complaining about it.

Ecchi fanservice adds ecchi fanservice to a show and that's a good thing.
If a show sucks despite having ecchi parts, it was a bad show to begin with.

[warita]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

I'm really tired of people complaining about fanservice or ecchi shows all the time like they are higher instance of moral or taste.

If you don't like ecchi, then don't watch them. If you still do, it's your own damn fault, not the show's fault for showing it to you, not the other people's fault for liking it.

It isnt so simple as you put it, because the majority of shows contain it, so it isnt just a matter of avoiding it and watching something else. Furthermore, certain shows would be otherwise very interesting, but the constant annoying fanservice is sometimes destroying the fun.


I personally never meant to imply, that people who like ecchi are in any way inmoral and I dont think any of the other people posting here had that in mind. You are the one putting it into that relation. If not liking ecchi and fanservice makes you a moral person, then I guess I must be an angel.

But coming back to what you said, that people who dont like fanservice should just be quiet and watch something else..... then why dont you do the same? I mean, you obviously dont like the posts in this thread, so why dont you post in some others? Ah, because you feel annoyed by what people write here? Uhhhh and I feel annoyed by fanservice, The same thing, isnt it?

[Dhomochevsky]

Because this is a disussion board, maybe?
It's purpose is to post on threads.

I disagree btw. that the majority of anime contains ecchi material. Most of them don't. And the ones that do are often not the best in other regards and try to bolster this with ecchi.
This is a nice try, but does not make a bad show good.
The good shows with ecchi are a rarer thing, than the good shows without it it.

Ultimately, if the majority of anime is something you don't like, maybe you just don't like anime?
If the amount of ecchi is as you percieve it, then your stance comes over like "I love country music, but I hate guitars and singing. If only they could stop degrading their music with that stuff I could listen to more songs."

[warita]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

Because this is a disussion board, maybe?
It's purpose is to post on threads.

Oh and I agree. It would have been just fine if you posted that you like fanservice and why.

But dont tell people what they should think and do. Thats where it crosses a line for me.

[Dhomochevsky]

I crossed the line when I disagreed with you?

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

I think we need to be distinguish what we're talking about here. Up until your mentioning the plot, I thought that you were talking about any fanservice, but it sounds like you're talking about harem ("ecchi") series.

As far as those types of series go, I generally avoid them. They don't hold my interest, but it isn't because it's repetitive or boring; I just have limited time and there are many other things that I'd like to watch.

If harem-type series are successful, the viewer is able to superimpose himself on the main character and derives a sense of joy and pleasure from watching as relationships and intimacy are formed with the female characters. I think it's fairly universal among males that there's a certain thrill in getting close to girls who they didn't know previously. That doesn't ever get boring;

I agree. You're right, that doesn't ever get boring, at least at a conceptual level. But the specific way it's commonly executed can get boring.

I think what warita is referring to is how cliche a lot of ecchi fanservice execution is. The following two very specific types of ecchi fanservice show up a lot in anime:

1) Guy clumsily stumbles over, falls on top of a girl, his hands just so happen to land on her breasts in a fondling position (milder cases of this aren't too bad, but some are executed with such improbability - i.e. girl's clothes just happen to perfectly fall open to reveal her bra or naked breasts - that it really makes me facepalm hard).

2) Guy idiotically walks into the washroom or a girl's bedroom without knocking first, catches her in a state of undress, just stands there slack-jawed instead of actually trying to get out of the room while the girl screams in embarrassment (and likely inflicts slapstick comedy violence on the guy).


For me, whatever sexual appeal these scenes might have is usually drowned out by how painfully cliche I find these scenes in general.

If I could wave a magic wand radically altering anime content, I'd gladly trade most instances of 1 and 2 above for an equal number of consensual make-out scenes between two characters in love. The anime Kimi ga Nozomu Eien had some actual, tasteful love-making scenes in them, and I found most of them pretty hot and enjoyable to watch. If ecchi fanservice had more of that, and less "Guy acts idiotically leading to embarrassed girl having her underwear/nude body revealed", I'd like it much more than I do now and probably let whatever remaining issues I had with it slide.


Seriously, I highly recommend Kimi ga Nozomu Eien to anybody who wants a better idea of the sort of ecchi fanservice I'd like to see more of. I found it to be a very compelling life/romance drama.

[Eragon]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

I'm really tired of people complaining about fanservice or ecchi shows all the time like they are higher instance of moral or taste.

There are shows that have ecchi in them and there are those that don't.
Many people like the ones with ecchi.
If you don't like ecchi, then don't watch them. If you still do, it's your own damn fault, not the show's fault for showing it to you, not the other people's fault for liking it.

There are at least a dozen popular anime tropes that I don't like. If I spot them in a show, I drop it, or I endure it. I don't go around complaining about it.

Ecchi fanservice adds ecchi fanservice to a show and that's a good thing.
If a show sucks despite having ecchi parts, it was a bad show to begin with.

I don't think most people here have a problem with ecchi fanservice. They have a problem with the way these scenes are executed. And the amount in which it is shown. And how cliche(as explained by triple R) the ecchi fanservice scenes are.

[Goshin]

I think if one has watched many of these comedy /harem/ecchi series, than they get really annoying. it doesn't take that many series to get genre savvy and everything becomes painfully predictable. but I wonder if it's because the companies did not really expect us to still be watching these series as we grow up. what may seem annoying and repetitive to us, might appeal to a new generation of anime watchers. for example: Pokemon, if you had been watching for pokemon or (series like pokemon) for the past 12 years you would get sick of it and hate it the series (genre) but they use the same formula for story telling because it works and they always have a new generation of story telling.

Personally I grew tired of the generic fan-service scenes rather quickly. Like someone above mentioned, the subtle scenes usually work best and more of turned on. by leaving it to watchers imagination which is probably dirtier anyways.

[mecharobot]

Originally Posted by warita

There is so much ecchi out there that you are probably disentisized towards it, in other words, it has become normal for you and you dont even perceive it.

Lets see, what are the ongoings that I'm watching: Natsume Yuujinchou, Smile Precure, Gundam AGE/Unicorn and Chihayafuru. I guess I've somehow become desensitized to the massive boob groping and panty shots in them, right? I'm sure you'll point it out at me.

Sorry to sound smug, but I'm just better at picking anime than you. I don't seek out to watch ecchi shows, because I think they are horrible junk (no offense to people who like them, but I don't find it funny or interesting). I have watched some in the past to learn that there is little for me to gain from them (although I'm watching one that has it, Shikabane Hime, because a friend absolutely insisted on it).

Now look here, if you choose to watch some generic action show aimed at japanese teen boys, then you only have yourself to blame for what you get. You're not learning from getting burnt.

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by mecharobot

Lets see, what are the ongoings that I'm watching: Natsume Yuujinchou, Smile Precure, Gundam AGE/Unicorn and Chihayafuru. I guess I've somehow become desensitized to the massive boob groping and panty shots in them, right? I'm sure you'll point it out at me.

And how many of those would you call main stream (Besides Gundam)?

That's also just a very small fraction of the total anime released each season.

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

I'm really tired of people complaining about fanservice or ecchi shows all the time like they are higher instance of moral or taste.

I'm really tired of people complaining about people complaining about fanservice or ecchi shows all the time like they are higher instance of moral or taste.

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

There are shows that have ecchi in them and there are those that don't.
Many people like the ones with ecchi.
If you don't like ecchi, then don't watch them. If you still do, it's your own damn fault, not the show's fault for showing it to you, not the other people's fault for liking it.

Sorry, if this hurts your feelings. I'll still watch the shows and criticize them for incorporating those elements poorly. If I am going to be so picky I might as well quit this hobby because avenues of escape are not that numerous.

[mecharobot]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

And how many of those would you call main stream (Besides Gundam)?

That's also just a very small fraction of the total anime released each season.

So? No one is forced to watch every new show and can easily skip any "popular" show they like (Smile Precure was 6th in last weeks anime TV-ratings iirc). No one is stopping one from making the choices they want to do for themselves.

[Ithekro]

I'm really tired of people complaining about people complaining about fanservice or ecchi shows all the time like they are higher instance of moral or taste.

This is reminding me of a Monty Python sketch.

[Dhomochevsky]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Sorry, if this hurts your feelings. I'll still watch the shows and criticize them for incorporating those elements poorly. If I am going to be so picky I might as well quit this hobby because avenues of escape are not that numerous.

I have absolutely no problem with critizing a show for what it does poorly.

My gripe is with the notion, that fanservice is bad, period. That a show is bad, because it has fanservice.
Not because it is doing it badly, or because it is just a bad show all over. No, it has fanservice, therefore it is bad.
As if the only thing fanservice could do to a show, is to destroy it, or at best be "subtle" so that you might overlook it. And please don't argue that this notion does not exist. This is clearly what OP is hinting at.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I agree. You're right, that doesn't ever get boring, at least at a conceptual level. But the specific way it's commonly executed can get boring.

I think what warita is referring to is how cliche a lot of ecchi fanservice execution is. The following two very specific types of ecchi fanservice show up a lot in anime:

1) Guy clumsily stumbles over, falls on top of a girl, his hands just so happen to land on her breasts in a fondling position (milder cases of this aren't too bad, but some are executed with such improbability - i.e. girl's clothes just happen to perfectly fall open to reveal her bra or naked breasts - that it really makes me facepalm hard).

2) Guy idiotically walks into the washroom or a girl's bedroom without knocking first, catches her in a state of undress, just stands there slack-jawed instead of actually trying to get out of the room while the girl screams in embarrassment (and likely inflicts slapstick comedy violence on the guy).


For me, whatever sexual appeal these scenes might have is usually drowned out by how painfully cliche I find these scenes in general.

I guess I can understand where you're coming from. I don't find it boring, but I don't watch much anime these days. Perhaps as a result, I'm not being exposed to it as much as you, so it doesn't feel quite as played out. It could also be a hormonal thing... my hormones have been cooling off as I age, but sometimes I find myself wishing that they'd cool a lot faster

Seriously, I highly recommend Kimi ga Nozomu Eien to anybody who wants a better idea of the sort of ecchi fanservice I'd like to see more of. I found it to be a very compelling life/romance drama.

I began to watch that series as a single teenager who badly wanted a girlfriend. That series was so depressing to me at the time, I had to drop it. It certainly struck me as being very sexual (not unusual for a series based off of an H-game), but I could see how you would regard the sexuality as being a bit more advanced. For one, they didn't tease with cliche intimate encounters; sex was not shown, but it wasn't hidden.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

I have absolutely no problem with critizing a show for what it does poorly.

My gripe is with the notion, that fanservice is bad, period. That a show is bad, because it has fanservice.
Not because it is doing it badly, or because it is just a bad show all over. No, it has fanservice, therefore it is bad.
As if the only thing fanservice could do to a show, is to destroy it, or at best be "subtle" so that you might overlook it. And please don't argue that this notion does not exist. This is clearly what OP is hinting at.

You'll notice that the OP started the thread and then utterly vanished - they didn't really want to discuss the topic with the possibility they may encounter information that would lead them to modify their view

Fly-by posting means never having to explain yourself :P

[warita]

Originally Posted by mecharobot

Lets see, what are the ongoings that I'm watching: Natsume Yuujinchou, Smile Precure, Gundam AGE/Unicorn and Chihayafuru. I guess I've somehow become desensitized to the massive boob groping and panty shots in them, right? I'm sure you'll point it out at me.

And I am sure wou will be so kind and point out to me where I said ALL shows contain ecchi.

Its like Eragon said, this is more about the amount of ecchi and how it is executed. I have watched a few shows that contain ecchi and liked it. As long as there is not too much of it, it is OK for me. Also I wouldnt mind, if the shows offered something for the ladies as well.... and a bare chest of the MC just doesnt do it to me, you know.