No one’s leering your highness, but we all bask in thine elegant glow.

While its been a long while since Stripey posted his thoughts on fanservice and its place in anime, I find that after seeing a recent film called Juno that while Stripey has a point about proper dosage and chilli my gripe with it still remains. No I am not so high minded that I don’t enjoy the stuff once in a while, but that still doesn’t make fanservice in the form of ecchiness as is the norm now either elegant or subtle. Sure it can make the more hormonal driven and younger men passionate about their favorite bishoujo, but nakkid (low) fanservice is about as subtle as a bomb. In your face crap would be akin to a carpet bombing while well done (high) fanservice, like in FMP Fumoffu, would be like GPS guided ordinance.

Perhaps being exposed to military mishaps, and stories of relationships gone wrong by many an E-6 and above has made me less prone to act on looks alone. It may have also addled my mind to the point that I am very much less than sane compared to some of the worldly bloggers in this great and grand blogosphere. Given that my childhood heroes were German generals who pretty much devoted their lives to war and victory above all else (family be damned) I find that dealing with women solely for the sake of breeding and nookie ranks pretty low on my totem pole of priorities, way under graduating from college, finding a job, and getting promoted to a higher pay grade. I can appreciate beauty but in the long run my desire for financial security has thus far beaten out my genetic inclination to create spawn or practice creating spawn. If faced with the choice between having a harem of bishoujos and scrawling my name upon the pages of history with the blood of my enemies, I am one of the few who would opt for the latter. Suffice to say my higher brain functions are governed by a need to kill rather than breed as such it takes a bit more to bring out the fanboy within.

Remember this hair cut? Makes me wish our lady kept her long hair and old habits…

Perhaps low fanservice, or fanservice involving nudity, does have a place for younger people, but as the years go by I find it harder to laugh or cheer when that nubile teenager runs about half naked or lies in the sack half naked. The older I get the more if find myself being sickened by low fanservice. I cannot help but feel that low fanservice is a disservice as a whole, as it relies on imagery that caters to the baser instincts in the audience rather than genuinely tugging on heartstrings. In ef~a Tale of Memories I did not really want to see Chihiro’s nether regions up close and personal. In fact it made me feel like some unscrupulous voyeur invading their moment of intimacy. I don’t mind that they were intimate I just would have preferred if the whole scene was less intrusive.

Not all fanservice needs to include bare breasts and nakkid asses. If you loved Admiral Spoor you know why this made your day way back when.

For me almost every typical moe bishoujo looks pretty much same depending on the category, be it over endowed women to flat lolis. Given that looks are pretty much the same across the board one of the greatest things that distinguishes Bishoujo A from Bishoujo B. Cry if you must about the little things like that special ribbon but anime styles are pretty much consistent with big saucer eyes, colored hair, short skirts, and small or nonexistent nose. That said the thing that distinguishes one anime bishoujo from another is what they do.

Despite his love of things half nude, I am sure that Stripey remembers this more than any trite nakkid joke.

I firmly believe that while aesthetics play apart, stupidity is the greatest killer of beauty. I am not so shallow to think that having a nice decoration is sufficient. Louise, Christina, and Sumeragi of Gundam 00 are among the most recent offenders in this case. Sure they are all lookers, but Louise is useless, Christina a craven coward, and Sumeragi a heretic who has blasphemed against centuries of naval tradition (My views are heavily influenced by Prussian ethics so it is blasphemous to me, even if you find such flaws as “moe”). Starfish girl from Clannad for me is about as interesting as watching some one picking their nose. Incompetence is probably next with the lack of cooking skills being the most over abused bishoujo “flaw.” Perhaps it’s my own hard earned experience with cooking for my self as an outgrowth of my tight fisted heavy handed miserly fiscal policies, but I know that it takes a hell of a lot fucktastophes to mess up a hamburger. In this light since the dumb and the useless often end up being the biggest low fanservice machines, it makes me liken low fanservice as the last, but often the first, refuge of inept or incompetent writers who have a gross lack of imagination when it comes to dialog or character development. Nevertheless I find that so long as a character is a low fanservice machine all major faults are forgiven so long as the nearly nude or strategically placed ribbon fashion show continues.

Simply epic and nary a misplaced mammary gland to be found.

Back to Juno, the heroine in that film was the plucky young woman of 16 years, Juno MacGuff. She has intercourse with a boy and ends up pregnant, the usual outcome when you have unprotected intercourse. Now I know that some people out there find this some how titillating, but as a rule most people would never leer at a pregnant woman. However Juno carries herself with an air of bravado and witty remarks. She is not in the traditional sense sexy in any sense of the word, but her remarks and attitude make her all the more endearing. Juno took her situation in a stride instead of the tried and true emo path in anime that sickens me to the core. I’ll speak no more in the hopes that a few readers will go watch the film, but in anime is the plain otome with spunk the one that we sing lays of? I would think not as low fanservice machines like Sumeragi and Wang garner much more adoration in the otaku fandom than say Haruhi Fujioka of Ouran Host Club.

Sure low fanservice can make a bishoujo sexier in a way, but actions and witty remarks (high fanservice) make a bishoujo even sexier in my opinion. Sure our esteemed Lady Suzumiya Haruhi did look most stunning as a bunny girl, but I am sure her biting of Mikuru-ran’s ear was even more gawk worthy by a factor of 1000. Kyon Imouto will be remembered for loli in a bag instead of being half naked anywhere else. The Patron Saint of THAT Tsuruya never gallivanted half naked, yet she earned her place elegantly with her fang, mannerisms, and deliciously sneaky methods of operating a festival café. Even Hauptman Katsura of School Days was far more endearing when she was fully dressed as she ruthlessly dealt with Sekai than half naked and desperately clinging to Itou.

I do not ever want so see Nagato lower herself in some trite nudie joke. However I would KILL to see St. Nagatochi look this dignified again.

While Stripey would argue that running about half naked is at times funny and enhances appeal. I disagree since it reduces a once favored bishoujo into a centerfold, while partially appealing it is not all that respectable. One of the reasons I liked Crest of the Stars was because it did not ruin it all with a bloody beach episode or have Admiral Spoor gallivant around in some skimpy outfit. Even when her fanservice time came Admiral Spoor did not bear it all like some half witted floozy, nay that was beneath her. Nevertheless she looked just darling in her elegant pajamas with her hair down. However Admiral Spoor built her loyal fan base not with a fashion show, but with a distinguished military career, a few quirky eccentricities, and elegance. I don’t think that almost nude or even fully nude looks in any way dignified. However a strapless dress does make a bishoujo much more radiant under the right circumstances.

Ecchi fanservice (low fanservice) is in my opinion the laziest way to go about building adoration. To animate a half naked girl requires less effort than crafting a witty remark that does not involve the word “baka.” Even designing a dress takes a sense of style not found amongst unwashed pervs anime staffers. I am not demanding that low fanservice be eliminated, but I am hoping that one day it will be strictly secondary to things like wit, bravado, elegance, determination, relentlessness, and even ruthlessness. Any idiot can strip down and runabout half naked, but charm is a sword that needs to be refined and honed. Beauty is fleeting, charm is eternal. Sure nudity is only for “mature” audiences, but in actuality it is pretty juvenile how otakudom can and does froth over scantily clad bishoujos in lingerie. There is nothing wrong with it being juvenile but I don’t think that we can pretend that it is anything more than a way to try and grab our “attention.”

With that Mikuru showed that she was more than what she let on, and no costume rape involved!

I agree that fanservice is supposed to incite fanboyism and passion, but I honestly prefer having it done without using crude methods such as nudity. Loli-in-a-bag was just that, high fanservice that overawed the viewer. I liked Mikuru for being Haruhi-sama’s moe fashion model, but I adored her patented wink because it proved that she was capable of witty remarks. Admiral Nagatochi made the fanboy within demand a sci-fi spin off. To this day I fervently hope that Haruhi-sama will grow her hair to a longer length. Admiral Spoor had forever earned a place in my anime list of top commanders, I adored her before she was called up before her bedtime, I was overawed by her impeccable fashion sense. Lasting fanboyism depends on high fanservice that is burned into the human memory banks not cheap tricks meant as fap fodder. Despite this high fanservice remains scarce while low fanservice abounds. Low fanservice is hardly worth praise given how it pales in comparison to the win and awesome of the Mikuru wink or loli-in-a-bag. As a vehicle for humor even if you find low fanservice funny it is a Ford Pinto compared to the Ferrari F-40 that is high fanservice. The former is crap and might explode, the latter requires effort to build and care to maintain. Ecchi is so ubiquitous that any bishoujo who is used in such a joke comes off as exceedingly average. It hints at a lack of intelligence to use one’s body instead of one’s head to win the objective. Average bishoujos engage in placing boobs on the face of some doormat, for those that excel such low brow methods are beneath them. I don’t buy the notion that having a less than fully dressed Tsuruya would make her “sexy,” but promote her as a new admiral in the next SOS fleet engagement, that’s something else. Besides that pony tail was all she needed.

It is true that low fanservice is like chili (if you use a food analogy) as Stripey says, but any one can lazily squirt it on and at least some one will find it palatable. However high fanservice methods of inciting adoration of bishoujos using dialogue, actions, and subtlety are like salt. It requires care in application, careful preparation, and is essential to all foods as both spice and preservative. I am no Singaporean I don’t like chilli on everything, if I can do without it I would. Nevertheless ecchi fanservice has this nasty habit of worming its way into almost anything, in this regard it is like mold or cancer. Besides what kind of idiot puts chilli on his cheese cake and truffles?

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