What´s fanservice and what´s not fanservice in DBS?

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Dragon Ball Super has been acussed of being fan-service pandering but I question what do fans mean when they say fanservice?


What´s exactly fanservice in the show? and Why?

I personally barely see "fan-serivce" in the show from a story perspective, at most I only see characters trait being fladerized and storylines with not so much lasting impact (with the exception of the God and God Arc and perhaps the Future Trunks Arc)

[fadeddreams5]

One instance of fanservice was the recreation of Vegeta's final flash moment from the Cell arc during his battle with Magetta, which was pretty cool.

Second instance was Vegito, who had no meaningful impact in the story at all. He was just shoehorned there at the last instance for the sake of fans seeing him again.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

One instance of fanservice was the recreation of Vegeta's final flash moment from the Cell arc during his battle with Magetta, which was pretty cool.

Second instance was Vegito, who had no meaningful impact in the story at all. He was just shoehorned there at the last instance for the sake of fans seeing him again.

A call Back on itself is not fan service.

How can you prove that?

[fadeddreams5]

One instance of fanservice was the recreation of Vegeta's final flash moment from the Cell arc during his battle with Magetta, which was pretty cool.

Second instance was Vegito, who had no meaningful impact in the story at all. He was just shoehorned there at the last instance for the sake of fans seeing him again.

A call Back on itself is not fan service.

How can you prove that?

That's literally what fanservice is. Material added to intentionally please fans, even if it doesn't have any meaningful impact on the story. Otherwise, what would you regard callbacks to fan-favorite scenes or characters that don't really influence anything? There's clearly a reason they add them.

[VegettoEX]

"Fan-service" (much like the word "filler") has a very specific, accepted meaning when it comes to anime... and while I know a lot of people only watch Dragon Ball, it is in fact anime and falls in line with many of the general tropes from the medium.

In this case, "fan-service" typically refers to risqué, suggestive, or blatant showcases of the character's body leaning toward the sexual side of things. At the base level, it can be a wink and a blown kiss. At the top, it can be... well, anything your heart desires. Panty shots? That's fan-service. Shower scenes? That's fan-service. That weird, under-the-camera shot focusing on Bulma's breasts in Super? That's fan-service.

What you're talking about here, from a pedantic level anyway, is just plain ol' "pandering" to the audience. And we knew from the start that everyone on the production staff felt that way considering they were specifically introducing a character (the future Trunks) that had been popular and they wanted to capitalize on that fact. It was completely transparent, so to "call them out", to so speak, on this fact, feels a little... wasted, I guess? Like, yeah. We all know!

So are all of these little things instances of them pandering to the audience? Things like introducing Vegetto? I... guess...? Sure? At the same time, most of them felt (to me, anyway) natural for the story they were telling. You've got gods hanging out and passing Potara around. To NOT have Vegetto show up would have seen like a "missed opportunity" to the "other side" of the argument.

[dbs fanboy]

Something that is not fan service or pandering the audience like VegettoEX said, would be this ending, because literally nobody was expecting this