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INTEREST: Hanasaku Iroha Character Designer Mel Kishida Reflects on Changing Attitudes Towards Fanse

Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 upped the fanservice and sold less than the first two as well.

I think it's a bit of an overstep to say western fans themselves aren't into fanservice. Most of us do actually like it, especially in the anime and Japanese video game fandoms. The sales and market numbers speak for themselves. A vocal minority on social media might take issue with it, but most people don't actually care.

Wasn't one of the most popular atelier series atelier ryza and its sequel full of fan service.

Well that didn't stop them announcing a series of sexy swimsuit DLC's for the characters literally yesterday.

People assumed Second Light being toned down was due to Sony's censorship policies, but it very well could have been this designer and an attempt to appeal to western audiences it seems. The backlash was pretty noticeable and even effected the home video release of the anime adaption.

I think it's a bit of an overstep to say western fans themselves aren't into fanservice. Most of us do actually like it, especially in the anime and Japanese video game fandoms. The sales and market numbers speak for themselves. A vocal minority on social media might take issue with it, but most people don't actually care.

Brook09 wrote:

Wasn't one of the most popular atelier series atelier ryza and its sequel full of fan service.

Ryza was mostly notable due to its heroine's design being much more suitable to modern tastes (read: thick thighs), for a franchise that has been struggling to catch a mainstream eye for years. You could also say something about the party member Lila, but I feel like previous Atelier games have had similar-looking characters. The game itself, as stated by other commenters, was actually more reserved than previous entries. There were just things about the visual design and summer vacation motif that really resonated with players, and these were things that stood out right on the box itself so it got people talking.

AmpersandsUnited wrote:

I think it's a bit of an overstep to say western fans themselves aren't into fanservice. Most of us do actually like it, especially in the anime and Japanese video game fandoms. The sales and market numbers speak for themselves. A vocal minority on social media might take issue with it, but most people don't actually care.

I feel like this is an important perspective as well, because gacha games totally do well in the western market and Genshin has proved that a console release does even better, so we can't simply point a finger at thirsty mobile gamers.

Personally I'm in the camp where I feel like the solution is that fanservice should continue, just the characters should be older, and we can have the best of both worlds. I think this is the bottom line of these "western opinions"; we've been ready for college-age RPGs for probably the last decade, but Japan doesn't want to take that step.

With any luck, the Yakuza: Like a Dragon games might convince more publishers that you can make perfectly endearing RPGs without having to centre the plot around some teens.

Reminds me of Inuyasha vs the new Yashahime series. From what little I’ve watched of the new series I've noticed they've toned down anything resembling Miroku's groping tendencies (fine by me) and have made interesting but seemingly very deliberately gendered outfit decisions for the three main characters.

It’s almost like they’re playing it super safe for a new generation of Inuyasha viewers. I’m not saying it’s bad, (and some sekuhara stuff in anime is really unnecessary) but I do think some of these decisions are making for kind of a boring show.

This is as untrue as it's ever been. There are different styles, including more realistic styles, but you don't have to look very far to find western video games with attractive character designs. Y'all just get scared because a few popular games aren't sexing up their characters.

He said that although he draws a lot of female characters in school uniforms, he doesn't necessarily find them or the teen girls wearing them attractive.

I think it's a bit of an overstep to say western fans themselves aren't into fanservice. Most of us do actually like it, especially in the anime and Japanese video game fandoms. The sales and market numbers speak for themselves. A vocal minority on social media might take issue with it, but most people don't actually care.

Fanservice games (stuff like Senran Kagura and Valkyrie Drive) sell way less in Japan than they used to.

Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 upped the fanservice and sold less than the first two as well.

I suspect the fanservice loving audience has moved on to mobile games.

Different series and artist, I know, but I really like how Guilty Gear went from Xrd's "hey kids wanna see some CLEAVAGE" to Strive's more tastefully aesthetic but still attractive designs. I'm hoping we see more focus on good designs that happen to be appealing than "fanservice first, art second".