Fan Service

Why I Don’t Hate It
by Bolt Vanderhuge

Recently there seems to be some push back against fan service from within the fandom. I’ve been accused of that myself, from the “elitist” angle rather than the “objectifying women” angle. The thing is most people seem to forget that boobs aren’t the only form of fan service. As the name suggests, it’s really anything that’s there only for the service of the fans. Whether that’s a long flyby sequence of some space ship that earns a movie a well-deserved nickname for its slow pacing, giant robots showing off how awesome they look before, during and after they punch each other, of some nice, long hard objects continually shooting their loads, it’s all fan service, as long as it’s only really there just for its own sake.

Saga of Tanya the Evil

What’d you think I meant?

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Please Tell Me! Galko-chan

The Art of Making a Show About Nothing
by Bolt Vanderhuge

This show in a nutshell.

Just in case it isn’t obvious by now, I don’t really watch “slice of life” shows. I generally like the shows I watch to be about something, and the majority of shows that fit into that genre generally aren’t. It doesn’t help that the majority of shows like this also tend to take place in high school. I realize this is because the target audience of such shows tend to be in high school, but I still don’t get the appeal. When it comes to college-aged man-children such as myself, I understand that there can be a nostalgia factor, but honestly even when I was in high school I tended to be interested in things other than high school. Which is why shows like this tend to be more about the stupid shit friends talk about or do while they’re in high school. Of course, if you’re like me, while some of that can be kind of funny, it doesn’t really stretch very far. Which is why the absolute best thing about this series is that each episode has a run time of less than 10 minutes, which includes the minute and a half long opening.

This show is basically about a small group of friends consisting of a busty, bleach blonde girl called Galko, a grey sweats-wearing otaku girl called Otako, and a creepy rich girl called Ojou, and the pointless stupid shit they talk about in while they hang out together at school. Like how the anus is made out of the same kind of tissue as the tongue, at least according to Otako.

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A Man and his Sword

My Love For You is Like a Truck
by Bolt Vanderhuge

If you want to know more, you’ll have to read the manga!

If you want to know more, you’ll have to read the manga!

Berserk is yet another one of those series that I’ve come to appreciate more upon later viewings.  Just as with Dirty Pair and Deep Space Nine, the first time I watched it, I just couldn’t really get into it all that much.  I suppose I could blame the obsessive yaoi fans ruining it for me, but really I’d say it had more to do with me not enjoying hack-n-slash all that much.  On repeat viewing, though, I’ve come to appreciate this show for the over-the-top action, and its story about love, loyalty, betrayal, and rape.  Also there’s plenty of joke fodder if you’re into giving anime the MST3K treatment like my friends and I are.

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Dirty Good Fun

by Bolt Vanderhuge

This Lovely Pair Really Delivers

You know how “classic” doesn’t always equal “good”? As it turns out, Dirty Pair actually manages to be both. Just in case you’ve never heard of this classic ’80s anime, Dirty Pair follows Kei and Yuri, two “trouble consultants” who work for the World Welfare Works Association, or 3WA for short. Their official team name is Lovely Angels, but as the title informs us, they’re better known by another name, much to their annoyance. This is essentially a buddy cop show, except this one is set in the 22nd century, with humanity having colonized much of the galaxy.

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