When is fan service good?
So i ask this question about fan service because there has been some criticism to Game of Thrones for this past season because some felt it was too "fan service-y". so i ask you all, when do you all think that fan service is good and when is bad?
also what is your definition of fan service? many people have different definitions and all of that.
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Fan service can be good. I think of fan service as simply trying to please the fans. There's nothing wrong with trying to please your fans. In fact, it's necessary to a certain degree. Problems only arise when they sacrifice a better story just to please people. Most fiction has to take risks at times and do what's best for the story, even if it angers a few fans. For example, if fan favorite characters in the walking dead game didn't die, it would completely negate the message that "no one is safe". No one is safe, except if your well-liked, I guess? And I agree with @Mortal5075 when they said that presentation matters. You could put something that is obviously fan service in. Maybe it even messes with some of the story. But as long as it is presented well, there are no real problems with it.
Any day of the week baby ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Fan service is to me the fact the writers make their plots convenient to the fans's expectations, oftenly avoiding complex/good writing in the process and with a tone of good/bad. An example is to put for example fan favorites characters in the plot, even it doesn't make sense. Show casual don't have huge expectations so fan service is a good thing for them. They don't have the time to invest that much (understandable) in it, hence they won't notice errors of continuity and will enjoy the plain story.
If you compare to past seasons:
Season 5 wasn't that much "fan service-y". There have been fewer people who watched it and DD kept their old formula of shock value bu this time for the sake of it, with no meaning behind it: Among others things, Pedo Trant, Shireen's BBQ, Sansa's rape. People didn't really like it.
So there they went full fan service: Walder Frey death, the Boltons crushed, Jon King in the North, High Sparrow and his minions dead, Sansa get her revenge, Bad Dothraki dead, Daenerys getting everything she needs, Arya trying to be pictured as badass and so on.. Some people say: it's not a story of emo. Sure, but here the "cheerful" events happened everytime compared to the rest of the others seasons.
For the authors it has got some personal advantages: Attracting casuals, getting more views, hence getting more moneys. But fan service of this scale is in my opinion the death of good writing for convenient plot we already saw a thousand of times.
in one anime there was a literal fan service, that was good
Never. Fan service is always cringeworthy.
Counts on the type of fan service really.
Now personally my favorite kind of fan service.
Example: Girls und Panzer's constant references to old 1960 and 1970 war films, and soundtracks. Creating it's own lighter hearted version of famous military marching music. Presenting viewers with a epic array of fun historical military vehicles, historical references to real history, and real people. Girls und Panzer's version of Panzerlied emulates the unique version of Panzerlied made for the Film The Battle of the Bulge for example, while the intro to the song before Panzerlied kicks in is similar to the TV series opening to Hogan's Heroes. The film Kelly's Heroes (staring Clint Eastwood) is referenced constantly throughout the show, even the character Oddball referenced by name, and a DVD Box cover, and animated recreation of one of Kelly's Heroes' Scenes as one of the crews decided to watch the movie. Girls und Panzer was literally made for military fans. Definitely Tankers. Every single episode is fan service, almost every minute is fan service, and fan service in the absolute best ways possible. It's the big appeal of the show.. It's so military in a fun way.
That is really to me if fan service has to exist.... to me that is what it should be.
It's the kind of fan service which made Gundam Unicorn perhaps one of the best anime I've seen in almost twenty years as well. Though only if you're a huge mobile suit gundam fan. Being it was made for the 30-35th Anniversary of the franchise, it's filled to the brim with fan service, and not in your face kind of fan service. But moments like seeing a mecha that was piloted by a character from the 1988 feature film and only knowing it was that pilot's former machine because you remember it's left arm was blown off and they only built two of them, and one was destroyed, and seeing one in Gundam unicorn with it's arm replaced with one from another machine just made me go "OMG OMG It's ####'s Machine!" Loved almost every moment of that anime. Gundam Unicorn is good, if you don't see the fan service, it is LEGENDARY if you see the fan service. hehe
Episode 4 of Unicorn I literally refer to as a full fan service episode. Being much of it focused around Zeon Earth Forces Remnants. They used old machines/weapons scattered about from Gundam anime, manga, and video games, and used the episode as one heck an advert for mecha that often never made it out of the Graphic Novels. Was one heck of a battle as well. Being they were using old obsolete machines vs a numerically superior force. The choice was brilliant as it actually helped the Zeon Remnants look like a force that literally used whatever they had available regardless of it's effectiveness. Desperation of War at it's finest.
When it successfully services fans
I agree with "never" in regards to story. You should never change or plan a story around what you think people want. Fan service easter eggs and such, I can be okay with as long as they aren't jarring. I can get behind them when they are either hidden or so subtle that they require a knowledge beyond the common fan. Not things like a picture on a desk of something from another property of the creator.
What like when a Japanese anime makes Japanese girls in tanks do a Banzai charge, minus yelling Banzai? Only to get slaughtered. Also love the fact they charge under the melody of the Winter War March which sings about the misery of marching in the dead of winter. Love how out of all the tanks, its only the Japanese ones that charge, everyone else is like "WTF."
Sorry but GuP is the definition of brilliance. For ever will love the look on the Churchill's loaders face when commenting on the charge. Just before the turkey shoot starts. Japanese anime making the Japanese school out to be foolish. Then after the charge fails, the rest of Japanese tanks that didn't follow the charge, decided to charge to avenge their comrades.... I mean I couldn't make this up... I can't believe they'd make fun of the Japanese so badly on a Japanese anime. lol
nice, nice. thanks for the replies, and no since i was gonna put it here also but i was in a hurry and i forgot to put it (and some of y'all already have done it) can you all put some good examples of fan service done right in your opinion, whether its on a movie, movie series, other tv series and games and bad examples in your opinion. thanks.
When it's funny
NEVER
To be honest, I think fan-service can at times, be okay, if it's been done correctly and isn't effecting the theme, plot, characters', etc. It can keep the audience happy and shows that there's an ounce of consideration for what they think, as it is them who've kept the show, movie, video game or book popular. But I also believe that often times when it is done, it's written poorly and can be annoying. Like when one character has suddenly blown up in popularity amongst many fans, so the creators decide to ram him/her into every scene or story even if it doesn't make sense for the character to be in it, causing an overload of said character and making the select few who don't like him/her pissed off. The reality is, I think creators should focus more on what they think is best for their creations, but a little fan-service isn't too bad, so long as it's not bad writing.
Or Relevant.
Depends on the timing and what kind of fan-service it actually is, however most of the times (especially in anime), I shake my head in disgust seeing the writers focusing on fan-service instead of the writing.
You forget that often, especially in Japan stories are made for the only sake of fan service, the whole theme is done to build it around fan service, so it can't be blamed for the reason it exists, many spin-offs also get created because popularity of certain characters get huge, like in case of the eroge Fate/StayNight the loli Illyasviel
Never say never. Panzer Rangers.
Alright, never.
Oh shit, I forgot I wasn't supposed to say never!
Shit, I did it again!
I'm sorry...
Yes Japan loves their fan service. Some times though it can be better than contemporary shows. Because you get those times when they're done with a passion out of fandom of the very people who are working on them. It's why GuP is so amazing. It's done by people who loved tanks, knew enough history, and seemed to have a love for old war films as well. Made darn sure it was created in a way that for anyone else who also did would fall in love with it within minutes.
I love it when they did a 2D animation of a scene from Kelly's heroes.
Scene at 0:38 was with the paint round to the butt. lol
PS they cry because their M3 Lee seems to always die by getting shot in the butt. They felt sorry for the Tiger. =3
When you don't sacrifice good story or character development in order to cater to it.
So that means Space Balls, Robin Hood Men in Tights, and other comedies meant to play off of fan service as much as anything else are the definition of crap in your eyes? =D
To me, fan service is:
As for how it's usually defined, fan service is good when male bodies are shown off as much and as well as female bodies (extra points if they get diverse with the body types).
Space balls, like the stuff from Monthy Python? If yes, how do you link it to fan service? To me it's a parody/satyre/adaptation, a completely different thing from fan service.
Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights are both examples of satire. Satire and fan service are not the same thing. Most fan service is meant to cater to the fans for the sake of catering to the fans even if it's artistically and logically unnecessary. Satire is meant to ridicule or simply add humor by belittling or making fun of whatever its subject matter is.