Anime has mostly been in the categories of cool, weird, and controversial. No matter what genre of anime one is watching, whether it be Shounen or Shoujo which is in Japanese known as action or romance, Anime has always been a diverse field of entertainment . 

There is no escape from any sort of Fan Service within the anime world, but what exactly is fan service? 

It is a method in which authors or artists use to expose certain characters in suggestive poses or situations. This method is mostly targeted to older audiences, but due the style of anime and the fact that it is animated, it is seen as “harmless”. 

This perceived harmfulness is why teenagers or even younger audiences are able to watch anime without any suspicions or any irks of curiosity. They are simply seen as nerds or geeks with typical odd interests. But, over time anime has won the favor of many people, including celebrities which have influenced the public on their views of anime to change in positive ways. 

This may be seen as a great thing for those who have been bullied for simply being interested in anime. While, yes that may be great results but there is a dark side to anime. 

Because of the sudden popularity of anime, and the celebrity influences, more and more people, specifically, children have been exposed to Fan service. Not only that, but there are anime that have engaged in fanservice while having their teenage or middle school aged characters. 

There are levels to fan service that range from light, tame, and explicit which is heavy and is simply disguised for the plot of the episode or story. There are certain anime series that contain explicit content.

A perfect example of this vile issue is the 2024 anime series “Dandadan.” This is a Shounen anime that was first aired fromOctober to December. The story is about two teenagers who obtain supernatural abilities while battling Yōkai and aliens, and over time they gain allies to help with their battles. 

Although, that is simply an innocent summary of the anime, the very first episode depicts extreme scenes of attempted sexual assault on a minor, and a very perverted Grandma.

 That is only the first episode, unfortunately, there are more graphic scenes of these two throughout the show. For more blunt context, there is nudity, for absolutely no logical reason. 

Another very important detail as to why this whole story began is that the character, Okarun, or Ken Takakura had one of his private body parts taken by a yōkai and that is how he obtained his powers. It is much more explicit in the actual show. This anime has become very controversial among viewers, for obvious reasons, as they debate whether this show should be canceled or continued.

 Some argue that this specific fan service is “normal” in anime and that there was no problem. This may be true as there are many other anime that have placed minors in inappropriate situations that could have easily been avoided or replaced. Examples are, “My Hero Academia”, “Food wars”, “Naruto”, and “Kakeguri” But “Dandadan” has taken its version of “Fan Service” to a whole new level of straight up vulgarity. 

It is clear now that anime is pushing the boundary of what is and what is not good in the eyes of the public. For Dandadan, it is almost understandable as to why more people have yet to point out the obvious issue. The story is well written and entertaining, it is almost as if viewers have been gaslit and manipulated for so long they do not see any real issue as it is merely “fictional” characters in “reasonable” scenarios, or “the author wrote it that way for a reason”. 

They have been blinded by entertainment and whatever nonsense is being written to see this exposure of children as acceptable. There should be no questions or debates on if this particular anime is “safe” or okay to continue watching. This anime is inappropriate and is heavily influencing the sexualization of children in “reasonable scenarios”. The authors knew what they were doing, and there is no excuse for it . They knew what would grab the audience’s attention whether it was good or bad. 

Now as viewers, how can people stop exposing children to this? By making people aware. It is understandable that many would want to protect their favorite show or continue watching anime because it is their personal interest. There is nothing wrong with enjoying safe anime, but boundaries have long been crossed and people have become hesitant to speak up on this problem. The Entertainment Industry, specifically anime, needs to stop sexualizing children to appease certain viewers.