Quote Originally Posted by Tengu_temp View Post
That's not what being elitist means.
I find the air of "too good for fanservice" being flung around right now as precisely that nonetheless.

While its not irrelevant in the quality of a show in general I think lacking fanservice would actually degrade Negima. It undermines the ultimately light-hearted and crazy air of the series, because no series can claim to be as self-aware of its medium as Negima is without utilizing it. Removing it would be in essence missing the point and turning a fun series... into a boringly serious one.

And not that I complete ignore fanservice as a factor. You still need something to run on besides it for example. I think Rosario+Vampire's anime a textbook case in how to screw up that balance, because of weak actual storytelling. While something like Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls despite being vastly more perverted still somehow manages to come off as stylishly (and dare I say artistically) over the top, and I found myself enjoying it despite myself.

In the end I think fanservice is used more as an easy scapegoat for shallow stories.

And for that matter I'm not sure where philosophically I can draw the line on where fanservice begins and ends. How about at non-idealized feminine figures period? Only I question whether that possible in an almost technical sense. Animation is about exaggerated and stylized features, because you simply can capture the more nuanced IRL in a reduced format. So eyes are big, hair is big, and face use larger expression.

And the Most Common Superpower exists to let you know this isn't some 10 year old. While for the other gender, every man is built like a pro-football player to also let you know this isn't some 10 year old. Sure this means everyone ends up looking perfect, but to be honest I find that most people are attractive presuming they take care of themselves. People that are genuinely ugly are pretty beyond what a work-out routine and following some basic grooming lessons could fix... are actually pretty rare