FREE!

RyQ_TMC

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Apr 24, 2009
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Playful Pony said:
My friends keep talking about this and how its so awesome and *insert name of character* is just so dreamy. Unfortunately I'm gay and can't quite see whats so sexy about them X3. The funniest part is that my female friends justify watching this in the exact same way my male friends justified watching that Highschool of the Dead anime. "I'm in it for the story, and there are really good characters and its funny and and..." Just admit you like the fanservice!
Was Highschool of the Dead the one with boobs as gun rests?

I'm far from an expert on anime, but I do admit to having felt a tingle during fanservice-y scenes of the few series I watched.

Is there any visual medium without fanservice in it? Frankly, I have a hard time believing that anyone can watch something and be completely unaffected by fanservice in it (either way).

Was that a tangent? I'm pretty sure I went on a tangent there. Uh... Kickstarting anime rocks, I guess?

EDIT: Just noticed how my statement looks next to your post. I didn't actually mean I don't believe you not drooling over FREE! because of your preferences. It was more of a generalized statement, that when the viewer sees fanservice aimed at them, it's gonna affect the experience.
 

Mister Chippy

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Jun 12, 2013
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Playful Pony said:
My friends keep talking about this and how its so awesome and *insert name of character* is just so dreamy. Unfortunately I'm gay and can't quite see whats so sexy about them X3. The funniest part is that my female friends justify watching this in the exact same way my male friends justified watching that Highschool of the Dead anime. "I'm in it for the story, and there are really good characters and its funny and and..." Just admit you like the fanservice!
"I watch if for the plot." has basically become code for "DAT ASS!"
 

TheIceQueen

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Sep 15, 2013
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Grey, are you going to share the name of that show? :<

I really want to know.

Good strip as always.
 

tangoprime

Renegade Interrupt
May 5, 2011
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Ok? I'm not sure if this was supposed have a message (okay, actually I do, but just let me have this), but I know plenty of women who would do this, so I took it at face value as a non-joke/statement. I had at least 2 female friends in high school who I know for sure would watch Full Metal Panic or Hellsing or something and sploosh one out over the guys. I think I recall FMP having some female-oriented fan service here and there.

Edit. Ohhhh, okay. So it wasn't a swing at "this is how guys are, see here is what it would be like if girls did it" or whatever kind of flamebaitish thing I was thinking of, it's referencing an actual anime I was unaware of that is basically female fanservice incarnate. Well, the more you know :)
 

xaszatm

That Voice in Your Head
Sep 4, 2010
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GrinningCat said:
Grey, are you going to share the name of that show? :<

I really want to know.

Good strip as always.
It's in the title. Its "Free!" That's the anime.

OT: Yeah, that's exactly the reaction my sister got when she started watching the show as well.
 

Phrozenflame500

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Dec 26, 2012
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Maiev Shadowsong said:
Two posts for someone to both bring up feminine focused sexism in an unrelated thread and to bash straw man feminists. New record for being bad at human discussion?
wut is sarcasm

is that like being completely serious? im not good at computer
 

TheIceQueen

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Sep 15, 2013
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xaszatm said:
GrinningCat said:
Grey, are you going to share the name of that show? :<

I really want to know.

Good strip as always.
It's in the title. Its "Free!" That's the anime.

OT: Yeah, that's exactly the reaction my sister got when she started watching the show as well.
Oh, thank you. I didn't realize that. I just assumed it was yet another Grey Carter title that I didn't get. It happens often.

I'm also not much experienced with anime. My entire repertoire consists of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Black Butler. Maybe some Naruto, but that's a bad show.

Thanks again!
 

V8 Ninja

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May 15, 2010
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Honestly, I never got why some people exploded over FREE! being a thing. I mean, males are already catered to a lot in anime, so it only makes sense that animation studios eventually try to go in the opposite direction. You know, expanding the market and stuff.
 

geizr

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Oct 9, 2008
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Blood Brain Barrier said:
geizr said:
Hmm, fan-service that targets females, for once.
For once? Ever watched any soap operas?
Not since my childhood days (which was about 2.5 decades ago) when I caught only snippets in passing because my sister would watch them all the time with her friends. But, that is a good point. Regardless, I think my general point about objectification going both ways is still reasonably valid; admittedly, in video games, it seems fairly one-sided, hence the brouhaha over it all.

Actually, that opens a question, in what other forms of creative productions do we find a significant level of male-objectification targeted at women? I mentioned romance novels; you mentioned soap operas. Do we find it anywhere else? Just how common is it? Do most gamers (at least the vocal ones) fail to notice it because they simply don't have an interest in the things where male-objectification would be found in prevalence?

More and more, as I have grown older, I've learned that many of the things people waste time having heartburn and bowel disruption over really don't matter worth a damn. Most of the people engaged in these "Us vs. Them" ideological wars just need to reconnect with reality (which tends to sit almost squarely in the middle of the opposing extremes of view) and learn to get over themselves.


VERY OFF-TOPIC: If you're African-American, as I am, turns out we have an 80% chance to be lactose intolerant. I discovered that I was lactose intolerant when my GI doctor persuaded me to take a lactose intolerance test. As a result, I was put on a lactose free diet, and I have to say that my body feels like it is 20 years younger. Turns out that the lactose, because it is not being broken into glucose and galactose to be absorbed in the small intestine, passes into the colon where the bacteria there ferments the sugar into all kinds of toxins that poison the body. Since removing lactose from my diet (you can get lactose-free milk, for example, which just has the lactase enzyme added to break down the lactose for you), my body has had more energy than I have had in years; the constant over body aches and muscular tension that I would always have has completely subsided, and burning, painful sensations I would always get in my face and sinuses has just completely disappeared. My cognitive abilities have jumped considerably; for instance, my reading speed spontaneously increased by a factor of 2. Seriously, guys, I'm not lying about any of this. I used to kid about being naturally drunk, but turns out that really was a true state of existence for me. The bacteria in my gut was constantly producing ethanol, along with other toxic chemicals, because of all the diary and other lactose laden foods I would eat (such as various breads). Also, for quite some time, I have been a sufferer of IBS, and even that has now subsided after going lactose free. For those interested, here's a link to a medical research paper I came across hypothesizing the link between the bacterial mechanism associated with lactose intolerance and a host of systemic symptoms:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20851732

You may need to do a little googling to access the full PDF of the paper, or if you're on a school campus while accessing the link, it may be possible to use the school's blanket library subscriptions to access the paper. I had just about every systemic problem along with the gastrointestinal issues that the paper discusses. After about a week on the lactose-free diet, those problem just vanished, including some of my allergy problems.

Turns out that most adults likely don't produce a sufficient supply of lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose), and we're not supposed to. Once the child weening years are done (roughly by age 4), our bodies generally produce less and less lactase as we get older. However, we still tend to consume milk and diary like we did as children. The undigested lactose sugar, because we don't make enough lactase to break it down, makes its way into the colon, where it is not supposed to be. The bacteria in the colon feed on the lactose, which they are not supposed to do, and produce all these toxins that poison the body.

Even if it doesn't seem like you're lactose intolerant (I swore up and down to my GI doctor that I wasn't because, as far as I knew, I dealt with diary products just fine; shows what I know), you may actually be lactose intolerant. Getting tested would be a good way to confirm it. You may not have the serious intestinal issues that are normally associated with lactose intolerance, but if you have other systemic body problems that you may be putting down to just getting older, it is possible that the real culprit is the toxins being produced in your colon due to the lactose.

Very, very sorry for the sudden thread derailment, but I just suddenly felt a need to get that out there. Please, carry on as normal.

OFF-TOPIC ADDENDUM: Oh, and I shed a lot of weight, too, as my metabolism went up.
 

Seracen

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Sep 20, 2009
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Legion said:
You know the saddest and funniest part about the show are male anime fans who freak out over the fan-service for girls.

I really wish I was joking, but there are such people who take issue with it.
Most likely b/c they saw it, expecting it to be another school drama-comedy, like 90% of the cookie cutter crap out there, and had an "IT'S A TRAP" moment.

So of course, this can' stand, however did they get "tricked" into watching the man candy? It's as if they had been told they were watching Blade...and got Twilight!

This is a gross generalization of course. However, those same people don't raise a fuss over mahou shoujo, most likely b/c it is so obviously "girly."
 

Robert Marrs

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Mar 26, 2013
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I have always felt the same way about fan service stuff like this. If I want to watch something like that I'm not going to pick something and pretend like it has an interesting story just so I can justify watching it. I prefer something more straight and to the point. If that is something you like though more power to you. Glad I know this exists though so I have a cheap cop-out counter argument every time someone says only women are objectified.
 

BX3

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Mar 7, 2011
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Playful Pony said:
My friends keep talking about this and how its so awesome and *insert name of character* is just so dreamy. Unfortunately I'm gay and can't quite see whats so sexy about them X3. The funniest part is that my female friends justify watching this in the exact same way my male friends justified watching that Highschool of the Dead anime. "I'm in it for the story, and there are really good characters and its funny and and..." Just admit you like the fanservice!
Ehh, as a straight dude, while the story is about a flat as you'd expect, it is pretty funny, so your friends aren't completely lying.

But yeah, it's mostly about the chiseled swimming dudes.