Fan service

A bathing suit is typical "fan service".

Fan service (ファンサービス fan sābisu?), fanservice, service cut (サービスカット sābisu katto?),[1] or simply service (サービス sābisu?),[2] is a vaguely-defined term primarily used for anime and manga to refer to elements that would operate to please regular or target consumers.[3][4] Fanservice explicitly refers to material that is designed to amuse or excite the audience with sexually-derived content.[5][6] Excessive content is usually considered gratuitous regardless of its justification in relation to the narrative in which it takes place.[7]

Any gratuitous content included in some form of entertainment primarily to please a core group of fans is fan service.[4] The term has been used in a broader context than just anime, including Star Wars prequels.[8]

The typical, but not only, variety of fan service is racy or sexual content used to titillate the viewer, such as nudity or other forms of eye candy.[5][6] Shower scenes[5] 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 trips to tropical locales (or in some cases a swimming pool), in order to showcase the characters in bathing suits.[6] 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 fan service are the panty shot and jiggling breasts. Male homoeroticism, such as accidental kisses, is a common feature of fan service for females, and has been described as "easier to get away with" in terms of censorship than fanservice for males.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Example: 吉田陽一, ed (June 25, 1999). Encyclopedia Cutie Honey: Go Nagai World (エンサイクロペディアキューティーハニー : 永井豪ワールド?). Nakano, Tokyo: Keibunsha. p. 028. ISBN 978-4-7669-3236-2.  A frame (numbered "25") from the English opening sequence of New Cutie Honey, in which character Danbei Hayami fires a Rocket Punch as main character Honey Kisaragi lies topless and prone in the background, is shown and captioned "サービスカット! 団兵衛がジャマ......"
  2. ↑ Example: Evangelion ep.6, next episode trailer: in the original Japanese soundtrack, the character Misato can be heard promising viewers more service (サービス?) next time.
  3. ↑ "Fan service". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=54. Retrieved June 15, 2009. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Barrett, Grant (2006). "fan service". The official dictionary of unofficial English: a crunk omnibus for thrillionaires and bampots for the Ecozoic Age. New York City: McGraw-Hill. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-07-145804-7. OCLC 62172930. http://books.google.com/books?id=Fn-Sh1nv7pQC&pg=PA112. Retrieved June 15, 2009. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Harcoff, Pete (May 23, 2003). "Fan Service". Anime Glossary. The Anime Critic. http://www.animecritic.com/resources/glossary.html. Retrieved June 15, 2009. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Fan Service". Animetion's Glossary. Animetion. http://www.animetion.co.uk/glossary.htm. Retrieved June 15, 2009. 
  7. ↑ Nakayama, Whitney (December 21, 2004). "Fan Service". Anime Glossary. G4 Media. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070519074010/http://www.g4tv.com/animeunleashed/features/50642/Anime_Glossary.html. Retrieved June 15, 2009. 
  8. ↑ Juntilla, Judith (May 16, 2003). "The Matrix Reloads: Where's that damn spoon?". Businessworld (Yehey!). http://www.yehey.com/Entertainment/Movies/article.aspx?id=105149. Retrieved June 15, 2009. "These are Star Wars fans all grown up; they've been betrayed by George Lucas who churned out prequels that were no more than fan service." 
  9. ↑ Thompson, Jason (July 31, 2006) Boku no Shonen Ai (or "Jason overanalyzes something and takes all the fun out of it") livejournal.com

Further reading