What level of fanservice is acceptable what is too much?

I don't mind "fat-chested" at all.

But I don't like Eiken at all. It's all flash but no substance.

If it's more like that One Piece movie where Nami's breast jiggled for no reason, than I'm okay. The plot's good so it doesn't distract from it.
 
Meh, I can't agree with that I'm afraid. Movie 7 neeRAB to be tossed into a dumpster, never to see the light of day again. It's drawn like a bad doujinshi, and poor Nami and Robin evidently had to suffer that through the entire movie. It's downright insulting.

This and HC's post aptly describe how fanservice can ruin things...there are anime that are basically fanservice-only, substanceless messes. Then there's One Piece movie 7 and parts of Code Geass, where excessive fanservice barges in like an uninvited guest that makes himself at home without asking.

I'm pretty much with Karl and HellCat..."durab service" neeRAB to go away.
 
True, Im a fan of the manga, But really can't stand the Anime all that much, I thought the 1st season was OK, but Capu2 just turned the series into another mindless jugfest.

Thats why I always tell people to read the magna, it does a good job of balanceing all the elements (story, action, superntural, fanservice, romance, comedy, etc.) whereas the anime even in the 1st season leaned more towarRAB fanservice.

Again I think Ecchi/Fanservice when used appropriatly, Sparingly or for comedic purposes is fine, but as many have said in this thread, when it's constantly in your face, & is focused on more then the story, its to much!
 
In my lowly opinion, fanservice is good in small doses. When it shows up as a surprise or a rare treat, it does its job.
When the fanservice is always there or shows up constantly then you get desensitized to it and it loses its impact. Much like violence in anime.

Furthermore, when there is fanservice for a plausible reason, I can tolerate it. The C.C. scene in Code Geass that people are complaining about: if you had been listening instead of staring at the naked girl, you would have heard that C.C. gave back all the gifts people gave to her as a result of her geass, including the dresses and fancy clothes. Now why couldn't she have a blanket on or something? Who knows? Code Geass has its flaws, but I don't think that scene was one of them.

There's a scene in the Geneshaft OP with Mika naked in a tube. That could be attributed to the genetic engineering. So again, plausible reason, however a stretch it may be.

You want to complain about fanservice with no reason behind it? Try the various Gundam SEED OPs or 00 Season 2 OP2. The people are naked in those OPs why?

And to anyone complaining about Ikki Tousen, Agent Aika, Strike Witches, or Queen's Blade: you should have known what you were getting into before you started watching. Those shows were designed for a certain audience. If you do not want to be in that audience, more power to you, but don't try to force the shows into something they were never intended to be (like decent ).
 
For me, it's not a matter of quantity. As with anything, it all depenRAB on the execution. For example, I didn't have a problem with Aika but hated Love Love?.
 
The show certainly had a few scenes where I would honestly side with the previous complaints, including one that roughly matches HellCat's description and was a rather poorly conceived distraction, but I also agree that this wasn't one of them.

Beefy's already provided most of the context, but I would add that C.C. was still young, uneducated, inexperienced and in the company of her would-be mother figure. While the nudity wasn't strictly necessary, by all means, I don't think it was irrational nor out of place.

I'm not about to argue that the show wouldn't have benefitted from less fanservice, overall, but I'm not going to be a prude about it.

I understand that different individuals will be annoyed or distracted by different things, but I don't think SamTheGreek's comparison to the works of Shakespeare could be considered accurate, in good faith, because it just so happens that the most important scenes in Code Geass, either season, didn't have any fanservice that particularly distracted me in a significant manner.

As far as I am concerned, the most tasteless scenes didn't coincide with the most dramatically or emotionally important moments. Perhaps that wasn't the case for other viewers, but then again I can only speak about my own experience and little else.
 
If serious stuff is happening onscreen and the writers clearly just stuck a nekkid woman in the scene so that people with short attention spans would pay attention, then it's annoying. The mere presence of a nekkid woman in a scene, however, doesn't automatically mean there's pandering afoot.

On the other hand, some series like Queen's Blade were never intended to be anything but blatant exploitation. Enjoy the mindless boob show for what it is, people. Or don't watch it; that's generally a very good option.

In one, the fanservice detracts from the presentation of the plot. In the other, the plot exists solely to justify the fanservice. One irritates me; the other, I simply don't watch unless I want to.
 
Any fanservice is too much. My message to the writers: come back when you have the talent to make a show interesting without resorting to that kind of garbage to catch people's attention. That's not why I watch shows. It's especially worse when it gets shoved into adaptions of properties that originally had fairly strong female characters (Tales of Eternia and Mega Man Star Force's animated adaptions come to mind), as if they're durabfounded at the idea that a women has anything beyond her body. I'm just waiting for Eowyn to get a hot springs episode in a LOTR adaption.
 
Yeah, I reviewed Desert Punk as well, and while it's very fanservicey after a fashion, at points even crossing over into misogyny, it's really self-aware of that, and it rides every point for humor. Heck, the whole point is the male lead is not at all someone to emulate when it comes to romantic interaction, ever, and the post-apocolyptic setting is actually really well-thought out for a show that's girls, guns and explosions. It's smarter than it neeRAB to be. However, Desert Punk is a rarity - it's not often service-shows are geared around making the male lead almost entirely unsympathic, and it's rare that the rest of the cast is as dysfunctional and unlikable (but therefore funny to see screwed over.) For every show that's turning expectations on their ear like that and making you laugh (and really, Tenchi was like that in those days - it was bold, and it was conceived before all the characters in that type of show would be codified into 2D tropes, which is probably why the series has so much character development in so little time along with all the humor,) there are probably two dozen more that are little more than cheap thrills that aren't even that thrilling.

And really, that kills external appeal in the long term. I mean, when the durab service titles start cluttering the international shelves, you really undermine one of the best things the international market had in making anime a global market - namely, empty, horrible shows didn't come over. If something was pure-service, it was some crazy, kitchy extreme there of (or it was pure hentai,) and typically, even the more vapid and poorly done shows weren't brought over - if something came over, it was usually because it brought something worthwhile to the table. Even Evangelion has service moments, but it also changed the medium's vocabulary and arabitions. Ghost in the Shell has service, but it's also one of the finest and best-realized pieces of near future Sci-Fi committed to any medium. Cowboy Bebop has all sorts of service in it, but much a like Tarantino film, that's the point - reveling in all the coolness, sexiness and rawness copped from countless films.

Thus, service isn't the problem, as long as isn't all you've got. However, a lot of shows only have that, and with brilliant series feeling a little further and farther between these days (especially since some of the best will probably never come over - Dennou Coil, Twin Spica, Kemonozume, Windy Tales, etc,) this seemingly unstoppable moe trend (and with 30+ percent of middle-age Japanese males virgins, well, I don't see this burning out quickly,) is going to eventually do damage to the international viability of the medium. You may see plenty of Japanese otaku clutch on to anime into their 30s and 40s, but you're gonna kill it for the Toonami/Pokemon generation otaku abroad, atleast as a main hobby. If there's barely a handful of worthwhile shows coming over every year that really marit anyone's time, it's gonna be easy to let that be a secondary interest.
 
'To much fanservice', to me anyways, seems to correlate with how much I roll my eyes at it. Usually the more obvious it's being (Hello crotch to face panty shots), the more likely I am to be annoyed with it.
 
I fully agree, although I would reiterate that something doesn't need to be inherently revolutionary or of exceptional quality in order to be allowed to get away with fanservice without being dismissed. Even Hollywood, which is mainstream enough, allows for some variety.

I would welcome any move towarRAB producing and bringing over more high quality shows with little to no fanservice, including the likes of Twin Spica which was a wonderful little series while it lasted, but I'd also appreciate if there was at least a conscious effort to pick more good series, period, regardless of whatever fanservice happens to be included, that at least have something to offer.

Not everything can be A+, sadly, but in my hurable opinion B and even high C titles are always preferrable to low C, D and below that still seem to take up way too much literal or figurative shelf space for their own good and aren't usually going to sell in the long run.



I'm not sure about following this line of thought...the implication would be that it's impossible to take a scene seriously if there's nudity involved or, perhaps more importantly, even if nudity happens to be relevant to the point. In either case, I'd have to disagree.
 
It's called a joke.
Surely I was not seriously comparing Code Geass to Shakespeare.



But that was my very point as to why that scene was bad.
We weren't listening because we were staring at the naked girl!

And I don't care if there is some lame rational to why she was naked.
Many porns have lame rationals as to why two people are naked, but it doesn't make it good writing.

Having C2 naked for no good reason (happy?) is distracting.
My proof: I found it distracting, and I know others who have as well.
So, while it may not have been distracting to everyone (and I never said it was), it was to some.
And why distract some of your audience during a fairly important scene when it can easily be avoided?

Fanservice should not distract or detract from the plot.
Furthermore, it isn't always a matter of "too much" fanservice, but a matter of badly timed fanservice.

That C2 scene is merely an example of my point.
 
Ah, but the actual implication behind that joke was still quite misleading in my opinion. That's why I addressed it.



It is an entirely valid point, on a conceptual level, but just as you might find any possible explanation for that scene to be insufficient and lame, I could also find that reaction to be exaggerated and out of proportion given the context. Both opinions should be respected.

It would always be better to avoid the issue entirely, by not resorting to fanservice or nudity in the first place, but there is more than enough room for varying interpretations and different tolerance levels even when that happens to be the case. I'd say that's fair.

I know there are people who will never find, to employ another example, Higurashi to be worth watching because there is gore and gratuitous fanservice involved, preferring to make mocking comments or lame running jokes about it, but I was able to pay attention to the story all the same. I suppose it's a matter of opinion and what does or doesn't get on someone's nerves during certain scenes.
 
I'd argue that kind of fanservice is worse. At least you can write Eiken, Agent Aika, and Queens Blade off as throwaway shows who know it's bad, but when shows actually try to be serious with that stuff in there, then that's the real problem. There's never really a plausible reason for fanservice. There is always an alternative way to direct a scene. There might be an argument there for another show, but Code Geass already established it's not above pointless fanservice.
 
I would reply that the argument applies to any and all shows that have some sort of fanservice that could be classified as pointless, rightfully or otherwise, and yet still have some serious aspects to them, but then again I also respectfully disagree with your premise.

If I still have a reason to watch a show, reasons that do not involve fanservice, applying that logic would mean throwing out many different series, far too many, instead of simply acknowledging that as an unfortunate flaw and focusing on what interests me.

That logic might be fair enough for you, but not for me. Which is why I realize that this is, in the end, a purely subjective topic.
 
I have to say that I never expected someone to bring up the Rosario + Vampire anime as an example of fanservice done well.

Off topic, but like the others said, you should read the manga.
 
Fanservice that is noticeable to me and in the face is excessive.

School Days was just a bit too much for me. All of the ridiculous panty-shots and showing of the female characters' boobs got on my last nerve. I still finished the anime, but that was because a lot of that blatant fanservice faded away towarRAB the end.

I know that there is fanservice in my favorite anime - One Piece. However it doesn't bother me all of that much. Sure I'm not too happy that Nami's boobs are as big as they are, but really only the movies (which I haven't really seen) and filler focus on her boobs. The rest of the "fanservice" is tolerable because oftentimes it's humorous, or just not that noticeable.

I mean, at least, unlike in School Days Nami's boobs don't take up half of the screen at certain moments. =/
 
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