times where too much fan service messed up a otherwise great anime

[Ariseishirou]

Almost all of them, lately. If I see fanservice, and I can no longer take it seriously and stop watching. Which does mean I've stopped watching anime almost entirely, sadly. I'm pretty much just down to Attack on Titan these days.

 

[anthony87]

I watched the second episode hoping it would get better, because I really did think the story had potential and the main guy was a cool character when he wasn't acting like a perv... But it got worse. So I won't be continuing with this one.

Well there's basically none in the third episode aside from the odd jiggle or two. The featured game is pretty damn interesting too.

 

[A-D.]

To be honest, i dont think i ever saw a Manga ruined by fanservice, although in most cases it is just fanservice and easily ignored aside from "yep, thats a panty shot" or "yep, there's a boob". The only case i ever noticed was Highschool of the Dead, and even there its ironically limited to the Anime which simply goes overboard on the fanservice and puts it front and center, rather than just as a side-dish as it is in the manga. Other manga that had tons of fanservice is Fairy Tail and History's strongest Disciple Kenichi, the latter being alot more blunt lately but neither was really ruined by it since its just a little bit.

So yeah the only "show" that i can remember that was ruined by it was the anime adaption of HotD because they simply went way overboard with it to the point it takes up way more screentime and while its present in the manga its much less pronounced there. For example the "boobs dodge bullet by jiggling" wasnt in the manga. So yeah thats one i can really say has too much of it.

But aside from HotD i cant really remember one where it turned me away, although i guess its more about how its done. Example with Kenichi, the latest chapters have one of the Masters, Shigure basicly restrained and captured by the bad guys and she's pretty much nude, though you never really see all of it. But her nudity doesnt take away from the fact that she is a threatening combatant and the manga highlights this, she was stripped because even clothing can be used as a weapon and the bad guys know this.

 

[Brian Tams]

The chick in the bunny outfit happened...once. The only reason she was in a bunny outfit is because it was literally her JOB, being forced to work in a casino as some kind of escort/call-girl serving the higher-up richer Britannians.
The moment the uprising started came she simply jumped straight into her knightmare wearing whatever she was wearing, since in Code Geass they don't have to wear any kind of special suit to interface with with their knightmare.

I'll agree that Code Geass has some fanservice, but for me it's one of those cases where the fanservice ADDS (as a bonus / icing on top) to the show's brilliant plot & action instead of distracting me and putting me off.

Lol, listen to yourself. "The female ace pilot just happened to have to dress as a call girl and happened to have to go into battle in that outfit!" And that's just one random (but somewhat memorable) example. Let's not forget the entire fanservice episode that happened a few episodes later. Come on, I liked Code Geass too, but the things people say to defend the shows they love...you can laugh at a show's problems and still enjoy it, you know?

She didn't happen to be dressed in a bunny-girl suit and then just happened to go into battle.

She was working there undercover, remember? That was the day they were going to extract LeLouche from the Emperor's control. She had to be dressed that way to blend in with the other workers. And once the bullets start flying, do you really think that a severely under-manned force such as the Black Knights can afford their ace-pilot to take 5-10 minutes to change in the midst of a battle? No, not really.

I agree that the show has more fan service than what many of its fans are willing to admit, but you've picked literally the worst example in the entire anime to base your example off of. There are legitimate plot reasons as to why she had to wear the bunny suit, as well as reasons why she couldn't change. That's not fan service. Fan service is something that's done for the sake of pleasing the fans with no plot relevance. They just do it because fuck it.

 

[Michael Tabbut]

I'm not sure if it was fan service, baiting or, a not-too-subtle way to get more people to buy the tie-in game(s?) but the end of Rosario + Vampire season 2 seemed like it was made to appeal to people who didn't want a resolution. It's a different kind of fan service but it's more poisonous to the plot than the kind of stuff you got in the second episode of Puni Puni Poemi...or Puni Puni Poemi in general really...[sub]then again, I really liked that one and would generally rather watch that than actual hentai anyway...[/sub]

As a fan of the Rosario + Vampire manga, the anime is a disgrace for turning out the way it did. The first half of the manga was your typical harem rom com but began to slowly shift into shonen action as time went on. The anime instead starts off like the manga and then became panty shots up the ass.

 

[J.McMillen]

I really disagree with everyone saying High School of the Dead. In my opinion it carries the spirit of a sleazy zombie exploitation flick and that's where its appeal comes from. If it tried to be some sort of deep, meaningful story about humanities survival in a zombie apocalypse the fan service would put me off but it really isn't. It's simple b-movie style full of gore, tits, swearing and corny jokes. Whenever you get bored of the violence you get some naked skin, when you get bored of the naked skin you get some violence and when it seems like that is all there is to it it finds some way to combine them. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

I kind of agree. I liked that it was more of a Romero style zombie apocalypse instead of Resident Evil style. The fan service was a bit over the top though. Maybe if the female students had more realistically sized breasts it wouldn't have been so bad.

 

[Tahaneira]

I wouldn't say it was ruined by a long shot, but a lot of dramatic or informative scenes in Ghost in the Shell: SAC were torpedoed by the Major's chronic pantslessness. I mean, they at least had an explanation for it (the Major's cyborg body is a stock model in appearance, exactly identical to quite literally thousands of other people, so she has no body image issues whatsoever) but still, it got a little ridiculous at times. It was kind of a relief when she discovered pants later in the series.

Captcha: ladies, first. I... I'm not sure what to make of that. I'm fairly creeped out right now...

 

[Kaimax]

Most of the posters here just posts titles of "random fanservice heavy anime that they recently encounter". Most of the titles aren't "great" in the first place and this thread just turns into another "fanservice hating circle jerk". Like the previous guy said

It's a bit silly to criticize anime that have fanservice as their primary reason for existing (i.e. their first priority) for having too much fanservice. They are hands-down fanservice first and whatever plot/characters they had was arbitrarily stapled on, ranging from vaguely interesting ideas to flat/cliche ones.

If we just post "animes that was actually ruined by adding excessive fanservice to the anime adaptation", then the first thing that we will get is "Rosario to Vampire".

Rosario to Vampire was mostly a Monster of the week manga where a normal boy goes to a all monsters high school and fight monsters, with harem elements, it was your basic shonen quality and with a good amount of fanservice. But the anime added unnecessary panty shots and fanservice and they even dare to censor it.

Talking about Highschool of the Dead, it was already heavy with fanservice in the original manga, and heck the illustrator does hentai mangas and doujins originally. But the anime actually cranked it up to eleven which made the fanservice ridiculous to watch.

If we're talking recent animes, the first to come in mind is the new Maken-Ki, where they decided to throw the whole source away, and just make it another fanservice anime just with MAken-Ki characters. Yes, the manga was heavy on it, but it has good fight scenes and an ongoing plot.

 

[dyre]

She didn't happen to be dressed in a bunny-girl suit and then just happened to go into battle.

She was working there undercover, remember? That was the day they were going to extract LeLouche from the Emperor's control. She had to be dressed that way to blend in with the other workers. And once the bullets start flying, do you really think that a severely under-manned force such as the Black Knights can afford their ace-pilot to take 5-10 minutes to change in the midst of a battle? No, not really.

I agree that the show has more fan service than what many of its fans are willing to admit, but you've picked literally the worst example in the entire anime to base your example off of. There are legitimate plot reasons as to why she had to wear the bunny suit, as well as reasons why she couldn't change. That's not fan service. Fan service is something that's done for the sake of pleasing the fans with no plot relevance. They just do it because fuck it.

I think you need to raise your standards for fanservice...

Fanservice isn't necessarily "oversexualization for no reason whatsoever;" it can also be "oversexualization with thinly veiled, shitty explanations." Code Geass fanservice generally falls into the latter category (or, at least the extreme stuff. Things like the miniskirt army uniforms don't count); it is, after all, a fairly well-written show, so they do bother giving some explanations here and there. One thing that comes to mind is the various situations that Viletta's character ends up in. The transition of ace pilot to housewife to gym teacher is accompanied with some plot explanations. It all seems plausible until you realize how conveniently the plot works to create these kinds of situations. Viewers aren't even likely to notice the issue unless they take a step back and view the whole thing from a more removed perspective.

If you think "the show just had to write a situation involving the female pilot going undercover as a sex worker," well...heh, I won't judge. I suppose those lovely cleavage shots were just a matter of artistic direction, right?

 

[Queen Michael]

I'd say that Eiken counts, since it would have been much shorter with no fanservice. And thus better.

 

[agent9]

like many others have said, highschool of the dead would have been the greatest zombie apocalypse anime out there had it not been centered around girls with physics and well, reality defying boobs on everyone but the smallest girl (thank goodness). queens blade is another one which I just stopped after episode 2 (interesting story, practically porn, not my thing). there are a lot of other animes that I would consider good by premise or even in general, but in the end they lack development and resort to all this fan service to compensate (dragon crisis, hagure yuusha no estetica,rosario plus vampire (the manga was better and had a wonderful ending), sumomomo momomo, and many more). it's especially disturbing (not to mention disgusting) when the girls look underaged and they attempt these shots.

on the flip side I think kill la kill is the only anime that actually has a feasible, plausible, and workable reason for it's fan service (in other words it's not stupid shit thats completly out there created with the exclusive purpose of justifying said fanservice like that one show with the grim reaper that saps the ero power out of that one guy for energy. it's really an excuse for tit shots, groping and other things. I also stopped after the 2nd episode). for those of you that have seen it already you know what life fibers are and the truth behind synchronize and override. all of it makes sense, and can even be related to other works of sci fi and comics in terms of concepts.

 

[agent9]

Haven't seen it yet but this is how I feel about Kill la Kill for the most part.
It's an anime made by the guys who made Gurren Lagann and apparently goes even more over the top. I should love it. But whenever I see a screenshot of it there's surprisingly buxom 14 year old girls in straps that only start covering their shoulders and lower legs. Apparently it's supposed to be a parody or ironic or something but creepy lecherous staring stays creepy and lecherous even if we say it's only there to be funny.

[sub][sub][sub]EDIT: If you do enjoy Kill la Kill please resist the urge to quote and correct me, I'm not planning to watch the show nor to respond.[/sub][/sub][/sub]

Sorry, couldn't resist, but I thoroughly respect your point. 17/18 (they're 3rd years) year olds running around in skimpy clothing, tis a day at the beach or a trip to your local walmart when it's hot outside (though that really isn't my point).

What makes this better than things like Highschool of the dead and queens blade (the latter of which I never got passed episode 2) is that there is a defining point to all of this that allows it all to make sense (and it's not asinine either like a jiggle powered light saber or ero powers or what have you). while watching the series I was constantly reminded of spider mans venom suit and other tropes used in our comics and tv stateside (not saying why because of spoilers) but at the end of the day it isn't what I had originally thought it would be (in a good way).

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I don't understand the OP's question.

Too...much?

What are you on about?

 

[Ikasury]

... sigh... i get this feeling a lot, and i'm starting to wonder if i've become cynical instead of being offended, i remember being younger and werided out, as i'm female and it makes no sense to me, and now... its par for the course in anime ._. do i enjoy it? no... no i don't... those giant boobies either scare me or make me go female-rage that said pixels has bigger boobs then me... (insert snark) but i think i mostly blank it now...

half the reason i watched the uncut version of Sailor Moon was because it was supposedly so over the top... i only counted 20 panty shots in the ENTIRE SERIES... including the forbidden season 5 that will probably never be translated... so i suppose this makes me snickers as THAT was considered gratuitous fanservice back then... and now... we have stuff like High School of the Dead XD

speaking of HSotD... at first it was weird, still relatively in 'normal' territory of fanservice by now standards (and accounting that it IS an ecchi anime) then it got boring... then insulting... then somehow past all the rage-ridiculousness... it got fucking HILARIOUS!! XD seriously, but the end of the series i was more laughing at the overly blatant harem-esque fanservice of ridiculous fail i started actually enjoying the series... is it strange my husband found it more distrubing then i did? probably... but seriously, but the time the .50 cal jiggle came around i was falling off the bed laughing too hard XD suppose HSotD is an example of this phenomena gone to the massive extreme that it circled back and became 'okay' in a totally different non-kinky-or-serious-in-anyway light...

i'm trying to think of another series where the fanservice either disturbed me to the point it was 'wrong' or just overdone, but HSotD is something special in that it TOTALLY is one of those anime, even for an ecchi, that went way off the deep end, but still in some weirdass way circled back and became 'okay'... at least in its ridiculous humor of fanservice... but drawing a blank... and laughing just remembering XD

 

[Ikasury]

I really disagree with everyone saying High School of the Dead. In my opinion it carries the spirit of a sleazy zombie exploitation flick and that's where its appeal comes from. If it tried to be some sort of deep, meaningful story about humanities survival in a zombie apocalypse the fan service would put me off but it really isn't. It's simple b-movie style full of gore, tits, swearing and corny jokes. Whenever you get bored of the violence you get some naked skin, when you get bored of the naked skin you get some violence and when it seems like that is all there is to it it finds some way to combine them. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

sounds about right *snickers* but it is ecchi, so flagrant fanservice is basically its core-mechanic, but yea, its so dumbed-down-knows-what-it-is that you start to enjoy it after you get over the point of 'thinking' it had some deep plot beyond fanservice with zombie action-gore cause it doesn't... that's all it is and its proud of it XD

 

[Ikasury]

I wouldn't say it was ruined by a long shot, but a lot of dramatic or informative scenes in Ghost in the Shell: SAC were torpedoed by the Major's chronic pantslessness. I mean, they at least had an explanation for it (the Major's cyborg body is a stock model in appearance, exactly identical to quite literally thousands of other people, so she has no body image issues whatsoever) but still, it got a little ridiculous at times. It was kind of a relief when she discovered pants later in the series.

Captcha: ladies, first. I... I'm not sure what to make of that. I'm fairly creeped out right now...

i just find this comment kind of hilarious... if your read the manga you find out the major's rather... 'open' i suppose is one way of putting it... especially when it comes to her prosthetic body, she really has no psychological connection to it and just does what she wants... being 'naked' to her isn't the same as being 'naked' to us, her being 'naked' is just rolling around in a brain case (seriously, i think her and batou make some comment along those lines around the end of the manga ._.) so is it EASILY exploitable... yea, yea it is... though oddly enough i never felt the anime nor the movies to be 'fanservice-y' if anything they're tech-porn... the manga... XD hahhahahaha... yea... it goes beyond ecchi at a few points and leaves you very confused XD

there's 'fanservice' then there's just how a character is in all portrayals... i think the Major just falls into the later but is easily exploitable as the former XD
i think i found it more odd she was wearing pants in 2nd GIG... which made me laugh slightly harder... course this is coming from someone that watched the original movie first and didn't so much as bat an eye at the tactical cloak style... ie... panties i believe is all she's technically wearing... XD

 

[aozgolo]

I think it's a matter of preference of course, I for one love fan-service, and no I don't feel the need to explain why I love it (it's not that hard to figure out).

Some anime have always been designed with fan service in mind:

Sekirei
Queen's Blade
High School DxD
High School of the Dead
To Love Ru
Demon King Daimao
Kampfer
Maken Ki

just to name a few. Those shows, without their fan service? Well they wouldn't really have as much to tell, they could get their whole plot out in a matter of a couple episodes. That's not to say they lack story or interesting characters, Sekirei has some of my favorite characters ever and it's LOADED with fan-service.

But what about the shows NOT designed purely from that point of view? Well again it's a matter of taste, I can see where if it's out of nowhere and poorly done, well that's just bad storytelling, I wouldn't blame that on the content.

Ever notice how these kinds of threads pop up but you never see people complaining about "too much violence ruined anime for me". I understand if it's not your thing, that's fine, but have you ever considered that if you don't like the content in something that MAYBE you aren't the demographic audience it was aiming for?

Fanservice exists in abundance and will continue to exist in abundance because it's right there in the name, FANS want it. For every critical post (which draws mostly critical people) about a certain subject matter, there's always more people not partaking in the discussion because... they like what they like and aren't bothered by it.

I would equate it to a Call of Duty player liking a Final Fantasy game and being of the opinion that it would be a lot better if it wasn't so "Japanese-y". You are certainly entitled to your opinion, and I am sorry if an anime you like was ruined by fan service but I don't think the industry standard will change or needs to change.

Do you have any idea how many anime out there have very little or NO fanservice? Wow... LOTS!

 

[Kaimax]

Do you have any idea how many anime out there have very little or NO fanservice? Wow... LOTS!

Yes this is true. There are 46 new anime for this season and animes that uses fanservice as their priority are only a fraction of that. I'm just gonna list the "blatant" TnA fanservice animes for this spring.
-Akuma no Riddle
-Blade and Soul
-Date A Live II
-Fuun Ishin Dai Shogun
-Kenzen Robo Daimidaler
-Seikoku no dragonar

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Dragonball Z, I mean come on, it seems like every character is either in skin tight clothing or sleeveless with their bulging abs protruding through their shirt necks.

Don't get me started on all the orgasmic onomatopoeia and the way their shirts all inexplicably tear off once they start fighting.


Hell, even the 13 year old character is forced to go partially topless. Disgusting.

And the fact that everyone collectively jizzes whenever something big happens:

OT: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

The Pillar Men are the most fabulous of villains. I guess women love this stuff, I just find it both funny and odd. I don't think it really messes up the anime though, I just thought I'd put it out there. I fuckin love JJBA

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

The chick in the bunny outfit happened...once. The only reason she was in a bunny outfit is because it was literally her JOB, being forced to work in a casino as some kind of escort/call-girl serving the higher-up richer Britannians.
The moment the uprising started came she simply jumped straight into her knightmare wearing whatever she was wearing, since in Code Geass they don't have to wear any kind of special suit to interface with with their knightmare.

I'll agree that Code Geass has some fanservice, but for me it's one of those cases where the fanservice ADDS (as a bonus / icing on top) to the show's brilliant plot & action instead of distracting me and putting me off.

Lol, listen to yourself. "The female ace pilot just happened to have to dress as a call girl and happened to have to go into battle in that outfit!" And that's just one random (but somewhat memorable) example.

I think you need to refresh your memory and watch that episode again. I even explained in my post why she was dressed like that but you seem to have completely ignored it, as if you're desperate to file it under fanservice no matter what. Can't help you there *shrug*

Let's not forget the entire fanservice episode that happened a few episodes later.

Umm yes, that's what fanservice is by definition. A little something thrown in for the fans to break the tension, showing the characters having a little fun and doing something different. For me it didn't take away anything from the plot because it was never "forced" into the plot, it existed independently.

Come on, I liked Code Geass too, but the things people say to defend the shows they love...you can laugh at a show's problems and still enjoy it, you know?

Depends what one considers as problems. I personally didn't mind the fanservice in Code Geass, it enhanced it for me because the creators (mostly) knew when and where to add it.