Fan service
Fan service (ファンサービス fan sābisu), fanservice, or service cut (サービスカット sābisu katto) is material in a work of fiction or in a fictional series which is intentionally added to please the audience. The term originated in Japanese in the anime and manga fandom, but has been used in other languages and media. It is about "servicing" the fan – giving the fans "exactly what they want." Fan service can also refer (by means of text, symbol, image, sound) to other stories that contain visual elements.
While the term is used primarily with respect to Japanese animation, any gratuitous nudity or sexual exposure may be considered to be fan service. Note, that where nudity or sexual exposure is to be expected, it would not usually be considered fan service, e.g. nudity in a pornographic movie would not qualify.
Use of the term is sometimes derogatory when used in criticism of clumsy, pandering use of visual fashions, or if the stories lack substance, such that fashions are the only thing notable about a series. Many fanservice treatments can be creative and unique, and hence an audience unfamiliar with the fandom of a story may not understand these treatments ("easter eggs") or their meaning. This term is, however, occasionally used in the video gaming community, notably by players of MMORPGs. The meaning remains mostly the same - content added for the sake of fans and not for any actual gaming value.
Sexual
The typically understood definition is inclusion of racy or sexual content (usually female, but also male) to titillate the viewer, such as nudity, and other forms of eye candy. Lesbian or gay activity is another form of fan service. Shower scenes 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 "obligatory" holiday episodes. These latter are often to tropical locales, in order to showcase the characters in bathing suits; 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 fanservice are the panty shot and jiggling breasts. Fan service permeates almost all anime, but obvious examples can be seen in the OVA series Eiken, as well as the series Tenjo Tenge. Even sh?nen anime such as Naruto, Bleach and One Piece will occasionally contain sexual fan service. Similarly, Studio Fantasia's Agent Aika and Najica Blitz Tactics are known as the epitome of the panty-shot anime. A third type is the nude transformation sequence, first introduced in Go Nagai's Cutie Honey (1973 - 1974). One of the most renowned examples of fan service is the Chun-Li shower scene in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. These scenes were subsequently cut from the U.S. translation of the film, but were added back in the newest DVD release of the movie. First panty shot scene was in Astroboy in 1963. These are all seen as fan service, but can also be used for non-sexual references, like for comedy.
Cosplay
Main article: Cosplay
In anime and manga, another type of fan service is having one or more of the characters cosplay, usually female, particularly in a costume that is part of a Japanese clothing fetish. Common costumes include:
- Catgirl
- A character from an(other) anime, manga, or video game
- Hadaka apron
- Kimono
- Mofuku (mourning) kimono, worn by women when the deceased is a close relative or friend
- Yukata; traditionally worn at Onsen and for summer festivals, particularly Obon and Tanabata
- Uniforms
- Playboy or Bunny girl
- French maid
- Miko
- Nurse
- Policewoman
- Race queen
- Waitress (especially one from Anna Miller's, a chain or restauranbts in Hawaii and Japan)
- School uniform
- Bloomers (girls' warm weather gym shorts)
- Sailor fuku
- Girls' official school swimsuit (one of three types of one-piece suits - old style, new style, and competition; see chapters 14 - 15 of U-Jin's Gakuen Tengoku (School Heaven) manga)
Side characters
Some television series make a habit of bringing back previously-introduced minor characters that audiences particularly loved or found amusing. Examples include the frequent returns of the Duane Dibbley alter-ego character in Red Dwarf, or the development of "That Man" in Excel Saga from a one-shot gag character into a main antagonist.
Cameo
Often, movies will attempt to include cameo appearances by prominent figures who are or were associated with the work on which it is based. This either takes the form of actual appearances or character names. In the popular anime series Excel Saga, adapted from the manga of the same name by Koushi Rikudou, the afro-wearing producer "Nabeshin" (Shinichi Watanabe) is a regular character with superhero-like powers (he also appears in the related anime Puni-Puni Poemy.) Ken Akamatsu appeared in the Christmas and Spring special episodes of the Love Hina anime along with the relevant volumes of the manga. Akamatsu, being the creator of the original manga, has his studio featured and has a small speaking role at the end of the episode.
Stan Lee makes regular cameo appearances in movies based on Marvel Comics characters that he created: in the crowd scene in Spider-Man, reprised with a speaking part in Spider-Man 2; as a security guard alongside Lou Ferrigno in Hulk; as a man mowing his lawn in X-Men: The Last Stand; as the postman Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four; and as "Hef", a Hugh Hefner sendup, in Iron Man.
The Aliens vs. Predator included a character named Mark Verheiden - the writer of the early Aliens comic book series as well as the comic book on which the movie is based.
The inclusion of Chewbacca in Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith, and indeed the inclusion of Wookiees in general could be considered fanservice as their inclusion does little to advance the plot, but show characters that the audience is already familiar with.
Technicals
Heavily used in much of science fiction, these are technical details sometimes bordering on arcane knowledge that hardcore fans are versed in, to show an author (often an admitted fanboy/fangirl themselves) pays attention to detail. For example, Lagrange points in Gundam, the CZ-75 pistol in Gunsmith Cats, or the use of an Secure Shell (SSH) exploit in The Matrix Reloaded. Sometimes fictional technology invented by another author is used in this way; for instance the ansible in Ender's Game is a reference to Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle. There are similar references in Doctor Who to "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow".
Homage
Often, a movie or television show will make a pastiche reference to another work of which the creators are particularly fond. Examples can be found in movies by Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, both of whom are admitted fanboys. Quentin Tarantino himself has been paid homage to by animation: in the second episode of Aaron MacGruder's The Boondocks, which features Charlie Murphy (voice-acting Ed Wuncler III, a privileged white soldier returned from Iraq), his partner, Gin Rummy (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) berates the main characters with part of a speech used by Jules Winfield, Jackson's hitman character in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Matrix trilogy are perpetual choices for homage. The Weyland-Yutani logo from Aliens appears several times on weapons in Joss Whedon's Firefly. Other homages exist that refer to works that have receded into fan nostalgia.
Also, many remakes of movies employ throwaway lines that serve nothing more than to "tip the hat" to the original classic:
- A well-known example is the uncredited cameo appearance of Charlton Heston as Thade's father in the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes. The character's deathbed speech makes clear references to his "Damn you all to hell!" line that closed the original classic.
- In the 2003 Hulk movie, the last line spoken (in Spanish) in the movie is "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", a clear homage to the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno The Incredible Hulk TV series of the 1970s.
- In the 1990s remake of Disney's The Parent Trap, one of the twins quietly sings a few bars from the trademark song of the 1960s original, "Let's Get Together".
- In the film Batman Forever, Robin makes a reference to his previous characterization on the Batman 1960s TV series by saying "Holy (holey) rusted metal, Batman!", speaking of fake rocks which make up the Riddler's island lair. Batman asks him to repeat what he said, and Robin explains, "The ground, it's all metal and full of holes, you know? Holey!" This parodied the 1960s character's habit of putting "Holy..." in front of any situation.
- In the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries, the theme from the original show was used as the Colonial Anthem. The final line in the miniseries is "By your command", the only dialogue of the original series' Centurians.
- In the 2000 X-Men movie, after Wolverine complains to Cyclops on the stiffness of their black uniforms, Cyclops retorts with, "Well, what would you prefer? Yellow spandex?", an obvious reference to their original costumes from the comics. In the third movie, Juggernaut delivers the line "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" from a popular fan dub of the animated show.
- In the 2005 King Kong remake, when Carl Denham is in a cab asking Preston who should play the lead girl in his movie, one of his suggestions is "Fay" to which Preston replies, "She's already doing something for RKO." Denham says, "Cooper, huh? I should've known." Fay Wray played Ann Darrow in the original King Kong; that movie was produced by RKO Pictures and was directed by Merian C. Cooper.
- In the last episode of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Rommie partly cites Obi-Wan Kenobi by telling some attackers: "We're not the droids you're looking for".
- The first 7 notes of the "Over the Rainbow" melody from The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) are used to create the recurring "Unlimited" melody in the Stephen Schwartz musical Wicked which tells the tale of the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy came to Oz.
Current issues
Recently in anime there has been an explosion of shows that are criticized for simply being vehicles for fanservice. In contrast, there has also been a rise in shows of the progressive anime category - shows which do not care so much about pleasing the audience as providing a full artistic vision. This has polarized anime to some degree, making recent series either heavily fanservice-oriented or heavily experimental (Texhnolyze) with little in between. Some series, on the other hand, tread the fine line between fanservice and art, such that their artistic legitimacy is often debated as such. A notable example of this is the classic and controversial anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which has over the years received almost as many accusations of fanservice as there are merchandising articles that clearly capitalize on this potential. Though the series is renowned for its attractive female characters, director Hideaki Anno maintained a strong sense of artistic vision throughout, and has distinctly expressed his displeasure with the (generic, at least) "fan community". While the earlier episodes of the show do contain some clear fanservice (which is jokingly self-referenced in several of the "Next Episode" previews), many scenes of nudity in later episodes as well as the films could be heavily debated to tread the line between fanservice and art.
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