“Equal Opportunity Fan Service”: Myth or Truth?

Via The Hawkeye Initiative

Hello darkness, my old friend, it’s time to talk about fan service, again. This time it’s the business of “equal” fan service, i.e., if a series is full of tantalising shots of female bodies for the straight male gaze, does it become less gross if it also includes tantalising shots of the male body for the straight female gaze? It’s more of a can-of-worms question than you might think.

Sink or Swim: Alex Watches Free!

And gets unexpectedly attached to a group of animated swimmers with girly names

Free! is an animated TV show about boys who swim. Actually, it’s about the power of friendship and the importance of letting go of the past (and how the two strongly intertwine), and the sport that forms the backdrop could be anything, really. Though the constant connection with water does lead to lots of lovely symbolism and scenery (and the question of what else Kyoto Animation could have bought with their season budget, e.g. Belgium).

I mused upon this show at its beginning, and now it’s time to talk about it looking back. Here we go, guys. I’m a little late to the party, but it’s review time.

Free!dom of Artistry

A new show is taking the anime world by storm, raising palms to laughing faces all across the fandom community. It’s been wonderfully received so far… you could even say ratings were going swimmingly.

Sorry for the pun. Have some pretty boys as recompense

Free! is a new series currently airing from Kyoto Animation about a group of friends who are competitive swimmers. That’s it. It’s two episodes in, so no great overarching plot can be expected to have revealed itself… but it has been very well established that this is not a show that will be watched for the plot anyway.