Fanservice - Deal breaker or maker?

[validuser]

Personally, I cant stand it.
Most fanservice is awkward, annoying, and takes away the little respect I might've developed for a character.

Take Gurren Lagaan for example: the lead female Yoko, was MADE for fanservice. Supposedly, she's this super-tough sniper, fighting giant robots in a bloody war zone, while wearing a fking bikini - for the ENTIRE show. Like, seriously? If you are putting in fanservice for a series, atleast TRY to make the character believable ffs.

I dont see how people can say FS makes anime more 'real' or 'human', cause there's no fking way you're squeezing a random girl's tits and getting away with it.
I guess the ONLY reason fanservice exists is for pervs to jerk off to teenage cartoon characters. Its awkward, and I stand by that. It wont prevent me from watching anime, but I really really wish FS wasnt there at all.
The producers can perv with hentai all they want, but anime would be better off without it.

[Lord]

Gurren Lagaan is Mecha and Fantasy. You can't expect it to be realistic because it obviously tells you before you start watching this anime, that it's non-realistic.
It's like watching Naruto and all of a sudden you decide to hate Orochimaru because there's no way a humanbeing can have snakes in his mouth. WTF? The main purpose of these animes is that it has to be non-realistic, something we people can't experience in the real world, therefore we watch these animes so we can experience them in another way.

[validuser]

Gurren Lagaan is Mecha and Fantasy. You can't expect it to be realistic because it obviously tells you before you start watching this anime, that it's non-realistic.
It's like watching Naruto and all of a sudden you decide to hate Orochimaru because there's no way a humanbeing can have snakes in his mouth. WTF? The main purpose of these animes is that it has to be non-realistic, something we people can't experience in the real world, therefore we watch these animes so we can experience them in another way.

Gurren Lagaan was just an example.
There's a great deal of difference between a realistic story and a realistic character. All I'm saying is that the characters should be believable emotionally (not physically - I don't care if a character has three heads or four eyes). They should act and behave as normal people do. The reason I mentioned Yoko in Gurren Lagaan is cause no sane person would fight in a bikini. Simple fact. And then she acts all weird when someone stares at her. Seriously? She wears next to nothing and feels offended when some-one stares? How is that believable? And anyway, the topic in question is fanservice, not how 'realistic' anime is compared to real life. I never said that.
Even if fanservice was completely removed from an anime like Code Geass, it would still retain its awesomeness. That's all I'm trying to say.

[YuriEcchiGirl]

I personally don't see anything wrong with a lot of fanservice (or lack of even) in animes as I'm a fan of it myself ^^

[Jeffrey Cornillie]

Well i honestly love some fan service in an anime... but not too much...
it's the difference between: "wooohoooo bouncing tittiess! I'll drink to that"
and "OMFG, his hand is completely being absorbed by it ö it's the boobmonster EVERYBODYY RUN!!!*

I mean.... anyone ever saw the highschool of the dead???... It's like... BULLET DODGING BREASTS...
HOW FREAKING FAR CAN YOU GO??

[Lily Rock]

Meh, fanservice or not, if you don't enjoy fanservice, don't watch/think about it.
Lots of fanservice Anime/Manga can be enjoyable for those who enjoys fanservice or don't, and at your point on Yoko only being in a bikini, that doesn't mean it's fanservice, it could be badassery, she's also a sniper, which means, the less armour, the better agility and speed, which is very good and needed for a good sniper, but I can agree, atleast a shirt of some kind and/or bulletproof vest could've been used, but whatever, producers decide how it is.
If you're disturbed by fanservice, you should look up reviews and such things before watching a show, almost everything nowadays are filled with it.

[marsbear]

I'm neutral on this one. I don't seek anime with plenty of fan service, but I won't get turned off by it if I ever see it in my favorite anime.

[FluffyDango]

As long as it`s not the Ikkitousen kind where girls cloats gets blown off when they get hit, that just weird :P

But Freezing for example is a great anime, but it has alot of fanservice and some of it is pretty weird.
But becaus the story in it has become so great I don`t mind that it had weird fs.

When the fs is excessive I think an anime is lame, now, didn`t before :P
But if the anime only has some panty shots or if the girls are like Yoko, I won`t be bothered with it.
And TTGL is an EPIC anime!

[wolfgirl90]

Gurren Lagaan was just an example.
There's a great deal of difference between a realistic story and a realistic character. All I'm saying is that the characters should be believable emotionally (not physically - I don't care if a character has three heads or four eyes). They should act and behave as normal people do. The reason I mentioned Yoko in Gurren Lagaan is cause no sane person would fight in a bikini. Simple fact. And then she acts all weird when someone stares at her. Seriously? She wears next to nothing and feels offended when some-one stares? How is that believable?

Well, again, that's a little...weird to expect from an anime. Considering that everything is made up, expecting realism (ANY realism) from a cartoon is pushing it a bit. Continuing to use Gurren Lagann as an example, Yoko states that the reason she dresses that way is for ease of movement, which kinda makes sense (it makes even more sense when, during the down time in the second season, Yoko is not wearing her bikini outfit). As far as her getting offended, well, Kamina was the one making most of the jokes and she had a crush on him, so...

And anyway, the topic in question is fanservice, not how 'realistic' anime is compared to real life. I never said that.
Even if fanservice was completely removed from an anime like Code Geass, it would still retain its awesomeness. That's all I'm trying to say.

No one said that was the topic, but so long as you brought it up as the basis of your opinion, people chose to run with it.

Anyway, I don't really mind fanservice all that much, as long as it flows with the rest of the story; it being "believable" (when it comes to real life) is not all that important to me so long as its not too distracting and keeps pace with the rest of the story. With Gurren Lagann, I didn't really mind the fanservice with Yoko. Hell, I didn't even mind Motoko running around without pants in GITS: SAC. Fanservice rarely bothers me.

The only time that fanservice has bothered me to the point of not watching the series is Strike Witches. The story seemed okay enough, but the characters kept showing their panties at every opportunity. Its not the fact that I am girl that this bothers me (I can put up with Motoko and Kallen's butts in my face).

Its the fact that it happens ALL THE TIME, to the point where the girls are put in the most awkward positions just to make sure that their panties are showing, and it makes the story seem rather off (the story is talking about some serious stuff while the girls are flying around with cat ears and tails and shoving panties in your face). I can't tell if its being serious or if its a joke.

[Kappei Yamaguchi]

I admit, alot of anime series, movies, etc, probably would be better off without the FS, at times it turns me off too. I mean some movies and series i've seen were great to begin with and at first i'm loving it, then some girl's skirt goes up, or some perv grabs a girl's butt, or heaven forbid, an attempted rape occurs! But from what I understand that's just the way anime is, and what you must realize is not ALL anime is like that, you just have to look for the good shows. I must tell you though, you have to watch alot of crappy series before you find that one good one, but depending at how good the show or movie is, it might be worth it.

[animeyay]

I don't actively seek animes with fan service, but I'm normally okay with it, AS LONG AS they don't abuse it.

[YuriEcchiGirl]

Well i honestly love some fan service in an anime... but not too much...
it's the difference between: "wooohoooo bouncing tittiess! I'll drink to that"
and "OMFG, his hand is completely being absorbed by it ö it's the boobmonster EVERYBODYY RUN!!!*

I mean.... anyone ever saw the highschool of the dead???... It's like... BULLET DODGING BREASTS...
HOW FREAKING FAR CAN YOU GO??

High School Of The Dead is THE BOMB and then some fanservice wise! I absolutely bloody love it to bits! ^^

[Arutemisu]

I agree with some of the people who've already posted. High School of The Dead is FULL of FS; but it's still a rather good anime. It really depends on your opinion and the anime itself I suppose. Anyway, to answer your question; No, fanservice doesn't turn me off an anime so long as the entire anime isn't JUST fanservice.