How Japan’s ‘BBC’ is rewriting its role in the Second World War

[Berkut]

You know, I've thought about the topic of fan service.

I find that the series I enjoy most don't have it or only very sparsely. Some that I enjoyed or was at least engaged in I did so despite the fan service.

Elfen Lied would be a classic example (spoilers ahead). One character has been sexually molested as a child by her step dad. Another had her class mates kill her puppy for fun (in response she painted the class room with their blood - not a figure of speech). Another girl gets sent by her foster father into near fatal battle and is (seemingly) put to sleep afterwards. The main characters are connected because the supernatural girl decapitated the protagonist's sister before his eyes - which led to him blocking out the memory.

In short: extremely dark and depressing. And then you get topless/gratuitous crotch shots of most (underage) female characters and silly slapstick antics. WHY? This story doesn't need that!

I like me some tits as much as any man, and moreso than most.

But here's the thing - tits are pretty easy to find, at least from the standpoint of finding some to look at, whether on film or tv.

Excellent filmmaking? That is much, MUCH more rare.

Which is why I like some gratuitous T&A in my Game of Thrones, but a little bit goes a long way - over the top tits where they dominate the scene annoy's me greatly, because I cannot help but be jealous of every minute of screen time.

[Malthus]

I think it is misleading and not particularly helpful to portray the North Americans in this discussion as against T&A.

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

[Duque de Bragança]

I think it is misleading and not particularly helpful to portray the North Americans in this discussion as against T&A.

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

That's why I mentioned a retarded provincial bourgeoise as well. As for T&A in North America this is the way it is (strange nobody mentioned it)

"If you suck on a tit the movie gets an R rating. If you hack the tit off with an axe it will be PG."

[Jacob]

Hooters- Pubs (a little pricier than the norm? but as I understand it they earn their money in essentially the same way as a regular bar) staffed by hot girls with boobies and an average man target audience.

Never been to a hooters or a tilted kilt or any of the places in that conceptual space, but it seems that it's basically "we guarantee that the waitress will be 'hot' and dressed to facilitate ogling". Basically, they take the randomness out of going to a place with a hot waitress (assuming you like the chain's definition of 'hot').

Maid cafes- Ostensible cafes with extortionate seating charges, aimed at the socially inept, who pay for very very young looking girls in fetish-fuel costumes to pretend to be their slaves.

Not really, I don't think. I went to a maid cafe 7-8 years ago when I went to Japan, and if it's representative of maid cafes there's nothing pervy or "slavery-esque" about it (and it wasn't that expensive either, maybe $10-$15 seating charge, IIRC). There's a definite infantilization vibe going on, but it's as much for the customers as the staff. For example, the girls would come to your table and play board games with you (no, no hex-and-counter ones, more like "Hungry Hungry Hippo"). Everything about the place was to support a pastiche of simple, juvenile glee-like happiness. There was basically zero sexual subtext; it seemed to me that the regulars were harking back to the (possibly imaginary) happiness of and idealized childhood much more than they were there for sexual reasons.

As for "be your slave"; the service wasn't that different than that of any other Japanese establishment with attentive staff once you factored out the gleeful affectations and maid costumes.

... of course, you can combine the two (as the presence of maid themed massage parlours et. al. indicate),

[Admiral Yi]

By no means are all Hooters waitresses hott.

[Neil]

I refuse to go to Hooters, as I find it morally reprehensible to women.  It's craven and juvenile.

Ease up there Ide.

[garbon]

I think it is misleading and not particularly helpful to portray the North Americans in this discussion as against T&A.

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

That's why I mentioned a retarded provincial bourgeoise as well. As for T&A in North America this is the way it is (strange nobody mentioned it)

"If you suck on a tit the movie gets an R rating. If you hack the tit off with an axe it will be PG."

Again doesn't really seem relevant to the discussion at hand.

[Jacob]

By no means are all Hooters waitresses hott.

How demoralizing.

[Neil]

I think it is misleading and not particularly helpful to portray the North Americans in this discussion as against T&A.

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

That's not even close to true.  Britney Spears became a huge star by exploiting the North American hunger for underage T&A.

[Jacob]

That's not even close to true.  Britney Spears became a huge star by exploiting the North American hunger for underage T&A.

Siegy can give us a whole list of performers who fit in that category.

[MadImmortalMan]

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

We also make the assumption that every girl who is petite and thin is underage because in our countries that's the way things really are. 

[Malthus]

I think it is misleading and not particularly helpful to portray the North Americans in this discussion as against T&A.

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

That's not even close to true.  Britney Spears became a huge star by exploiting the North American hunger for underage T&A.

Yes, and the adult men who were into an underaged Britney Spears were thought highly of ... 

There is no question that *some* men here are into underage girls, but it is not socially acceptable. In Japan, apparently, it is.

[Neil]

I think it is misleading and not particularly helpful to portray the North Americans in this discussion as against T&A.

We in NA like T&A - we just like it from women, rather than underage girls. 

That's not even close to true.  Britney Spears became a huge star by exploiting the North American hunger for underage T&A.

Yes, and the adult men who were into an underaged Britney Spears were thought highly of ... 

There is no question that *some* men here are into underage girls, but it is not socially acceptable. In Japan, apparently, it is.

They were certainly tolerated.

I don't think that the otaku are held in high regard in Japan either.

[Jacob]

There is no question that *some* men here are into underage girls, but it is not socially acceptable. In Japan, apparently, it is.

Depends what you mean by "socially acceptable". I think that dudes who are into that sort of stuff are still thought of as creeps and losers by the majority who are not. But you can still produce, sell, and buy stuff that caters to those tastes.

[Monoriu]

Ok first the whole 'tweeners save the world' plot is not one likely to attract my notice much anyway.  Secondly the reason for the all female cast seems suspiciously for pervy reasons (and not even pervy reasons I can appreciate).  Thirdly girl power might be great for teenage girls, and those who love teenage girls, but not so much for me.  I am sure the characters and story are great, after all this is a show so famous that even I have heard about it, but it has enough creepy imagery to turn me off.  Finally I am not even a hater just somebody with zero interest.

Sailor Moon is originally drawn by a female manga artist.  As far as fanservice levels go, Sailor Moon is pretty clean.