Why the stigma of creepiness behind Japanese fan service?

@Jeust: I felt like a terrible person after playing through the God of war games. It was like I had just enacted a teenagers revenge fantasy. I wondered why Kratos wantonly murdered the gods, when it seemed like they were just doing there jobs. Granted, some of them were assholes, but the absolute brutality of the whole thing... just made me feel weird.

Also the sex QTE with aphrodite, what was that about?

@AndrewB: You are, and I'm the heroine. I mean, what?

@smokeyd123 said:

@Jeust: I felt like a terrible person after playing through the God of war games. It was like I had just enacted a teenagers revenge fantasy. I wondered why Kratos wantonly murdered the gods, when it seemed like they were just doing there jobs. Granted, some of them were assholes, but the absolute brutality of the whole thing... just made me feel weird.

Also the sex QTE with aphrodite, what was that about?

Yeah! The games were brutal, and openly advertised their brutality. To me it is much more hard to swallow the life-likeness of some of the executions scenes in God of War than some skimpy clothing, or some weird fetishes.

@Cloudenvy said:

@AndrewB: You are, and I'm the heroine. I mean, what?

Uuuuuhm... ~

Is this the true ending?

@AndrewB: ...Yes.

(it's the trap ending)

@Cloudenvy: Ah, what game haven't I played where the trap ending is the true ending?

Because that's where the anime comes from.

@Video_Game_King said:

Because sometimes, it really can get creepy. (Probably NSFW.)

Oh wow..... I was like: "okay, this is Reeeaalll weird, but I mean, I guess it's just Japan right?"

Then he throws out "Sister"

yup that's Japan all right..

@vikingdeath1 said:

yup that's Japan all right..

Or, rather, a group of perverted fucks in Japan.

@Milkman said:

@Cloudenvy what part of molesting an eight year old is "amazing" exactly?

The part where its presentation within the context of the show does not attempt to play it up as titillation (as compared to other scenes that very much serve that purpose), but rather revels in its absolute absurdity. Hachikuji is an absurd character, where her initial introduction makes quick and wide swings between heart wrenching emotional scenes and dramatic moments of borderline child abuse. That absurdity carries over to all future interactions with her.

I don't personally find her to be "amazing" at all, but her character is not designed for sex appeal of any kind. Nise has shown that if it wants to engage in that, it does so in a much different way.

I'm sure there's no such deprave community living in the US or outside of Japan in general, right?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Fanservice exists in different forms, and I'm not saying I don't find some of it unnecessary, but it's myopic to single out Japan. If you're going to single them out for anything, it should be for stale game mechanics.

Lots of creepy fanservice comes from Japan, and the chicks usually look underage.

That Naoto skimpy suit went too far. I mean, there's other skimpy clothes/bikinis and such, and even the males can strip down to speedos, but an asscrack should not be seen.

I would say that a lot of Japanese stuff CAN get pretty creepy. When the combination of the characters' ages and some of the odd fetishes that are brought up become a little too much, then it gets creepy.

Of course, those fetishes certainly aren't limited to the Japanese. They just seem more willing to put them in their entertainment than we are. Which I think is the source of discomfort for a lot of people. I think we all know that there are just as many unusual perversions over here; they're just not advertised as much. Mostly relegated to the seedy side of the internet. Japan, however, will make whole comic book and cartoon series based around them.

Is that wrong?

I don't really know. I don't feel it's my place to make that judgment for the world at large. But 'creepy' doesn't automatically equal 'bad'. It just means something you find unsettling.

After all, one of my favorite books is "House on Haunted Hill", and that book is MAJORALLY creepy.

If it wasn't Japan, it'd be Korea. Or China. I think people just have trouble getting over the anime "baby face" - the wide-eyed, gurgly-mouthed style that is so indicative of a lot of very lazy anime as a whole - that renders even "of age" characters looking like a 16-year-old got breast implants. It is definitely a valid complaint, but I'd hate to think anyone is so insecure in their own sexuality that they have to condemn people for liking it, or whatever. I mean, hey, I like a lot of Japanese fan service, but its usually the kind where the women look like women. And such stuff does exist, this many people forget.

All those perverted drawings... they'll always be around. Japan seems to be most prevalent - I'm unsure why exactly, Europe has proven capable of doing similar - but I think there is a certain degree of xenophobia regarding Japanese culture as a whole. It is almost the antithesis to American culture in almost every way, which I think confuses a lot of people. But hey, what do I know. I'm not a psychologist. I can tell you why the stigma is there, but I cannot tell you why it is so violently attached to Japan. I mean, people must understand, not even the greater Japanese public are "okay" with that stuff, the word "otaku" in Japan is essentially a dire insult, much harsher than "nerd" or "geek" is in English. It really isn't indicative of the entire country's output, not even the entire country's output of pornographic material. So yeah, I'm not sure why Japan, but then even where I'm standing most of it seems to come from Japan. Maybe more Japanese kids learn how to draw and grow up to become manga artists? I don't even know. I don't think it's anything that can be answered with a sentence. ...maybe I should make a documentary about this or something. A bit of investigative filmmaking. Hmm.

@Andy_117 said:

It is almost the antithesis to American culture in almost every way

I'd say the opposite. Japan's more like a reflection of America in a funhouse mirror. For instance: Japanese people like eating KFC on Christmas. If KFC could do that in America, you know they would. Or, put far more eloquently, random Cracked article!

Because you know what's creepy? Everything I don't understand.

So I feel like no one has addressed the second part of the OP, which is: is it still creepy when girls like fan service, rather than guys?

@AzHP said:

So I feel like no one has addressed the second part of the OP, which is: is it still creepy when girls like fan service, rather than guys?

I doubt it. There are double standards everywhere when it comes to males and females. Some benefit one group and some benefit the other.

I think it serves some people, but other than in some instances of hentai it just seems like a 1 tease 2 cheap 3 tasteless 4 boring. But it's amazing people buy all kinds of manga and anime crap. I read the book Fandom Unbound where they touch on this about girls that are into boy's love comics. Cool book I recommend it.