The Spear Counterpart of Ms. Fanservice, Mr. Fanservice provides similar eye candy for viewers who are into men. It can be an effective way to bring in female viewers, even in a series directed towards males.
In order for a guy to qualify as Mr. Fanservice, just being attractive isn't enough. He needs to be shown in scenes intended as sexual fanservice. He can have anything between muscular limbs, broad shoulders and/or sculpted abs (between six-packs and eight-packs). The muscles can be either lean or chiseled; as long as you can see them, they count. He may also have long hair though it's not required. Most of the time, he has medium length hair, a swimmer's build, a smooth chiseled chest, washboard abs and no shirt on. However, if he's wearing a shirt, it's usually sleeveless or left totally unbuttoned.
He tends to be subjected to at least one Shirtless Scene, or he can take it a step further by deciding to forgo a shirt all the time—though a Mr. Fanservice can also have zero shirtless scenes. In the Beach Episode his choice of swimwear is likely to be a speedo (AKA swim briefs). Just like his aforementioned counterpart, he can wear tight clothing, which shows off his body without baring skin. He may wear a midriff-baring shirt, but it's rare because Bare Midriffs Are Feminine. He can wear anything (or nothing, that works too), as long as these clothes accentuate or reveal his muscles. In an action-driven story, glimpses of his physical assets may also be accomplished via clothing damage. If he wears some sort of skirt-like garment the female fans will be prone to ask if he wears anything underneath it. He can also gender invert the Reluctant Fanservice Girl, Shameless Fanservice Girl, and Innocent Fanservice Girl tropes.
An especially easy way to show off his figure would be through the Workout Fanservice, where he flexes his muscles via exercising. Hot Men at Work is when Mr. Fanservice is, well, at work, but distinctly lacking a shirt, regardless of health and safety issues. Bonus points if he's The Charmer. If he wears small underwear, you have Briefs Boasting.
It should be noted that the trope is not necessarily restricted to Hunk type characters either. Bishōnen and pretty boys can easily qualify as well, and are often intended as fanservice too (particularly in manga and anime, where they are rather common and video games, where they are not as common with some notable exceptions). A rarer type of the pretty boy subseries is the Biseinen - a Hunk but with the pretty face of a Bishonen. Biseinen are often unemotional but can still appear in comedic situations which can overlap with the gender-inverted Reluctant Fanservice Girl.
Either way, the camera seems to have the hots for him, and the viewing audience is expected to feel the same way. While the way a Mr. Fanservice is presented often comes across as sexist, there is nothing inherently wrong with the trope itself; the real trick is to give him a genuine, fleshed-out personality beyond being eye candy, instead of having him exist solely as a Flat Character. (Besides, being "flat" usually doesn't fit this type of character.) If the Mr. Fanservice has a particularly cruel personality (usually a villain), he also qualifies for Fan Disservice.
Because Most Writers Are Male who believe the majority of their audiences are also male, Mr. Fanservice is subjected to multiple Double Standard tropes in his favor compared to his female counterpart; he isn't subjected to as much scrutiny from the Moral Guardians who believe that All Men Are Perverts but not that All Women Are Lustful (neither generalization is true), and he tends to avoid falling victim to Best Known for the Fanservice. However, in recent years more people have at least become aware that a sexually appealing woman is no more or less problematic than a sexually appealing man, in fiction.
See also Eating the Eye Candy, Cast Full of Pretty Boys, and Bishōnen Jump Syndrome which can sometimes be the reason for its existence.
Example subpages:
- Advertising
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Films — Animation
- Films — Live-Action
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Music
- Pro Wrestling
- Tabletop Games
- Video Games
- Webcomics
- Web Original
- Western Animation
Other examples:
- The Bolt Chronicles: An in-universe example occurs in "The Baseball Game," by which time Bolt and Mittens have become a romantic couple. When Penny dresses the dog in a baseball cap and jersey, Mittens finds him even more attractive than usual — sufficiently so that she comes on strongly to Bolt and they dash off for a lovemaking session.
Mittens: Y’know, they're right. There really is something about a guy in uniform, isn't there?
- A Dance on the Mats: Anon is described as being made of muscle, due to being a trained and skilled fighter. Applejack at one point muses that Rainbow loses her friendly spars with Anon because she was distracted by his muscles.
- In Euro Spy, we have a very handsome Hungarian spy named Gabor. He attracts many girls.
- The author of Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità
sure went out of her way to describe Italy dressed as Sailor Moon.
- In My Huntsman Academia, Izuku's toned and cut muscles (which are frequently covered up by his choice of clothing) are frequently discussed among his female friends. His chiseled six-pack abs get special attention, but he's also said to have solid pecs, bulging arms, and a nice tush that you wouldn't expect from a mousy guy like him. At one point, he decides to prank Yang by flashing his abs at her in a photo booth, only to find that she's utterly mesmerized by them until he snaps her out of it. Yang even brings this up when Team MNVW and Team TABY ask her to stop staring at Izuku so much.
Yang: Okay, fair, but can any of you actually blame me? [all the girls go silent and Yang nods approvingly]
- Vale's Underground:
- Lie Ren gets a rather detailed description of what he looks like when he's wearing only boxer briefs. And Nora says she likes it because it helps "advertise the merchandise" — said "merchandise" is noted to be eight inches (something the writer admits isn't really relevant to the plot but couldn't help but admit).
- Mercury Black gets a bit of this as well. His described muscular figure and his apparent status as a Sex God certainly help with that.
- Sun Wukong still reprises his role as this in canon after Chapter 18. When he visits Yang, she is practically drooling over the sight of his abs.
- Photogenic young Congressman Aaron Schock seemed on a meteoric rise on being elected to represent Illinois's 18th district in 2008. The youngest member of the House, Schock drew attention for a spate of proposed legislation, prominent opposition to the 2009 bailout, and widely-circulated photographs of his premium six-pack abs and generally Congressman-atypical physique. His status as politician of the future derailed dramatically in 2014 when he was accused of misappropriating public and campaign funds for lavish trips and events. He resigned in 2015, was indicted in 2016 by a federal grand jury, and eventually agreed to a suspension of charges in exchange for good behavior and $100,000 in restitution. (His reputation as an arch-conservative, anti-LGBTQ crusader took a further hit in March 2020 when he finally came out as gay after years of rumors Schock had previously adamantly denied.)
- Mostly averted by Schock's contemporary, House Speaker Paul Ryan. Though a fitness obsessive known for championing the P90X body-sculpting workout, fanservice-y photographs of the Congressman were not a major phenomenon while he was in office.
- Because there are strict limits on how much bare skin may be exposed during a figure skating competition, the deep V-neck on Nicolas Nadeau's Elvis Presley costume is about as sexy as it can get for male figure skaters. You can even see his chest hairs while he's waiting for his score in the kiss & cry. The revealing part of his outfit is based on Elvis Presley's fashion sense and it reflects that the King of Rock 'n' Roll was a sex symbol. Not surprisingly, Nadeau himself would be regarded as one of the hunkiest men's singles skaters in the sport after this performance. He's not obligated to show off his muscular arms and shoulders during his "I Was Made for Lovin' You" exhibition number, but he's happy to provide eye candy.
- Male gymnasts often promote themselves this way, officially or otherwise. Since men's gymnastics place great emphasis on upper body strength, male gymnasts tend to be quite ripped, and they're not above showing it off with shirtless pics on social media, especially since gymnastics is one of the few sports where the men receive far less attention (including sponsors and endorsement deals) than the women.
- Rugby players, particularly those from Wales and South Africa, frequently love to demonstrate their sculpted physiques.
- The second act of A Very Potter Musical gives us Voldemort in nothing but tights, tap shoes, and a cape. His actor, Joe Walker, in general, is Mr. Fanservice.
- Higurashi: When They Cry: Keiichi. Aside from his various… interesting (and quite exploitative) outfits, he gets a now-quite-infamous Guy on Guy Is Hot scene between him and Satoshi in the Kira OVA, which is drooled over In-Universe by the female cast. Apparently, his dad is also one in the manga.
- Minotaur Hotel: Once he's fully healed, Asterion is a big muscular bull-man that you can see naked whenever you're deciding his clothes, and although he cannot wander the hotel naked, he's willing (or not) to wear some more fanservice-y outfits later on in the game. Luke and Storm are also no slouches in that department.
