The Many Flavors of Fanservice

I hereby will rock the anime community by debunking fanservice.

Origin: I've noticed a correlation in my anime viewing habits. I don't wind up really gravitating to series with a whole lot of gender-bending and homosexual stuff. I'm not casting judgment on it, mind you, I just don't dig it. BUT, it's not because I actively seek out non-gay material.

Likability: For me to like an anime, I have to give it the two episode test. The 2ET, as I'm going to call it from here on out to be more scientific sounding by confusing you with acronyms, stems from anime usually only coming in two episodes per tape. Now with DVDs, the first volume usually contains three or four so sometimes I revert to that yet still call it the 2ET. That means I give an anime a very limited window of opportunity to hook me. Some people may poo-poo this idea since 2 episodes out of, say, Maison Ikkoku represents only 2% of the series. I respond by flinging back that poo and stating that good storytelling is good storytelling regardless of the length it is. Bad storytelling most certainly becomes evident within two episodes. Example: Ping Pong Club.

Thing is, some people are REALLY into gay material. Like the story doesn't matter insofar as there is girls into girls, boys into boys, and boys that look like girls and vice versa. To be fair, I like things ecchi. So I'm willing to be more forgiving on a bad anime that's dripping with ecchi stuff, much like someone into gay would be more forgiving.

Traditionally, fanservice has implied "ecchi" materials. You know, nudity, panty-flashes, raunch, the works. But I've seen through the smokescreen. Calling it "fanservice" is a way to marginalize it and avoiding finding a rational reason to dislike it. Thing is, if you don't like ecchi in your anime, that IS a rational reason. The colloquialism fanservice was used so that it wouldn't seem petty.

When I told you I don't like gay-heavy anime, you thought it was pretty petty, didn't you? You probably equated some of that with being a homophobe (which anyone who knows me can easily tell you I am NOT). "Give it a chance," you might have said, somehow thinking that the inclusion of gay and androgyny somehow instills a halo of good taste upon a series.

It's the Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding effect. Independent, artsy films use gay and lesbian themes to garner an audience of people who might not really be interested and exploit that community to lend authority and "art status" upon them. If *I* were gay, I'd be offended by exploiting my lifestyle for a marketing tool.

Results: So, that's how it started. Rejection of the word "fanservice" for ecchi, when, in reality, there's lots of fanservice that occurs in an anime at conception based on what audience they wish to get. Ecchi draws in the 12-25 male crowd, Gay draws in the 12-25 female crowd, Violence draws in the 8-22 males, cute draws in the 8-22 females. Each aspect explicitly chosen to get each audience group to impart that Subject Matter Halo (SMH) within the 2ET, regardless of number of episodes for the test.

And, no, I'm not "above" it. I get snookered in like everyone else. But you don't have to be above it to recognize it's existance. Armed with that detail, you no longer have to rely on "fanservice" as a catch-all to voice disapproval with ecchi. Now you can say, comfortably and with my blessing, "I don't like the ecchi stuff." It's ok. That way those that DO can maintain the dignity of partaking in entertainment suited for them.

All in all, it's one of the cardinal rules of my congregation: don't be a fucking snob.

To balance things, here are some reference materials for adjusting the scales. Disagree with the scores? Don't know: it's a vacuum out there.

	Costume	Gay	Ecchi	Violence	Cute	Emo	Deep	Romance
Neon Genesis Evangelion	6	3	4	7	2	9	7	4
DNA^2	6	1	7	2	5	5	4	6
Sakura Diaries	3	1	8	1	3	6	2	8
Those Who Hunt Elves	7	1	6	4	6	3	1	3
Dragon Ball Z	6	1	2	8	1	4	1	2
Card Captor Sakura	10	6	4	4	9	2	3	5
FLCL	4	1	8	6	4	6	4	7