Sta.sh
Remember that you are essentially collaborating on a story. Good stories have plot, and are much more interesting for everyone involved if the characters are engaging in an interesting conflict.
Holy shit, it's been a LOOOOOONG time since I posted anything here.
Well, here it goes.
A recent trend I have been seeing in the anime community lately, especially on forums and such is a HUGE bash in certain shows.
Now, don't get me wrong. I think fanservice, if overdone can be incredibly annoying, and I think it is often used to cover up a lack of plot or character development.
Take Ikki Tousen for example.
Ikki Tousen, in my opinion, is absolute dogshit. Not just for the overuse of pointless fanservice, but also for crappy animation, flat one dimensional characters, and a stupid plot.
Perhaps if the fanservice wasn't as prevalent, then the show wouldn't be as painful to watch, but there isn't much there to begin with.
However, some shows such as Air Master, have a good amount of fanservice as well, but they are good shows with good animation, great action scenes, and badass characters. Or High School of the dead, a recent show with a zombie apocalypse theme, and schoolgirls. It's pretty funny, with plenty of zany moments, such as a guy putting a zombie in a headlock as opposed to shooting it in the head.
By the way, putting a zombie in a headlock is called COMEDY.
One argument that I hear a lot is "Without fanservice, the show would have nothing"
While this might be true in some cases, one thing that people need to realize is this.
EVERY SHOW HAS FANSERVICE
Here is a quick list I have compiled with shows that are often considered great and legendary, that also has their share of fanservice.
Hokuto no Ken: Rei rips Mayima's clothes off....all of them.
Kinnikuman: Kinnikuman fantasizes about women in their underwear in an early episode
Lucky Star: Girls Shower
Sailor Moon and every other magical girl show: Transformation scenes
Cutey Honey: Honey herself
Devilman: The movie had a scene of a rave party where almost all of the women were topless.
Pokemon: Jesse in a bikini....and James.
Lupin the 3rd: Fujiko...nuff said
Dragonball: Bulma in various situations
Outlaw Star: An entire episode of women naked bathing in hot springs, including the furry.
Street Fighter Movie: Chun Li in her undies
Inuyasha (It was good in the beginning): Kagome bathing in various episodes
Ranma 1/2: Ranma as a girl
I could go on and on.
So yeah, every show has fanservice, but not all of them abuse it.
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E.g: Every time Shadow the Hedgehog appears.
HOORAY FOR ROBIN!
lulz
...For example: I can accept Bayonetta. Has more fanservice than any other game this side of Team Ninja, but the almost parodious nature of the fanservice itself, plus the pure, undiluted awesome that is every single other aspect of the game, is more than enough justification for it in my mind. Fanservice is not an evil. It's just that when fanservice is the main attraction or the main redeeming factor, one may as well just watch a porn or something.
Hell, here's some examples;
Sin City (Old Town. 'nuff said... in fact, Frank Miller in general)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Jessica, and the infamous "flashing" sequence)
Star Wars (RotJ - you know what I mean)
Star Trek ('09 - Green-skinned Space Babe)
Doctor Who (Amy Pond - it's pretty much implied that she's a stripper)
... yeah, pretty much all my examples came from geek culture anyway, but you get my point - anime's not the only medium guilty of this crime. It's just a bit more... open about it.
I wouldn't mind fanservice if they kept it to a minimum but there almost never have never been a show WITHOUT fanservice as you've mentioned.
The first ep of Highschool of the Dead was pretty cool