The Problem with Fan Service
If you haven't familiarized yourself with my sense of writing and my tendency to look at every element of a show in as much detail as possible (a.k.a.-did you check out my Nadesico pages, did you? Did you?), then you may be overwhelmed by my opinion. Don't be afraid. I sympathize with your dilemna. On May 5, 2000, I was given a tape of unknown origin by one Matt Palmer. Unsure of what I will find, I looked at the side of the tape to find, written in an ink the same color as the words you are reading now, "Bakuretsu Hunter OVA 1-3". This surprised me. I have been trying to get a copy of this very same fansub for a good while, and now that I have it, I must see it. Once I got the laptop loan I needed for the weekend, I grabbed my stuff, and the Tape, and took my trains home. Once home, nothing stopped me from plugging in that tape into my VCR and pressing "play". Before I continue, let me give a bit of background on the Bakuretsu Hunter OVA's, or, better yet, Bakuretsu Hunter altogether. This title, like many others that make it to the small screen in such a competitive market as anime on TV, was orginally a shonen (boy's) manga. It was published by, I believe, Shonen Jump, one of the MAJOR manga serialization magazines in Japan today. It is a raunchy title that borders on the insane and the etchi. It's rather amazing that chicks, like myself, like this title. When it was animated, some of the raunchiness was soften and not as obvious as in the original manga. Tira's and Chocolate's outfits were less revealing and less borderline S&M. Some of the characters' attitudes and actions and general appearances were also changed somewhat. These changes made many of the manga's fans somewhat-to-entirely disappointed and betrayed. Thus, the OVA's were born. In order to appease fans, Xebec and Movic released the OVA's, a sort of continuation of the series, to make the fans of the manga feel better. These OVA's are what I call fan service. For general reference, "fan service" tends to means gratuitous sex or violence to appease the fans out there. Doujinshi and lemon fanfic-ers do this all the time in the small "for the fans", amateur arena. Major studios due this whenever they go over-the-top with panty and boobs shots and overexpressive with the violence. They did it here. What was it with the first few minutes after the opening credits anyway? Fan service. The main fan base for the title IS horny 12-16 year-old boys. I made a guess here, but I know I'm right. Okay, now for that actual analysis. (Didn't I tell you I like to write?) Okay, the opening credits I went "ooh." The things they changed for the TV series had returned to the way they looked in the manga (pretty much). Fav. example: Tira's outfit's completely red and her hair isn't pink (but it's still lighter than her sister's, despite the fact that in the manga, it's the other way around). Also, another thing to point out is the announcer. He brings some valuable info, and comic relief (as if there was enough of this) to the OVA. The downside to this is that some things become overemphasized and overblown, like say their characteristics, and the somewhat subdued etchi factor I noticed in the manga become a major force for the animation. All the girls are bouncy!, and their boobies are pretty overexagerrated, too. Plus, their the whole "introducing 'new' characters to all of you who haven't read the manga" thing going on. First is that little pip-squeak of a guy, Potei, who is, well, weird and a tad conceited, I think. Next, Potei's grandfather, who is too in love with Potei and his mother, Salad. She is also in the first OVA and the object of one of Carrot's sex fantasies. Also here is Gateau's sister, Eclaire, who is as much of a freak about flexing as her brother. Finally, there's Siryuse, a winged fellow who the announcer dubbed as Dota's lover. We'll get to their looliness, and the other people that pop up in the other two OVA's, later. The scene where all those women were nude and in the hotsprings was not only a chance for little perverted boys to get their thing on, I was rather amazed that they don't show the bottom part of either the girls or the boys. They were all hidden, but that did not mean that the animators did not do shots of them either. The hot springs scene was T&A all the way. And the old, horny fans go, "YAY!" Personally, I think my eyes almost fell out of their sockets, but wait, it get's better. High above the ladies' side of the hot springs, Carrot was doing his letcherous thang. And it is a BIG letcherous thang. In the manga, he would elude to "doin' it" and in the TV series, he would only go so far as asking for a date, but all the ladies knew about what he wanted. Here we are greeted to entire sex fantasy a la Carrot, with three women, no less. First is Potei's mom, Salad, who Carrot continuously called "Oku-san" because she IS married to someone else. Her part of the fantasy was about Carrot, dressed in a salaryman's suit, coming in, askin' for a little sumthin'-sumthin' while her husband's out. As Carrot gets started with Salad, some one walks in. Eclaire, dressed in a skimpy school girl's uniform, walks in from school while her mom's about to have sex. Carrot, who suddenly turns into a googly-eyed, gold buck-tooth letch, thinks mother-and-daughter sandwich. All I can think of is, "Spare me." I sense with all my heart that Carrot's buck-tooth letch is a stereotype of a certain kind of personality, but I am not sure of what. The only other time I'm sure I saw that sort of characteration was in Kodomo no Omocha. For those who never heard of this series, Kodocha, or Child's Toy, is basically about a child actress, Sana-chan, with too much sugar in her system. In the first episode, Sana-chan was doing a skit in which the adult was drawn basically the same way as Carrot. This guy had large eyes with teeny pupils and buck teeth. He, however, was not being a letch any time in that sketch. His lines were about the glory of youth and spring, to which Sana-chan, upset about what is going on at school, counters by saying he's too old to know that youth have its problems too. After Carrot begins ripping, and I do mean, Ripping, off the clothes of Salad and Eclaire, Dota appears. No comment on the size and bounce of her boobs. Not a one. Dota's little time in Carrot sex dream was hilarious. Just because I have a little problem with all the boobs and ass flying around does not mean I don't think it's funny. I always laugh at excessive fan service. Just look at the last fight scene in Romeo Must Die. Funny sh*t right there. Dota's blabber concerning Carrot's actions as an adult letch who wants some play from the lonely wife next door makes me further believe that Carrot is playing a stereotype, but once again, I don't know of what. Then there is all the different outfits that Dota wears as she trying to explain who she is. Notice how they're all sex symbols? What guy wouldn't want to do a stewardess, a nurse, a cop, a waitress, an idol? She is also accompanied by a phallic symbol or two: the airplane taking off (phallic symbol because of the fact that it's rising), the needle (phal. symbol because of its sheer size [think Ogenki Clinic for this one]), and the car (power, thus phallic also). As a (big boobed) waitress, she rather conveniently give Carrot (and the audience) a few nice views. The idol, however, is the most innocent-looking of the bunch. Next is Dota's Sailor Moon parody. Yes, it is a Sailor Moon parody, but like, who doesn't make fun of that show? Dota's transformation sequence with the ribbons and sparkles, and wings too!, is definitely a play on the senshi's transformation sequences. She even calls herself a sort of agent of justice. While her transformation sequence was borrowed from the queen of magical girl shows, her outfit looks like it was swiped from another show, like, say, Card Captor Sakura, with that poofy skirt was wearing. God, that sex dream was just too weird. Okay, if I didn't mention it before, I'll say it now. These people's personalities are overblown, or perhaps perfectly copied from the manga, in this OVA. Carrot's entire dream sequence was enough for me to know, but wait!, there's more. Gateau and his sister Eclaire are goofy. Both body builders, they spend their nighttime visit working on their macho poses. I just love how their narcisism shows whenever they cry out, "Look at me!" or "Check me out!" as they do their poses, even if they're no one there but them. Gateau's insistence that his little sister must do the proper macho poses is weird, but that's just to show how fully devoted and proud he is to and of his body. A body is a temple, he obviously wants his to look sharp! Looking at Eclaire's own atittude, she obviously feels the same way about hers. Both Tira and Choclate are the same as always. Chocolate spends most of her time in this OVA planning out her nighttime visit to Carrot's room. Like her Darling, she also has a sex fantasy. This one is more generic (and calming) in the sense that it is of a pair of Japanese students having an encounter. Once again, I feel I must explain. A few years back, I read in the editorial section of the New York Times a small article about a growing trend in Japan. I, a big fan of Japanese trends, who bought and trained the orginal virtual pet, Tomagothi, who thought of buying a squid as a pet when they were popular, who is more than willing to follow any and all Japanese trends, had to read this article. The article was written about the trends in the fantasy sex industry. That's right, the fantasy sex industry. There had been a growing want of school-girl fantasies among middle-age men. These men patronize the places that deal in providing its patrons real-life sex fantasies in which women role-play with the men in a setting to the man's taste. In the school-girl sex fantasy, the woman is dressed in a sailor school uniform (fuku) and the role-play is in a classroom. Man can either play the teacher that must teach the bad girl a lesson concerning her low grades, or the fellow student who wants to have some sex. The psychological reasons given to explain this sexual obseession with school girls is a simple one. Because of the rise of the power of women and the fall of a man's personal power in the workforce, the average Japanese male feels a tad inadecuate and poweless in the normal setting. With a school girl however, a man can definitely feel powerful. Besides, the average guy can tell you those sailor fukus are sexy. Why do you think Sailor Moon is so popular? What's more, the legal age of consent is 12. Anyone over that age can legally have sex without the threat of statutory rape looming above their heads. Also, there is a growing number of school-age prostitutes making their spare money by having sex. Not only is the age of consent lower than it is in the U.S., prostitution is also legal. For all you out there that like this idea, here's another thing to remember, pimps and others who actually arrange the sexual encounters are illegal. Anyway, Carrot, who was wearing a black boy's unifrom (you know, the hot-looking one with the jacket that buttons up to the collar) finds himself in a dark storage room being seduced by Chocolate, in a sailor fuku, as she unties her bow (and the rest of her outfit). But, as we all should know, these cute little sex fantasies will never be realized. Tira is as shy and Carrot-obsessed as before. In the hot springs scene, Tira was more than overly conscious about her body. She had her breasts covered the entire time and was the only one feel actually feel Carrot staring down at the girls. Tira also has plans for the nighttime visit, but she is more concerned over making sure her sister doesn't get Carrot than she herself getting to him first. Both ladies, of course, cannot stand the thought of Carrot getting another girl, even if, in this case, Carrot accidentally falls on her (Salad). Carrot's unfaithfulness to either of them causes the pair to transform into their S&M, "we're gonna kick your ass", attire and begin to whip him into utter submission. And this is not the colorful, somewhat calm S&M they wear in the TV series. These are actually more revealing versions of the manga outfits. The changes-Chocolate looks like she had a few breast implants underneath those suspenders, and Tira is showing more skin than usual with that thong and corset ensemble. How's that for fan service? The scene between Dota and Siryuse that Carrot, Potei, and Grandfather walked in on was hilarious and, once again, a little parody. The two winged folks were trying to decide whether or not to have a child, but their um's, ah's, blushing cheeks, and complete silence as they gazed in each other's eyes does not fit well in a shonen enviroment. This scene, in a nutshell, is a complete exagerration of a shoujo love scene, complete with the flowers on the table. If it wasn't for Carrot being a complete distraction (and comic relief) for the audience, I would have been caught up in all the emotion, just like Grandpa. Damn you Carrot, for ruining that beautiful scene for me! Damn you, damn you, damn you! I haven't any experience with Salad, Potei, and Grandfather before, but, from what I've seen here, the reputation that BH characters have for being utterly nuts holds true here. Salad looks 13, but is in fact 35. She's also a tad weird when it comes to sex. When Chocolate accidentally finds her instead of Carrot in Carrot's room, she claims with fascination. happiness, and willingness in her eyes, "I've never been with a woman before." That's right. If she was right in thinking that Chocolate came to visit her, she wouldn't have minded. She gives the same message to Carrot also. Scary. Considering how young his mom looks as well as his ramble of getting him some that night despite the fact that he looks like a five-year-old, Potei has to be around Carrot's age, but this is my guess. I told you, I haven't met these people before! Grandfather is hard to describe. When Potei finds him, instead of a pretty girl, in the nighttime visit, Grandpa goes nuts. Nuts, as in, "I love you too Potei-sama!!!" I don't think he'd mind having sex with Salad either. Weird. Marron, poor Marron. He's so quiet in this OVA. I feel sad
because he's so cool, but maybe that's why he does nothing in this loony
OVA. All he does is basically comment on the fact that his brother's
an idiot. "Niisan no baka." He's right. Hell, as Ruri-chan
puts it, "Baka baka." Too many idiots.
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