A couple of years ago I read an article entitled Fanservice Friday: A Girl’s (G)Fantasy that helped give me a sense of what sort of fanservice appealed to women. I found it to be an interesting look at what goes into a number of manga and how drastically it differs in nature to typical male-gaze fanservice.

Due to recent events within the gaming media and the ensuing conflict, I decided I’d revisit this topic in an effort to try and encourage learning about differing perspectives. One of the core topics of discussion is the fair treatment of women within the industry, be it treating them as professionals and with proper respect or in how they are portrayed within the games themselves. I think it’s pretty obvious that, yes, any human being should be treated with respect. However, the longer these discussions go on and the more heated they become, the more insulting everyone becomes to differing viewpoints. A culture of intolerance is bred, and the only discourse is conflict.

In an effort to try and make the table of conversation a bit more civil and sane, I’d like to discuss one of the more common points brought up in many of these debates. Fanservice, and how it pertains to portrayals of women in games and other media. This will be a multi-part series covering the topic rather extensively.

First, let’s clear up what, precisely, fanservice is. Fanservice is any material in a film, television show, comic, novel, or video game that is intended to appeal to the audience’s innate interests or passion. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon appeals to fans of 80’s sci-fi action films by including a pistol that looks near identical to the handgun used in Robocop. Including the Xenomorph skull from Aliens in the background of Predator 2 was a wink and a nod to fans of the sci-fi horror series in the audience. Chuck Norris telling a Chuck Norris joke in The Expendables 2 was also a variety of fanservice. Essentially, in Western culture, fanservice is most frequently characterized as a sort of nudge to the audience, but otherwise isn’t a very prominent feature.

It is possible to take fanservice to an even greater extent, however. The anime Gunsmith Cats was known for the fine attention to detail put into each illustration of a gun. While most readers wouldn’t really pay these details much mind, any reader with an enthusiasm for firearms would find the illustrations exciting. As if the author was saying “that’s right, I’m just like one of you”. During the development of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward put similar effort into the authenticity of the soldiers, weapons, and manner in which missions were carried out within the game (note that authenticity is not meant to be confused with realism).

Despite all of this, fanservice has developed a bit of a negative stigma. It is most often used to describe sexual content, and this often results in fanservice being criticized and dismissed as sexist and archaic. In other words, if you mention fanservice in conversation, the assumption will most likely be that you’re discussing sexual titillation for the pleasure of the male fan. Panty shots, shower scenes, bouncing breasts, an entire plethora of content designed for the sake of the viewer, one assumed to be a lonely Otaku male hugging one of his full body pillows of some moe character.

Now, to be fair, the articles I linked specify that it is racy or “ecchi” fanservice specifically that they are discussing. I am also not going to defend the creations being criticized. Personally, I do feel that this sort of fanservice is damaging for anime and Japanese video games, but I think that’s part of a larger problem.

What I want to point out for now is that there is a lack of knowledge regarding fanservice for women in anime and Japanese games. It is more subtle, but it exists. For a general idea, I once again link back to A Girl’s (G)Fantasy, an article written by manga reader Melinda Beasi. Reading that helped me understand that fan-service is tailored to the female demographic very differently, and in ways that are more subtle than for men. In particular, female targeted fanservice will have more to do with the overall appearance of a character, how well-dressed that character is, and how suggestive certain situations and personality archetypes work in regards to potential homosexual relationships.

Picture only somewhat related

Female fanservice is not as easily noticed because it is a different kind of excitement. Male fanservice is often very blunt, showcasing the audience’s desires for all to see. Yet the female fanservice is more about what is not said, allowing her imagination to run away with her.

This distinction is very important for when I discuss this subject on my blog. This will be a very thorough series, and I will first be discussing male gaze fanservice in great detail. I will finish the series by detailing female gaze fanservice and how it may easily be missed by those not familiar with it and don’t know where to look.

I would like to reiterate that I am not trying to defend sexual fanservice. However, I also don’t agree with simply criticizing something based on personal tastes. The iO9 article I linked discuss the matter very broadly and without a deeper understanding of the culture being criticized. There are a lot of assumptions being made as to why this material exists, how frequently, and what the intended audience is like. I simply wish to help the conversation by providing some minor insight that can lead to more educated discussion.