The Great Fanboy (and possibly fangirl?) Debate!

[Milkymagic]

There's a bevy of hilarous cliches and genre defining taboos, but nothing's funnier than just picking out those blatant homages to the male (or female) fan in all of us. What are your favorite "fan oriented" characters? Explanations optional as always. And nothing absurd like "Man/Woman chained up under the influence of a love potion" as this is just in good fun. lol!

1. The Nurse: Nobody wants to get hurt, nobody except the guy who wants to see the buxomed nurse's cleavage as she's treating his "possible" injuries. Poor thing indeed.

2. Childhood Best Friend: Let it never be said you've never had friends during your childhood, let alone good looking ones, and wouldn't you know it: she lives right next door!

3. Catgirl: A phenomenon that still intrigues the mind, but by golly they exist! Better watch your furniture, your clothes, and please leave that catfiend enough fish...I'm serious!

4. Cowgirl: I could just say a ninja babe or what have you, but a cowgirl with nice big guns (don't slap me, I meant the bits of steel around her legs) and some sassiness to boot is just too cool. Yippie-Kay-Yay!

5. Elf Girl: Amazing how just a change in the ears can dramatically enhance a female character! Why, you wouldn't even need alcohol if such cosmetics were possible in real life! But they are also fair skinned, making yet another suitable difference. They must use tons of body lotion...

Well, that's all I can think of, though I'm obviously missing some (maids, teachers, women in uniform like policewomen, etc.). And like I said, females are welcome to participate with their own input. Fire away!

[Zushio]

The best fanservice character is as follows:

She's a childhood friend and classmate who lives next door, but she happens to be a robot and a maid as well. In addition to that, she and the male lead were lovers in a previous life. On top of that, she's very feeble and dependant on the protagonist. She also sacrificed herself for the sake of the protagonist, sustaining injuries that required a year to heal! But, in reality, she's an apparition, and an alien! But her true identity is A REINCARNATION OF A FOX THAT CAME FROM THE FUTURE!


... yeah

[Milkymagic]

Just when I thought a Nurse-Witch-Maid-Catcowgirl was the next level, I stand corrected.

I am taking notes on this character of yours...so I can find myself one!

[Javer]

She's a childhood friend and classmate who lives next door, but she happens to be a robot and a maid as well. In addition to that, she and the male lead were lovers in a previous life. On top of that, she's very feeble and dependant on the protagonist. She also sacrificed herself for the sake of the protagonist, sustaining injuries that required a year to heal! But, in reality, she's an apparition, and an alien! But her true identity is A REINCARNATION OF A FOX THAT CAME FROM THE FUTURE!

*weeps uncontrollably*

[LadyYuina]

The best fanservice character is as follows:

She's a childhood friend and classmate who lives next door, but she happens to be a robot and a maid as well. In addition to that, she and the male lead were lovers in a previous life. On top of that, she's very feeble and dependant on the protagonist. She also sacrificed herself for the sake of the protagonist, sustaining injuries that required a year to heal! But, in reality, she's an apparition, and an alien! But her true identity is A REINCARNATION OF A FOX THAT CAME FROM THE FUTURE!


... yeah

Girls that are TOO clingy and helpless (I guess in a sense) I find annoying... but I watch anime that have way too many girls like that. Even though girls like these are present in anime I find them insignificant enough to not ruin the whole show unless the entire thing was based on girls like this... :sweatdrop

[Milkymagic]

That is a hilarious point, there's plenty of anime with helpless females of that nature. Definitely worth a chuckle, considering how females were depicted in anime back then as opposed to now.

Studio Ghibli had more independent leads like Nausicaa and Kiki, Gainax with Noriko Takaya (she grows by the end of Gunbuster), and Satoshi Kon even slapped in a memorable female lead in Millenium Actress. But that's only my opinion again, and I did exclude such factors as fanservice (which never embodies a character's personality inside it, unless that character truly isn't deep enough), and also just went with females that were not completely helpless in the face of danger. I might not be accurate in my examples, but these were females that stood out in my mind as possessing features of not being completely co-dependent (there's a reasonable time to ask for help in my opinion). Of course, I'm trying to answer one of anime's most difficult questions in the process, so maybe I'll come up with better examples later...

Interesting to hear that.

[Linuts]

The best fanservice character is as follows:

She's a childhood friend and classmate who lives next door, but she happens to be a robot and a maid as well. In addition to that, she and the male lead were lovers in a previous life. On top of that, she's very feeble and dependant on the protagonist. She also sacrificed herself for the sake of the protagonist, sustaining injuries that required a year to heal! But, in reality, she's an apparition, and an alien! But her true identity is A REINCARNATION OF A FOX THAT CAME FROM THE FUTURE!


... yeah

NHK FTW!

Design wise, I always thought anime albinos really stand out ^^.

Personality wise ... No one overly clingy and has the intellect of a 5 year old.

I think what are porpular nowadays that seem to satisfy both the male/female fan base are sexually incomprehensible young boys... If this trend prevails, I fear for future generations.

[Milkymagic]

Yeah, I will agree the trend of boys who have female traits is increasing, and it's all a matter of taboo in the end. I haven't had such an issue dictate the quality of a show yet, but I'm not going to show absolute comfort in it as a preference. If it's there, it better not be in the way.

In fact, in the You're Under Arrest TV series, there's a guy who dresses and acts like a girl for undercover reasons (and he's in every episode too). This element only adds a supposed comedy theme, but it ended up feeling unnecessary. That might've been the only example of such questionable nature that boggled me so far.

On the other hand, X was too well done to let its suggestive themes bother me (I'm not referring to the movie by the way!), and I'm not going to forget to mention Evangelion's own suggestions near its end with Shinji. If there's a good enough story and/or characters, I'm usually not too bothered with that sort of thing.

And finally, infantile girls who are clingy can be scary, but they have made me laugh in certain instances too...believe it or not. That's all I have to say!