About Me

My opinon on fanservice

So for some context I got the idea for this from Uricksaladbar's video about fanservice in video games so I'll be using some of his words and paraphrasing here, definitely go check it out if you're interested.

Now when it comes to fanservice it appears in 2 forms.

One is intertextual fanservice where it aims to please the audience by using recognisable things that only fans would understand. An example of this is referencing previous works within a franchise.

And other, more common form is sexual fanservice. I'll be giving my thoughts and opinions on this particular form.

Now, do I like this kind of fanservice?

Yes, I do. However I like it when it's being done shamelessly, a few examples of this are Valentine from Skullgirls, the Sorceress from Dragon's Crown and Lollipop Chainsaw as these games are exaggerated and don't take themselves seriously and just want to dumb fun.

But I also enjoy fanservice when it's used as a narrative like in Silent Hill 2 with the Nurses being a representation of the protagonist's sexual deprivation and anxiety of his wife's terminal illness. Another good use of fanservice being a narrative is the story of Catherine.

However this doesn't mean I like it all the time. If there's a fanservice-y scene during a rather sad or dark moment, it'll shift my focus to the fanservice rather than the actual story.

Or if it doesn't mesh well with a specific tone, like if a female character got her clothes destroyed in a sexy manner within a game with a dark and gothic-like artstyle, it'll just clash and not vibe well with some people. Though there are times when this actually does work, like the succubi from Castlevania as they fit into dark worlds.

But I don't want this mean that I don't like skin being shown, I like character designs like Mai Shiranui especially since her outfit is meant to seduce and distract her opponent so she actually has a good reason for wearing what she wears, unlike some characters that wear skimpy outfits and have very flimsy reasoning behind it.

Fanservice is also a good way to make a character stand out like Ryuko Matoi from Kill la kill with her cool edgy skimpy battle outfit. It's a also a good way to create different characters that can cater to certain people's tastes, Danganronpa and Persona both do this well as every character feels so unique that at least one of them matches up to your particular tastes, you might find one character sexy whereas someone else will find them as cool.

And that's about it really, hope you all enjoyed this and I hope to know your thoughts on fanservice.