Fan service

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Fan service (ファンサービス, fan sābisu^?), sometimes written as a single word, fanservice, is a vaguely defined term used in visual media—particularly in anime fandom^{[citation needed]}—to refer to elements in a story that are unnecessary to a storyline, but designed to amuse or excite the audience^[1][2]. It is also sometimes referred to in Japan as a service cut (サービスカット, sābisu katto^?) or simply service (サービス, sābisu^?).

The term is sometimes derogatory when used in criticism of clumsy, pandering use of visual fashions, or if the stories lack substance, such that fashions are the only thing notable about a series^{[citation needed]}. Many fanservice treatments can be creative and unique, and hence an audience unfamiliar with the fandom of a story may not understand these treatments ("easter eggs") or their meaning^{[citation needed]}. This term is, however, occasionally used in the video gaming community, notably by players of MMORPGs. The meaning remains mostly the same—content added for the sake of fans and not for any actual gaming value—and is almost always derogatory^{[citation needed]}.

Contents 1 Sexual 2 Cosplay 3 Cameo 4 In-jokes 5 Technicals 6 Homage 7 Current issues 8 See also 9 References

[edit] Sexual

The typically understood definition is inclusion of racy or sexual content (usually female, but also male^[3]) to titillate the viewer, such as nudity, and other forms of eye candy^[1][2]. Shower scenes^[1] are very common in movies, and in anime of the 1980s and 1990s, while many more recent TV series use trips to onsen (Japanese hot springs) or "obligatory" holiday episodes. These latter are often to tropical locales, in order to showcase the characters in bathing suits^[2]; all aim to depict characters in states of relative undress when it would otherwise be out of place with the tone of a series. In anime, two common types of fanservice are the panty shot and jiggling breasts (but also common outside of anime). Some examples are the OVA series Eiken, as well as the series Tenjo Tenge. Similarly, Studio Fantasia's Agent Aika and Najica Blitz Tactics are known as the epitome of the panty-shot anime. A third type is the nude transformation sequence, first introduced in Go Nagai's Cutey Honey (1974–1975). One of the most renowned examples of fanservice is the Chun-Li shower scene in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. These scenes were subsequently cut from the US translation of the film.

The term fan service is also used to describe various actions performed by Japanese musicians especially in visual kei particularly during lives and photoshoots, most often homoerotic play and other suggestions of yaoi (considering the male majority).

[edit] Cosplay

In anime and manga, another type of fan service is having one or more of the characters cosplay, usually female, particularly in a costume that is part of a Japanese clothing fetish. Popular^{[citation needed]} costumes include:

• Catgirl
• A character from an(other) anime, manga, or video game
• Hadaka apron
• Kimono
  • Yukata; traditionally worn at onsen and for summer festivals, particularly Obon and Tanabata
• Uniforms
  • Bunny girl
  • Maid
  • Miko
  • Nurse
  • Policewoman
  • Race queen
  • Waitress (especially one from Anna Miller's)
• School uniform
  • Bloomers (girls' warm weather gym shorts)
  • Sailor fuku
  • Girls' official school swimsuit (one of two or three types of one-piece suits)

[edit] Cameo

Often, movies will attempt to include cameo appearances by prominent figures who are or were associated with the work on which it is based. This either takes the form of actual appearances or character names. In the popular anime series Excel Saga, adapted from the manga of the same name by Koushi Rikudou, the afro-wearing producer "Nabeshin" (Shinichi Watanabe) is a regular character with superhero-like powers (he also appears in the related anime Puni-Puni Poemy.) Ken Akamatsu appeared in the Christmas and Spring special episodes of the Love Hina anime along with the relevant volumes of the manga. Akamatsu, being the creator of the original manga, has his studio featured and has a small speaking role at the end of the episode. Stan Lee makes regular cameo appearances in movies based on Marvel Comics characters that he created: in the crowd scene in Spider-Man, as a security guard alongside Lou Ferrigno in Hulk and as the postman Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four^{[citation needed]}. The Aliens vs. Predator movie included a character named Mark Verheiden^[4]—the writer of the early Aliens comic book series as well as the comic book on which the movie is based.

[edit] In-jokes

Some series make jokes or comments that are only amusing to those "in the know", such as fans who receive club newsletters, or perusers of Internet forums. Filmmaker Kevin Smith is well known for including a large variety of in jokes throughout his movies^{[citation needed]}. The Simpsons, due to its very lengthy history, is similarly well-known for inserting many subtle in-jokes in each episode, often referencing characters, objects, or events that were seen in seasons years prior. Shows like The Simpsons have also become known for occasionally engaging in self-mockery, in which continuity errors and other "mistakes" are pointed out in a self-aware fashion that can be seen as breaking the fourth wall. An example of this is from the episode I, D'oh-Bot, when Lisa has 3 cats die on her (Snowballs II-IV). She decides to call Snowball V Snowball II, 'to save money on a new dish'. This is an obvious excuse to keep calling the cat by its old name to return to the status quo as Lisa is seen making new dishes for each new cat. Principal Skinner then walks past Lisa claiming "That's really a cheat, isn't it?" to which Lisa replies "I guess you're right, Mr. Tamzarian." This is an in-joke about an episode when Principal Skinner was revealed to be using a false identity but the town was forced to forget the whole incident under penalty of torture.

This breaking of the fourth wall and in joke reference also occurs in the video game Spyro the Dragon: A Hero’s Tail when Hunter mentions, in response to Sparx’s fears for Spyro, that he knows for certain Spyro can’t have died, because if he had “we’d all have gone back to a previous save screen”.

[edit] Technicals

Heavily used in much of science fiction, these are technical details sometimes bordering on arcane knowledge that hardcore fans are versed in, to show an author (often an admitted fanboy/fangirl themselves) pays attention to detail. For example, Lagrange Points in Gundam, the CZ-75 pistol in Gunsmith Cats, or the use of an SSH exploit in The Matrix Reloaded. Sometimes fictional technology invented by another author is used in this way; for instance the ansible in Ender's Game is a reference to Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle. There are similar references in Doctor Who to "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow".

[edit] Homage

Often, a movie or television show will make pastiche reference to another work that the creators are particularly fans of. Examples can be found in movies by Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith who are admitted fanboys. Quentin Tarantino himself has been paid homage by animation: in the first episode of Aaron MacGruder's "The Boondocks" to feature Samuel L. Jackson (voice-acting a privileged white soldier returned from Iraq) his character berates the main characters with part of a speech his hit-man character used in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Matrix trilogy are perpetual choices for homage. The Weyland-Yutani logo from Aliens appears several times on weapons in Joss Whedon's Firefly. Other homages exist that refer to works that have receded into fan nostalgia.

Also, many remakes of movies employ throwaway lines that serve nothing more than to "tip the hat" to the original classic:

• A well-known example is the uncredited cameo appearance of Charlton Heston as Thade's father in the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes. The character's deathbed speech makes clear references to his "Damn you all to hell!" line that closed the original classic.
• In the 2003 Hulk movie, the last line spoken (in Spanish) in the movie is "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", a clear homage to the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno The Incredible Hulk TV series of the 1970s.
• In the 1990s remake of Disney's The Parent Trap, one of the twins quietly sings a few bars from the trademark song of the 1960s original, "Let's Get Together."
• In the film Batman Forever, Robin makes a reference to his previous characterization on the Batman 1960s TV series by saying "Holey rusted metal, Batman!", speaking of fake rocks which make up the Riddler's island lair.
• In the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries, the theme from the original show was used as the Colonial Anthem.
• In the 2000 X-Men movie, after Wolverine complains to Cyclops on the ugliness of their black uniforms, Cyclops retorts with, "Well, what would you prefer? Yellow spandex?", an obvious reference to Wolverine's original costume from the comics.
• In the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, the line "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth" is spoken by Laurence Fishburne who played Peter in the original 1978 version.

[edit] Current issues

Recently in anime there has been an explosion of shows that are criticized for simply being vehicles for fanservice. In contrast, there has also been a rise in shows of the progressive anime category—shows which do not care so much about pleasing the audience as providing a full artistic vision. This has polarized anime to some degree, making recent series either heavily fanservice-oriented (Green Green) or heavily experimental (Texhnolyze) with little in between. Some series, on the other hand, tread the fine line between fanservice and art, such that their artistic legitimacy is often debated as such. A notable example of this is the classic and controversial anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which has over the years received almost as many accusations of fanservice as there are merchandising articles that clearly capitalize on this potential. Though the series is renowned for its attractive female characters, director Hideaki Anno maintained a strong sense of artistic vision throughout, and has distinctly expressed his displeasure with the (generic, at least) "fan community". While the earlier episodes of the show do contain some clear fanservice (which is jokingly self-referenced in several of the "Next Episode" previews), many scenes of nudity in later episodes as well as the films could be heavily debated to tread the line between fanservice and art. (Naturally, those who are not fond of the series tend to dismiss such imagery as fanservice, while those who think otherwise posit it as artistic nudity in a classical sense.)

[edit] See also

• Fanwank

[edit] References