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Attack of the fanservice and why?


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Daimonwrath



Joined: 18 Dec 2003
Posts: 133
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 1:00 am Reply with quote
This is sort of a spinoff to zac's post and something I've always been wondering.
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5147

Now Im a grown man and enjoy the simple pleasures of hentai as much as the next guy but my question is when the lines that are supposed to be drawn between anime and hentai aren't so clearly implied WHY are people attracted to fanservice in something not clearly stated as hentai?

Im a fan of Goldenboy, which seemed to have some moralistic values as well as comedy but like zac, I have noticed the massive appeal to titles like air master, and Ikkitousen to name a few. I do understand ratings and have a fair understanding of the market, but I wanted to get into the core of a few minds and opinions that drive this sucker.

Namely because a friend and I are at constant odds about our anime titles, and recently he turns me toward ikkitousen and I check it out expecting a good story line, but am flashed with pointless panty shots in the first few minutes. I couldnt watch anymore yet he adheres that this is quality goodz. (insert arguements)

Now imagine eating your dessert and dinner at the same time. Do you get what Im saying? Whats the point? Is it maybe the younger generation supporting this heavily, and if so should they ? I just dont get it.
Confused

D.W.
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spudthepotatofreak



Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 1:10 am Reply with quote
this might seem incredibly simplistic but...

sex sells...

i think the anime industry may be taking a hint from the video game designers, it all started with laura croft... now we have doa: beach vollyball and tons of other games with so much bouncin' going on you'd think the girls where on a trampoline... and now the video game industry is a multi-billion dollar business. of course i'm not complaining... i mean eva had fan service, and as long as it's in good taste i don't have a problem with it...
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Craeyst Raygal



Joined: 30 Apr 2002
Posts: 1383
Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT.
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 1:59 am Reply with quote
Actually, there are quite few examples of "sex sells" in video gaming. Yes, there's the DOA series of games and their infamous "She kicks high" commercial, and there's the Charlie's Angels antics of FFX-2, but in those games it's served up very toungue in cheek and with a very attractive playfulness. By comparison, games like BMX XXX and Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness which are more blatantly relying on sex end up as miserable flops.

As far as anime is concerned, blatant fanservice (such as Love Hina) has become more and more popular. The demand for intricate love stories in romance comedies (like Oh My Goddess) or finely crafted characters (like the Tenchi OAV's) has been replaced by demand for new ways to show breasts without showing breasts.

And, Daimonwraith, I think it does have a lot to do with anime gravitating towards younger fans. Let's face it, many many new anime fans in the states are boys just coming out of junior high. They can't get access to "the real stuff", pornography wise, so they're buying all the "risque" series because "OMG, it has bewbies!". In contrast, the video game market is heading surprisingly up in age bracket. As it does, boobs for boobs sake become more and more insipid. Even DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball, which is a game with a surprisingly large female following (mostly because of its light-hearted nature and collecting aspects), is most in its element when played by a large group of rowdy 18-22year old men on a late Friday night.

More or less, the crowd that found all those ways Ken Akamatsu figured out for Keitaro to trip and grab the girls' breasts/panties is the crowd demanding such idiocy now.

Makes me almost ashamed to be a harem genre fan.
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Godaistudios



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2075
Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment)
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 5:35 am Reply with quote
I admit, I like my fanservice from time to time, but it's not really something I want to vest my money into. Now to be fair regarding Ikkitousen, I did like the twist of the retelling of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It certainly did add a bit of unique flair to it.

On the other hand, if you want to know why people are attracted more to fanservice than hentai specifically? Some might suggest that the implication of sex is more of a turn on than sex itself. Some of the mystery kept keeps your mind/hormones, etc. churning. Anticipation can be a greater high than the act.

That said, for some others, it might be a justification to watch something and say, hey, there's actually a story here, so it doesn't matter how much it pushes the envelope. Kinda like somebody saying that they buy Playboy for the articles huh?
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kamiboy



Joined: 29 Nov 2003
Posts: 570
Location: CA
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 6:48 am Reply with quote
Think of it this way. Most hentai are pretty crappy as far as storyline, acting and art style is concerned due to a relatively low budget. Fanservice however is a way of getting something similar but in a much better wrapping because it could be accompanying an otherwise entertaining show with a much higher animation budget.

The other thing is that people often watch porn/hentai for a very specific purpose. Fanservice doesn’t necessarily serve the exact same purpose, people might find it attractive but it isn’t exactly masturbatory material. People like fanservice because people are programmed to like things that they find beautiful. It might not turn them on exactly but they enjoy watching it non-the less. So I guess the appeal of fanservice is the same as the appeal of great art style or attractive character design for the female cast of an anime.

Its appeal might not be so sexual at all but just something that is beautiful which we are programmed to respond to and enjoy. Kind of how guys like shounen anime because they contain fighting, violence and explosions while women generally don’t because they are wired differently. So I put fanservice under the shounen category of things men like just because that is the way they are wired.
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Dilandau



Joined: 06 Jan 2004
Posts: 525
Location: Tea House
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 10:05 am Reply with quote
kamiboy wrote:
Think of it this way. Most hentai are pretty crappy as far as storyline, acting and art style is concerned due to a relatively low budget. Fanservice however is a way of getting something similar but in a much better wrapping because it could be accompanying an otherwise entertaining show with a much higher animation budget.


Excellent! We have a winner!

Hentai is crap, it is porn: plotless, rhythmic, ugly and done in someones basement.

fanservice has money, is done well, has a higher purpose [as it may be] is not as offensive to have on your proud anime shelf.
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gnollman



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
Posts: 535
Location: Richmond, KY
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 10:58 am Reply with quote
Dilandau wrote:
Hentai is crap, it is porn: plotless, rhythmic, ugly and done in someones basement.


And this makes it bad?


People make Hentai because there's a market for it. Just because you're not in that market doesn't make it bad.

And no, not all hentai is poorly drawn, and not all hentai is done in someones basement. True, you're not likely to have Madhouse or Gonzo doing hentai, but it's not all absolute crap, either.


Of course, there are exceptions....


Some examples of kinder, gentler hentai are Koihime, and Vanilla Series: Campus (which has surprisingly little to do with college).
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radicaledward



Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Posts: 776
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 2:25 pm Reply with quote
I have to agree that not all hentai is "crap" there is some that has a touching story - of course in order to find those rare gems you have to hunt hard. Also, there is more than just the animated hentai there are also computer games, which is where you find the better stories and less perverted hentai (Oxymoron!).
For example there is this one game (True Love) that is no longer in print and is abandonware (The company that made it no longer exists and abandoned the game) that has a very touching story and very little hentai in it. It belongs to the group of dating games that are very popular in Japan.
As for fan service - it all depends on the context; some times it is there to mock either people (Or the audience), some times for comedic relief, and some times just to be there.
Awhile back someone mentioned Love Hina and its fan service, I agree that it has a lot, but it also doesn't take itself seriously - but if you can live with the fan service it does have a good story line (The manga, I haven't seen the anime). Plus, there are times in the story where the fan service is just plain fan service - and other times were its more of a plot device, many of the more important points in the plot took place in the hot springs.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher


Joined: 29 Dec 2001
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 10:23 pm Reply with quote
Dilandau wrote:
Hentai is crap, it is porn: plotless, rhythmic, ugly and done in someones basement.

fanservice has money, is done well, has a higher purpose [as it may be] is not as offensive to have on your proud anime shelf.


You obviously haven't seen (and probably don't care to see) New Angel, Urotsukidoji, Bible Black, Kite, Mezzo Forte or Wordsworth. Each of these have their own issues, just like most non-pornographic anime, but each also has several redeeming qualities to the script. They all have a plot and could easilly have been redone without the pornography and still have been worth watching.

Perhaps you should ammend you conclusion by inserting the word "most" before the word "hentai".

-t
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Daimonwrath



Joined: 18 Dec 2003
Posts: 133
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 10:27 pm Reply with quote
Well truth be told I am aware of the fact that sex sells in the industry, perhaps I was overlooking that simple fact. Maybe just some anime is overdone in nonsensical taste to my liking as all things there is a balance and when its crossed for me I throw it in the trash. lol individual taste probably has a lot to do with it. What many go balls over I usually wretch if its too much. So perhaps through all I will never see more than the simple fact that of the matter sex sells. lol

D.W.
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Daimonwrath



Joined: 18 Dec 2003
Posts: 133
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 10:30 pm Reply with quote
New Angel, Urotsukidoji, Bible Black, Kite, Mezzo Forte or Wordsworth.

In addition on the hentai side of things I have indeed seen these titles and do enjoy them for what they are and each are clearly defined as hentai.

D.W.
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crazydumbek



Joined: 31 Aug 2002
Posts: 182
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 11:13 pm Reply with quote
Daimonwrath wrote:
Is it maybe the younger generation supporting this heavily, and if so should they ?


It usually is.

I kind of thought that the majority of anime fans in Japan was and probably still is composed of young males, which, in theory, are not supposed to experience sex until they are older. However in real life, the young bastards have an inkling or more about sex anyway.

The anime studios know this. To increase interest in the majority of the fans, some studios decided titillate (love that word) them with sexually suggestive shots and scenes. In effect they are giving them a service of cheap thrills. Hence, the name fan service.

If you look at it this way, giving fan service makes a lot of sense. It's juvenile depiction of sex caters to the juvenile experience of the majority of its viewers.
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ShellBullet



Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 12:21 am Reply with quote
I have thought about the oft-used addage sex sells. If that is so, then why aren't our theaters filled with NC-17 rated movies? Simply, kids and teenagers (a mainstay of most venues) are not alowed to watch such things. Further, many people do not approve/like such things. Therefore a theater would be shooting it's own foot, so to speak, by angering the community to which it tries to sell its movies.

But, some will quickly argue, isn't Japan more permisive in its sexual attitudes. Perhaps, or maybe the country just has a differing standard than our country. It seems to me that the country has a "look but don't touch" attitude. That is, it's perfectly OK to look at bouncing breasts and so forth, but it's not really acceptable to go any farther. Certainly not everyone in Japan holds to such a view, but it's prevalent enough to have an effect. For example take the noise created over Gundum Seed; people complained because it actually had two people sleep together as opposed to just oogling each other.

Therefore, companies can show fan service on T.V. with no one complaining; but they can't show hentai. The rule-of-thumb "sex sells" needs to be balanced by the opposing rule "too much sex offends."


Last edited by ShellBullet on Sun Jan 11, 2004 2:24 am; edited 1 time in total
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Legato 2057



Joined: 18 May 2003
Posts: 437
Location: Soon to be Japan
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 2:16 am Reply with quote
Fanservice serves the same purpose as hentai: something to get sexually excited about. But most stores won't let a underage kid purchase a porno but will let them buy some R-rated horror movie with plenty of nudity. The same thing applies to hentai and "fanservice" anime.
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Dilandau



Joined: 06 Jan 2004
Posts: 525
Location: Tea House
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 4:15 am Reply with quote
I too have seen Urotsukidoji, Kite and Mezzo Forte. They are all right.

Daimonwrath's topic was why are people more drawn to the questionable fanservice over the outright hentai.

With my background of having worked in the production department of a US anime Company, having gone to Art school, etc. My answer to his question was that I have the opinion that hentai is not artisticly interesting or generally have an amusing plot {not that much of anime or Hollywood usually do either}.

Something more fanservice seems a more 'valuable' way to waste time {as it were}.
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