I've been watching an anime called "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion." This show is, in a word, amazing. It tells the tale of an alternate history timeline where a political superpower has overtaken approximately one-third of the world. A young boy, Lelouch Lamperouge, is an exiled prince of this entity known as the Holy Britannian Empire. Caught up in a terrorist attack, he meets a mysterious woman who grants him a power known as Geass, which lets him compel any person to do anything he asks. With this power and his intellect, he attempts to overthrow this empire in order to settle a personal grudge.
This show is a wonderful watch with its impressive visuals, intense action scenes and thought-provoking themes. I REALLY wish I could recommend this show completely. Most of it is a fantastic watch. Unfortunately, there is just one problem: unrelenting fan service.
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As its name would imply, fan service is content intended to appeal to an audience. The most common occurrence of fan service is in shounen anime, which is considered as anime for young men, in which women are sexualized to varying degrees. This ranges from revealing clothing to mild nudity. Many popular shows such as "Fairy Tail," "Bleach," "One Piece," "Baka and Test," "Elfen Lied" and, unfortunately, "Code Geass," are all guilty of flaunting this perversion.
The reason I bring this up is a matter of personal conviction. As a follower of Christ I will heed God's word to the best of my ability. Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." Various other passages in the scriptures clearly indicate the erroneous nature of sexual perversion.
This is not just a matter of staying pure. Many women feel that fan service unfairly portrays female characters as eye candy with little depth to them. Strong female characters can be just as common in anime. Since most anime characters are human, they can be portrayed as such without having to strip down.
Many stories can be told without this element. "Code Geass" would have been just as great an anime without the unflattering angles and outfits. In light of this, I recommend looking hard at websites that review the content of shows such as PluggedIn, Common Sense Media and IMDb. These websites will help you to find shows that do not have fan service to the extent that the above shows have. I recommend shows like "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood," "Fate/Zero," "Fruits Basket" and others which do not pander to shounen anime and fan service as much as most anime shows.
I hope this helps you discern what is decent for you to view when watching a program.
