I rarely drop anime that I am currently watching since the flaws are usually insignificant to warrant a drop. Unfortunately, I have to drop it because I could not take the Yosuga no Sora seriously since it feels so trashy.
From experience, I hardly ever see any fanservice in any romance drama visual novel adaptation. When I watched Air, Kanon and ef, they had no fanservice and concentrated mostly on the story. The premise of Yosuga no Sora was good at first and I liked what I have seen. However, the unnecessary risqué scenes bogged it down. For instance, episode three showed Haruka’s imagination of Kazuha and Akira doing it with each other. That scene was completely unnecessary and added no value to the story.
So, does this mean I hate all types of fanservice since I can’t deal with naked girls with nipples? Absolutely not since I can tolerate a few panty shots, bouncing boobs and stuff. However, the fanservice Yosuga no Sora pushes went far beyond my comfort zone. Things like the masturbating maids and a maid grabbing someone’s thingy feels so wrong that I want to cry in the corner.
In addition, I feel that the fanservice in the genre like this is like pouring salt on the wound. In my opinion, it was difficult to take the drama so seriously when they keep throwing these risqué scenes in your face. I feel that the fanservice is more suited for the romantic comedy, not in a romance drama like this.
Not to mention, the Motoka Nogisaka Omake simply feels out of place after watching all the drama in the episode. These Omakes usually involves Motoka doing perverted things to Haruka that could be disturbing. After that, a wacky second ending theme is played, which pretty much undoes all the dramatic effects in the episode.
In the end, I feel that I can’t continue the series because I can’t take it seriously. I simply feel disappointed because the girls were pretty cute and I liked what is happening in the story. In addition, it had nice animation and music, but it went to waste because the overall trashiness. If they concentrated more on the story rather than throwing unnecessary fanservice, I would have respected the show more… but unfortunately, it did not. So, I guess this is one of my incentives to finish ef – tales of memories, a more enjoyable romance drama.
I will probably take a second look at it once the season is over to see if its worth watching again.
One more thing: The best scene in this episode is Sora eating her ice cream… I’m dead f**king serious!
I think the fundamental difference in cutting H scenes from anime adaptations of eroge come from how they’re used in the story. If it makes sense, then they should stay. In adaptations of Air and Kanon, you can completely rip them out, and the story stands on its own. Ef the anime has allegations of sex, which was handled nicely.
Now this, on the other hand, I don’t know what the source material was like. If it makes sense to the plot, then whatever. I haven’t passed judgment yet because I expect Haru to imagine what he’s hearing as two girls in the throes of passion. I also expect people to bathe naked, and boobs to float. Sex can work, if it’s integral to the story, and I have a feeling it will be in this show.
But the omake…wtf. I don’t get that at all.
None of this changes the trashy nature of the series. For me, it’s like the train wreck you shouldn’t be looking at, but you just can’t take your eyes off of.
I read on the blogosphere that besides from the eroge scenes, the visual novel content hardly has any fan service. It was the same with the manga adaption… The anime was clearly the exception since they really want to please the viewers… Mostly the fans and the hard core otaku.
In my opinion, this show in a way is a bile fascination. The story is bad with all the excess fan service, but it’s so hard to take your eyes off it since the music and animation is so good… It’s a shame too it had to end that way… But then again, there is always the manga or the visual novel…
Oh well, you were brave enough to get into it with a sane mind, the story synopsis pretty much convinced me never to go near it. The animation does look classy from what I could see in the screenshots but hey, there are other shows this season that also have great artwork/music and do a better job at being the “fanservicey drama”. One of them is Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls, which sports a surprisingly good mix of, romance, slice-of-life and somewhat more tasteful, censored fanservice. Ore no Imouto which you are already following is another – just the right amount of risque moments and the animation is among the best I’ve seen. Then there is the Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai, also great animation plus an interesting storyline with comic elements.
Those are the ones I’ve been following in order to satisfy the eye-candy sucker in me and they all turned out to be pretty good so far. Hence I’ve never even considered picking up Yousuga no Sora despite the good visuals.
I agree… It has to do with the level of fanservice and I think shows that has tasteful fanservice will do a better job. Sora is just too trashy, more so than the excessive fanservice animes like Mayoi Neko Overrun!. There needs to be a balance on how far they can go before it becomes disturbing… or else it’s going to turn a lot of people off even if it has a good story/animation/music…
In my opinion, Sora really did not need the fanservice, it would have done better without… but its the producers choice in the end… so whatever. :p
I agree with you.
It is said that “(Midnight)Anime Business is going to be Porno Business”, here in Japan.
I don’t think of this situation as good.
Too much H scenes break the anime’s story and dignity.
But there is some reasons that can’t be helped.
First of all, sales.
For most animes, its sales is almost depend on the sales of DVD or BD.
Sad to sat, in fact, airing H scenes in TV increases the sales of its DVD or BD strongly.
Anime business world is economically hostile, so in some cases, producers have to add unnecessary H scenes to keep their lives.
Censoring in TV says “Wanna see more? If so, buy DVD!”
Sadly, the saying “sex sells” seems to the accurate for shows like these… The sad reality is that type of content turns off the general audience and it could ruin the content quality depending how a person views it.
From the Bluray sales of Yosuga no Sora (First Bluray from the rank of 281 to 50 in a few days)… it’s not surprising at all