Anime fanservice (or fan service) is a double edged sword in and outside of the anime community.
For those who aren’t part of the anime community, fanservice is a source of:
- Controversy.
- Frustration.
- Annoyance.
Or a scapegoat used to demonize, criticize, and downplay what anime is as a whole.
For fans inside the anime community, fanservice depends on a few things:
- Is it contextual?
- Does it make sense to include it?
- Is it relevant?
- Is it necessary?
- Does it enhance the anime or make it worse?
Whatever your opinions are when it comes to fanservice, this time around I’ll focus on the BEST anime for fanservice.
That means anime that use it to make the show better, or anime that use it regardless of its quality.
Let’s get to it.
The best anime for fanservice:
1. Fairy Tail
This anime is about adventures with the Fairy Tail guild in Fiore, which is a group of mages with their own sets of abilities and strengths.
Sometimes they take jobs that lead to villains or monsters, other times it’s pure comedy and silly shit that Fairy Tail is so good at doing (making you laugh, etc).
Fairy Tail is a GOD send for those looking for a solid anime series with fanservice to top it all off.
The fanservice in Fairy Tail doesn’t discriminate either. It’s there for both male and female characters, even though the female characters get the bulk of the criticism.
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2. Ishuzoku Reviewers
This anime is about main characters who travel to brothels, review those brothels in detail, and of course – their experiences as they have “fun” with monster girls in these brothels.
Slime girls, elf girls, tentacle girls, this anime highlights every fetish known to man and portrays it with its diverse cast of female characters and designs.
It’s a fanservice buffet.
Ishuzoku Reviewers is an anime designed to rub people the wrong way.
3. Redo Of Healer
2021’s most controversial anime, and one of the most popular anime of that year is Redo Of Healer.
The main character is r*ped, abused, drugged, and tortured by a female colonizer called Flare, who’s a princess of the Jioral Kingdom.
He finds a way to endure this suffering after so much trauma and finds a way to redo time 5 years into the past. It’s in this timeline that he gets his revenge and becomes strong enough to do so.
Redo Of Healer is an anime you can only expect to be on this list. It has fanservice throughout the anime, usually related to Keyaru’s adventures and his growing harem.
4. High School DxD
High School DxD is considered the king of Ecchi, and easily is the most famous, if not a seriously popular Ecchi series.
In this world, you have demons and nuns who are obviously gorgeous in every way, shape, and form. It’s by design.
Being an Ecchi and a Harem series, you do get your dose of fanservice quite often. Rias Gremory (redhead) being one of the most common sources of fanservice.
There are 3 seasons so far.
5. Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends
Haganai is an anime with juicy bits of fanservice that fans can salivate over. Ass, booty, this is the usual source of fanservice given the angles of the camera in these anime.
On a more serious note, Kodaka Hasegawa and Yozura formed a group called The Neighbors Club. The purpose is to help them both make friends and avoid loneliness.
This is a serious theme running throughout the anime and is the main focus, aside from the fanservice, profanity, comedy, and even aspects of bullying that are shown.
6. Rent A Girlfriend
In East Asia, or more specifically Japan there’s a culture of “renting” girlfriends. This anime highlights it really well.
Kazuya Kinoshita is a SIMP who has little experience with women, which is why his heart is broken after Mami (his girlfriend) dumps him for superficial reasons.
He still has a naive idea of getting back with her and even gives her respect despite being disrespected by Mami. Hence his simp-ish behavior.
Chizuru Mizuhara, the rental girlfriend Kauzya starts paying for is really what makes this anime and changes the dynamics of everything.
Fanservice, cringey moments, the anime has it but it doesn’t worsen the plot, it only betters it over time.
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7. Food Wars
Food Wars is a staple in the anime community for its fanservice. It doesn’t discriminate either.
Soma Yukihira leaves the local shop he grew up in with his dad, the place where he honed his skills as a cook. And is now entering a school where food competitions are at a high level.
His goal is to improve his skills and rise up the ranks.
When a character “tastes” food in this anime, man or woman, boy or girl, the anime exaggerates how good the food tastes and presents it as fanservice.
In a way, it’s a portrayal of how good it feels when you eat good food, except we can’t express it as well in the real world.
Expect some stupid but creative and fun comedy and some genuinely good food battles between chefs with all kinds of personalities. All done in a Shonen style.
8. Sankarea: Undying Love
Sankarea is a twisted anime in so many ways. The story is about Chihiro, a guy who loves the idea of having a zombie girlfriend.
He gets his wish after a girl called Rea dies, and his we’ll say “experiment” succeeds in bringing her back to life as a zombie.
The messed up part about this anime is Rea’s family life and home life. It’s the reason why she dies in the first place.
Her father needs more than just a jail sentence.
Aside from the deep side of this Ecchi series, there’s a sizeable amount of fanservice but nothing extreme.
9. World’s End Harem
World’s End Harem, or “Shuumatsu No Harem” is an anime where the male population is killed off by a deadly virus.
With only 1% or less of the male population left, they’re forced and encouraged to impregnate women to save humanity as they know it.
That can only be achieved by getting as many women pregnant as possible to birth new life and ensure the future as far as survival.
Aside from controversies like mothers saying women aren’t machines for breeding, the anime is obviously filled to the brim with fanservice and lush ladies.
It’s a naughty anime, the type you watch for the fun of it, and not because it’s gonna be a high quality series.
10. Konosuba
Kono Subarashii has some good fanservice as well. Even though the anime is a parody and fanservice isn’t the main attraction of the anime.
It’s about Kazuma Satou, a guy who’s killed and is then mocked by Goddess Aqua, the one who allows Kazuma to restart his life in another world.
He’s then joined by that same Goddess in that world but in the “lower” world she’s useless and can’t use most of her powers.
Kazuma ends up finding Megumin and Darkness, and their 4 person party is what’s responsible for the outrageous comedy, fanservice, action, and adventures.
Kazuma’s become a favourite character since he’s an advocate for true gender equality.
11. To Love Ru
To Love Ru isn’t the most stellar of an anime series, but it has more content than any Ecchi can vouch for.
It’s almost comparable to some Shounen.
This anime is about alien girls who happen to be lusting for the main character for reasons that can’t be explained.
One of them, Lala, literally comes from a spaceship and ends up in the MC’S house in no time. Then the madness of this series takes place from there.
Boobs, ass, the whole lot is what you can expect with the fanservice.
Help mermaid princess Andriella fulfill her task by getting it on with the hottest chicks of Naughty Beach!
12. Kill La Kill
Kill La Kill is an anime about Ryuko Matoi, a girl whose father is killed and so she’s out for revenge. Armed with a pair of scissor blades as her only weapon.
She gets the beating of her life on her first attempt, learns from the mistake, and manages to make progress after that.
Kill La Kill is an anime that parodies things like:
- Fanservice.
- Tropes.
- Cliches.
And other elements some anime make a habit out of. And then it turns these tropes and the fanservice into a work of art.
You’l be laughing more than anything else, rather than cringing. And that’s part of the point.
The deeper story is important, so pay attention while you’re watching.
13. Code Geass
Code Geass is an anime you wouldn’t expect to see on this list, but there’s some nice fanservice in this anime alongside the more serious tone of this masterpiece.
The main theme is about Lelouch and his goal for revenge. A typical drive and ambition for many protagonists. But it goes well beyond that.
Lelouch is doing this for his sister Nunally. She means so much to him that he’s willing to throw away his morals, commit violence, kill others, and much more to make her happy and build a happier world.
Fanservice does creep in every now and then though.
14. Gurren Lagann
Gurren Lagann was worked on by the same person who worked on Kill La Kill, so the similarities in art style and designs shouldn’t be a surprise.
In this anime, the main characters and everyone else lives underground. But a man named Kamina, the main inspiration of this series believes it’s worth trying to break out and reach the surface.
Everyone doubts his beliefs about what’s up there, and whether it’s possible given they’re sheltered and groomed to believe living underground is “normal”.
Simon, a younger character with the help of Kamina and others finds a way and they reach the surface, which is followed by battle, war, and violence.
Yes, there’s fanservice and it’s for both genders as well. But in general, this is a solid anime series.
15. Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon is considered one of the OG’s when it comes to action packed anime. Especially anime where gun wielding, and “shoot em up” scenes is a common thing.
Revy Rebecca, one of the main characters is a source of this anime’s natural fanservice. I say natural because it doesn’t go out of its way to make you recognize it.
Smuggling, drugs, guns, crime, and the underworld is where most characters live, do business, and spend their lives in this anime. With tough upbringings being the norm.
16. Amagi Brilliant Park
Amagi Brilliant Park is another anime by Kyoto Animation. It’s one that doesn’t get as much attention compared to others in their catalogue these days.
A theme park business is at risk of closing down if changes aren’t made to how it operates. They find a man named Kanie to help them, forcibly.
He’s responsible along with everyone else to make this theme park thrive again, make money, and ultimately recover from the hole it finds itself in.
Magical creatures and characters are part of this strange theme park so strange things, and good comedy become part of the ongoing theme. Episode to episode.
17. Monogatari
Monogatari isn’t strictly a fanservice anime, but it’s a work of art that knows how to use fanservice to its advantage and look artistic while doing it.
The plot revolves around Araragi Koyomi, a regular seeming guy who attracts not so regular people into his life, like his Yandere-ish girlfriend.
Vampires, spirits, mysteries, strange characters, dangerous situations, Koyomi finds himself near all of these types of things.
Aside from the romance and Ecchi elements, dialogue is one of the most important features that carries this anime.
18. Darling In The Franxx
This anime is about destroying Klaxasaurs and using mecha’s to get the job done. But there’s more to it and a lot changes later.
This anime that borrows ideas from Kill La Kill, Gurren Lagann, and Neon Genesis Evangelion is shameless about its fanservice.
The “franxx” is a mecha robot, basically. To pilot it the woman needs to sit in the front, with the guy at the back.
It’s sexually suggestive, which is why it got caught up in so much controversy.
Zero Two’s famous line “darling” is partly why this anime still lives on to this day, even though the 2nd half of the plot fell apart in a lot of ways.
19. Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z (early)
Dragon Ball, the original, released in the mid 1980’s is the golden era for DB’S fanservice, lewd scenes, and in some cases – inappropriate content.
It’s pretty much off the rails when it comes to being politically incorrect. This changes a lot once Goku gets older in the first season and the plot progresses.
DBZ on the other hand has fanservice but most of it is “early” in the franchise. As more arcs pass, it starts to fade away more and more.
Fanservice in DBZ has never ruined the quality though. It was always featured as filler or in moments where the anime relaxes a bit when not focusing on fighting.
20. Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is all about self improvement and personal development. It’s the thread that ties everything together.
The main character Kenichi is bullied, and he uses martial arts as a means to get stronger, stop being a victim, overcome his weaknesses, and gain self confidence.
Once that’s achieved he then sets out to help others where he can, but some of his past enemies have a problem with that.
Kenichi’s crush Miu Furinji is the main source of this anime’s fanservice where it counts.
21. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
A drunk introverted office worker ends up running into a wounded dragon, they talk, they become friends, and then start living together. This is how the main story kicks off.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, like other anime, has its share of fanservice. But a lot of the time it doesn’t feel forced or “In your face”.
At the heart of this series is a wholesome set of characters, with a slice of life style of plot that evolves or changes with each episode.
Fanservice, when necessary, is used when the situation calls for it. But Lucoa’s fanservice (side character) can get a bit silly.
22. Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend
The title reveals part of the anime and what ends up happening, but only in a subtle and allusive way.
The anime’s main goal is to help Tomoya make a dating sim game. 3 other girls, 2 of which are authors and doujin creators help Tomoya out with his goal.
This isn’t your ordinary harem or Ecchi series. Or even your ordinary slice of life. It’s a wholesome anime that enhances the harem and Ecchi aspects, which by themselves aren’t overdone.
Fanservice is a given.
23. My Dress Up Darling
My Dress Up Darling is an anime airing during Winter 2022. The manga is wholesome and the adaptation has done a good job of capturing that wholesomeness.
Marin Kitagawa is an Otaku. A girl who loves to cosplay her favourite characters. Gojo, the male MC makes hina dolls and is in the business of doing so.
They both meet and end up working together to help each other’s passions and hobbies, making life easier based on each character’s skills and knowledge.
This is the basis for the romance, and even though cosplay is a natural part of this anime, it’s also the reason for its so called fanservice.
24. Keijo
Keijo is an anime about one thing and one thing only: anime girls fighting each other with their asses.
It’s surprising there wasn’t any controversy when it first aired many years ago.
Similar to Kill La Kill, the fanservice in this anime and the “booty” fighting is done in such a way that it’s more comical than anything else.
It’s meant to be stupid and not to be taken seriously. Either way, Keijo is a unique fanservice anime and is a staple for those who seek it out.
Honorable Mentions:
- Monster Musume.
- Dagashi Kashi.
- Myriad Colors Phantom World.
- Sekirei.
- Witchblade.
- Edens Zero.
- Tensei Slime.
- Fire Force.
- One Piece.
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