What's so good about Ecchi?

[Kadi]

With the influx of ecchi-crazed members lately (yes, Highschool DxD fanboys, I'm looking at you), I've begun wondering:


What's so good about Ecchi?


I don't even see panty-shots unless those panties are right in the characters faces. I only yawn about perverted accidents. I usually bash my head in when characters get arousal-induced nosebleed. And even Highschool DxD, said to be the most ecchi series there is, doesn't raise my arousal meter in the slightest. So, what's so good about it? Or about inflated fanservice? Please enlighten me.

[ainsoph9]

That really is a question of what is doing the thinking for you. If it is your brain, then mostly likely the answer is nothing at all. If it is elsewhere, or elsewhere has taken over your brain, then it means everything. Simply put, "sex sells."

[Kadi]

Ohh, but I can think with not just my brain. And stories can flip the switch for me. But... ecchi just doesn't work. Which is what got me wondering...

[b0mb3r]

Well again books aims at a certain demographic in japan which are male otakus. I'll make a general statement since I haven't read or watch DxD. If the protagonist is weak or insignificant or simply another typical highschool who gets into perverted situations, his character is thin enough for the audience (male) to project themselves into it. If one reads so many ecchi manga then one live (fantasized) in many ecchi worlds. Each ecchi series is a little different from each other but if one over indulge himself in them I guess he lived many lives even though it is fake.

[ainsoph9]

In other words, ecchi "works" because it has no substance whatsoever.

[larethian]

With the influx of ecchi-crazed members lately (yes, Highschool DxD fanboys, I'm looking at you), I've begun wondering:


What's so good about Ecchi?


I don't even see panty-shots unless those panties are right in the characters faces. I only yawn about perverted accidents. I usually bash my head in when characters get arousal-induced nosebleed. And even Highschool DxD, said to be the most ecchi series there is, doesn't raise my arousal meter in the slightest. So, what's so good about it? Or about inflated fanservice? Please enlighten me.

Kadi, the people who are crazy about them are usually the very young people.

[Cosmic Eagle]

That's like asking what's so good about sleeping or bathing....


No, DxD is not the most ecchi out there.....

[hobogunner]

It's sort of the same principle as stealing Victoria Secret's magazines at a young age. One always flips through it simply because it's nice, and at a young age they don't know what's underneath (or, can't picture it almost entirely.)

I mean, ecchi to me, mostly gets people because they always wonder about what isn't being shown. The unknown is both scary and can make people horny.

Once you see X naked, it spoils most of the attraction of what's underneath.

Ecchi just plays off of the minds of younger guys who think about what's underneath those panties or that bra.

[Xeones]

Ecchi just plays off of the minds of younger guys who think about what's underneath those panties or that bra.

Yeah... that's pretty much it. Ecchi sells because it appeals to the desires of a certain group of audience... like someone said before: Sex sells, that sums it up. I believe that the big problem is when the show becomes "all-about ecchi", leaving the story aside and focusing only on showing tits and "more"... if that happens, then the show is good only for young lads to do their "fapping".

But I've gotta say that not all ecchi series are bad... most of the "good ones" are in manga-format, though. I remember reading Love Hina when I was around 15~16, and I liked the series, not because the ecchi scenes that happened (which were quite funny, by the way)... but mostly because of the story itself. Currently I'm also reading Freezing, which is completly different of the anime version (seriously, I barely could stand wacthing the anime... they inserted WAY too much ecchi and fan-service scenes)... although the series does contain some ecchi in the manga, what really appeals to me is the story and the characters... I'm not saying that it's good series or bad one, after all it varies depending on your taste (meaning that what for me is a good series, for you it can be a crappy one), but there if you are a more "serious" reader/viewer, then the ecchi scenes don't really matter anymore.

[Mystes]

Ecchi is probably good to some because it is very eye-catching and light-spirited. Personally, I wonder more about how people can come to love gore, but well...

Some Ecchi shows can be selling good, like DxD or HOTD. However, some are simply bad, like Ore-tatchi.

[Xeones]

Ecchi is probably good to some because it is very eye-catching and light-spirited. Personally, I wonder more about how people can come to love gore, but well...

Some Ecchi shows can be selling good, like DxD or HOTD. However, some are simply bad, like Ore-tatchi.

There's that too... I almost forgot. Sometimes people just want to watch a show and laugh around without having to "think" too hard or pay a lot of attention. Which is also a good thing from time to time... but in my case I have a tendency do preffer more "light-ecchi" shows like Infinite Stratos. From what I've heard DxD is a hardcore "near-porn" ecchi.

When you mentioned gore, it reminded me of "trick" they pulled in the anime adaptation of Freezing.

For instance... in the manga the girl gets cut on the arm. There's a small injury there, some blood stains, maybe a couple of blood drops on the floor, but nothing major... but in the anime, the same scene would be portraied with the girl getting her arm slashed off, blood starts to gush out and soaks everyone, then the whole scene turns into a godamn bloodbath.

Which makes me wonder why on earth the writters of the anime version pushed so hard on the ecchi and gore scenes? It's like a completly different series...

[Cosmic Eagle]

It's sort of the same principle as stealing Victoria Secret's magazines at a young age. One always flips through it simply because it's nice, and at a young age they don't know what's underneath (or, can't picture it almost entirely.)

I mean, ecchi to me, mostly gets people because they always wonder about what isn't being shown. The unknown is both scary and can make people horny.

Once you see X naked, it spoils most of the attraction of what's underneath.

Ecchi just plays off of the minds of younger guys who think about what's underneath those panties or that bra.

I think DxD exposes everything.....lol

[ainsoph9]

Most ecchi series expose everything. It is just that, depending on what station they premiered on, editing and censoring may occur in various forms. So, really, what you see in even the rawest forms of ecchi oftentimes is not what was drawn at the studio.

[stellarroze]

Generally I just find ecchi really funny, but I can't stand if it's excessive. That usually only happens in anime...

[Teh_ping]

What's so much about ecchi isn't whether it's good, but whether it sells or not. It also applies to adverts as well when you see sensual looking women on adverts, sometimes for no good reason like for car adverts...

And speaking of DxD, the project was introduced on 13th Nov 2011, the day today is 26th Jan 2012, which makes it 75 days. The project itself has 438,449 views, and the daily views is 5845.99 views (round it up to 5846 views then). For comparison as to whether guys are perverts or not, the top rank in December was this:

1. Index 7534
2. Haganai 5761
3. SAO 5646

Now we know what kind of readers we have...

EDIT: I just updated my stats, and here's the results.

1: High School DxD 438,504 221,378 217,126 10339 Sample Data taken from 4th Jan 2012 when project was official
2:Sword Art Online 1,856,922 1,694,071 162,851 6514
3:Toaru Majutsu no Index 2,874,923 2,720,839 154,084 6163

From left: Name of series, total views, views before this month, views during this month (25 for now), average views per day.