Honestly I think the age part is a bit of a hard concept to get across, since the whole "ancient dragon or whatever has a human form that looks super young" *is* a weird trope in my opinion. The rest of your points are a lot easier to understand and you express them well. I don't even dislike fanservice as a concept (I tend to laugh at the more egregious examples). Your other points about a characters' age not mattering much are way easier to sell to an audience who may be hostile to fanservice from the get-go. In this case I can use Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura because I can't really think of an example off-hand of how her being, like, ten really drives her character and relationships. I'm rambling at this point, but teenage characters could also have pretty similar traits and adventures to her, although they might get called childish for the whole fear of ghosts thing, who knows lol. ANYWAY! CLAMP is a weird group when it comes to character dynamics and romance in terms of the ages of their characters XD. EDIT: Oh yeah, I remembered something else I wanted to say about your section on fanservice for teen girls. Most sports anime are shounen, but the close-ups of the muscly, half-naked boys in stuff like Free! definitely feel like fanservice for girls.
The ancient dragon that look very young is a classic juxtaposition for a joke. Similar to seeing a feminine boy being far more beautiful than every other girl character.
Good to point out that fanservice appears in live action, Western media as well. Additionally, I think Western audiences overall need to better understand that anime is made to cater to a different audience with different tastes. I think that this perspective has been lost because anime has become so mainstream in the West; people no longer seem to make the attempt to understand it and its tropes. I am always reminded of the backlash that Kill la Kill faced in the West. A lot of people completely missed the satirical aspect of the series and attacked it as being 'pure fanservice' and 'cheaply animated', when the whole point of the series was to make playful jabs Gainax and the shonen genre. The divide between people who misunderstood and complained about KLK, and people who loved KLK, I noticed, was very sharply drawn on the lines of who had seen more anime and was more familiar with genre conventions. I also really think your point about intended audience in general is something people need to realize: they keep trying to watch cartoons for teen boys as adults and then wondering why the cartoons don't appeal to them... I don't know, I just notice that a lot of people who want everyone to see the perspectives of other cultures instead of judging things from the Western perspective immediately throw this viewpoint out the window when it comes to (specifically shounen) anime. I hardly even watch anime anymore as an adult and I still feel like this.
There is definitely a weird ownership over anime as if it is part of western media. People calling characters white when they're clearly japanese is another odd one. The klk drama was... Yeah it was bad. Even if it was just for sex appeal its fine for it to exist. "just don't watch things you don't like" is something we keep finding ourselves having to say lol
The problem with fanservice is that anime reach mainstream global audience who preferred their hobbies to be safe-for-work, despite knowing that those cartoons are not made for them. The Japanese animation industry came to take over the world without their inputs, but the more prudish global audience believed that the art form would benefit from their customers complaints and "grow up" . Many animes came from mangas and (light) novels. Like most printed media, there are plenty of sex and violence that any author used to their imagination. They can portray any nudity of anyone with any age, without anybody complaints because there are no physical danger to any real human beings and you can read them privately. This is not limited to Japanese, books in any language (English, French, Chinese, Arabian,...., Spanish), are used to have far more numerous taboo sex scenes and subjects than any other mediums. Japanese animations had always try to adapt their source materials as closely as possible, so you got the best story from them, along with the fanservice art. Imagine accurate adaptations of the novels in the romance section in any bookstore being mainstream (most art covers alone are not NSFW). Thus, Japanese cartoons became used to having nudity or risque contents. Osamu Tezuka, the father of manga, dabbled with sex and violence, and so did other great mangakas in the 1960s-70s. Kazuo Koike, George Akiyama, Hideshi Hino, Go Nagai... Since it was acceptable in manga, it is acceptable in animes. Later mangakas or anime director, whether in Shoujo or Shounen, are also fine with them. The Japanese public got other craps to worry about children reading comics or watching cartoons. The parents are to blame for the child stupidity not pictures other people draw. This artistic freedom are what allowed animation from that insular, isolationist nation to be so successful, and its biggest cultural export apart from video game. The 1970s-90s are much better at depicting sex and violence. There are nipples (don't know when they started censoring them). In most of the animes made in the 1990s, If you see nudity, then you will see lust coming out of the characters or expect/fear some sexual violence. What resembled fanservices are in the works of Rumiko Takahashi, the mother of harem, and the influence after her. Somehow, the most perverted mangas and animes are written by women. In other words, fanservice are often for the author creativity. You can feel that the reason why there are so much perversion in mangas and animes, is because actual people, like the authors are never safe in if they see them in real life. Fast foward to the 2000s-10s, and the biggest audience for these cartoons are grown adults who grew up with them. Fanservice became more for the fans when Harems became the most popular. Then Isekai took over. I hated most harems and Isekais, so I did not watch them. There are a few one I really like, I watched those on repeat. Anime can't "grow up" and changed for the global audience, because that Japanese publishing and media industry are built on respect to the original writer who write it for him or herself, not international audience they don't know. TLDR: the international audience, who are used to family friendly contents, is the problem. Edit: lost a heart, by editing a spelling error. Oh well, learn sth new everyday.
Good video. I'm shocked to see someone speaking positively on fanservice for once. It's a nice change of pace. I don't particularly care but the discussion around fanservice is often so polarizing. The criticisms of fanservice often start with claims about how it objectifies and hurts the female sex. Though you never hear much of that from Japan itself. Mostly Americans. This is confusing because modern American culture glorifies female sexuality and also considers it empowerment. You need only look at songs like WAP from Cardi B to see my point. Theres a major push for s*x work to be considered normal, yet these same people have a problem with women looking sexy in Japanese cartoons. It's fookin bizarre and make no sense. It's a major case of cognitive dissonance that I don't see anybody addressing. Mostly I'd just like people to make up their minds already. Anyways, thanks for the video.
Free and My Dress Up Darling are very interesting just from what thry both represent and the example they've set for many genres. Both are created by women. Both are in theory escapism for teenagers, but they're both wish fulfillment power fantasies for adults. If you're into swimming, holy fuck the boys in Free are insane. If you're into guys, the boys in Free are drop dead gorgeous and they make you WANT to be unholy in spite of everybody telling you that's not what a "proper" lady is like. There's so many women i know personally who had a sexual awakening because of Free, at least the first two seasons when the directors was a woman. There's a ton of value in fanservice for women that isn't just BL. And then we have My Dress Up Darling. Made by a woman who loves cosplay, just like how Free was made by a woman who loves swimming. Marin is so popular and beloved because she feels like a real person, and that's because she's based off a real person - the creator herself. Every time Marin shows off her body, it's ONLY to the one guy she has feelings for. She is in complete control of her body AND the camera. She has agency, she's having fun, and she's delighted at what she does and unashamed about who she is. Fanservice is neutral to positive when done right. But the best fanservice is when it's tied to the characters and the story. My Dress Up Darling aired when At World's Harem was also around. But you saw so many people, so many women, so many female reactors, completely losing their minds at the love hotel scene instead of any of the sex scenes in At World's Harem. It had the emotional intensity plus the sexual tension and that elevated the scene and the series in ways that appealed to the feminine despite being seinen. TLDR: sex appeal is good no matter your age, but the best sex appeal is when a story is attacjed to it or when it makes sense for the characters. That and as a bi woman in her 30s I love shlock for teenagers because I love women too XD
If you want to watch the uncensored version check out our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MerriKiwi Music: 00:00 Bon Bon Bereppa Honey and clover OST 00:20 Persona 4 OST Like a dream come true 00:30 Zero No Tsukaima OST Sensual Fire 00:35 Clannad OST A pair of idiots 02:00 Bartender OST Gin tonic 03:44 paradise kiss OST romantic na speed 05:02 Haruhi Suzumiya OST Kouchou Kouchou 05:28 Initial D OST cheerful 06:43 Chocolat Panty and stocking OST 08:40 Persona 4 OST The poem for everyones souls 08:56 Urusei Yatsura endless summer OST Field 10:16 Suzume OST Hitchhike 12:12 Kino's journy OST Kino and Kino 14:47 Dragon Roost Island Zelda Wind waker OST 16:09 Naruto OST afternoon of konoha 17:04 Lucky Star OST Karoyaka Dayo 17:54 Koi Kaze OST Shissou shoujo 19:55 Ran Ran Ran Dayo Lucky star OST 21:02 Itazura Na Kiss OST Otoko Kinnosuke No theme 21:34 Kiss X Sis OST Otawamure massaichuu 22:43 Itazura na kiss OST yorokobi 23:22 Kiss X Sis OST nui da bakari No 24:39 Paradise Kiss OST Romantic na speed 26:20 Rosario Vampire OST Churu Churu Paya Paya That's it that's all the songs!
That woman shot of the CEO spitting on Kintaro, and him catching it on his tongue has lived rent free in my head for 23 years
This channel is excellent for binging
Honestly I think the age part is a bit of a hard concept to get across, since the whole "ancient dragon or whatever has a human form that looks super young" *is* a weird trope in my opinion. The rest of your points are a lot easier to understand and you express them well. I don't even dislike fanservice as a concept (I tend to laugh at the more egregious examples).
Your other points about a characters' age not mattering much are way easier to sell to an audience who may be hostile to fanservice from the get-go. In this case I can use Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura because I can't really think of an example off-hand of how her being, like, ten really drives her character and relationships. I'm rambling at this point, but teenage characters could also have pretty similar traits and adventures to her, although they might get called childish for the whole fear of ghosts thing, who knows lol. ANYWAY! CLAMP is a weird group when it comes to character dynamics and romance in terms of the ages of their characters XD.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I remembered something else I wanted to say about your section on fanservice for teen girls. Most sports anime are shounen, but the close-ups of the muscly, half-naked boys in stuff like Free! definitely feel like fanservice for girls.
The ancient dragon that look very young is a classic juxtaposition for a joke. Similar to seeing a feminine boy being far more beautiful than every other girl character.
Good to point out that fanservice appears in live action, Western media as well. Additionally, I think Western audiences overall need to better understand that anime is made to cater to a different audience with different tastes. I think that this perspective has been lost because anime has become so mainstream in the West; people no longer seem to make the attempt to understand it and its tropes. I am always reminded of the backlash that Kill la Kill faced in the West. A lot of people completely missed the satirical aspect of the series and attacked it as being 'pure fanservice' and 'cheaply animated', when the whole point of the series was to make playful jabs Gainax and the shonen genre. The divide between people who misunderstood and complained about KLK, and people who loved KLK, I noticed, was very sharply drawn on the lines of who had seen more anime and was more familiar with genre conventions. I also really think your point about intended audience in general is something people need to realize: they keep trying to watch cartoons for teen boys as adults and then wondering why the cartoons don't appeal to them... I don't know, I just notice that a lot of people who want everyone to see the perspectives of other cultures instead of judging things from the Western perspective immediately throw this viewpoint out the window when it comes to (specifically shounen) anime. I hardly even watch anime anymore as an adult and I still feel like this.
There is definitely a weird ownership over anime as if it is part of western media. People calling characters white when they're clearly japanese is another odd one. The klk drama was... Yeah it was bad. Even if it was just for sex appeal its fine for it to exist. "just don't watch things you don't like" is something we keep finding ourselves having to say lol
The problem with fanservice is that anime reach mainstream global audience who preferred their hobbies to be safe-for-work, despite knowing that those cartoons are not made for them. The Japanese animation industry came to take over the world without their inputs, but the more prudish global audience believed that the art form would benefit from their customers complaints and "grow up" .
Many animes came from mangas and (light) novels. Like most printed media, there are plenty of sex and violence that any author used to their imagination. They can portray any nudity of anyone with any age, without anybody complaints because there are no physical danger to any real human beings and you can read them privately. This is not limited to Japanese, books in any language (English, French, Chinese, Arabian,...., Spanish), are used to have far more numerous taboo sex scenes and subjects than any other mediums.
Japanese animations had always try to adapt their source materials as closely as possible, so you got the best story from them, along with the fanservice art. Imagine accurate adaptations of the novels in the romance section in any bookstore being mainstream (most art covers alone are not NSFW). Thus, Japanese cartoons became used to having nudity or risque contents. Osamu Tezuka, the father of manga, dabbled with sex and violence, and so did other great mangakas in the 1960s-70s. Kazuo Koike, George Akiyama, Hideshi Hino, Go Nagai... Since it was acceptable in manga, it is acceptable in animes. Later mangakas or anime director, whether in Shoujo or Shounen, are also fine with them. The Japanese public got other craps to worry about children reading comics or watching cartoons. The parents are to blame for the child stupidity not pictures other people draw. This artistic freedom are what allowed animation from that insular, isolationist nation to be so successful, and its biggest cultural export apart from video game.
The 1970s-90s are much better at depicting sex and violence. There are nipples (don't know when they started censoring them). In most of the animes made in the 1990s, If you see nudity, then you will see lust coming out of the characters or expect/fear some sexual violence. What resembled fanservices are in the works of Rumiko Takahashi, the mother of harem, and the influence after her. Somehow, the most perverted mangas and animes are written by women. In other words, fanservice are often for the author creativity. You can feel that the reason why there are so much perversion in mangas and animes, is because actual people, like the authors are never safe in if they see them in real life.
Fast foward to the 2000s-10s, and the biggest audience for these cartoons are grown adults who grew up with them. Fanservice became more for the fans when Harems became the most popular. Then Isekai took over. I hated most harems and Isekais, so I did not watch them. There are a few one I really like, I watched those on repeat. Anime can't "grow up" and changed for the global audience, because that Japanese publishing and media industry are built on respect to the original writer who write it for him or herself, not international audience they don't know.
TLDR: the international audience, who are used to family friendly contents, is the problem.
Edit: lost a heart, by editing a spelling error. Oh well, learn sth new everyday.
Good video. I'm shocked to see someone speaking positively on fanservice for once. It's a nice change of pace. I don't particularly care but the discussion around fanservice is often so polarizing. The criticisms of fanservice often start with claims about how it objectifies and hurts the female sex. Though you never hear much of that from Japan itself. Mostly Americans. This is confusing because modern American culture glorifies female sexuality and also considers it empowerment. You need only look at songs like WAP from Cardi B to see my point. Theres a major push for s*x work to be considered normal, yet these same people have a problem with women looking sexy in Japanese cartoons. It's fookin bizarre and make no sense. It's a major case of cognitive dissonance that I don't see anybody addressing. Mostly I'd just like people to make up their minds already. Anyways, thanks for the video.
Free and My Dress Up Darling are very interesting just from what thry both represent and the example they've set for many genres.
Both are created by women. Both are in theory escapism for teenagers, but they're both wish fulfillment power fantasies for adults.
If you're into swimming, holy fuck the boys in Free are insane. If you're into guys, the boys in Free are drop dead gorgeous and they make you WANT to be unholy in spite of everybody telling you that's not what a "proper" lady is like.
There's so many women i know personally who had a sexual awakening because of Free, at least the first two seasons when the directors was a woman. There's a ton of value in fanservice for women that isn't just BL.
And then we have My Dress Up Darling. Made by a woman who loves cosplay, just like how Free was made by a woman who loves swimming. Marin is so popular and beloved because she feels like a real person, and that's because she's based off a real person - the creator herself.
Every time Marin shows off her body, it's ONLY to the one guy she has feelings for. She is in complete control of her body AND the camera. She has agency, she's having fun, and she's delighted at what she does and unashamed about who she is.
Fanservice is neutral to positive when done right. But the best fanservice is when it's tied to the characters and the story.
My Dress Up Darling aired when At World's Harem was also around. But you saw so many people, so many women, so many female reactors, completely losing their minds at the love hotel scene instead of any of the sex scenes in At World's Harem. It had the emotional intensity plus the sexual tension and that elevated the scene and the series in ways that appealed to the feminine despite being seinen.
TLDR: sex appeal is good no matter your age, but the best sex appeal is when a story is attacjed to it or when it makes sense for the characters.
That and as a bi woman in her 30s I love shlock for teenagers because I love women too XD
@0:47 "foorage"? Maybe you meant footage?
great vid you deserve more subs
We agree!
If you want to watch the uncensored version check out our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MerriKiwi
Music:
00:00 Bon Bon Bereppa Honey and clover OST
00:20 Persona 4 OST Like a dream come true
00:30 Zero No Tsukaima OST Sensual Fire
00:35 Clannad OST A pair of idiots
02:00 Bartender OST Gin tonic
03:44 paradise kiss OST romantic na speed
05:02 Haruhi Suzumiya OST Kouchou Kouchou
05:28 Initial D OST cheerful
06:43 Chocolat Panty and stocking OST
08:40 Persona 4 OST The poem for everyones souls
08:56 Urusei Yatsura endless summer OST Field
10:16 Suzume OST Hitchhike
12:12 Kino's journy OST Kino and Kino
14:47 Dragon Roost Island Zelda Wind waker OST
16:09 Naruto OST afternoon of konoha
17:04 Lucky Star OST Karoyaka Dayo
17:54 Koi Kaze OST Shissou shoujo
19:55 Ran Ran Ran Dayo Lucky star OST
21:02 Itazura Na Kiss OST Otoko Kinnosuke No theme
21:34 Kiss X Sis OST Otawamure massaichuu
22:43 Itazura na kiss OST yorokobi
23:22 Kiss X Sis OST nui da bakari No
24:39 Paradise Kiss OST Romantic na speed
26:20 Rosario Vampire OST Churu Churu Paya Paya
That's it that's all the songs!
Talk about fanservice for female too.
We did... in the video
@@merrikiwi talking about bl