People over react to fanservice
Have you ever seen something being labeled as super sexual but when you watch it turns out to be quite tame?
I feel with anime becoming more and more popular I keep seeing knee jerk reactions to this stuff a lot more. Its especially common in super big shonen fandoms.
Now there's definitely lot of criticisms to be made on fanservice on how its lazy, unnecessary and often just plain degrading. I can reason with that sentiment. But ofcourse many shows don't deserve that framing and yet Its way too often I have seen people react to even modest levels of exposed skin like its loli hentai. Sometimes I see people literally break down levels of skin shown it's so damn childish. Instead of discussing any valid points the conversation surrounding it often just turns weirdly prudish.
And when there is actual fan service involved, at what point do you think it ruins an anime? I'm sure there are many but take One Piece for example, it has its fair share of fs and it can sure diminish enjoyment of it but "ruin" it? To act like all the character depth Nami and Robin went through goes out the window because of that just feels insulting to the series.
All this is still ofcourse fine if you keep it to yourself, I can't expect everybody yo have the same standards. But the worst part comes when people go from "I don't like it" to "I don't like it so others also cant" and start berating others. Even the authors aren't spared, MHA's author used to get so much unwarranted harassment from western fans for the tamest drawings.
Basically it's just tiring.
I feel with anime becoming more and more popular I keep seeing knee jerk reactions to this stuff a lot more. Its especially common in super big shonen fandoms.
Now there's definitely lot of criticisms to be made on fanservice on how its lazy, unnecessary and often just plain degrading. I can reason with that sentiment. But ofcourse many shows don't deserve that framing and yet Its way too often I have seen people react to even modest levels of exposed skin like its loli hentai. Sometimes I see people literally break down levels of skin shown it's so damn childish. Instead of discussing any valid points the conversation surrounding it often just turns weirdly prudish.
And when there is actual fan service involved, at what point do you think it ruins an anime? I'm sure there are many but take One Piece for example, it has its fair share of fs and it can sure diminish enjoyment of it but "ruin" it? To act like all the character depth Nami and Robin went through goes out the window because of that just feels insulting to the series.
All this is still ofcourse fine if you keep it to yourself, I can't expect everybody yo have the same standards. But the worst part comes when people go from "I don't like it" to "I don't like it so others also cant" and start berating others. Even the authors aren't spared, MHA's author used to get so much unwarranted harassment from western fans for the tamest drawings.
Basically it's just tiring.
Commentaires
They overreact to Ecchi.
Something about someone saying how they love pancakes, and it’s replied with someone being like “so that means you hate waffles?”
But, again, doesn't ruin the whole show.
There's valid critique of fan service and how it's lazy and kind of sucks. I find that a lot of people that dislike it are morally against any kind of sexuality in anime and that's where you cross into negative territory for me.
its a good premise to set-up these fanservice moments without breaking immersion.
The habit of manga authors to make the most adult looking characters and then just label them with such young ages needs to be studied.
It's sort of like the western equivalent of leaving high school to go into college in terms of "leaving the nest for the first time" in comparison.
I feel like when you have shows like MDUD or The Dangers in My Heart, where the heroines are absolutely drawn with adult figures and are literal in-show models, but are surpringly young, we've got to remember that there's a little bit of separation of fiction and reality here. The story takes place at this core part of their transition to adulthood. But the author also wants to have attractive characters that can sell prints and art of without them looking too young, which is where it gets more problematic.
But that same level of fan service in something that's not a comedy would turn me off from the show. Not because I think all fanservice is bad, but because it can make an otherwise appealing show unappealing for me.
I think that's kinda the point of this post. People overreacting to fanservice so they stop watching an otherwise good show. I remember a lot of people complaining about the fanservice in Mieruko even though they were very tame and shouldn't hinder anyone from enjoying the show. Some like Monogatari are even more blatant and unnecessarily sexualized (hello Karen's toothbrushing scene) yet at the same time it's probably still one of best and more complex anime out there.
like, the characters being weirdos make it harder to see how far are they joking and how far are they being serious, every characters get off topic all the time in not only sexual way but also in so much different comedic direction, often using analogy that contradict the topic's tone on purpose, its cool how they all seem to represent different way of coping with stress and doubt
a few of their VAs even talk about how they use different feeling and/or voice tone that doesnt match the dialogue that much on purpose, some because they are directed to, other just on instinct but got the role as result
Past that, I just find often times it's way too repetitive to the point of being misogynistic and reductive to female characters. I appreciate anime where characters of both sexes have fan service, nine times out of ten heavily slanted and comes off weird
Give me *a scene* an episode and it's fine. But the constant shots between legs, boob bounces, skirt flash etc. ain't my taste. It doesn't usually *ruin* an anime, but I'd enjoy it more without it
I just goon on the green website if I want "fan service" that badly.
>There's valid critique of fan service and how it's lazy and kind of sucks. I find that a lot of people that dislike it are morally against any kind of sexuality in anime and that's where you cross into negative territory for me.
There are also people that don't understand what constitutes fanservice and all the sexual innuendo in an anime goes over their heads. For example, everyone that doesn't understand that Made in Abyss is thinly veiled loli bait with guro, mind break, and urination as additional tags.
And that's on top of the fact that a weird amount of plot happens when Riko has to separate from Reg and co to go potty.
Just because some people somewhere get off on something doesn't mean every instance of that thing is meant for people to get off on. Like Frieren and feet. They are just feet. Sometimes indicating comfort. But all it takes is one foot gooner and suddenly the artist "meant" it to be for foot fetishists.
When I first watched MiA I legit didn't pick up on anything besides I think there was a poop related scene that made me go "wtf"
I don't think that's cause I was dumb, I just didn't have the exposure to recognize it. I only began to "get it" after reading a bunch of people talking about it.
Watching 2 first season of FireForce, and didn't even realize Tamaki is just fan service character until I went to anime subreddit...
I feel she is interesting character, and probably my favorite if Arthur doesn't exist. someone who have no actual struggle in early life, try to finding something meaningful in her life. Try hard to fulfilling expectations people toward her, just to realize she just a big fish in small pond.
It actually very refreshing, and hits home, because most of us is like that.
Her clothes off everytime just a comedy relief, and I never thought weird about it. I mean, it's just a drawing, why you feel weird about some pixels?
You can realistically extend this thought process to everything though. Why would you cry about a fake person fake dying? People have feelings about narratives and a lot of times they aren't going to be in line with yours. In the same way that some people might find pixelated gore to be gross, some people might find pixelated sexualization to be crass in some contexts.
Fan service in general can both ruin the quality of a show, not be funny or sexy, and be objectifying towards women. There are very few shows that have any sort of male fan service and those that do are always hated upon by large amounts of the anime community (Free, any BL anime, etc).
Fan service is fine when used properly and as long as it's not the sole purpose of having female characters in your anime.
Not to sound like an 'old man yelling at clouds' here, but it does feel like mainstream studios used to be a bit more modest or at least had a better ratio of ecchi to actual substance.
??
Middle schoolers irl talk and joke about sexual stuff all the time?
Middle schoolers making dirty jokes with each other is totally harmless. To even compare it to sexualising them is just upsetting.
I recently watched MHA. I put it off for years because I heard it has too much fan service. Man..it ended up being so pitifully tame and infrequent, it's absurd the author got harassment online for this.
I don't get ecchi anime in general. If you want to watch porn then do it, why make a 4/10 anime with ugly characters to achieve like 20% of the same effect?
Interesting I think a lot of people bend the other way. If a show is just fan service and isn't pretending to be anything else, then people generally aren't going to care. But if a show is clearly trying to have a narrative and is then tossing in some tacky fan service without much of a plot reason, people tend to find that to be a stronger negative.
With *Redo of Healer* I think most people just said "yeah this just a rape fantasy, no thanks" and so it was barely even controversial in a lot of circles.
I'll never get over Mushoku Tensei, the most controversial anime of that season; it only proves that the people who complain are just after views.
But some outraged people started a campaign to get MAL to add the ecchi tag.
You say one thing and ur downvoted.
You say the same thing but with different words and you are upvoted.
No, you just look young. It was much worse in the past, especially with the OVA era, but there were still some pretty steamy things on TV.
Y'all never heard of what an eroge is huh.
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Nami and Robin are both excellent characters and I'll go as far as to say some of the best written in battle shonen, and I hate to see them reduced only to their fan service moments. The story of One Piece wouldn't work without either of them and their pivotal emotional moments are some of the highest highs the series has achieved so far. They are obviously not the only ones either and Oda makes it a point to create supporting female characters in each arc with distinct personalities and sees their stories through.
On the other hand, MHA fan service even as a MHA defender I understand why it's called it more because its female characters are sidelined not only in fights but story so much more. To me Toga and Ochako are still great, but that's about where my praise ends for the MHA's female cast which is a shame since a lot of them had potential.
Long story short which fan service stands out to me in a negative light when the characters themselves aren't fleshed out.
It all depends on the context to me. A silly shonen, romcom, or whatever with lots of fan service? Whatever, all good. Something that is supposedly trying to be serious and have a certain atmosphere/mood and whatnot? Feels pointless and really fucks with how seriously I can take it
Lol what? Highschool of the dead does not EVER try to be serious or even serious-ish. It literally takes every single stupid trope and cliché you could think of and pumps it up 1000%. Pantyshots and tits ARE the atmosphere/mood, and if you somehow haven't figured it out by episode 2 or 3, that's on you.
Also, i fully agree with your main point. But Highschool of the dead is such a bad example.
It doesn't diminish their actual character development, but Oda famously used to draw women as two circles and an X, so I totally get people being turned off by it.
MHA's problem is that all the characters are "under age" from a western perspective so people feel a little extra skeeved out by things like a naked invisible girl when she's explicitly 15/16 years old.
People definitely complain about fanservice too much, but when it appears in shounen series I get the pushback since it's aimed at a younger audience. (Like you know what you're getting yourself into if a show is tagged ecchi, but Fire Force having a girl fall out of her clothes every episode can be jarring when the recommended audience is like 14 at best)
Edit: To avoid further sketch accusations, I'm just saying MHA characters are questionably "of age" in Japan but are underage in the West where we view anyone under 18 as underage. Not saying it's suddenly a good thing that Japan views 16 year olds as adults just explaining the distinction for why a "high school" character can end up in sexualized situations in anime we'd almost never accept in the west (unless we're talking about adult actors in shows like Riverdale or Shameless, we wouldn't accept Danny Phantom having tons of fanservice lmao)
What an odd thing to say
They say “culture” like everyone there is on some pedo shit or something. You’ll get your ass beat if you talk like that around there.
What the fuck do you mean there buddy?
But the one thing about fanservice which is indeed a bit bad is it makes for awkward viewing with someone who isnt used to it.
Like for example, I can watch Ghibli movies with my mom, now imagine that for something like Monogatari.
Puritans go to hell though, simple as that.
myself i definitely prefer none or very minimal fanservice
it also matters whether or not the fanservice is tastefully done
Something most Westerners have at least according to what I see online
No joke some of the comments I am seeing here are genuinely acting like that. Someone unirionically brought up Frieren into this discussion...like when do you realize you are not against fan service but just a straight prude?
The original video and the account have since been deleted, but some [screenshots](https://imgur.com/nsZYryU) from that time still exist
I don’t really care for fan service in 99% of cases because it’s pointless titillation for the sake, but for a lot of newer anime fans, it’s always been something that makes it hard to justify as a medium. When they’re trying to posit it as a legitimate form of media with depth of storytelling, fan service and genres like CGDCTs are seen as contradictory to that. So people are quick to condemn it.
It also doesn’t help that anime gooners just have a bad reputation.
Like not only does Momo get nearly raped by aliens that want to reproduce, but she also gets nearly raped in season 2 by the hot tub guys.
And then there is Akurun's balls storyline.
I don't mind nudity, sexuality, or whatever. But I think people are just tired of it being tossed into everything where it doesn't belong.
Fan service has become the cranberry juice of anime. It's in places in doesn't belong
Like no it doesn't. There are only two such scenes in the whole series including the manga. And them being bad is the point, they literally supposed to make you feel sick and realize how horrific the villains are. None of it was supposed to be fan service.
Suprisingly good show nonetheless.
Like bro, either sexualize both sides so both me and my sister can't suggest each other anime out of shame or get rid of it where it doesn't make sense.
Yes I do find it problematic when a school kid falls on the face of another school kid and the camera lingers on her ass. I am happy if you have no problems with it because it's animation and it's just how anime is and it's aimed at horny teens but don't act flabbergasted when people don't like it
I think anime fan service as it exists is in a sorta weird place. A lot of it is low quality, problematic, or not really appropriate for the tone of a series.
It's fine if a series is about fanservice, sexuality, or literally porn as long as it knows what it is and does it well, but a series can be dragged down by having an over abundance of tired fanservice tropes, uses it to distract from poor writing, or just does too much distracting from the core focus of what would otherwise be a good show.
Also, there are still some problematic things in anime as regards the treatment of women. The number of possibly interesting female characters whose writing basically collapses into the black hole of fanservice or "sensitive themes explored really badly" is too damn high.
That said, acknowledging if something you like is problematic and respectfully allowing others not to enjoy it is part of maturing as a consumer. Like how liking violent video games doesn't make you a violent person, liking "bad" anime doesn't necessarily make you a bad person either.
One shouldn't take that as an excuse to avoid exploring why and what you like about the media in the first place. A
"Do I like CoD cause I enjoy how it plays and the I enjoy action movies, or do I like CoD cause I actually believe in the vague worldview and political aesthetics of the games?" kinda thing.
I personally don’t like most fanservice and feel like it detracts more than it adds. However, unless it’s massive titties bouncing or very revealing outfits on the girls I tend to just ignore it and focus on the plot
I fully understand why someone would be uncomfortable with fanservice or want to opt out of it and I respect that stance
But if i see one more “Pleeeeease no fanservice🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻” on the tamest looking trailer ever people calling every single thing a Gooner anime im going to lose it. People were calling the bleeding Flower Blooms with Dignity anime a Gooner anime. I saw people bitchign about fanservice in Apothecary Diaries, in Frieran, and tons of the tamest stuff imaginable, and they’re so loud an annoying about it
Just go watch something else, damn
I think the problem alot of people have is the fact that most anime characters are underage. Only a pedo could enjoy looking up a high school girls skirt. In the US we are so afraid of pedophiles that even talking to minors is seen as disgusting by a fairly large amount of people. So it makes some sense to me as to why any form of sexualization of a minor even if fictional is demonized.
So why are some people more ok with fan service than others? If I had to guess I think it comes down to a few things. Most importantly the ability to suspend disbelief. Alot of people tend to place their morals and real world logic into works of fiction (not just anime). I would guess another part of the issue is how old you were when you started watching anime in the first place. If you got into anime as a teenager, fan service often seems playful rather than inherently sexual.
I have 1000 more things I would love to say about the topic but ill leave it at this.
Also, I grew up in now ex-communist country, but when I was growing up, sexuality was part of everyday life, and we didn't make drama about that. It was taught at schools, we saw porn magazines at magazine kiosks, and movies od Public TV sometimes had sexual scenes, but they were not censored, they were just running late at evening so the kids wouldn't usually see them.
I started watching anime when I was 45, I think, and I don't really get why everyone gets mad at these things. Yeah, if it's straight up pedophilia, I understand, but high schoolers? When I was in high school, we had sex, girls had sex, mostly everyone weren't virgins at the end of high school. We talked about sex, and lead normal lives. So I really don't get it.
Honestly, i feel people complaining about this is very new. It had never crossed my mind before it became a complaint topic. I was never thinking "hehe im watching teenager ecchi", and it almost feels weird to think people are up in arms about it... Because its not real. The character doesnt even have an age, its a drawing, doesnt matter if shes 17 in the story, she couldve been any "age". Hell, you cant even prove Marin Kitagawa hentai isnt aged up for instance.
Main issue with pedophilia are victims that are abused, this is simply impossible with drawings.
I can understand being uncomfortable with loli, its definitely pedo material even if still a drawing, but if youre up in arms about a tall busty character.. i dont get it.
That is really sad ngl, and isolation will only make people more vulnerable
Also im all for sexy women but please don’t just make them have balloon boobs and fight in lingerie. Like do women in movies have that? No but i’m guessing you still think Ana de Armas is incredibly good looking and feminine.
Still i can bite the bullet if they just nuke the Loli and schoolgirl shit. That shit needs to be done.
The core problem tho is fan service is NOT hot girls but overly sexualizing situations or characters. Like sexy women doing something is not the same as fanservice where a characters entire thing IS that she’s sexy
I really don't understand why fan service Puritans and sub elitists bother commenting, just shut up and enjoy whatever you want to watch and let others do the same. I'm sorry you can't enjoy some otherwise good shows because of a 2 second pan to boobs but that's a you problem.
No Game No Life is the only one I can forgive for this. Great plot and great worldbuilding that is occasionally ruined by random panty shots. I'm glad the movie was more serious.
Nami and Robin didn't go out of the window due to sexualization, they went out of the window because they were reduced to memes of their older selves, especially Robin, who used to be a stronger fighter when she joined. The sexualization increased in the timeskip but its just tacked on, the problem would exist even if they were not turned into sex dolls. I used to be a huge robin fan pre time-skip but one piece simply shifted into having different side characters be more important.
In Asia female employes design those sexy game characters.
In some cases I find it can augment something and add a little extra spice if I find the particular character in question attractive/visually appealing and it's not too disruptive to the main narrative throughline.
In others, either due to the way it's done or the characters involved or how much it's used, I find it uninteresting so would rather the runtime spent occupied on it be utilized for something I find more enticing writing-wise. Especially since while there are a small handful I like or love, generally speaking ecchi, harem, reverse harem, yaoi, yuri, and hentai are some of my least favorite genres/subgenres in anime.
And in others yet still I'm basically completely neutral on it and don't have a strong opinion either way because I feel like it doesn't occupy much of the percentage of runtime to begin with to warrant caring about it any more than any other nonessential action or dialogue? This third option is probably the majority of cases.
But there is a disturbing rise of prudishness, neo-Puritanism, and just in general very aggressive and super judgmental crusader-esque moralism on everything related to sexual affairs, in art and media and in general, which to me feels like a somewhat recent specifically Western post-early or mid-2010s Gen Z thing and strongly represented and pushed on spaces on the internet like this.
It feels like things were going in a much more positive and preferable direction in that regard from like the late 1960s/early 70s - 2000s/early 2010s, and now it's been going this horrible way recently. But they can voice their opinions as passionately and repeatedly as possible - They still cannot control what everyone else chooses either to artistically produce or to watch and consume.
In the west we blame MEDIA. We blame VIDEO GAMES, MUSIC, TV, MOVIES.. anything else BUT the parent.
This is why in the west we see that removing anything questionable from media as "bad influence" for anyone under 18 must be done...
Maybe we should learn to blame the parents a bit more and make them RESPONSIBLE for their child's upbringing...
There's plenty of shows out there that are going for that vibe, and to each their own; but it's so frustrating when your want to recommend a show WELL outside that wheelhouse and have to ask yourself "Is there anything weird or lecherous that in that I should have to warn them about?"
I mean seriously, good luck finding a show that doesn't feature at least one visual gag about breasts, panties, or sexual battery. Even *Frieren*, which is VERY MUCH not a fan service show has a few sprinkled in.
Characters making comments about other characters is very different than characters' bodies being sexualized for the audience...
I often find [IMDb's parents guide](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22248376/parentalguide/?ref_=tt_stry_pg) helpful when I want to research what content is in a show (found at the bottom of the storyline section on the show's page). Not every show has a write-up, but hopefully it's of some use to you.
Obviously you can't really define "necessary" when it comes to art, so I won't say anything like "I hate unnecessary fan service" because what even makes something in art "necessary"? It's a nebulous requirement. That being said, I've only grown more cynical to it over the years as I see it more and more, especially when I read something as a Manga first. You would not believe how often something gets "enhanced" in anime adaptations just to add anime original fan service or to make existing fan service even more....fan servicey. It makes me cynical because I know they're only doing it for *those* types who can only consume media that activates the gooner side of their brain. The types that look up rule 34 before they decide whether to watch an anime or play a game and then will go and spend $300 on a bunny girl figurine of their anime girl.
Like sure, it's capitalism. Sex sells and obviously they're going to cater to the guy dropping hundreds on figurines vs me who maybe buys the Manga volumes, but probably won't. But I respect the anime/manga that don't fall prey to that demographic. For instance, this season Ikkoku Nikki (Journal with Witch) is airing. Could you imagine how much worse that show would be if it had random fan service scenes or if they sold halloween nurse costume figurines of Makio or Asa? I shudder to think about it and I hope nobody breaks my reality by showing it actually exists.
Tbh, I think the main reasons I don't like it 90% of the time is because it's usually just either a) sexualized teenagers or b) it's not even hot. It's dumb shit like "lucky pervert" moments or annoying characters like Mineta from MHA or that old guy from Ranma 1/2. They always try to have their cake and eat it too by making fun of the fan service they're happily indulging in. If you're going to give me fan service, actually make it hot or sexy (and maybe don't make them 15 y.o.). Stop with this "oh no I fell and he grabbed my breast while catching me" or "I don't lock doors in my house yet I get mad when he walks in while I'm changing". Give me scenes of characters actually trying to seduce each other or something. When I think of all the scenes I like that do have it whether it's in western media or anime, it's never this lucky pervert shit. It's always shit that's actually hot or seductive and isn't thrown in *just* for the audience's indulgence.
you can see people doesn't mind killing in anime\games and find it as cool thing
but when it's come to erotic the things turn into illegal or not
I don’t see where the problem is, I liked the first season a lot. It’s wholesome as fuck. Most of the ecchi is used as comedy and, sure, some time it drags, like the measuring episode. I didn’t need like five minutes of Gojo on the verge of exploding, it gets old pretty quickly. I’ve found the same on other shows, like Food wars. The joke ceases to be funny. But didn’t find anything morally reprehensible.
The thing is, I dont get off on cartoons (never understood the appeal of shit like hentai), but i don’t find ecchi outrageous either. Because of that, many times fanservice goes over my head. Or maybe I’m desensitized, you have to watch the shit we have in prime time here in South America.
I think most of the controversy comes from american puritanism. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater, you have a lot of things going on, but puritanism is certainly not your most likable characteristic. Nipples can’t hurt you.
What really rubs me in the wrong way is when those puritan takes get hold in other cultures like mine. You have fuckers here complaining about ecchi in anime, reproducing discourses they find online (because it seems they can't think by themselves), while consuming really outrageous national shit. And I mean almost criminal content.
Like, I love fanservice and agree with this post 100% but AssClass polevaulted over the fucking line
I remember seeing posts over at r/animefigures of people talking about getting harassed on TikTok over owning anime figures. I have seen it happen and the most common insult they use is calling collectors p3d0s/PDFs(yes, in that exact spelling). They do it to even posts of pretty obvious adult anime characters.
fan service shows up. I might get fired
Idk if that’s true, but I do notice a lot of fan service does drop off midway through the story.
every other episode had like 30 seconds max of fan service and that was enough for people to say the anime was shit and not worth watching.
What's even more annoying is the fact they don't watch anything that would be a no fan service safe pick like Laid Back Camp or Super Cub.
Then on top of this you have the TicTokXitter reaction crowd that are all in training to one day graduate and be Schoolboard and HOA busybody Karens themselves.
But yeah, it gets absurd. Sometimes I think they'd melt down while walking through an art museum. Like "omg Hieronymus Bosch is so creepy how has this not been cancelled yet? Buncha Diddy pervert art patrons looking at that shit."
They should watch Yosuga no Sora or something to get it out of their system. Maybe the narratively-relevant stuff in things like Dandadan won't seem so bad anymore.
You are aware that Japan often censors stuff that the U.S. leaves uncensored, are you not? They sometimes censor violence in games like GTA, The Last of Us, heck even Evil Within, a game made in Japan, was censored in Japan unlike the American version.
Not to mention their censoring of genitalia, obviously there’s a bunch of Japan’s actual “adult” videos that of all things censors the “naughty bits”, and games like Baldur’s Gate 3 had its nudity censored in Japan.
Seriously, we need to stop acting like Japan themselves don’t do this frequently.
The 50s called, they want the Hays Code back.
They then told me I was arguing in bad faith, when I asked him if a battle shonen would be better if they didn't focus so heavily on in the fights?
but, I also think that people seriously overreact when it comes to stuff like this, especially if the work in question is intended to cater to otaku. like, you don't complain about an action movie having ''too much violence'' now, would you? because it's just the part of the genre. so, why be upset about the presence of fanservice in ecchi anime when it's just part of the genre? it just might not be your cup of tea.
It's fine to criticize, but if you actively pressure creators to stop creating things you don't personally like because it doesn't allign with your moral views, then you're part of the problem.
what you've described is at least progress. Back in the day there was a non-insignificant amount of people who assumed all anime was gross degen stuff and liking it meant you were probably jerking it to loli hentai.
I will say that I'm not a huge fan of 90% of the types of ecchi fan service, but I'm not some moral puritan that thinks its bad no matter what the context is. I just think it's often used as a crutch for bad writing and *that* is where I take issue with it.
you all are just gay
silly boob physics, lewd angles, "accidental" groping, or even just straight up tits flying out of a shirt are no big deal in something like keijo or interspecies reviewers.
but imagine if something like Your lie in April or Violet Evergarden was filled with "rather tame" panty shots or thigh close-ups every two conversations that don't even fit or support the dialogue and the atmosphere at all.
You can see where its taking hold already. Any anime produced by Netflix already tones fanservice down.
There is also a complete lack of understanding irony in the community. Take something like Evangelion which uses nudity of all its characters to express vulnerability, intense depression and emotional states in the last few episodes. The Misato preview voice at the end will say “look forward to fanservice” as an incredibly cynical, ironic and basically a jab at the audience. But you will still see modern fans refer to Asuka’s emaciated brink of death nude body in a bathtub as fanservice instead of a character at the end of their rope, which again if it was in a show like Euphoria no one would say was titillating at all.
It’s part of a larger problem of modern audiences not understanding inference, metaphors or subtlety. Everything needs to be spelled out.
People complain about Momo Yaoyozuru's outfit from MHA because it's 'unnecessarily skimpy'. Even though there are reasons for why it does show off so much skin and Momo herself is okay with it. I do get the problems of having a minor dressed like that, which I get, but I do feel at times Momo could be in her 30s dressed like that and people would still complain about it.