Gooner. Cringe. Incel bait. Anime fans and haters alike throw around these words daily to describe some of the biggest shows on the scene. These insults relate to one of the biggest controversies in anime: fanservice. Fanservice exists to provide content to fans that they might enjoy but isn’t necessary to plot or character development. While this can include small, tame details such as references to an author’s other works, it mostly pertains to sexualization of characters, existing only for viewer enjoyment. Over time, these sexualizations have increased, giving anime the stereotype of being “weird” or “for freaks.” Without the extent of this fanservice, most shows would be completely normal and gain more acclaim within fandoms. However, they shoot themselves in the foot by ruining their reputations in a hunt to appease a small sect of fans who care more about sexualization of animated characters than the actual messages or story being told.
The root of the fanservice dilemma can be found in how deeply entwined it is with the reinforcement of sexist tropes. Depictions of men include ripped muscles, shirts off and macho tendencies of the “ideal man”, none of which are ever discussed as detrimental to a shows success and are even supported by fans. Meanwhile, female characters face the brunt of unnecessary sexualizations. Scantily clad outfits that get torn away during fights to leave only the bare minimum covered, characters whose entire trait is they’re unlucky and have their clothes fall off, unrealistically large breasts and more are riddled across almost every show imaginable. These characters face the brunt of ridiculed, being either drooled over by perverts or brushed aside by fans who cannot see past their bodies to the storylines written around them. While some characters do only exist to service fans, many female characters who do not are forced into this category simply because they are women in anime not because they have no substance.
However, despite sexism seeming to be intrinsically connected to fanservice, it does not have to be. Fan service exists to service fans; fans want fanservice. Anime creators are simply out of touch with what fans want to see. This is because in the last five years, a huge shift among anime fandom occurred in which the media became more mainstream than ever before. What was historically seen as an odd artform with only social outcasts watching suddenly became a widely acceptable artform with even celebrities such as rapper Megan Thee Stallion, Olympic ice skater Amber Glenn and actor Michael B. Jordan outwardly admitting their love for the artform with no shame. This expanded fanbase left the gaping wound of what fanservice had become on display for the world to see. But instead of fixing it, most creators continued their preexisting path, allowing perfectly good shows to rot due to outdated stylistic choices.
Still, not all shows have fallen to the evils of untasteful fanservice, and it is through these examples that the art can find a way forward. “Jujutsu Kaisen” by Gege Akutami is one of the biggest shows on the scene right now, making headlines for its storyline, fight scenes and fanservice. However, the fanservice in Jujutsu Kaisen is not the typical infantilization or degradation of women, or even the reinforcing of attractive men as bodybuilders. Akutami rather utilizes a more defined art style to highlight the preexisting attractiveness of characters instead of creating unrealistic scenarios that treat people as objects. And fans eat it. up. Not only does this form of fanservice not take away from a show’s ratings or reinforce sexist stereotypes, but is also better received by fans.
Anime needs to take a page from Akutami’s book and feed the fans what they want to eat rather than what controversial and decaying societal norms seem to say. Otherwise, anime may as well return to the dregs of society and truly become gooner, cringe, incel bait.