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Fanservice - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Jun 14 2007

Fanservice (trope)

"Simply put, we need to go lewder. Miniskirts, swimsuits, low-angle-shots; you need to put in as many of those as you can without breaking the law."

The use of sex or sexualized situations to reward or entice viewers. While the specific term "fanservice" arose from the anime community, the concept is far, far older. Most fanservice is seldom explicit or graphic—that is the territory of pornography. Instead, it uses sexuality or hints at sex often in a funny or comedic way to tease and excite the audience. This is traditionally associated with female characters because Most Writers Are Male, but fanservice of male characters isn't uncommon either.

Some shows may have designated fanservice characters: characters who, even if they are main characters and have a role beyond fanservice, are likely to end up in a fanservicey situation. Some shows have characters for both male and female fanservice.

Although some fanservice can increase the appeal of a show, too much can become very distracting, and in some cases can put viewers off completely, especially if the fanservice is directed towards people with a sexuality sufficiently different from that of the viewer. However, fanservice can lure in viewers easily. At the other end of the spectrum, Crossing the Line Twice, hard as it may be, can also occur at some point, thus using the fanservice for the advancement of the plot.

Fanservice of female characters is often called "cheesecake"; fanservice of male characters is often called "beefcake". Homoerotic fanservice directed at the LGBT Fanbase or Yaoi Fangirls/Yuri Fans also exists in quite a lot of media. Within the Visual Kei subgenre of music, for example, "fanservice" and Ho Yay are almost synonymous due to bands being almost Always Male, and an above-usual population of bisexuals early on followed up by the recognition of the Yaoi Fangirl as one of the primary audiences.

"Fanservice" is also sometimes used in a more general way, referring simply to any crowd-pleaser thrown in just because. When this is something non-sexual, like needlessly flashy attacks in a Humongous Mecha show, long guitar/bass/drum solos in a concert, or throwing in lots of obscure continuity references in a long-running work, it's Pandering to the Base. See also Breakout Character, which is when a character is so liked by fans that the creator gives them more appearances. Sexy fanservice is considered the default form, because it is the one everybody seems to remember, and the easiest to add to any kind of show.

See also Perpetually Shiny Bodies — a form of fanservice in which the characters' bodies have unusual glossiness even when completely dry.

A Sub-Trope of Sex Sells.

See also Nudity Tropes, Partial Nudity Tropes.

For its Lighter and Softer counterpart, see Rule of Cute.

Not to be confused with Fan Flattering.

You won't see examples here, because there are so much that we would have to make a page for every single letter in the alphabet, for most of the genres.

A Super-Trope to (yes, there are so much variations that we have to use separated folders and bonus categories)

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A-F 

G-L 

  • Gainaxing: Jiggling breasts.
  • Giant Woman: Attractive human giant who is female.
  • Girl on Girl Is Hot: A lesbian relationship is played for fanservice aimed at straight men.
  • Giving Them the Strip: A character is trapped and is forced to ditch an article of clothing to escape, which can be played for fanservice if the character ends up in their underwear or naked because of the reluctant disrobing.
  • Godiva Hair: Nudity covered up by the person's long hair.
  • Going Commando: (usually female) A character goes without underwear either voluntarily, or involuntarily, to entice the viewer with flashes up their skirt.
  • Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: Someone goes swimming naked and ends up having their clothes stolen.
  • Gorgeous Greek: Greeks are synonymous with beauty.
  • Gorgeous Gaijin: In East Asian (or East Asian-inspired) works, a Western character who is sexualized due to their foreign features or brazen sexual attitudes.
  • Guy on Guy Is Hot: A relationship between two gay men is played for fanservice aimed at straight women.
  • Hand-or-Object Underwear: A naked character deliberately covers themselves by placing their hands or holding an object over their private parts. While this is mainly done for censorship purposes, it can also be seen as fanservice, considering that the character's efforts to cover up their private parts tend to draw more attention to the fact that they are nude.
  • Hanging Our Clothes to Dry: As the trope by definition involves removing one's clothes to dry them, is very likely to be done for fanservice.
  • Hello, Sailor!: Men in the Navy go gay due to lack of female options.
  • Heroic Build: The hero(es)/heroine(s) has a sexy body.
  • Hidden Buxom: A woman usually wears loose or baggy upper clothing, but when she changes, she's revealed to have huge breasts.
  • High-Heel Power: High heels seen as a symbol of female sex appeal or power.
  • Hitchhiker's Leg: A female hitchhiker shows off her leg(s) to passing motorists, in hopes of getting a lift.
  • Home Nudist: A character who walks around in the buff at home.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: When intended or primarily intended to pander to the LGBT Fanbase, Yaoi Fan, or Yuri Fan.
  • Hood Ornament Hottie: An attractive character sexily draped over a vehicle.
  • Hospital Hottie: Sexually attractive medical personnel.
  • Hot God: An attractive deity.
  • Hot Men at Work: Hot shirtless men working and sweating.
  • Hot Springs Episode: The cast finds a reason to spend time in a hot spring and fanservice ensues.
  • Hotter and Sexier: An instalment in a franchise adds or increases fanservice compared to previous instalments.
  • Hot Wind: Wind blowing behind an attractive character to make them look sexier.
  • Hot Witch: An attractive witch.
  • Hula and Luaus: If a story's setting or an episode of a show is in Hawai'i or another part of the Pacific Islands, it's likely there will be scantily dressed (usually) female dancers, lifeguards, or surfers.
  • Ignore the Fanservice: A character deliberately ignores the fanservice aimed at him.
  • Impossible Hourglass Figure: A woman has an unrealistically thin waist as well as unrealistically large hips and chest.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: A character who goes naked or wears revealing clothing due to being oblivious of the nudity taboo.
  • Interrupted Bath: A bathing character is interrupted by something, forcing them to stop.
  • Intimate Healing: A type of healing that's deliberately made to look like sexual acts. Some may require actual sex.
  • Intimate Lotion Application: Applying lotion on another character as a way to create sexual tension, romantic intimacy, awkwardness, or humor.
  • Intimate Marks: A character has some sort of writing, markings, symbols or pictures on the naughtier parts of their bodies, whether on bare skin or simply the clothes being worn over the parts.
  • Intimate Open Shirt: A man's shirt is left open, both to represent intimacy and for fanservice.
  • The Item Number: A Hindi song that prioritizes fanservice.
  • Kinky Role-Playing: The characters wear sexy costumes and/or engage in flirtatious scenarios as a sex game.
  • Kinky Spanking: Spanking someone as part of sexual foreplay.
  • Kissing Cousins: The taboo of flirting and sexual relationships between cousins, minus the issues present with such relations between immediate family.
  • Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game: Advertisements for a video game attract interest by featuring an attractive woman who isn't actually part of the game at all.
  • Latex Space Suit: Futuristic settings have people wear form-fitting spacesuits.
  • Leg Focus: The camera or another character repeatedly places emphasis on the sexiness of a character's legs to entice the viewer.
  • Lingerie Scene: A scene where a female character undresses to reveal her undergarments.
  • Literal Ass-Kissing: Kissing another person on the buttocks, usually to show submission or humiliation, can be used as foreplay/intimacy between characters or titillation for the audience.
  • Literal Maneater: These types of Femme Fatale invoke their Ms. Fanservice nature when they want to eat men.
  • Loincloth: A character wears a cloth over their nether regions that doesn't leave much to the imagination.
  • Lust Object: A character treated in-universe as an object to be desired for sex.

M-P 

  • Maid Corps: A wealthy person has a lot of attractive maids at their beck and call.
  • Male Frontal Nudity: Works depicting penises and the controversy surrounding them.
  • Male Gaze: Arousing male audiences by focusing the camera on female anatomy.
  • Marilyn Maneuver: A woman tries to hold her skirt down when air blows up from a grate they're standing on.
  • Marshmallow Hell: Whenever a woman/adolescent female character sandwiches a male character's head in between her boobs upon tightly hugging him to make audiences either laugh or go "aww" as it happens.
  • Modesty Bedsheet: Naked people in bed are covered up by bed sheets.
  • Modesty Towel: A naked person stays modest by wrapping a towel around their body.
  • Mooning: Exposing one's buttocks in order to amuse, insult, or arouse another person.
  • Most Common Super Power: Superheroines who are very busty.
  • Mr. Fanservice: A male character who tends to provide fanservice.
  • Ms. Fanservice: A female character who tends to provide fanservice.
  • Mud Wrestling: Two attractive women fight each other in a mud pit.
  • Murderous Thighs: Crushing people with one's legs.
  • Naked Apron: Fanservice is provided by having a character wear an apron and nothing else.
  • Naked First Impression: A character is naked the first time another person meets them.
  • Naked Freak-Out: Someone freaks out after realizing they're naked.
  • Naked on Arrival: A character is naked when they are first seen on-screen.
  • Naked on Revival: A dead character is naked once they're brought back to life.
  • Naked People Trapped Outside: Someone ends up trapped outdoors while naked and has to either get clothes or find a way back inside before someone sees them.
  • Naughty Nurse Outfit: A nurse's uniform that either includes fetish wear, or it's designed to be revealing.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: A woman wears an outfit that allows her breasts to show a lot of cleavage.
  • Navel Outline: A character's navel is visible through her clothing.
  • Navel Window: A character's outfit deliberately shows her belly button but no more of her midriff.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: For when geeks and glass wearing girls are portrayed as sexually attractive.
  • Non-Mammal Mammaries: Females of non-human species have breasts when realistically they wouldn't have mammary glands. A common reason for this is that the production team has decided to prioritize making the non-human females sexy over making them biologically accurate.
  • Nude Nature Dance: A character embraces nature by dancing naked.
  • The Nudifier: A weapon, magic spell, substance, etc. that has the purpose of instantly destroying or disintegrating a person's clothes so they end up naked.
  • Obligatory Bondage Song
  • Of Corsets Sexy: Corsets used as fetish fuel.
  • Outdoor Bath Peeping: Spying on someone who is swimming naked.
  • Page Three Stunna: Better include pictures of hot women on the front page if you want your newspaper to sell!
  • Paid Harem: A wealthy person hires attractive people to hang with them.
  • Painted-On Pants: Body-hugging pants that reveals the figure of the person wearing it.
  • Panty Fighter: Anime series, primarily about teenaged girls duking it out in skimpy highschool uniforms to ensure the audience sees their legs and panties as often as possible.
  • Panty Shot: A scene where we briefly see a woman's underwear.
  • Parental Incest: Sexual relations between parents and their (usually teenaged) children. Also covers such relations between adults with their nieces and/or nephews.
  • Parent Service: Fanservice included in a children's work to appeal to older audiences.
  • Pec Flex: A man flexes their pectoral muscles.
  • Perpetually Shiny Bodies: Characters are consistently drawn with gloss on their skin, which can be used to draw attention to suggestive body parts.
  • Pink Is Erotic: Pink is used to represent erotic or sexual elements.
  • Pit Girls: A sexy woman at a sporting event who is not a cheerleader, usually at pit stops in racing sports.
  • Playboy Bunny: A female character wearing a very specific leotard-fishnet-bunny ear headband clothing set, as defined by magazine Playboy.
  • Pool Scene: A scene where characters are in a swimming pool.
  • Power Dynamics Kink: Fetishized power dynamics, subjugation, punishments, etc.
  • Prefers Going Barefoot: When a (female) character deliberately goes barefoot to appeal to male audiences with foot fetishes.
  • Property of Love: Fetishizing willing submission to one's romantic partner as their "possession", or plaything.
  • Psychosexual Horror: A subgenre that explores psychosexual development as a subject matter, including themes of sexual development and sexual activities.
  • Public Bathhouse Scene: A scene where characters are in a public bathhouse, usually accompanied by fanservice.
  • Public Exposure: Someone poses nude for painting or sculpture.
  • Raging Stiffie: A guy's erection played equally for laughs and fanservice.
  • Reluctant Fanservice Girl: A character ends up in a state of undress against their wishes.
  • Right Through the Wall: A type of sexy discretion shot that allows the audience to listen in.
  • Romanticized Abuse

S-Z