Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Bad A** Sex Object

They have the looks. They have the guns. They can kick some serious butt and look damn awesome while doing it. Prone to fanservice but it doesn't stop the fact that they can most likely kick the butt of any fanboy. She may be a bit cold at first but eventually she becomes a much loved character for more then one reason. They are smoking hot. They are the....

*Bad A** Sex Object

So what is the Bad A** Sex Object? They are quiet easy to spot. Still I let my good buddy Jammer to give a good definition since he brought up this character type.
"She's hot, has big boobs (Possibly small if it's more of a loli show), and can kick ass. She's cool, likable, vibrant, and usually the victim of fan service."
-Jammer of Jammer's AniMovie Blog
And the fanservice part is why I am bring up the Bad A** Sex Object up. These characters are more then just very pretty girls that could be called 'sex objects'. They are girls (and guys sometimes) that can literally kick butt. So they are actually pretty well rounded characters but just look so damn sexy.

Still the thing is that these characters tend to be the target of fanservice. This tend to always happen in the most unappropriated moments too. May it be during a fight or just when they are being serious.

As seen in the image above of Yoko (Gurren Lagann), she does have the skills as mention before but sometimes the girl just finds herself in these little moments. To tell the truth I hadn't notice this until this character type was brought up and even then I needed an example. Yoko is a great character. She is outgoing, strong and very involve with the story. Heck the girl has some horrible luck with guys (That is a different story.) but overall she does females justice. It just that the girl finds herself in positions that are kind of awkward for her body and later on in the series in outfits that are kind of out there...

Still how about we take the time to see one of the things that this character type tends to have all the time, fan service. 

Above we have Ezra (Fairy Tail) and she clearly can kick butt. Heck the girl kicks butt when she isn't kicking butt. The problem as you can see that she like most people under the Bad A** Sex Object provides fanservice but not just any type of fanservice, she provide Subtle Fanservice. This type of fanservice is something that you may not notice and if you do it is because you just notice it out of random and never made a big deal during the show.

Most of Ezra's armor changes features her revealing a lot of skin and as you see above a nice shot of her bust. Still the girl looks kick a** and this is only from the opening theme. haha The girl isn't doing it on purpose, it just how her armor is so she has no control over that. Ezra is a very serious character too and doesn't take crud from anyone and I am sure if somebody does stare at her in this outfit then she most likely would make sure they won't stare at her anymore. That is just how she is. Subtle Fanservice: Never pointed out, always noticed.

Then we have Maya Natsume (Tenjho Tenge) which is on the other side of the coin that I am using to discuss the fanservice that Bad A** Sex Objects tend to fall victim to. The Obvious Fanservice, the type where not only do you know but the character(s) know too. Maya has no problem flaunting what she has and it is made even worse with her little technique to take the form of an eight year old and then reverting back to her normal age with the same clothing she wore in her little girl form. Just take look at the image above to get my point.

Still the girl can kick but and you know what, she can pull in the fans with all the cleavage she shows so that is killing two birds with one stone.

This then adds to the fact that Bad A** Sex Object pushes the image that girls have to be heavy endowed (and if you want me to use English terms then it means they have big boobs). Something that most people tend to think of when they think about girls in anime. They have that tiny waist and huge chest which is something that most guys would like to have as a girlfriend. Guys kind of then get it set in their minds that the best girls are the ones that look like this and if they can be tough then that is a bonus. It just one of those things help set up what we think about the outside world. Sounds ridiculous but there are people who would go around in life thinking that. Most guys dream of having that super model girlfriend and it kind of because we see girls like this in anime. Then if you want to take it to the female side, there could be girls out there that feel like they need to look like this so they could get the guy's attention. I don't think so but it is possible I think. (Though most likely impossible to reach.)

The thing that Yoko, Ezra and Maya share is the same thing that The Cheerleaders fall victim to which is that it depends on how the writer works with them. In this case it goes to their design. They can surely still kick butt without revealing so much cleavage or have a huge chest but something has to draw the fans into to watch the show. Throw in some moments of fanservice and maybe make a joke about it every so often. Train the viewer to stay tune to each episode hoping that they will show off some skin and you get a loyal fanbase. It is a technique to get people to watch so that people would stay long enough to watch the good (or sometimes bad) plot that the show has. It is sad but I can see that happening.

Bad A** Sex Objects are great characters if you go by the fact that they are strong and independent women that know what they want and can kick some butt. They don't take crud from anyone but it sucks that they are used for fanservice and as the character type name says, sex object. It isn't nice but it happens.

*Editor's Note: Mikey-san doesn't like to swear in both real-life and typing thus prefers to not do it under any circumstances. Still due to a lack of better name to call this character type, he was unable to find a way to avoid it where it isn't noticeable and couldn't think of a substitute title. Still Mikey-san hopes you still got the point of this post.

4 comments:

  1. I agree with your observation on this character type. Like yourself, I didn't realize the existence of this character before. It's always cool to see kick-butt girls out there.

    It wasn't until the recent exposure to fanservice that I'd noticed things like Erza's revealing armor and such. For most part of the show, I'd focused more on the story it tells and also all the actions. I'd rarely noticed the revealing outfits or "inappropriate moments". Even if I did, I'll just pass it off as another one of those "comedic" moments because either the fight is good or it didn't dawn on me what's happening.

    For me, I'd say too much fanservice sometimes ruin a good show ^_^.

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  2. @Lisa-Chan
    Yeah...the fanservice kind of killed it for me when I was watching Kampfer. I wanted to watch it but there was too much fanservice for me and I had to make sure I was watching it when nobody was around. The last thing I want was to have my little brother or mom watching over my back to see a chick's boobs bouncing like crazy...

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  3. Hear hear on the "watching it when nobody was around"-part. That goes for a _lot_ of anime, due to fanservice. Berserk is on the other side of the spectrum though, and can't be watched for that reason.

    I'm sitting here, trying to think of older versions of this type of girl.
    I wouldn't call Fuuku of Recca no Honou a sex object, but she is as close as you'll get in that show. She does kick a* though.
    Gally/Alita? (Not sure what is her Japanese name) Sexy, heck of a fighter, reconstructed more times than you can imagine.
    Faye Valentine of Cowboy Bebop fame? I'd say she fits.
    Deunan in Appleseed (first anime back in -88) was created by one of the higher ranked ero-artists, Shirow Masamune, and she is probably the best fighter yet in this bunch. I guess she just has too small a chest to fit in, even though her clothing often is skintight.

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  4. I'd say Nami and Robin deserve mentions for this. Though they don't fight all that much, they are really badass in different ways

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