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Anyone watching Parasyte the Maxim? I watched the first episode and found it interesting horror.
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TriOmegaZero wrote: Anyone watching Parasyte the Maxim? I watched the first episode and found it interesting horror. Where are you watching it? I read the manga a while back, and I found it quite captivating.
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Funimation has it on their streaming service. I think you can only watch the first episode or two for free, then you have to subscribe.
TriOmegaZero wrote: The entire Fate series. (Fate/Stay Night, Fate Zero, Unlimited Blade Works.) Can't wait for next season. Ok, this is cracking me up because there is a conversation about too much fanservice in anime and when someone asks for a recommendation you give something based of h-games where they only include the h to increase sales.
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And? Does the television conversion contain said scenes, or excessive fan service? (Other than Saber being adorable of course.)
Also, considering who was involved in Fate Zero...
Wiki wrote: Fate/Zero (フェイト/ゼロ Feito/Zero?) is a light novel by Gen Urobuchi
TriOmegaZero wrote: And? Its wonderfully ironic. Also, they are series I need to watch or play at some point. I have heard way too many good things about them.
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Caineach wrote: TriOmegaZero wrote: The entire Fate series. (Fate/Stay Night, Fate Zero, Unlimited Blade Works.) Can't wait for next season. Ok, this is cracking me up because there is a conversation about too much fanservice in anime and when someone asks for a recommendation you give something based of h-games where they only include the h to increase sales. I don't see the irony here. While I haven't played or watched any of the various Fate media, it's pretty well-known that many visual novels, when originally released, will have a few sex-scenes thrown in to help with sales, and that once the characters/story/media property becomes more popular and create a fan-base, it will then excise the erotic content and move into more mainstream media channels (e.g. a game console re-release, an anime adaptation, etc.).
thejeff has the right of things.
The only way to improve the way women are portrayed in any media, anime included, is to exert social pressure for positive change. The more people who speak out against this garbage the stronger the social pressure will be. The stronger the pressure the less fan service will be created.
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Aranna wrote: thejeff has the right of things. As I've mentioned previously, I don't believe he does.
Quote: The only way to improve the way women are portrayed in any media, anime included, is to exert social pressure for positive change. This statement includes a battery of personal assumptions that are being presented as objective truths. Among them the premise that fan-service necessarily means that women are being portrayed badly, that changing the amount of fan-service will necessarily improve how women are portrayed, that the "only way" to accomplish this is via social pressure, and that doing so will result in a positive change.
Absolutely none of that is a certainty, and yet you've presented each one as a given.
Quote: The more people who speak out against this garbage the stronger the social pressure will be. You're quoting Pat Pulling right now, aren't you?
Quote: The stronger the pressure the less fan service will be created. I don't think that your plan to kill all dandelions is a very good one, for myriad reasons.
Alzrius wrote: Aranna wrote: thejeff has the right of things. As I've mentioned previously, I don't believe he does.
Quote: The only way to improve the way women are portrayed in any media, anime included, is to exert social pressure for positive change. This statement includes a battery of personal assumptions that are being presented as objective truths. Among them the premise that fan-service necessarily means that women are being portrayed badly, that changing the amount of fan-service will necessarily improve how women are portrayed, that the "only way" to accomplish this is via social pressure, and that doing so will result in a positive change.
Absolutely none of that is a certainty, and yet you've presented each one as a given.
Quote: The more people who speak out against this garbage the stronger the social pressure will be. You're quoting Pat Pulling right now, aren't you?
Quote: The stronger the pressure the less fan service will be created. I don't think that your plan to kill all dandelions is a very good one, for myriad reasons.
I'm curious. How much of your opposition here is to the method and how much to the goal?
Do you oppose the use of social pressure for any worthwhile goals or is it mostly that you don't have a problem with the fan-service?
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thejeff wrote: I'm curious. How much of your opposition here is to the method and how much to the goal?
Do you oppose the use of social pressure for any worthwhile goals or is it mostly that you don't have a problem with the fan-service?
Yes. :)
Simply put, I look askance on the use of leveraging pressure against others to force them to comply with your preference for how things should, in your opinion, be. That said, I do recognize that there are instances where there simply is no better alternative for achieving changes that are ultimately for the better. For example, I'm opposed to the use of organized boycotts as a means of putting economic pressure on businesses to change their business practices, but at the same time it's hard to imagine how else apartheid would have been brought to an end.
That said, I don't believe that fan-service is anywhere close to being a comparable issue, insofar as I'm not at all convinced that it's any more of a social ill than D&D itself was.
So in this case, I'm opposed to both the method and the goal. It's inflicting real social harm against real people to achieve a goal that's not at all worthwhile, in my opinion. Now, I'm certainly open to changing my mind about either of these topics, but so far no one is presenting a good reason for doing so. "I don't like it" and "it corrupts the youth" simply don't measure up.
Alzrius wrote: ...simply don't measure up. In your opinion only.
Edit: There is tons of evidence that the objectification of women is damaging. You can stick your head in the sand all you want but that doesn't make you right.
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Aranna wrote: In your opinion only. You do realize that you just made yourself the pot to my kettle, right?
Alzrius wrote: thejeff wrote: I'm curious. How much of your opposition here is to the method and how much to the goal?
Do you oppose the use of social pressure for any worthwhile goals or is it mostly that you don't have a problem with the fan-service?
Yes. :)
Simply put, I look askance on the use of leveraging pressure against others to force them to comply with your preference for how things should, in your opinion, be. That said, I do recognize that there are instances where there simply is no better alternative for achieving changes that are ultimately for the better. For example, I'm opposed to the use of organized boycotts as a means of putting economic pressure on businesses to change their business practices, but at the same time it's hard to imagine how else apartheid would have been brought to an end.
That said, I don't believe that fan-service is anywhere close to being a comparable issue, insofar as I'm not at all convinced that it's any more of a social ill than D&D itself was.
So in this case, I'm opposed to both the method and the goal. It's inflicting real social harm against real people to achieve a goal that's not at all worthwhile, in my opinion. Now, I'm certainly open to changing my mind about either of these topics, but so far no one is presenting a good reason for doing so. "I don't like it" and "it corrupts the youth" simply don't measure up. Well, I certainly don't consider it to be on the same level as apartheid and any response should be proportionally less. Objectification of women in general is a problem, but anime fan-service is only one fairly small facet of it.
As I suggested above, I'd compare it more to the T&A approach to much classic fantasy art and want a response similar to what it took to tone that down.
I think you're either vastly overstating the "real social harm against real people" or expecting a much harsher campaign than I think anyone is talking about.
OTOH, I can barely comprehend the idea of anyone actually being opposed to the use of boycotts, organized or otherwise. You're coming from an entirely different viewpoint than I have.
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thejeff wrote: Well, I certainly don't consider it to be on the same level as apartheid and any response should be proportionally less. Objectification of women in general is a problem, but anime fan-service is only one fairly small facet of it. I'm not sure that I'd agree that fan-service can even be called objectification of women, simply due to the fact that no actual women are being objectified (as in, people in real life).
But even aside from that, the idea that you're presenting is that what's witnessed from fan-service will translate towards how people treat women in real life, which strikes me as an argument that's highly dubious at best.
Quote: As I suggested above, I'd compare it more to the T&A approach to much classic fantasy art and want a response similar to what it took to tone that down. And as I responded above, I don't believe that that's a very good comparison.
Quote: I think you're either vastly overstating the "real social harm against real people" or expecting a much harsher campaign than I think anyone is talking about. This sounds an awful lot like "we're going to shame them, just not very much." Because bringing social harm to people is okay, so long as you don't hurt them too badly?
Quote: OTOH, I can barely comprehend the idea of anyone actually being opposed to the use of boycotts, organized or otherwise. You're coming from an entirely different viewpoint than I have. A personal boycott is simply a decision not to engage with a particular vendor, outlet, product, etc.
An organized boycott, on the other hand, is a private pressure group attempting to bring coercion via a threat (or insinuation, or other subtle suggestion) of economic harm if their target doesn't comply (e.g. "see all the names on this petition? Just think of how much business you'll lose from all the bad press we're about to unleash on you. Now, just stop selling these products, and we promise that this will all go away...").
Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
So what exactly is the difference then between
This and this
why is one viewed as a problem and not the other?
Tels wrote: Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
Uh, no one is saying you are a bad person for not wanting fan service. People are saying that enjoying fanservice is not wrong.
Hell, I don't enjoy fan service in a lot of series. Before this started I said I didn't like High School of the Dead because I felt the fanservice took away from the rest of the show. Anime has a wide range of people enjoying it, and I wont say it is wrong because it is not my style. There are tons of reasons for something to not be for me. That doesn't mean people who like it are bad/wrong. There are also a ton of series with different levels catering to different people, so chances are you can find something you will enjoy.
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Greylurker wrote: So what exactly is the difference then between
This and this
why is one viewed as a problem and not the other?
Neither one seems to be the problem. It is perfectly fine to have girls or boys at a swimming venue in swim wear...
Tels wrote: Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
I am sad that you are leaving. Don't let Alzrius ruin the thread for you and stick around, we DO actually talk about anime most of the time... This fan service debate won't last forever, it almost already ended once.
I am super excited about a live action Ghost in the Shell. Thanks for the news!
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Aranna wrote: I am sad that you are leaving. Don't let Alzrius ruin the thread for you and stick around, we DO actually talk about anime most of the time... This fan service debate won't last forever, it almost already ended once. For that matter, I'd like to remind everyone not to let Aranna ruin the thread for them either. Just because people like to say that fan-service is bad (and, by extension, that the people who like it are bad) doesn't mean that they're correct.
Aranna wrote: Edit: There is tons of evidence that the objectification of women is damaging. Which isn't really relevant for the discussion of fan-service, since saying that it objectifies women is an uphill claim to make. You know, what with one being fictional characters and the other being real people, and all.
Quote: You can stick your head in the sand all you want but that doesn't make you right. There's even more evidence that real life and fantasy are very different. You can pretend that's not the case all you want, but you'll still be wrong.
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Rathendar wrote: EDIT: Mostly, i'm just hoping to see the thread get back to people suggesting anime they watched and liked, which was my favorite part of this thread. Fair enough. So without further ado:
Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians and its continuation Ikki Tousen: Xtreme Xecutor were the most recent anime that I watched, each being a twelve-episode series. (Fans of the original manga series might know this by the manga's localized name, "Battle Vixens"). Set in contemporary Japan, this is a fighting-drama anime; the plot consists of the major characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms period of China's history being reincarnated as high-school students in the present day.
I may not have mentioned before that most of the anime I've watched recently has been via Netflix. This is usually convenient, but every so often there'll be an issue regarding what Netflix makes available, in terms of only having part of a larger series.
Unfortunately, that was the case here. Great Guardians and Xtreme Xecutor are, respectively, the third and fourth series of the Ikki Tousen anime adaptations. Not having seen the first two series, I was immediately placed at a disadvantage in terms of trying to immerse myself in the series. This was magnified by the fact that the show takes it for granted that its audience is familiar with the major elements, characters, and plot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which I'm not. The end result is that I was missing out on a great deal of background and subtext for the series, and that was something that I was keenly aware of the entire time.
I say all of this to underline the fact that, when I say that these two seasons of Ikki Tousen weren't very good, there's a lot that was working against me from the start where my impression of the show is concerned.
Having said all of that, these series simply weren't very good.
Ikki Tousen's greatest failing, to me, was its sense of pacing; the method by which it moved things along, especially with regards to its fight scenes - which is what the show is ostensibly about - are atrocious. More specifically, the show kept trying to build tension via dramatic pauses and long, drawn-out build ups where everything was still. Together, these techniques assured that the fight sequences were never able to build a sense of momentum, instead giving them a lurching feeling that yanks you out of the moment each time it tries to make a conflict engaging.
For a show that wants to make fight scenes the core of its dramatic presentation, this is an error of unforgivable magnitude.
Of course, I said previously that the show's fight scenes were what it was "ostensibly" about. That's because what Ikki Tousen is actually about is T&A.
Simply put, Ikki Tousen is a show that revels in the fan-service, to the point where it feels (to me, at least) almost like it's trying too hard. Every girl wears a skirt that doesn't quite seem to reach the top of her thighs. Every third or fourth camera angle is set near the ground and looking upward, up-skirting said girls. And it's incredible how being punched or kicked anywhere in the torso will apparently shred clothing into nothing, leaving the female fighters bare-breasted again and again...and again and again and again.
I've hopefully made it clear that I don't think that there's anything wrong with fan-service; but at the same time, that doesn't mean that I'm not discriminating where it's presentation - like any other aspect of the media that I like - is concerned. To that end, I tend to prefer fan-service be portrayed as something that enhances what the show's already trying to do, rather than the show being merely a delivery vehicle to hang fan-service off of.
To make an analogy that I'm fond of, a show is like a cake, and fan-service is like frosting. While the frosting may be the tastiest part, if you have more of it than there is cake, it's not going to be as appetizing. (Of course, if someone else likes more frosting on their cake than I do, more power to them.)
Unfortunately, that's exactly what Ikki Tousen does. It's always fairly obvious that a significant portion of what's happening in the show is there simply to make the girls flash the camera or go boobs-out. I can appreciate that, but it's sacrificing too much for the sake of getting them naked. Maybe I wouldn't think that way if I had more familiarity with the source material, and the first two seasons, but as it is, Ikki Tousen is a drama show that isn't very dramatic, since it keeps interrupting its already-stilted fight scenes to bring us another naked girl.
Reminds me of Rosario+Vampire.
I'd read the manga for the series and there is actually a good story there with lots of tension. Was actually excited to hear it get animated.
They quite literally threw out the entire story in favor of a flood of Fanservice. Completely ruined the whole thing
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Greylurker wrote: Reminds me of Rosario+Vampire.
I'd read the manga for the series and there is actually a good story there with lots of tension. Was actually excited to hear it get animated.
They quite literally threw out the entire story in favor of a flood of Fanservice. Completely ruined the whole thing
Having also read the entirety of the Rosa+Vam manga, and watched all of the anime, I feel exactly the same way. The anime was such a letdown, though I attribute a large part of that to how it kept doggedly presenting itself as a comedy series (though to be fair, the second season opening theme was fun).
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I wanted the Rosario anime to be so much more than it was. :(
I enjoyed Rosario+Vampire, wish it lasted longer though.
The Cake and frosting analogy is pretty much dead on. Fanservice in any form (Girls, Boys, Easter Eggs, Tributes, there are a wide range of things that can actually be called fanservice) can be used to enhance a series, when used properly in manageable amounts. Too much however ruins it.
Here is a nice chocolate cake
now bury it in so much frosting you can't even see the cake any more.
It's just "yargh"
Dragon78 wrote: I enjoyed Rosario+Vampire, wish it lasted longer though. the manga just had so much more to it. Actual story for one, suspence, danger, real drama. Don't know if the 2nd season ever got to the story, gave up when it looked like it was going to be more of the same, but on of the best parts was
Ikkitousen is cheeeeeeeeeesecake. Artery clogging semi-goodness. The manga is considerably better, and that's not saying much.
Aranna wrote: Tels wrote: Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
I am sad that you are leaving. Don't let Alzrius ruin the thread for you and stick around, we DO actually talk about anime most of the time... This fan service debate won't last forever, it almost already ended once.
I am super excited about a live action Ghost in the Shell. Thanks for the news!
oh come now, tels, don't be like that. Aranna and I don't agree on much of anything and the thread continues on. There's more to life than the interplay of modesty and salaciousness.
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There's also Hellsing-levels of violence!
Freehold DM wrote: Aranna wrote: Tels wrote: Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
I am sad that you are leaving. Don't let Alzrius ruin the thread for you and stick around, we DO actually talk about anime most of the time... This fan service debate won't last forever, it almost already ended once.
I am super excited about a live action Ghost in the Shell. Thanks for the news!
oh come now, tels, don't be like that. Aranna and I don't agree on much of anything and the thread continues on. There's more to life than the interplay of modesty and salaciousness. Are you forgetting I am one of the few people that feels the same as you do about Gundam? Modesty and salaciousness... that is a good way to put it. At least our arguments are civil.
This is why I called out Alzrius for his relentless attacks on poor Tels as "ruining the thread for him", a little civility goes a long way.
There IS a right way to do fan service without objectifying women BTW. Take a beach setting or a swim team and you suddenly have a very relevant reason to show off your girls in very little clothing. One that certainly doesn't hurt the story. But a lot of anime pile it on ... kind of like burying your cake in a pile of icing as was pointed out earlier. Which just supports my original assertion "in most cases fan service ruins the story"
Thank you Alzrius and Greylurker,
Ikki Tousen and Rosario+Vampire are going onto my avoid list.
I actually preferred the Rosario+Vampire anime to the manga, for what it's worth. Maybe because I watched it first. Yes there was more of a story in the manga and that generally makes it more interesting but the anime was just fine for a light-hearted harem comedy without needing to get overly serious.
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Aranna wrote: This is why I called out Alzrius for his relentless attacks on poor Tels as "ruining the thread for him", a little civility goes a long way. Debating a point is not at all the same thing as a "relentless attack." Despite what you seem to think, spirited disagreement is not the same thing as harassment.
Likewise, disingenuous and misleading statements - even if spread civilly - are not okay.
Aranna wrote: There IS a right way to do fan service without objectifying women BTW. I agree, except insofar that I think that's recognizing that fan-service is not in and of itself objectifying at all.
Aranna wrote: Take a beach setting or a swim team and you suddenly have a very relevant reason to show off your girls in very little clothing. One that certainly doesn't hurt the story. But a lot of anime pile it on ... kind of like burying your cake in a pile of icing as was pointed out earlier. Which just supports my original assertion "in most cases fan service ruins the story" It doesn't support your original assertion at all, because your assertion is stated as an objective, categorical truth, whereas the analogy I made earlier was clearly noted, and intended, to carry a caveat of "this is a personal opinion, that will vary for everyone."
Aranna wrote: Thank you Alzrius and Greylurker,
Ikki Tousen and Rosario+Vampire are going onto my avoid list.
You're very welcome. The less anime that you're spreading misleading statements regarding "objectifying women" about, the better things will be for the fans of those anime.
Aranna wrote: Freehold DM wrote: Aranna wrote: Tels wrote: Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
I am sad that you are leaving. Don't let Alzrius ruin the thread for you and stick around, we DO actually talk about anime most of the time... This fan service debate won't last forever, it almost already ended once.
I am super excited about a live action Ghost in the Shell. Thanks for the news!
oh come now, tels, don't be like that. Aranna and I don't agree on much of anything and the thread continues on. There's more to life than the interplay of modesty and salaciousness. Are you forgetting I am one of the few people that feels the same as you do about Gundam? Modesty and salaciousness... that is a good way to put it.
clearly, we need to argue about this in space.
Ok clearly Alzrius is a troll. Putting him on ignore.
Freehold DM wrote: Aranna wrote: Freehold DM wrote: Aranna wrote: Tels wrote: Scarlett Johanson to star in Ghost in the Shell adaptation by Dream Works.
Since I'm, apparently, a bad person for wanting less fanservice in my anime, this is my last post in this thread. Bye.
I am sad that you are leaving. Don't let Alzrius ruin the thread for you and stick around, we DO actually talk about anime most of the time... This fan service debate won't last forever, it almost already ended once.
I am super excited about a live action Ghost in the Shell. Thanks for the news!
oh come now, tels, don't be like that. Aranna and I don't agree on much of anything and the thread continues on. There's more to life than the interplay of modesty and salaciousness. Are you forgetting I am one of the few people that feels the same as you do about Gundam?
clearly, we need to argue about this in space.
Clearly.
:)
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Aranna wrote: Ok clearly Alzrius is a troll. Putting him on ignore. Clearly Aranna is being intentionally dishonest here. I'm not putting her on ignore though, since 1) I think that her willfully attempting to promote a culture of shame needs to be spoken out against, and 2) I'm not afraid to debate these issues.
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Aranna wrote: Ok clearly Alzrius is a troll. Putting him on ignore.
I cannot fathom how politely presenting a logical disagreement with you makes him a troll.
All things said I like Fan service. When done properly and in moderation.
and by that I mean all forms of fan service.
Everytime the guy accidentally walks into the room when the girl is changing. Everytime Mako shows up in the backround of Supernatural powers vs. Everyday life is fan service or the way Milky Holms keeps showing up in Cardfight Vanguard. Everytime the cute male character is forced to dress up as a girl. Everytime they blatantly referance another show in Hayate or the Gundam Pron scene in Hanagai.
All these things are Fanservice and I love them
Kill la Kill is the most amazing love afair with fanservice I have ever seen and I think it is brilliant. The tributes to damn near everything Go Nagi ever did, the way Pulp Fiction characters appear in the backgrounds, the over the top insanity of Mako's actions, the semi nudity of just about every single cast member regardless of gender. It's a brilliant example of how you can have a lot of fanservice and without destroying the show.
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Moving on, I finished up watching Strike Witches last night, and found myself liking the series quite a bit.
Before I go any further, I want to underline that this review is somewhat truncated in its focus. The entirety of Strike Witches, from what some research tells me, consists of a twelve-episode television series (which is what I'm reviewing here), a prequel OVA, a second twelve-episode television series, a movie, and then a three-episode OVA series (only the first of which is currently out). Having only seen the first television series, take everything I say with a grain of salt; later materials may address some of the issues I bring up.
Strike Witches is a historical fiction series. In the early 1940's, automated aircrafts of unknown origin, called the Neuroi, suddenly appeared around the world and attacked humanity, turning much of the world into a battlefield. While vulnerable to conventional weapons, the Neuroi's beam-based weaponry meant that any air force that went up against them took extremely heavy casualties.
On this Earth, it's apparently a typical aspect of life that women (the show is silent as to whether this is all women or just some) can use magic. With the creation of the Striker Unit - essentially a pair of tubes that fit over the legs, allowing a woman to channel her magic through them to fly and raise shields - squadrons of flying witches, armed with guns, represent the best chance to defeat the Neuroi.
The anime is about the unit stationed in Britannia, called the Strike Witches; more specifically, it's the story of new recruit Yoshika Miyafuji.
I should mention right away that if any of the above makes it sound like this is an exciting, military-focused show, then I'm misrepresenting it. Strike Witches is very much a comedy-drama that's far and away more concerned with its characters than it is with the overall plot.
Indeed, I was a little surprised by just how little the show was concerned with its larger mythos in favor of interpersonal drama between the characters. While the narrative has the necessary build-up in the first two episodes, and brings the overall plot arc to a resolution in the last two or three, this felt distinctly perfunctory - it was dealing with story progression because it had to, not because it wanted to. Even then, it put forth only the minimum amount of effort necessary; while it peels back a little of the mystery surrounding the Neuroi, it's not at all concerned with giving the audience any real answers about them.
This indifference to the overarching story didn't hurt the show too much, in my opinion - if the characters are engaging, then it doesn't matter if the plot is paper-thin - but the show also felt very little need to explain various aspects of how the setting functioned. For example, we're three-fourths of the way in before the show casually mentions that a woman's ability to use magic peaks in her teenage years, and thereafter goes into a life-long decline; hence why the witch-squadrons are all composed of teenage girls rather than adults. That's the sort of thing that would have been more convenient to know up front.
Of course, having sacrificed quite a lot to make room for the characters, Strike Witches puts a lot of effort into showing them off.
To a degree, its reach exceeds its grasp in this regard. With a main cast of eleven characters, it's simply not able to give all of them the showcase that it wants to. And it clearly wants to - besides the setup and resolution, all of the show's episodes are focused on a particular character (or sometimes a pair of characters), presented through Yoshika's eyes as she gets to know them better. Unfortunately, it simply doesn't have enough time to showcase the entirety of the cast. The results feel somewhat lopsided as characters like Lynette and Trude get a high degree of exposition, whereas characters like Luccini and Erica get almost none.
That said, for the characters it does focus on, the show does a good job of making them appear very fetching.
I use the term "fetching" deliberately here, because Strike Witches is quite forthright in that these characters are supposed to be highly moe ("adorable"). The audience isn't supposed to empathize with them as people, so much as we're supposed to be overawed by how charming they seem. Everything from how young they look - Yoshika is fourteen, but looks twelve, whereas her commanding officer (Mio Sakamoto) is the oldest character at twenty, but looks fifteen - to the fact that, whenever the girls use their magic, they manifest kemonomimi ("animal ears") and a tail, speaks to their cuteness.
Well...their cuteness and their sexiness, that is.
That's another central aspect of the characters: the show regularly dishes out fan-service with regards to them. For one thing, none of the girls in this show wear pants or skirts.
I feel like I should pause for a moment to let that sink in.
This is one of those aforementioned areas where the show really needed to explain its thinking, because nobody ever says anything about the fact that the entirety of the cast goes around panty-clad all of the time. Literally, all of the time; whether it's relaxing on a day off or reporting to senior military officials, they're dressed normally above the waist, but below it's just socks, shoes, and underwear (and hose, for one character). My suspicion is that this is in reference to the fact that their Striker Units encapsulate their legs, and that there can't be (thick) material between their skin and the Units, but I don't know for sure, because the show doesn't tell us.
To be fair, most of the show's fan-service is kept at the meta-contextual level. While there is a bit of sapphic tension between the girls - at one point, Yoshika has what's strongly suggested to be a sex dream about one of her teammates; one of the characters has a deep but platonic crush on her commanding officer; and of course there's a female character who's inordinately obsessed with her teammates' bust sizes, to the point of surprise-groping them - the vast majority of the ecchi ("naughty") content comes from the camera itself. There are a lot of shots that are placed at crotch-height, for example, outlining the girls' naughty bits. Other scenes take place in the bath, showing them bare-breasted on more than one occasion.
All of the above is a roundabout way of saying that Strike Witches puts a great deal of effort into making its characters objects of desire, rather than fully-fledged individuals that the audience can relate to as people. We're clearly supposed to want these characters, both in the sense of possessiveness/protectiveness as well as physical attraction. The girls here are halfway between being kittens and being sex-kittens.
And make no mistake, the show succeeds masterfully at this. Whereas Ikki Tousen failed because it was trying to push drama and erotica at the same time, and so failed at both, Strike Witches pulls it off because it knows how to compartmentalize - by keeping the ecchi elements at the meta-character level, while the moe elements are all in-character, it's able to deliver both simultaneously, and the show is much stronger for it.
Needless to say, I'll be watching the rest of this series.
Fans of Sword Art Online might want to check out Accel World from the same creator. It's pretty good (rewatching again and I'm picking up lots of little stuff I missed the first time through) and is set in the same "universe" as SAO but 10-20 years ahead.
Like SAO, the characters find themselves participating in a virtual world that mimics a fighting game except the game's design influences the characters in the real world. The story doesn't have the gravitas of some of the SAO arcs but it does combine action/relationships/and a dose of comedy here and there very well. Also, the main character starts out as a self-loathing, overweight kid who isn't awesome at everything (unlike Kirito in SAO).
Before I bought the blu-ray discs, I watched it on Hulu.
Looooool sapphic tension.
Did anyone watch PsychoPass Season 2? If so how did you feel it held up compared to Season 1?
If you enjoyed Strike Witches you might want to check out KanColle this seasons. Similar idea only it's girls as Naval ships
Greylurker wrote: If you enjoyed Strike Witches you might want to check out KanColle this seasons. Similar idea only it's girls as Naval ships And by KanColle he means Kantai Collection, KanColle is the commonly used short version. I will be curious about that one this season as well. Silly EU only browser games. Time to polish up my mad language skillz.
When I originally participated in this thread, I mentioned both Avatar series as shows to watch. However, in the nearly three years I've been here, I neglected one series: The Studio 4°C version of Thundercats.
I just recently re-watched the series and I feel such a tinge of regret that they only did 26 of the 52 episodes the series was projected for. Most people complain about Panthro's look (someone obviously was a fan of Jet from Cowboy Bebop) but that didn't bother me nearly as much as what happens to him in episode 13.
I want so much for Cartoon Network to greenlight more episodes from Studio 4°C, given how the show ended. Plus I wanted to see them expand on the idea that Mumm-Ra had a hand in creating the Snarfs (always knew that thing was evil in it's own way...)
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