| This is about the word in regards to endings (or plot), not nudity or otherwise ecchi themes. I've noticed just about any anime/manga with a happy ending has at least a few people (often many) referring to it as fan service. In some cases I'm inclined to agree, but for the most part I feel like the term is severely over used and some people will throw the term at any happy ending, or anything that didn't end how they wanted it too. I find the term especially out of place when used in regards to works that are heavy in fiction. I'm going to make a quick example of what I consider the difference to be between fanservice and not. (These are completely hypothetical scenarios not based on actual works, to avoid spoilers) Fan service (imo) - A SoL RomCom grounded in reality. it appears to be based on the real world by all measures and you don't see abnormal things like people who can fly etc. On the last episode/chapter the romance is ripped apart by one of them dying. Following fan outrage a new chapter/season/ova/etc. is released where a magical dragon revives the dead person and they have a happily ever after. Not fan service (imo) - An action/adventure/superpower anime about ninja swordsmen who kill demons to please a giant honey eating bear god named Whimpy the Goo. After saving the world from tyranny the protagonist dies half way through the last episode, but Whimpy the Goo uses his almighty god powers to revive our beloved protagonist. In the first example a new ending/twist is implemented between/after seasons(or the ending) as a response to outrage and completely defies the logic of the show prior. In the second example, while the protagonist returning to life may certainly be unexpected, I think it's unfair to call it an illogical or a nonsensical fan service ending because the show it's self isn't based in a logical/sensical reality. So those were some pretty shit examples, but hopefully it iterated what I was trying to get across. In short I think it's unfair to call an ending/plot twist fanservice just because it ended on a brighter note than you expected. Just because an ending was surprisingly happy doesn't mean it was meant to cater to fans, that easily could of just been what the author his/herself wanted. |
| Lolicons are scum. BABYMETAL is more metal than Metallica. Naruto is objectively the best anime ever. HxH 99' is decent. HxH 11' is bad. |
| I think there is a difference between fan service endings and playing it safe with a happy ending. Fan service is more about what fans want as if they were writing the story themselves as a fanfic author, whereas playing it safe is more along the lines of generic storytelling in despite of what fans want. I also believe your examples fall a bit lopsided in their delivery as one seems like a poorly written story with a shoehorned event to revive a love interest, compared to one where it's all well within the rules of the universe. It sounds a bit unfair as it does happen in well written stories. I agree the word is used too much as a blanket term even when describing some ecchi, but that goes for a lot of phrases to describe why the general person feels a certain way and doesn't elaborate on what they mean. I'm not particularly bothered by this as most people that seem to hold these positions have them as a knee jerk reaction, and when discussed it's usually something else. But if they're using this phrasing completely wrong in a review it gets to me a lot, i get overrun with thoughts about the qualifications of said person and how they have a job. Here's a prime example of it from a recent Broly review, the entire review comes off as someone who didn't even watch the movie in it's entirety and as someone who doesn't understand anything about the anime industry. This is also a prime example of why i constantly say long form video reviews are vastly superior to any length of articles, as if one was given a choice to listen to a video review or read a long article most people will pick the video. Articles have to keep short to get their message across because that's the only way you can be attractive in that medium. To sum it up i agree, but in passing i don't care, in reviews it's very bothersome when it's wrong. |
LunilahJan 16, 2019 5:16 PM
 I don't believe in the Devil. You should. He believes in you. |
| I don’t know how to quote a specific portion of someone’s message, and I don’t wanna quote your entire post for this one little response so I don’t know if you will see this, but I agree I even said in the OP they were bad examples lol. It was just supposed to be an extreme example to illustrate the difference between works based on realistic worlds and those based in fantasy worlds, and how I think calling a plot twist or ending “fanservice” based on it being “unrealistic” is absurd in any work of fiction, but especially those of the latter category based in fantasy worlds where anything is possible. |
| Lolicons are scum. BABYMETAL is more metal than Metallica. Naruto is objectively the best anime ever. HxH 99' is decent. HxH 11' is bad. |
Hokage_Jason said: It's not a problem with the uninformed people generally, just those who pretend they aren't and write reviews about it. It's not a big group of people.I don’t know how to quote a specific portion of someone’s message, and I don’t wanna quote your entire post for this one little response so I don’t know if you will see this, but I agree I even said in the OP they were bad examples lol. It was just supposed to be an extreme example to illustrate the difference between works based on realistic worlds and those based in fantasy worlds, and how I think calling a plot twist or ending “fanservice” based on it being “unrealistic” is absurd in any work of fiction, but especially those of the latter category based in fantasy worlds where anything is possible. |
I don't believe in the Devil. You should. He believes in you. |
TodAboT said: I agree with your statement about fan-service, but both situations are garbage. In "Whimpy The Goo x Ninja Swordsman (I'll call your example like this)" it was never implied that Whimpy could do that. It's an asspull. It's illogical/nonsensical. "Not being based on logic reality" is a bad counter-argument because it doesn't follow the logic it made up, which is a huge miss-step. And it makes re-watching boring, too. Why even bother if Ninja Swordsman is gonna die or not at any point if Whimpy will just revive him? Lol you took my examples way too literal. I even said they were shit examples XD they were supposed to be extreme to illustrate a point but maybe that failed. I checked for a few animes we had both completed so I could use real examples to maybe word what I wanted to say better. -Death Note and 5 centimeters per second spoilers ahead- If some how the author had written a way to bring L back to life at the end of death note, I don’t think it would be fair to call that fan service on the grounds of being an “asspull” or “unrealistic/illogical” because the anime deals with gods of deayh and a book that kills people. Ressurecting someone is no less an asspull then the plot it’s self. (I am not calling the plot bad, nor am I saying I would of liked L to be resurrected, just an example) However if in something like 5 centimeters per second, instead of the third segment being the main character lonely and depressed, he was reunited with his childhood love by a magical fairy, I would be more inclined to accept something like that being labeled as illogical or an asspull, because contradicts the realism of the world the story is based in, as well as the mood of the show. |
| Lolicons are scum. BABYMETAL is more metal than Metallica. Naruto is objectively the best anime ever. HxH 99' is decent. HxH 11' is bad. |
TodAboT said: Hokage_Jason said: Lol you took my examples way too literal. I even said they were shit examples XD they were supposed to be extreme to illustrate a point but maybe that failed. I checked for a few animes we had both completed so I could use real examples to maybe word what I wanted to say better. -Death Note and 5 centimeters per second spoilers ahead- If some how the author had written a way to bring L back to life at the end of death note, I don’t think it would be fair to call that fan service on the grounds of being an “asspull” or “unrealistic/illogical” because the anime deals with gods of deayh and a book that kills people. Ressurecting someone is no less an asspull then the plot it’s self. (I am not calling the plot bad, nor am I saying I would of liked L to be resurrected, just an example) However if in something like 5 centimeters per second, instead of the third segment being the main character being sad, lonely and depressed, he was reunited with his childhood love by a magical fairy, I would be more inclined to accept something like that being labeled as illogical or an asspull, because contradicts the realism of the world the story is based in, as well as the mood of the show. Death Note deals with gods of death and books that kill people, yes, but it doesn't deal with resurrection; unless the plot explains something before it happens, it will be an asspull. I'll give an another example with 5 cm per second. What if the train that separated them at the end actually broke down and never separated them? That would be cool, yes, but it's contrived and convenient. Reviving L in Death would be the same thing: contrived and convenient.It doesn't make sense because it isn't explained. Unless they explained it before, it's an asspull. I get what you’re saying I guess I just don’t entirely agree. I mean anything could be an asspull. In one way or another EVERYTHING in anime/fiction (excluding historical/non fiction stuff) is an asspull because someone made it up. Let’s say there was a life note. A book with the power to bring anyone back to life, as long as they knew them when they were alive and knew their name. It isn’t referenced or shown until the last episode/chapter when the wannabe L replacement (I forgot his name because it’s been years and he was no L) comes across it much in the same manor as Light came across the death note. Is that an ass pull? Possibly. But maybe not. Just because it wasn’t foreshadowed doesn’t mean the author didn’t intend it from the start. Not every prethought plot twist is foreshadowed, some things are supposed to catch you off guard. I guess what I’m arguing is it’s unfair to call someone else’s work an asspull because we don’t know for a fact they hadn’t thought it out prior to writing it. |
| Lolicons are scum. BABYMETAL is more metal than Metallica. Naruto is objectively the best anime ever. HxH 99' is decent. HxH 11' is bad. |
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