DearS: just fan service or what?

[rocklobster]

I'm curious about DearS. Is it just pointless fan service?

[Shao Feng-Li]

From what I read the main focus is scantily clad alien slave girls in collars. This might be a bit helpful: DearS Feature

[uc pseudonym]

I posted my opinion in the other thread in which you asked this question, but I'll post here to say that the interview Shao Feng-Li's linked is both informative and overly positive. They say certain elements set them apart from your average harem anime and I disagree with the majority of those (for example: the main character really isn't that different from all the others - cosmetic differences, but in essence the same).

[Shao Feng-Li]

I just used the interview to get a better idea of the content. I do wonder how this manga only got a 13+.

[Tenshi no Ai]

...I wasn't pleased with the fan service on the anime, and well, you know how the manga is usually worse than the anime >_< Well, I'm just glad that Tokyopop didn't use the ORIGINAL cover for the 5th volume of the series... it's just plain wrong and makes me not wanna read/watch it all the more >_< I only wanted to because of the cute characters, but then they lure you into the ecchi v_v Chobits I can handle and Elfen Lied (only cause it was on a serious level and the ecchi in it was just there annoying >_<) But this one? I'll pass... :/

*sigh* And yet Peach-Pit's Rozen Maiden's so clean.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Rozen Maiden is clean? That's good. I like Peach-Pit's art style.

[Arnobius]

The anime certainly is pure fanservice. Crude enough to make the Love Hina and Negima style seem pure and innocent in comparison (that's NOT an endorsement of Akamatsu... it's a putdown on DearS)

[TrigunX89]

I watched the first episode of DearS and was completely put off by it. It was just a bunch of fanservice with nothing really interesting to me. Maybe the manga is better. I don't know.

[Myoti]

I only wanted to because of the cute characters, but then they lure you into the ecchi v_v Chobits I can handle and Elfen Lied (only cause it was on a serious level and the ecchi in it was just there annoying >_<) But this one? I'll pass... :/

Sorry to ask but... what is "ecchi"? O_o

And isn't Elfen Lied like, one of the most graphically violent manga out there? o.o

[Nate]

Sorry to ask but... what is "ecchi"? O_o

Ecchi means pervert or perverted. An ecchi person is a person who does perverted things.

Applied to anime/manga, ecchi is basically "softcore." It means there's lots of nudity and fanservice, but no sex. Like Playboy and such.

[Tenshi no Ai]

And isn't Elfen Lied like, one of the most graphically violent manga out there? o.o

I just liked the psychological storyline behind it, and it's violent for a reason (not just one of those kill kill kill for the sake of violence series really... well maybe sometimes but still). BUT it had some unecessary ecchi in it which some say was for "comical relief" to take your mind off the seriousness of it :/ DearS on the other hand has it's theme being a "romantic comedy" and it was just oy... At least in Chobits the ecchi slows down later on the both the manga/anime and gets serious. Actually Elfen Lied only had a few ecchi parts in it but still sitting there going -_-;

Really a shame that all series with adorable characters (specially DearS because I thought Ren and the pink DearS were really cute!^^) involve some sort of ecchi theme to it :/

[uc pseudonym]

I just used the interview to get a better idea of the content. I do wonder how this manga only got a 13+.

Because most people involved with the rating system don't consider sexuality a very concerning issue.

Maybe the manga is better. I don't know.

It isn't. The two are roughly comparable.

[Tenshi no Ai]

Because most people involved with the rating system don't consider sexuality a very concerning issue.

With that in mind, I never thought the day would come... UNLESS the wrong DVD was inserted in the wrong box, renting the Duke's of Hazard movie apparently we got the unrated version which included nudity with ONLY a PG rating!!! I was shocked... So unless it WAS a DVD mix up (beign Rogers and telling about the content on the back with that not even beign mentioned) watch one day in the future when there won't even BE a rating system :/ Bad enough here in Canada movies that would be rated R in America are PG-14, PG-13 into only PG and so forth :/

*sigh* stupid world and its promotion on sexuality as being concidered "ok" >_<

[Shao Feng-Li]

I see. Just weren't brave enough to give it a 10+.

[Arnobius]

Ecchi means pervert or perverted. An ecchi person is a person who does perverted things.

Applied to anime/manga, ecchi is basically "softcore." It means there's lots of nudity and fanservice, but no sex. Like Playboy and such.

Also the pronunciation of the letter H in english... the first letter in "hentai."

In some Japanese language manga, you'll see someone use "H" instead of エッチ

[termyt]

Like many anime, the fan service is ramped up in the first few episodes, but it then calms down a bit and they get around to telling a story. DearS's fanservice is much more intense then most non-hentai titles, but it follows the same pattern. The first volume is the worst as far as fanservice goes. Following volumes calm down a bit.

At least that's how it appears to go. I haven't gone that deep into the series, yet.

[Myoti]

Ecchi means pervert or perverted. An ecchi person is a person who does perverted things.

Applied to anime/manga, ecchi is basically "softcore." It means there's lots of nudity and fanservice, but no sex. Like Playboy and such.

Thought it was something like that.

I just liked the psychological storyline behind it, and it's violent for a reason (not just one of those kill kill kill for the sake of violence series really... well maybe sometimes but still).

Well, I doubt I'll be reading it, especially after hearing about it. More so for:
[SPOILER]
How I hear it creates lovable characters that wind up being killed quite violently, like a girl having her hear torn off slowly in the first chapter.

I can stand blood, but that.... >.<;
[/SPOILER]

[Tenshi no Ai]

Thought it was something like that.



Well, I doubt I'll be reading it, especially after hearing about it. More so for:
[SPOILER]
How I hear it creates lovable characters that wind up being killed quite violently, like a girl having her hear torn off slowly in the first chapter.

I can stand blood, but that.... >.<]

Yeah it is pretty brutal and it shocked me seeing the first ep of it too. Been through a few "shocking" series like the first Kenshin OVAs, Akira, and certain parts of The Animatrix. You sort of get used to it, after the shock factor but not really :/ Wouldn't watch a series just for the heck of the violence though, although I'm sure MANY people did for Elfen Lied :/ But like I said, the storyline was what actually got me hooked... that and I had an idea in mind of well a couple stories to write and I was shocked that some parts in my story, had happened in the show which was another hook :/ (Although my idea wasn't bloody^^)
*...ish done the off topic talk*

Going back to DearS, even with the comments of the fan service slowing down, it was sort of :/ for me so I doubt I'll give it a second try. Besides, doesn't sound like you guys really got into it enough to even finish it :/ Although Chobits had its ecchi every here and there (and is probably the worst DVD/manga title I own), something about DearS' "slave" theme song and that whole theme of the show just makes me go And don't even get me started about that teacher -_-'

[Lady Macbeth]

I have only read the current releases of the DearS manga, so none of this applies to the anime; I have not seen a single episode of the anime yet.

My husband was actually the one who first picked up DearS; I had given it a pass, because the cover suggested to me that it was only about showing off girls' bodies, and promoting them as being airheads, neither of which is a major attraction for me - I prefer to have actual storyline in my manga.

That said, when I did finally pick it up and read it out of sheer boredom, I was mildly surprised and am so far pleased with the story. I'll say up front that the sexual content, including nudity, in the series does not bother me.

That said, the story itself is deeper and more interesting than the cover gives it credit for; while it is certainly the pretty girls that are selling the series, it was the rich and promising plot that sold me. Everything from Ren's harassment and persecution for being a "Zero Number" to the every day concerns of high school girls and boys to a deeper look at what slavery means are covered in the storyline.

The hierarchy aboard the crashed slave ship and their interactions with a vastly different outside world in modern Japan create a sense of surrealism that makes the reader wonder what would happen if such an event were to occur today; as an American reader, it also provokes the question of whether Americans would react differently than the Japanese in the story.

This is not a title I would give to children, and it is not fit for many teenagers. There are some who are mature enough to read it. After the first volume of the manga, the sexual content grows a bit, and moves from just fanservice to exploring the idea that the DearS have an understanding that certain duties are expected of them with regard to their master, particularly when they are a female DearS and their master is male. So far, no actual hentai content or otherwise explicit scenes have come to pass; there is touching that is unsuitable for younger viewers, but the young man protagonist has a solid sense of morals and shows a firm committment to not laying harm to any of the DearS who choose to be near him.