❗Keep in mind that all of this is written while I'm on episode ~370 i.e. Thriller Bark arc, pre time skip, so that is the material I'm working with and what I've taken notice of as i was watching❗
I want to preface this by saying that i have a pretty high fanservice tolerance. one of my childhood favourites was fairy tail, so i got used to it quite early on.
The main issue i see with OP is that it has its own, weird, creepy type of fanservice compared to what you'd expect to see while consuming literally any Japanese media.
What i mean is, when someone says fanservice, the first thing that pops into your mind is the image of an girl with crazy bodily propotions and jiggle physics and an unnecessary amount of boob or ass close ups, paired with an absurdly skimpy outfit, but in OP the way they go around fanservice is entirely different.
In OP, the main focus is shifted from sexualising the female body itself(except, of course for the absurd hourglass figures and provocative positions that the girls are often put into) and more onto how the males around them precieve and react to said body.
e.g. during thriller bark one of the main plotlines is Absalom kidnapping Nami as his bride and Sanji going to save her. it's a VERY fanservice heavy arc and it's what made me want to write this rant post to begin with, as it's way more intense than anything shown before.
I have two main issues with this plot line
The bathroom scene (Ep. 341)
Sanji's "dream" (Ep. 359)
1. Felt genuine anxiety watching that scene. Literally came out of nowhere, went on for an uncomfortably long amount of time and was played off for jokes. the way it started is deadass how grotesque rape scenes begin in shitty thrillers and revenge movies, and the music that plays during that scene only intensified that feeling. Chopper and Usopp were right there and not only did fuck all to help but also didn't believe her?? claiming invisible men.... don't... exist??? You've been on so many adventures, live in a world were people have DEVIL FRUIT POWERS and currently are literally on an island full of ghosts and zombies but you draw the line at invisibility? +The whole weird joke of Usopp thanking(??) Nami after seeing her naked as if she didn't call you for rescue??
2. So along with daring to touch his dear Nami, Sanji also hates Absalom because he stole the devil fruit of his dreams, and hear this!! he swore that he would find it so he could become invisible to peek on nude girls. And that's like so icky??? i could write an entire separate essay on how playing too much into this pervert shtick has slowly but surely ruined Sanji's character but that's a conversation for another day.
Now, your could take these instances and say that they don't sound too bad, but i want to highlight that before Thriller Bark, the most fanservice we got was a 2 second blush and an off handed comment made by a side character or Sanji's antics. But most of Sanji jokes are very spaced out and diluted by the fights and the distance between him and all the girls as the crew often lose sight of one another. So the most you'd get up until now are Sanji's heart eyes every 2 episodes. The most extreme thing i could think of that has happened up until now, is the baths(Oda seems to have a fetish of peeping on bathing women specifically) in Arabasta, after they have saved the day and were resting. dk what episode it was but Sanji almost immediately asked where the ladies were and when told that they were over the wall, everyone(except Zoro may i add!! my respectful gay king) climbed the wall to peek, but Nami HERSELF opened her towel and "gave them a peek", saying that it would cost them a shitload of barries tho, so as obviously creepy as everyone including a grown ass man who raised Vivi and the king himself aka Vivi's literal father peeking over the wall where she might be naked is incredible weird, as well as the whole act and thought of peeking being creepy, it's nowhere as intense and uncomfortable to watch as anything going on in Thriller Bark.
Before all this i was fine with the fanservice in OP because as long as the girls had their own destinct personalities, dreams, aspirations etc. and weren't cardboard waifu stands there JUST to be thirsted over, i would be fine. i would accept Sanji's occasional weird comments and their waists shrinking with geometrical progression, but i can't accept literal sexual assault being played off for laughs?? and every time i see anyone talk about the fanservice, all the anibros crawl out of their hole to say "well what do u expect its shonen its for middle school boys and sex sells and dont like dont watch" like first of all yea ik that it's shonen and for middle school boys and i don't think you should be desensitizing middle schoolers to an already prevelant problem in Japan and also all over the world. The whole sex sells thing is so incorrect because guess what's literally one of the most popular and well received, loved and adored shonens of our time? Attack on titan. and guess what AOT doesn't have even a smidge of? Fanservice.
I've seen a lot lf people say that it only gets worse from there, especially after the time skip, but i can't yet comment on that as i haven't gotten there, so this post may get edited later idk. As long as the girls retain their personality and they don't entirely ruin Sanji's character for me, I think I'll keep watching, but if it truly does get as bad as some people say, i might just take the anibro advice and drop ts to protect my peace.
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