# SDMB Challenge: Name an Anime without any fanservice **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443 "2005-05-18T17:54:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/41 "2005-05-20T19:56:18Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > _Grave of the Fireflies_. > > Best anime I’ve ever seen, I never wanna see it again! ☹ Just had to second that. Great film, but once was enough. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/42 "2005-05-20T20:56:48Z")
In this post, I’m trying to use fanservice in the general sense, not the ign’ant “=titties” sense. Of movies, I wouldn’t exactly characterize anything in _Windaria_ as fanservice. It’s visually surreal, not visually “here’s the thing you’re looking for.” I would guess that _Belle & Sebastian_ was without much fanservicey, though it’s been a long time since I watched that. Hmmm. As a huge fan of _Shaman King_ & _One Piece_, I guess it’s true that in both of those series there’s relatively little of either the sort of standard repeated scenes for the fans that plague so much TV anime, or big “here’s a good look at this,” scenes. The fact that they’re very closely based on manga (the print versions both run in _Shonen Jump!_, which you can get, translated, in the USA) may have an effect there. Those who think fanservice means cute girls in general may think Nami in _One Piece_ is “fanservice,” but if you think that, you are going to have a real hard time not finding cute characters in any animation with remotely human characters. OTOH, Nami’s sister is … um … really top-heavy. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/43 "2005-05-20T20:58:25Z")
And _Twilight of the Cockroaches_ was too out there to be fanservice. Of course, that’s a movie again, & somebody claimed that didn’t count…? ---
**Author:** ![swanjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@swanjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swanjun)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/44 "2005-05-20T23:07:38Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > **swanjun**! Love your Username! > > Show us your Killer Yo-Yo! > 😃 Yay! Someone got the reference. Thanks, **Bosda**. Gatchaman, in its Americanized guise as Battle of the Planets, was the very first anime I ever saw. I think I was about 8. I fell in love with it because it was so thoroughly unlike any other cartoon I’d ever seen. Finally, they’re going to release the uncut Japanese series on DVD. Only the first season, alas. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/45 "2005-05-20T23:30:00Z")
> [@swanjun](#): > > Yay! Someone got the reference. Thanks, **Bosda**. Gatchaman, in its Americanized guise as Battle of the Planets, was the very first anime I ever saw. I think I was about 8. I fell in love with it because it was so thoroughly unlike any other cartoon I’d ever seen. Finally, they’re going to release the uncut Japanese series on DVD. Only the first season, alas. My first Anime was _Marine Boy_. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/46 "2005-05-20T23:36:40Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > From my DVDs: > Record of Lodos War I’d say the same, but I’m thinking Pirotess is bordering on the fanservice line. It is one of the fundamental rules of anime - any dark elf chick has to provide fanservice. And if you count Reina (sp?) from the TV series…plus the Lady of Pharis manga has a main character who spends the entire books naked and panting. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/47 "2005-05-21T00:11:55Z")
> [@Morelin](#): > > Fullmetal Alchemist Eh? [Winrey Rockbell](http://www.hagaren.de/artbook/Artbook-Winry.jpg)? (You keep fanservice in your way, and I’ll keep it in mine. 😃 ) Anyway… •_Barefoot Gen_ (well, some bare breasts, but they might actually be _non_-gratuitous nudity) •I haven’t seen them myself, yet, but I’m guessing _Goodbye little Hippo_ and _Zoo Without an Elephant_ wouldn’t have much in the way of fanservice. •Weren’t there a few seasons of _Transformers_ released only in Japan? What about them? (The seasons released in the US in the 80s were animated in Japan, at least.) •Actually, you could probably squeeze in shows like _The Real Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe,_ and _Dennis the Menace_ on a technicality. (A technical victory…the most evil of all the victories!) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/48 "2005-05-21T00:17:27Z")
_Cat Soup_ And yes, there is the detail that “fan service” can be whatever may be fetishized. But sticking to the homina-homina-homina version, that’s a good catch above on how almost everything produced by Team CLAMP that does not have cute chix has a vast prettyboy component. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/49 "2005-05-21T00:32:33Z")
I was going to come in with Gasaraki, but I see someone beat me to it. (BTW, I actually liked it - it’s slow and rather mixed, but not _boring_. Just mostly political.) And Starship Troopers, the anime, didn’t have _female_ fanservice. (From what I can recall. It was fairly faithful to the books, and therefore, not particularly good cinema.) As there being _no_ fanservice in Studio Ghibli movies, I beg to differ: [ul] [li]Porco Rosso - When Fio runs into Porco’s lagoon to swim, it’s very tastefully done, but it’s fanservice, dammit! [/li][li]Spirited Away - Sen and Lin are talking on the balcony after the River God’s bath: Lin is shown without her her top on, just a sort of half-camisole thing. And you see from her neck to her crack. Again, very tasteful, but an extremely erotic pose. (IMNSHO)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![swanjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@swanjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swanjun)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/50 "2005-05-21T01:02:00Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > Hello, and welcome! I hope you can stick around. 🙂 > > It actually took me a few moments of thinking when I saw that one on the list; Utena is one of my favourite animes, and I kept thinking “How did I miss that one?” I kept thinking there was \*something \* about it… ahhh - it’s the _boys_, not the girls! > > And thank goodness I’m not the only one to mention CCS - that one is my favourite. I couldn’t think of anything about it that would count. Fan service would be very disturbing in a show about a ten year old girl. (Some have made an argument about the adorable outfits Tomoyo makes for her, but I don’t think that’s the type of fan service the OP meant - far too innocent). Thanks for the welcome. And yeah, I’d disagree that Sakura’s costumes are fan service. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/51 "2005-05-21T01:39:10Z")
If we’re going for only a sexual definition of fan service, then pretty much everything Studio Ghibli has put out lacks it. Even when they’re bathing together in Ghibli movies, no one’s meant to get turned on. If we’re going for the broader definition – anything that makes the fans drool – then it pretty much includes any translated anime of any quality, since the stuff that doesn’t make the viewers drool (for sex, or beauty, or wonder, or magic, or high-tech toys, or imaginiative storylines, or pretty scenery) is unlikely to make the necessary leap over the Pacific. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/52 "2005-05-21T01:41:49Z")
I didn’t see **OtakuLoki** ’s post above when I posted. I’ve never seen _Porco Rosso_, but I really didn’t see anything in _Spirited Away_ that I thought qualified. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/53 "2005-05-21T01:47:29Z")
**Hamish** , no worries. I know my examples were quite possibly subjective. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/54 "2005-05-21T01:59:05Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > **Stark Raven Mad** : Nope. I believe Jess from Team Rocket appeared in a bikini. And I call that fan service. There was an episode(not aired in North America) with Jesse, Misty and James (:eek: ) all in bikinis. Surely that qualifies as fanservice. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/55 "2005-05-21T04:00:37Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > FLCL? > In the first episode alone the girlfriend asks the guy to kiss her several times. > Sailor Moon? > Am I being wooshed? Cute girls running around in sailor suits. Not to mention the American release was edited and I’ve heard rumors of an episode where the sailor scouts compare breast sizes. > > Thought of another with no fanservice: > Di Gi Charat Thats why I added the smiley. I knew it had to be in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/56 "2005-05-22T00:45:22Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > There was an episode(not aired in North America) with Jesse, Misty and James (:eek: ) all in bikinis. Surely that qualifies as fanservice. And James was in drag as a female, and was the best-looking of the three. So obviously it was very tongue-in-cheek. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/57 "2005-05-22T07:53:33Z")
My nominees: Maison Ikkoku - About as bland and sexless as Takahashi-san gets; even Akemi’s is pretty toned down. Oh, and as for the, er, hotel scene near the end, that’s by far _the_ blandest, most nondescript such scene I’ve seen in my _life_…I see them the day after, and I’m like, “So, uh, was it good for them or what?” Kimugure Orange Road - **So** plain-vanilla nondescript, it almost doesn’t feel like anime at all. Kyosuke and Madoka have all the eroticism of a boulder. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Kenneth_Noisewater)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/58 "2005-05-22T07:58:13Z")
Record of Lodoss War - C’mon, scantily clad elf women like Pirotess and Deedlit? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/59 "2005-05-28T21:44:43Z")
Ummm … Mouse? No, not really … How about … G-Taste … man I suck at this. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443/60 "2005-05-29T00:23:34Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > I’m trying to think of other features in my collection that _don’t_ offer at least _some_ fan service… maybe the two _Patlabor_ movies? They were pretty serious. Yeah, I thought of those immediately. And although I’ve only seen a bit of the first episode, does Serial Experiments Lain have any? Didn’t think it was in its style. Does Ulysses 3000 count? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-challenge-name-an-anime-without-any-fanservice/304443.md?page=4)