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Fanservice

"Dear movie, THANK YOU FOR THIS SCENE!"
- Tom Servo

"Like my mother said, when all else fails, lift up your dress".
- Niamh, I'd Do Anything.

Gratuitous display of female characters in skimpy clothing, or none at all, under the assumption that it will attract or "reward" male viewers. (There is occasionally fanservice for female viewers, but it's not nearly as common.) This is not just a fan term, but one used during the production of, and even in the dialogue of, various shows. For example, the end-of-episode previews during the early part of Neon Genesis Evangelion frequently promise "more fanservice" (although it never seems to deliver quite as much as it promises).

While the term is used primarily with respect to Japanese animation, any gratuitous nudity or sexual exposure may be considered to be fan service. Note, that where nudity or sexual exposure is to be expected, it would not usually be considered fan service, e.g. nudity in a pornographic movie would not qualify. Two examples in Western media that would qualify as fan service are both in films by Paul Verhoeven: the scene where Sharon Stone uncrosses her legs to expose her crotch in Basic Instinct and the coed shower scene in the film Starship Troopers.

Fanservice is seldom explicit - that is the territory of Hentai material. Instead it is primarily Ecchi - tease and titillation material.

Some shows may have designated fanservice characters; characters who, even if they are main characters and/or otherwise complex (as in, they have a role beyond fanservice), can always be found in a fanservice situation. Some shows, especially American shows, have characters for both male and female fanservice.

Exactly how much fanservice makes its way into a series can depend on what channel a show is broadcast, but with the advent of series on DVD, this can be subverted with liberal application of Censor Steam.

More literally, fanservice also consists of things designed to please longtime dedicated fans: Shout Outs, Omake, in-jokes, etc. Moe Moe is also a kind of fanservice.

While some fanservice can increase the appeal of a show, too much fanservice can become very distracting and in some cases, put viewers off completely.

Sub Tropes:

Usually Non-sexual:

See also Schoolgirl Lesbians, Yaoi Guys, Shallow Female Love Interest, Theiss Titillation Theory (for some of the basic principle behind fanservice), Fetish Fuel.
Examples:

Anime
  • In Azumanga Daioh, some Lampshade Hanging when Yukari wears a bikini during the first summer break in the anime, saying "I'm going for a little more more fanservice this year. Check it out. Two times as much!" (Quoted from the English dub, but faithfully translated...)
  • Yoruichi's transformations in Bleach and the way she teases Ichigo are pure fanservice. Then we have Rangiku, who may as well be the Anthropomorphic Personification of fanservice.
  • Burn Up Excess was fanservice with a cop show added in.
  • Inverted in Busou Renkin, in which the effeminate Magnificent Bastard Papillon is often in a typical fanservice costume, nearly naked, or completely naked (complete with a Furo Scene).
  • In the non-sexual vein, the staff behind Code Geass has intimated that fan response incited them into expanding the role of one character as the series progressed. And of course, there's the rather well-endowed Kallen Stadtfeld, who commonly wears tight outfits and was featured in no less than two shower scenes. In a similar vein, the character C.C. often has her rear end displayed prominently and slightly exaggerated in official art, part of the reason some fans call her "Pizza Butt". Other female characters may also provide their share of fanservice on occasion.
    • This◊ is a stellar example of non-sexual fanservice. Most fans have been wanting to do this to Suzaku for quite a while now.
  • Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop is notable for being fanservice incarnate. Well, perhaps that isn't fair. The character was intelligently written and the voice acting for her, either in English or Japanese, can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. But the manner in which she is drawn, and the manner in which she dresses, are so extreme that she brings Jessica Rabbit, from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, immediately to mind.
    • Particularly the episode "Ganymede Elegy," where she spends an entire scene wearing a (strapless) bikini and rubbing suntan lotion on herself.
  • The eighth episode of Excel Saga, "Increase Ratings Week", was essentially concentrated fanservice. At one point, it features a fanservice montage, rapidly fulfilling every possible taste in fanservice: Lolicon, Meganekko, nurses, flight attendants...
  • On Fullmetal Alchemist, Roy Mustang says that if he becomes Fuhrer, he'll make all the females in the State military wear tiny miniskirts (this, unfortunately, never happens). Winry's dress sense and her almost exclusive presence in one version of the ending credits still come close to fanservice.
  • Get Backers: The entire basis of HEVN's character. Also, Himiko gets all her clothes ripped off about five times per arc.
    • When the Divine Design arc came around, the artist felt that HEVN alone wasn't busty enough to counteract the darker points of the story line, and so created Maria Noches, whose bust is bigger and clothes are even skimpier. And we'd be here all day if we tried to count all the half- and entirely naked women and panty shots in the Eternal Bond arc. Basically, if there's even the slightest opportunity for fanservice in this series, it will be taken.
  • Through most of the Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex series, Major Motoko Kusanagi fights terrorism in high-tech catsuits, and spends her off hours in what resembles a bulletproof teddy and stockings.
  • Girls Bravo is loaded with enough fanservice to make even the most prudish monk jump with joy.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima, at least the manga version, has many bath scenes, as well as Negi's sneezing causing an uncontrollable magical wind that flips up (and sometimes shreds) any skirt in the vicinity. Not to mention more Clothing Damage than you can shake a stick at, If You Know What I Mean.
    • The latest manga arc has a magically-aged-up, completely naked Negi fainting from his injuries... on top of a student with a massive crush on him.
    • Realize, this is Ken Akamatsu's trademark; he wrote Love Hina, and that is arguably worse than Negima at times when it comes to Fanservice. Each of the students in Negi's class fits a different trope in anime, including a pair of obviously lolicon twins. It would be faster to list all the fanservice tropes he missed...
    • As memory serves, at least part of the fanservice in Negima is editorially mandated - he wanted to do a more action-orientated manga, but was told to capitalize on Love Hina's success. Of course, this is probably only partially, and it's arguable that's he's got his action series by now...
  • Men aren't exempt from shower scenes, beach episodes, and having clothes ripped apart by attacks - just ask Kaito of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.
  • The sixth ending of Naruto. Just... watch it. Then of course there's the dog suits in the twelfth.
    • Also, Naruto's "Sexy no Jutsu".
      • Kishimoto also believes in equal opportunity fan service as a "Yaoi no Jutsu" is used to distract Sakura in the manga.
  • Misato Katsuragi and her off-duty clothes in Neon Genesis Evangelion. For that matter, some of the stuff she wears on-duty qualifies too. She herself mentions it in many a Post Episode Trailer.
  • Ranma's frequent topless excursions as a girl in Ranma 1/2. Some fanservice is also served up by various female members of the cast, particularly Kodachi Kuno.
    • The cursed forms of Shampoo (female, cat), Mousse (male, duck), and Ryouga (male, piglet) all meant that they would appear naked once they change back to their human forms. (Most viewers only cared about Shampoo, though, who would get generous opportunities for full frontal nudity.)
  • Soukou No Strain, especially episode 7, which until the very last scene seems to serve no purpose besides keeping the fanboys interested.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh has the character Mai Valentine who serves little purpose early on other than fanservice. This is parodied (just like everything else) in Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series.
    • There's also the scene where Tea (Anzu Masaki in the original Japanese) dances at the arcade, which features close-ups of her hips and chest in a skimpy outfit. What it's doing in a children's cartoon, God only knows ...
  • During an April Fool's joke schedule, Adult Swim played commercial bumpers that were "Fan Service Moments", taken from Cowboy Bebop and FLCL, among others.
  • Fairymon/Kazemon and Shutumon/Zephyrmon in Digimon Frontier, and to a lesser extent, Sakuyamon, Lilymon and Angewomon. But the real winner is Digimon Savers. Rosemon alone would probably be enough, between her Transformation Sequence going out of its way to focus on her 'assets,' and her special technique having her briefly appear to be nude, but there's also a certain animation team in the rotation that really goes out of its way to 'enhance' the female characters.
    • This editor is pretty sure that whomever animated "The Crier Family Reunion" is a shibari fan. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it.
    • This troper would still give the crown to Zoe (who turns into the aforementioned Kazemon and Zephyrmon) rather than Rosemon. Besides her digimon forms' Stripperific appearances, Zoe also gets a Panty Shot in the Kazemon Transformation Sequence, and one of Kazemon's attacks is a butt-thrust called a "Love Tap" (though it was never acknowledged as a special attack in the English dub). And that's just stuff that made it overseas; the dub edited out a bikini image from the Beach Episode and some blatant ass shots from the Non Serial Movie (including a target's-eye view of the Love Tap).
  • Haruhi is constantly stripping Mikuru down and forcing her to cosplay in Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu; this of course means that Kyon, whom the camera follows, is constantly walking in on Mikuru in varying stages of (semi-)nudity.
  • The increase of Fanservice in the second season of Minami-ke actually resulted in the decline of the series' popularity.
  • The Prince of Tennis franchise, especially the anime, becomes more and more loaded with Bishonen, Ho Yay and Foe Yay fanservice to attract female viewers (as if all the music CD's weren't enough...). Even Takeshi Konomi, the author, seems quite aware of this; the Tezuka x Fuji subtext increases drastically during the semi-final and final matches (Fuji is shown to be practically obsessed with Tezuka, specially in his match against Niouy who pretty much hypnotizes him to believe he was playing Tezuka, and some fanservicey details from their anime-only duel are shown in the manga as well), and to poke fun at the yaoi fans he even comes up with a doubles pairing, Koharu Konjiki and Yuuji Hitouji from Shitenhouji, whose interactions between themselves and their rivals look like straight up parodies of several BL manga clichés.
    • And to throw a bone at the male viewers (yeah, they exist!), two words: Hanamura Aoi.
  • Puni Puni Poemi, the sequel to Excel Saga, plays this trope straight, subverts it, double subverts it, spoofs it and pokes it with a sharp stick, all the while actively deconstructing every single piece of fanservice known to man.
  • In Pokemon, many of Ash's female traveling companions have had their moments of fanservice (which have led to any number of "ships" with Ash). Dawn's gratuitously short skirt in the latest season comes to mind, while Misty's short shorts and midriff have been there since day one. May, on the other hand, when their group came up to a lake front, decided it'd be a good idea to go swimming, at which point she strips off all of her clothes (in front of Ash, Brock and her brother) revealing a green bikini underneath.
  • Vandread: A show about well-endowed stripperiffically clothed lesbian space pirates. The credits are borderline Ecchi.
  • Frequent scenes of various Bishonen showering or bathing makes one wonder about the intended demographics of Saint Seiya. And then there's the infamous Lizard Misty (male), who seems to exist only to take off all his clothes and have sun shining from between his legs to censor the naughty bits. (I kid you not.) Not to mention that most of the Silver Saints our heroes fight afterwards seem oddly bent on avenging Misty...
  • Yoko of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann wears a bikini top with hot pants and a scarf for practically the entire series.
  • In Ouran High School Host Club, the entire point of the Host Club is to provide male fanservice for the female students (and viewers).
  • Even Yotsuba&! has fanservice moments, notably chapter 12, "Yotsuba and the Pool", with Fuuka in a swimsuit, and tons of Lampshade Hanging from her, Mr. Koiwai and Jumbo.
    Fuuka: What is it? Are you captivated by my sexiness?
    Jumbo: Yeah
    Fuuka: (pause) Huh?
    • The fanservice is better in the obligatory Beach Episode, "Yotsuba & the Beach".
  • Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei frequently lampshades fanservice to the extreme. Kaere has at least one contractually obligated Panty Shot per episode, some times for no apparent reason. Harumi is a Yaoi Fangirl (She even makes "18+" Dōjinshi staring Itoshiki. Her favorite paring is Pine X Napple however, and some of her Dōjinshi can be seen in some episodes).
    • The Hot Springs Episode lampshades this, showing the entire female cast up to that point naked, (complete with humorous Censor Steam). There are even hints of a Yuri-esque relationship between Kiri and Ms. Chie the guidance counselor. They even bathe together at some point. It would be easier to name the characters who haven't been involved in some sort of fan service. (And even that would be hard, because nearly the entire main cast has.)
  • Kanokon. It's essentially hentai without the sex, and it gets pretty damn close to the sex. And the cake? Not a lie.◊
  • Ai Yori Aoshi wraps a rather sweet love story in a generous serving of fanservice.
  • Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome, being shonen Magical Girls anime series, have quite a few fanservicey moments, especially in the earlier episodes. In Mai-HiME, a few characters almost always do battle in their standard seifuku (no Transformation Sequences there, nope). Both manga versions, on the other hand, crank the fanservice up to eleven (the latter sometimes goes beyond even that).
  • Two Words: Oh! Great.
  • Two more words: Strike Witches.
  • For the fangirls: Battle Royale Volume 1. Hiroki. You know the panel.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, especialy in the first season, which had a quick Panty Shot in the opening, a Hot Springs Episode, and the frequently used exploding panties Transformation Sequence that puts a lot of focus on the underaged main character's body. Then the producers seemed to have noticed the Periphery Demographic, toned down these kinds of Fan Service in later seasons, while amping up other kinds of Fan Service for the Multiple Demographic Appeal.

Film
  • Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit certainly fits here. She was originally designed as a parody of the "Film Noir Broad".
  • In the Aeon Flux movie, Aeon spends her off hours wearing very little, even considering that it's supposed to be the future.
  • One could argue the recent movie 300 consists of nearly all passive fanservice, considering that both male and female Greek characters wear very little. This wouldn't be so egregious, except that historically, part of what made a Greek hoplite an effective warrior was his panoply, usually consisting of a hoplon shield, bronze helmet, bronze cuirass and a bronze greave on the most exposed leg. However, the Spartan soldiers spend the entire movie wearing essentially leather speedos and red velvet cloaks, and are very muscular, fit men. It's one of the few examples of a movie with more fanservice of male characters than of female characters. Note that this fanservice is actually toned down compared to the comic it was based on, which was itself toned down from most historical artistic representations of the Battle of Thermopylae (and warfare in antiquity in general), which generally portray everyone on both sides as stark naked with the exception of their weapons and (sometimes) footwear, making this one of The Oldest Ones In The Book. The only historical problem, of course, is that the Spartans were not dressed for work, as real, historical Spartans, male and female, only walked around naked in cloaks when not actually on a battlefield. In Plato's works, Socrates is fond of mocking Spartans for this pretension of simplicity as well as himself implying it was done for Fanservice.
    • Also note that, despite the male nudity, the real fanservice is the machismo that practically drips from it, skewing the movie's audience heavily towards men. (Gay, gay men and macho action fangirls, one would assume.)
  • A major example of the "Made for the long-time fans" variety of fanservice: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. If you have not seen everything show-related, you will be lost. The movie states this up-front; during the opening "Things not to do in the theater" musical number, one of the lines is "If you don't understand it, you shouldn't be here!"
  • The suiting-up sequence in Batman Returns ends with a lingering shot of the hero's rubber-clad buttocks. It's maybe two or three seconds long. Extraordinary.
  • This editor is rather surprised that Maurice Binder's (and his successor, Daniel Kleinman's) title sequences for the James Bond films haven't been mentioned. Casino Royale was an exception to the rule. He didn't actually do From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, the former of which is definitely in that vein (titles projected on a belly dancer).
    • The Bond films are chock full of it. Anya Amasova in the shower in The Spy Who Loved Me, the common pool scenes. In fairness, we ought to mention Daniel Craig in his swimming trunks in Casino Royale and Sean Connery in general.
  • Aversion: Red Eye, despite giving a fairly manufactured reason for Rachel McAdams to go into the bathroom to change her shirt, does not point the camera any lower than her armpits. The real purpose of the scene isn't to show off her feminine attributes (although that would be a fairly noble endeavor, this being Rachel McAdams), but to expose the large scar on her shoulder. It's plot-relevant.
  • Consider that every single Terminator movie opens up with a large, muscular man wearing no clothing popping up in the middle of nowhere, and the later installments include female Terminators as well.
  • Back in the days before the Internet, many a B Movie, expecially those produced by Roger Corman, would include a topless scene in order to entice male viewers to the theater. Another B-movie producer once famously described female nudity as "the cheapest special effect."
  • We haven't even mentioned Barbarella. Aside from inspiring the name for a band with videos laden with the stuff (DuranDuran), the opening sequence involves a twenty-something Jane Fonda. Taking it all off.
  • The film Wild Things is notable for going a bit further with the male fanservice than the female one. Female nudity is limited to toplessness (and then only two characters) and a girl-on-girl kiss, while we get a brief shot of a penis in a shower scene.

Live Action TV
  • The very common shots of scantily clad women in The Teaser for CSI Miami. Or for that matter, the entire wardrobes of Calleigh and Natalia.
  • Chuck - Sarah is constantly fighting in skimpier and skimpier outfits. One episode even had a punk kid take a picture of her as she was fighting, then boast how he was going to put it up on the internet.
  • Star Trek has had a number of incidents in the last few years to qualify as fanservice, most notably in the last two series.
    • Voyager's Seven Of Nine was pretty much solely created for this purpose, to bring in a younger demographic of male viewers. The skintight spandex helped.
    • Enterprise had a number of obligatory "decon gel" scenes where characters rubbed glistening gels all over each other, as well as a scene where Vulcan T'Pol undresses in front of engineer Trip, giving fans a revealing look at her backside and blatantly perky (erect?) nipples.
  • Las Vegas, of course; it's the show's raison d'etre. Mostly women but occasionally men as well.
  • Be it snake massages, body sushi, or toxic waste jacuzzis, Ripley's Believe Or Not managed to find some excuse to feature bikini-wearing girls at the very end of each episode.
  • The Terminator Spin Off The Sarah Connor Chronicles features several scenes where Cameron Phillips, the female bodyguard Terminator, is running around either naked or wearing very little clothing, usually due to time travel or not being aware that she's supposed to be wearing clothes.
  • Arguably, Firefly may have had some fanservice, mostly surrounding Inara's outfits and profession, as well as the psychotic seductress Saffron. And don't forget that the introduction to River involves her appearing naked in a box. (River is played by Summer Glau, the previously mentioned Cameron Phillips).
    • No mays or arguability here: Inara, spongebath. End of discussion.
    • There was also a mild form of for-the-fangirls fanservice in the final episode, where the pretty-boy (and surprisingly well-toned) Simon appears shirtless for a while. Writer Joss Whedon even acknowledges in the commentary that the female fans of the series would be rather happy about this scene.
      • This was tame compared to the unaired episode Trash which stripped Mal naked and plays Peek A Boo for the final few scenes.
  • Doctor Who has this as a Parental Bonus; although it usually skirts around nudity (but Harkness' bare back has appeared in the new series), even as far back as the 1970s series creators went quity skimpy on the girls' skirts. (And it goes without saying that most companions are female for one reason).
    • Third Doctor companion Jo Grant, self-declared Ditz, often has knee-level boots and quite short skirts.
    • Journey's End, the season 4 finale, has a naked Ten -- well, a clone of Ten. Sadly, we do not get a backside shot.
    • There hasn't yet, since the revival, been any Lingerie Scene with a female companion. Russell T Davies vetoed one with Freema Agyeman on grounds of inappropriateness.
    • Jenny. Just Jenny. Although that's more tight than revealing.
  • The Juggy dancers from The Man Show. "And now, girls jumping on trampolines!"
  • In season 2 of Heroes, Peter Petrelli loses his shirt at least once in almost every episode that he appears in. Sylar also has a rather contrived shirtless scene near the end of the season, but female fans were still pleased.
  • Smallville seems to be going very heavy in this direction. Look at the facts: both Ma and Pa Kent have left the show, and Pete Ross left a long time ago. Two of the replacements, Lois Lane and Kara, are often in swimwear, belly shirts or otherwise very revealing clothing. One of Lois' first episodes as a regular had her somehow going undercover as a stripper, which of course makes it onto the DVD release. I think it may have something to do with the actresses for Chloe and Lana being less willing to do such scenes.
  • The Supernatural boys are well-known for packing on the layers so you can imagine the joy when "In My Time of Dying" came along and Dean spent the entire episode in a nicely-fitting white t-shirt and blue scrub pants.
    • Sam's sex scene from Heart was all about this trope. But with the abs and the muscles and the hot explicitness of the entire thing, we're seriously not complaining.
    • And the bondage fans had a field day with Hunted - or more likely to be named the episode where Dean is the distressed damsel for the evening and spends most of his time bound and gagged.
    • The two Sexy Pans up Dean's legs in Phantom Traveller (naked and sleeping) and in Born Under A Bad Sign (clothed and unconscious) and the camera lovingly caressing his arse in both instances were only there to please his millions of fangirls/fanboys.
    • While admittedly filled with awesome moments, Born Under A Bad Sign didn't do all that much to further the plot. But you know it was all worth it when you see Jared Padalecki proving that evil is very, very, very sexy.
  • Battlestar Galactica (the new one), has a wonderful scene where Dr. Batlar is in the Cylon ship, he and the Cylon he's walking with walk past a "Boomer" Cylon (played by the ever beautiful Grace Park) doing Tai-chi naked in the hallway for no reason or explanation. But the reality is probably that it was a great way to have Grace Park doing Tai-chi naked in a hallway, and there is nothing wrong with this.
    • Which is not the first time for her. We saw a whole crowd of her clad only in Censor Steam as part of her Tomato In The Mirror reveal.
    • This particular Boomer started doing it for an audience of a particular Cavill in season 4. Which almost makes it Fan Disservice.
  • Brainiac Science Abuse does this rather often. Not counting the Brainiac Babes, there's several other examples out there, such as the Double Entendre-laden "Professor Myang Lee" (Rachel Grant) things involving the dropping of fruit into swimming pools by said bikini-clad "Professor" and to top it all off, they once did an experiment on the heart rate changes induced by having topless women present.
  • Dirty Sexy Money appears to be solely built on this trope. Most of the female characters seem to appear wandering around in underwear or bikinis for no adequately explained reason. For maximum Fan Service points though, note that Patrick Darling's Transsexual love interest (played by a real-life transgender actress) is not the recipient of this kind of treatment, and is usually shot in a generally unflattering way.
  • House has Dr. Lisa Cuddy, who often wears low-cut tops (which are commented on by House in his usual manner). However, the episode "House's Head" went beyond that when House, who needed to remember something he saw in a bus crash, went into a sensory deprivation tank and had a hallucination of the bus with Cuddy there. In a schoolgirl outfit. Stripping. To be fair, this was in House's mind and she was doing a differential diagnosis while stripping. And then stopped stripping in a huff when House got more interested in the diagnosis than her performance.
  • How To Look Good Naked is a show where women are helped to feel more confident about their bodies and have their outfits improved by fashion expert Gok Wan. They get naked. In public. Then again, the audiences are women and Gok Wan is gay, but there's no such restrictions on the viewing public...
  • The second page quote is from Niamh Perry (aka Goth Nancy), from I'd Do Anything. During a comedy "mission", her joke fell flatter than a hedgehog after a steamrollering. She made said comment, lifted up her dress Can-Can style and left the stage.
  • From season 2 onwards, there's been a gradual increase in the amount of fanservice in lonelygirl15, with Jonas appearing shirtless on a regular basis, occasionally without explanation, and Sarah revealing so much cleavage that some fans actually complained. If that wasn't enough, there are also episodes such as "Backyard Bikini Patrol" which is exactly what it sounds like. And the least said about "Girl Tied Up", the better.
  • Lost takes any excuse to remove the shirts of its male characters, especially Sawyer. A swim he takes in the fourth season finale apparently knocks his shirt right off.

Western Animation
  • The co-creators of Avatar The Last Airbender referred to their chibi-short tribute to the show's Shipping phenomenon as "fanservice". With its obvious detachment from the main storyline and nicely animated comedic anime effects (all subsequent to the downcast ending of the finale), the short was almost unanimously well-received by both shippers and non-shippers alike.
  • Almost any interaction between Kim and Shego in the more recent episodes of Kim Possible. This culminated in the Season 4 episode "Stop Team Go", which showcases Kim and Shego as what fans dream of, good friends... and also retained this scene◊. To no surprise, it became one of the series' most popular episodes. Make note that the producers have demonstrated with great regularity they are very aware of, not to mention responsive to, their fervent fan base.
    • Also, another episode had them actually fight in a mud bath.
    • For that matter, Shego on her own seems to be quite fond of showing off - one piece, always - bathing suits. Of course, being the only recurring female character that's not a minor, someone's mom, or very obese helps.
  • Probably the only reason Totally Spies survived as long as it did was all the fanservice and Fetish Fuel.
  • Periodically and openly illustrated to be the whole point of Foxxy and Clara on Drawn Together. Well, that and making fun of blacks and Catholics, or at best the stereotypes thereof, or somethin'.
    • Actually, Foxxy is pretty much the show's go-to character for fanservice. The only times Clara is really used for fanservice is when they want to create lesbian moments for Foxxy.
  • Every major (and a couple of minor) character on Futurama has appeared totally nude one at least one occasion. However, some of these appearances could be considered Fan Disservice given that this list includes The Professor, Hermes, and, yes, Zoidberg (which in his case also means shell-less).
    • Bender's Big Score even came with an ad for a nude beach volleyball poster featuring the show's cast, and they joked on the DVD Commentary that they were going to ramp up the nudity levels.
  • Grown-up AndrAIa and Matrix (grown-up Enzo) in ReBoot season 3 and 4. "Ok, adult viewers, male and female, we're no longer constrained by ABC's BS&P department - here are your rewards for your support!" Not that Bob, Dot, Mouse, and Ray Tracer don't have their share of fans.
  • Code Lyoko has liberal fanservice of both amounts. In terms of the more popular definition, nearly all main characters of both genders have been seen in underwear, towels, and swimsuits, and some have even had shower/bath scenes, ableit with the Censor Steam. A bit unusual...especially for an action show aimed at the 6-12 demographic. Oh, and did we mention that none of it is cut in the English dub?
    • The sound effects that the characters make when running through Lyoko doesn't exactly help this either.

Webcomics
  • This RPG World comic hangs a lampshade on it. (note the title of the strip)
  • Despite the fact it isn't heavy on this kind of content, El Goonish Shive has been guilty of providing fanservice of female characters (referred to as "cheesecake" within the fandom) from time to time, especially in fillers. This (filler) strip is probably the most blatant example. The main storyline of the comic actually contains very little fanservice, especially when compared to many other webcomics. However, there are a few instances featuring beefcake (the male version) as well. Considering the author is male, this makes a reasonable balance.
  • Girl Genius is guilty of many, many gratuitous Agatha-in-her-underwear scenes the comic, as well as selling calendar posters of the popular male and female characters taking baths.
    • In keeping with the setting, it is Victorian-era underwear, so a good deal less is revealed than would otherwise be the case.
    • Bangladesh Dupree got a nude (if minimally revealing) calendar.
    • They also showed they were equal oportunity by having several pages featuring Gil wearing nothing more than a few bandages and a blanket... that is after he was reminded of his au-natural state.
  • The Order Of The Stick prequel book Origins of the PCs lampshades this (along with just about everything else) with a gratuitious bath scene involving Haley. Aside from the fact that this is fanservice involving stick figures, Haley outright complains that they can't get a good fanservice scene when she is interrupted in mid-bath.
    • For a more straight example of the trope from OOTS, Haley's counterpart Sabine is particularly bad at this, one time spending a lengthy battle sequence wearing a schoolgirl costume-despite being a shapeshifter who could change her clothes into something more appropriate with a thought. This is lampshaded by explaining that she's doing it so that her boyfriend Nale will be aroused by the sight of her killing the hero in said outfit.
  • Another Lampshade (especially for the ladies) happens in this Loserz strip.
  • If you were not yet convinced that TwoKinds is fanservice, this strip will remove any doubts.
  • Misfile has plenty of it. Particularly noteworthy is this sequence which runs for seventeen pages.

Video Games
  • Two words: Lara. Croft. She's the archetypal Third Person Seductress.
  • The entire Dead Or Alive series. In particular, the beach volleyball game wouldn't exist in this world if not for pleasing the Spirits of Fanservice.
  • To a lesser extent, the Metroid series. Depending on how fast you complete the game, Samus will be shown in nothing more than a bikini. While this served a certain purpose in the first game (which misleads you to think Samus is a male, see Samus Is A Girl), it somewhat borders on fanservice in the later games where it's more obvious that Samus is a female.
  • The Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney series uses some (partly justified) fanservice when skinny little spirit channeler Maya Fay occasionally transforms into her voluptous sister Mia... while still wearing skinny little Maya's outfit. (And it still covers more than it should.) Phoenix takes advantage of this on occasion; it's amazing how some witnesses respond better to the woman with the impressive bosom than to the porcupine-headed lawyer.
    • In later games, when Maya's cousin Pearl, who is eight years old, occasionally summons Mia, this gets downright Stripperiffic.
      • Notably, In these moments, Mia is always conveniently angled or posed so that the player never actually sees her outrageous cleavage.
  • This.
  • In a non-sexual example, fighting and destroying 343 Guilty Spark in Halo 3 could be considered more fanservice than boss battle.
  • Super Robot Wars Original Generation series will occasionally have a scene where the cast goes to the beach or the pool for no other reason than just showing off the females in skimpy outfits.
  • Another non-sexual example would be the entirety of the Super Smash Bros series, particularly after they introduced the trophies in Melee, allowing them to pay homage to games and characters who aren't playable.
    • Though This Troper was under the impression that certain "camera angles" and the addition of Zero Suit Samus were... shall we say... gratuitous in certain cases.
  • The Metal Gear Solid series provides plenty of male fanservice mixed with Ho Yay.
    • Of course, it also has plenty of female fanservice. EVA, I'm looking at you.
      • Hell, who isn't? For this (female! straight!) troper, it was all about the Boss's big ol' scars, but they're only visible for that one scene. Also, couldn't you have just said they were there and not had to show us?
  • Jill Valentine's appearance in Resident Evil 3 (and subsequently transferred to Resident Evil: Apocalypse) is an oft-cited example. Most female characters in the Resident Evil series are appropriately dressed, and Jill spends the first game wearing a military uniform, but shows up for the third installment wearing a tubetop and miniskirt for no plot-related reason.
  • Final Fantasy X-2 has one of the most glaringly obvious examples of deliberate Fan Service at Mount Gagazet. To paraphrase Rikku, "Oh look: inexplicable hot springs at the top of a mountain of snow and cold water! What a great opportunity to wrestle each other in our bikinis and show off for the Hypello". Come on. It only starts to get just a little creepy when you install a hidden security camera at the hot springs and then are required for One Hundred Percent Completion to watch all the important characters bathe.
    • Which is why it's doubly hilarious that Rikku's "fanservice" costume is much dowdier than most of her dresspheres (yes I'm looking at you Lady Luck).
    • Speaking of Final Fantasy, this editor believes that the additional battle against Algus/Argath in the PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics count as a non-sexual Fanservice. Because, well he's a massive Jerkass and one of the most hated characters in video games, one may think killing him once is not enough...
  • Ar tonelico is filled with this. The game puts each of the three main females into several costumes, including schoolgirl uniforms, demons, waitress outfits, and bath towels. Not even the Big Bad is safe from this. She's entirely naked and covered only by her hair. And let's not even get into all the