I’m a casual anime fan, my main references being Ghibli, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bepop etc, in general, I like good art and good scenario. So I want to follow discussions about this type of anime.
However, I am very uncomfortable at the countless anime that sexualize minors (and minor looking supposedly adults) or over sexualized women.
Is there a community for this interest? I am too much of a casual to animate such community myself.
Edit: thank you everyone for the recommendations, I will look them up.
Hmmm, I always considered Faye/Cowboy Bebop to actually be on the more sexualized side.
I’ll recommend Promised Neverland, Ranking of Kings, OddTaxi my top recommends for zero-fanservice shows.
There is slight fanservice (less than Cowboy Bebop) in Zenshu, that I think most people will find tasteful (a little bit of a silly hot naked springs episode at the height of the romantic arc for some characters).
There is also the question about what specific fanservice scenes bother you. Ex: Dress Up Darling, Kill La Kill, and arguably even Princess Jellyfish are about female beauty and thus a lot of pretty makeup and ‘arguably fanservice’ by some definition. But many people find these acceptable (possibly because in Kill La Kills case it goes so far overboard it loops into parody levels… While Dress Up Darling and Princess Jellyfish are female gaze oriented rather than male gaze focused).
There is also the question of tastefulness. Shower scenes, bath scenes, swimming scenes, beach scenes and the like could be interpreted as fanservice but it depends on the context and how it’s drawn really.
Fair, I haven’t watched it in a long time, but by checking again I agree. At least her identity and design are clearly adult and she’s a strong core character, not just fan service. To be clear I am not in favor of zero sexuality, it’s part of human culture and it can be intelligently used for the scenario. My problem is when it becomes a creepy commercial trope that feeds social issues, especially for minor looking characters.
From what I saw, Kill La Kill crosses the border too much for me. She’s fully sexualized and she is a 17 year old minor. I don’t think the parody label dismisses the issue. It wouldn’t cost much to make her an adult, so why didn’t they? The scenario would be ruined, or the creepy commercial trope would get weaker?
I don’t know the other ones.
Oh right. For the OPs of the original recommendations / “Zero Fanservice” shows. I define “Zero Fanservice” as Full Metal Alchemist and less. Like there’s a step between typical Gibli films and Full Metal Alchemist, but the fanservice level is so low I can’t imagine any reasonable person complaining about FMA’s level of fanservice. (Lust has a somewhat sexy dress, okay. And that’s about it…)
Promised Neverland: Orphans (IIRC, 12 years old or so at the start of the show?) discover that there’s dark secrets in their orphanage. They need to escape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB2t5y7ujlg
Ranking of Kings: Bojji, the 1st Prince and 1st in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Bosse, is deaf, mute, and weak. The sickly Heroic King is worried about what will happen to the kingdom after he dies. The court (especially the Queen) is obviously favoring the stronger 2nd Prince. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5SSAXK6bQE . Classic Fairytale feel and tropes (magic mirrors, emperor has no clothes, blood magic, deals with devils, magical stepmoms, shadow people, etc. etc.)
Oddtaxi: Murder Mystery / Noir story with a twist. The protagonist is the Taxi Driver with damn good memory. The taxi rides of his customers largely have to do with the murder mystery and leads to the core of the murder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX-Ry1VxeDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG4eu4HMtbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpJvHjyITMQ
Opening 1 and 2 for My Dress Up Darling. Obviously a fanservice show with all the dresses (and
sometimesoften sexy-dresses) involved. But since its female-gaze centered, its a different feel.EDIT: Hmm, maybe I’m wrong. Wikipedia is claiming this is Seinen (intended for adult males). Either way, the fanservice here felt different to me compared to most. I’m not so much saying you should watch it, just that there’s different “flavors” of fanservice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qTaW7LRW9o
Princess Jellyfish is also about people getting into fashion (or really, the main character learning to express herself) and is truly a Josei (Female Adult) oriented.
Like, there’s “What Boys find Sexy fanservice” vs “How Girls want to feel Attractive fanservice”. They’re both fanservice but there’s a difference. A lot of anime fanservice is the latter, if you know where to look.
There’s also stuff like Sailor Moon, which turn into both. Which makes some people uncomfortable. But I think something like Princess Jellyfish is firmly in the latter and shouldn’t get confused with the former.