Why would nudity used in a piece of work?

I've read and watched my share of Shounen/Seinen, and surprisingly there was a good amount of nudity, not only female but male too. Out of curiosity, I'd like to know what why male is used if the targeted demographic are male (though I'm sure part of that demographic is female as well). One prominent example would be from Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru (Link is NSFW).

Side question: why would be there be homoerotic subtext in a story? Examples 1 and 2 are from KSKM.

Short answer: why not?

Long answer: Different standards.

I don't watch a lot of anime or know much about Japan, but eroticism is not the only reason to have nudity in a work, you know.

There are plenty of reasons to have nudity in a work; one of the biggest ones is...well, the characters being naked. Sometimes it is more realistic to show rather than to censor. This was more common in movies from the 1970s than it is today, I've noticed. Also, I've seen a good many European works with occasional nudity that looked like it was more accidental than intentional. Censoring naked bodies "just because" while including situations where people are naked seems to be mostly a Hollywood thing. Just look at the origins of most of our censorship tropes.

In other words, as someone else put it earlier in the thread...why not? I'd rather have nudity than bloodshed.

Yeah, sometimes, interesting, plot-relevant things happen when characters just aren't wearing much. For instance, let's look at baths and showers. Washing yourself is often the point at which you're most vulnerable, so they're a good time for an assassination (a surprising number of Roman emperors got killed in the bath), there's the symbolic Shower of Angst, and in certain cultures, like ancient Rome and modern Japan, communal bathing is a significant social activity, a time to chat with your friends and negotiate with fellow businessmen, so there's lots of stuff that can build from that.

For eroticised nudity, meanwhile, you have to take into account Multiple Demographic Appeal. Yaoi fangirls have money too, so it'd be a shame to exclude them.

edited 3rd Dec '12 11:55:12 AM by Iaculus

Another reason, I think, is symbolism. If you're trying to make a scene resemble a 'birth', for example, it makes sense for the person to be naked.

And sometimes it makes sense. For example, if I turn into a giant monkey, and my clothes disappear...

Now that's funny. :)

Here's another thought that gets brought up occasionally when discussing video games; sometimes attractive males are used not so much as fanservice, but more as wish fulfillment for the male audience who wants to imagine looking like that. I haven't seen enough Shounen to know if that's applicable in this case, but it's a possibility to consider.

Not the case for me. I try not to make attractive male characters for fear that I'll develop man crushes on them. :-P

edited 3rd Dec '12 6:23:57 PM by Twentington

Why?

• To show that a character is Closer to Earth

• A character has an imagine spot where they feel vulnerable and powerless.

• A character is from a culture where nudity is no big deal among friends and family, i.e. innocent fanservice girl and shameless fanservice girl

• In some cases it can symbolize purity. A character is naked because they are "pure" and "innocent" (or think they are).

Because it's a scene in the privacy of someone's home and they have no nudity taboo? Or plain doesn't like being restricted by (or feels no need for) clothes.

Maybe that's how they sleep and they're getting up or going to bed.

Not everyone views nudity as inherently sexual. I certainly don't - "revealing" clothes that hint at the bits left covered can be far more sexy than a woman just wandering around naked. I suspect that those who prefer men find certain styles of clothing more sexy than a nude man.

It's a natural state and if portraying people who're comfortable with that natural state, they'd be in it at least some of the time. Frankly, more shows/movies should depict men and women naked and relaxed about it without playing it for laughs or sex.

In Japanese culture, the state of nudity can also mean innocence. Just saying.

Hardly just Japanese culture. Nudity symbolising innocence and vulnerability is a thing over here, too.

To elaborate and emphasize human beauty/sexuality and etc etc? Senein demography is a great medium for that.

See also the logic behind Full-Frontal Assault: Nudity can be shocking or threatening. (Particularly in the context of one of those links up top.)

edited 4th Dec '12 1:46:15 PM by Night

Males can also be non-heterosexual too, you know.

@Collen: well, yes. But male nudity can be used in a non-sexual capacity. It's all in the presentation, really.

In addition to all the reasons listed above: nudity can be creepy (as in Full-Frontal Assault). For example, in Terry Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant, Wolfgang's nudism hints at his anti-civilisation and pseudo-fascist mindset. (Yes, he's also a werewolf, but pretty much all the other werewolves in the book wear clothes when in human form.)

It's one way to make a character ever so slightly uncanny: for human cultures, clothes equal civilisation. A character who lives in the middle of a clothed culture but disdains to wear clothes comes off as something separate from humanity.

Nudity can also be used for visual exposition—a hidden scar or tattoo, or a gender reveal.

Good points! I especially did not remember the gender reveal. They use that in the movie Dragonslayer to great effect.

In Bruce Almighty there's a scene where Bruce and God are talking in heaven, and Bruce's clothes have turned pure white. In the commentary, the filmmakers say they considered playing the scene naked for an even stronger purification symbolism, but decided it was too distracting.

In one of the John the Eunuch books (set in Byzantium), a naive young noblewoman has developed a crush on John because he's gentle and nonthreatening (and more handsome than most.) Towards the end of the book, circumstances including violence at the public baths allow her to see John naked, and she learns that "eunuch" does not mean Barbie Doll Anatomy. She fails this test of character, to John's relief.

edited 6th Dec '12 5:53:28 AM by SKJAM

I honestly hope I didn't come off as a jackass or a prude. It was just a thought and I was rather curious.

Because my characters are all part yapok and can tuck their junk into a pouch.