and whatever's wrong with the camera in DBZ that it needed to linger so much on Vegeta's butt.
Actually, that surprises me. I've seen all of Dragonball. Goku getting his shirt torn up more than Captain Kirk, Tenshinhan was half naked pretty much most of the time, I can see how a girl might like Trunks and I guess Piccolo if you like green...but Vegeta was the fan service?
Goku's great and has a really sweet personality... I had a HUGE crush on him as a kid. I identified more with Piccolo. Tenshinhan was so peripheral and his character design never really moved anywhere after book 16, so not for me--honestly, I'd be more in it for Yamcha, who spends like the entire end of DB protecting Bulma after she's already married to someone else, and I'm not even
into Yamcha. Trunks is the only one you'd want to consider dating in real life in terms of personality, but he screamed Awkward Teenager so much that I was more rooting for him than anything else.
I'm not trying to say Vegeta was the fan service, LOL, but he was totally the fan service ^_^ You seldom see him shirtless, but when you do he's wearing basically nothing and really scarred up. The interplay between the way he's posed wearing skin-tight clothing, constantly humiliated, and the fact that you never see much above the neckline (seriously, there's like two scenes in the entire thing where he doesn't have gloves on?) creates a tension for the viewer
For the latter category, I liked Evangelion a lot.
Who? For me, Rei was a great big no, and Asuka was a big disappointment. She should have been fan service. She had so much potential tobe. But she just failed to deliver. I don't t remember her ever successfully being sexy. Ritsuko was hot, and she had her moments of skimpy attire, but she was so not my type it was difficult to enjoy them very much. Basically leaving Misato who I think was not intended to be sexy at all, but she was kind of the only female character in the show who wasn't obviously a nutcase, which sort of left her most attractive by default.
Shinji was...Shinji. So I'm guessing the final Angel? Kaworu? I guess I can see how he could possibly by sexy if that's your type. But if you liked Vegita's butt, I wouldn't think he would be yours.
Yeah, that was kind of the point for me. At the end of the episode, Misato always promises us: "Next time, more fanservice!" But then there is none, really. Everyone's gorgeous, but they're fourteen and act like it or they have terrible personalities (Kaji, Misato, Ritsuko, Gendo, I could go on). So... anti-fanservice? You expect fanservice, but then you never get any. It doesn't really function as, er, fanservice as such for me, but it's a quality I like and actively look for in shows.
Shampoo was definitely the winner there. But she was more emotional than sexy fanservice. She was absolutely devoted to the death, and very affectionate about it. Crazy, yes, but she was the "I'm your crazy" kind of crazy. A bit like Harley Quinn, actually. Yes, she has boobs, yes she's good looking...but that's not why you like her. And I don't remember her being sexualized much. She dressed very conservatively, routinely with everything from neck to ankles covered.
Most of the fan service in Ranma was focused on on Ranma and on the Tendo sisters. With Ranma...well, there was kind of a lot for "her" but "she" was a guy, which I found made the fan service focused on him not very appealing. Guy, transformed against his will into an admittedly verypretty girl, and then...say, gets into a fight, her blouse gets cut up and the guy she's fighting starts bleeding at those nose all over everything. Ok yes, Ilike boobs, but this is just not a a fan servicey situation in my book.
And the Tendo sisters in general were all good examples of the Japanese finding ways to make what should be sexy not sexy at all. Akane was completely unappealing. They obviously tried to make her appealing, she was the designated love interest, she constantly had all sorts of "I'm working out" scenes, I think she even had panty shots as part of the opening credits, but never, ever was Akane in any way the least bit attractive to me.
Nabiki was too untrustworthy to be attractive. And Kasumi...she wasn't really sexualized much. Her angle was "I would make a good wife and mother to your children" which is all well and good...but that's not exactly fan service in the sense I think we're talking about. Kodachi? Yeah, no. Ukyo? She was so not sexualized...remember, everyone thought she was a guy. Then there's all the weird stuff that happened in the later seasons, and I'd call just about everything that ever happened involving any kind of nudity or implied nudity in any episode involving Happosai to be fan disservice. Overall, for all the sex and strategic shirt-tears from combat in Ranma...there just wasn't all that much fan service that was very...serviceable.
So, first of all, boy-Ranma is really cute even if he's a total knucklehead. It doesn't hurt that there is also girl-Ranma involved. Second of all, Akane being totally unappealing is kind of the point. She's the character the reader is supposed to identify with--Ranma is HER designated love interest. Whenever anyone tries to make her be fanservicey, she beats them up. She doesn't ever wear cute clothes. But Ranma, Ryouga, and Kunou like her anyway, and she's a tough martial artist. The working-out scenes aren't supposed to be hot! They're not
drawn hot. She's just supposed to be relatable, and teenaged girls do not relate to hot. It's a female power fantasy, LOL. I think they did try to sexualize her for the anime, though, which was kind of a travesty because... again, as you've noticed, that is not a character design you can make sexy. Kind of like Asuka, who also ended up being a power fantasy more than a sexual one.
I agree with you on Happosai. I stopped enjoying the series, like, at all after he became so central to it.
the kind I like is usually either pretty subtle or of the "anti-fanservice" variety.
Out of curiosity, how did you feel about the Conan movies? Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime running around in a loin cloth. Not at all subtle, but given the context of the movie it made sense for him to be almost naked, and I don't ever remember feeling like it was done for fan service. Just, he was a barbarian. That was the premise of the movies. National Geographic visits africa isn't fan service either.
Or Dr Manhattan from Watchmen. Or Mystique from X-men. Sometimes nudity just makes sense. Though there are some border cases. The Terminator series, for example. Was the whole "only living things can time travel" thing just an excuse to have fan service? Or was it necessary for the story to explain why they didn't bring high tech weapons, and therefore they had to be naked. Again, I don't remember feeling like any of these were fan service. They were simply situations where nudity made sense.
Mystique felt fanservicey to me in the movies because her character is introduced seducing others to get her way, and then she shows up naked with a husky voice and etc. Yes, it makes sense for her to be naked, character-wise, but it's framed as fanservice.
Watchmen is a very thorough example of anti-fanservice, which you'd expect because it's a genre deconstruction like Evangelion. I didn't see the Conan movies, but in general straight-up beefcake/cheesecake does basically nothing for me.
I can't stand another minute more of the boob shot panty shot giggle giggle I'm a girl molesting another girl whoops I tripped into her cleavage tee hee stuff, though. There's such a creepy stalker vibe to all of it that grosses me out.
...Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? The Haruhi on Mikuru maid outfit scene? Minus the "oops" part anyway.
Personally I found that uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it was intended to be fan service, or intended to be a guilt-tripping mockery fan disservice. Either way, again...the Japanese have a talent for showing beautiful half naked girls in clearly sexual contexts that are thoroughly unappealing.
I'm thinking specifically of Haruhi, but I've seen this dynamic in so many other shows at this point that I wouldn't say it's Haruhi-specific. The last harem manga I enjoyed on any level was actually Love Hina, and that was a LONG time ago. Most Western fanservice does not appeal to me at all, either, since women are so consistently framed as passive with that baby-doll face and the men have no personalities.