A post in the “Don’t Fuck This Up” series. In reply to comment 17 by Owen S.
One doesn’t have to look hard to find that Sengoku Basara and Strike Witches have a lot in common. They are both historical period pieces that completely do away with any semblance of accuracy. Both are very straightforward shows that succeed on the strength of their production and the severity of their fanservice. That fanservice, a sort of nudity on the part of the entire show, is what I will now explore.
The Bones of My Boner
The Nakedness of Strike Witches
Nakedness pretty much smacks you in the face as soon as you start Strike Witches in that none of the females in the show wear pants. And there’s a gracious double-standard in which the men DO wear pants, proving that there’s no good reason for the girls not to wear pants other than “why the hell not?” Kind of like putting an exhaust pipe on your horse *cough*
What makes Strike Witches work is that it knows exactly what it is and who it’s for, and bears it all to this audience with the confidence of a beautiful woman posing in a Playboy magazine. Besides the total pantslessness of the girls and occasional full-blown nudity in the show’s many bath scenes, literally everything in the show is fanservice. The personalities of the characters, the plot, the action scenes, the dialog – everything in Strike Witches is tailor-made to the desires of modern otaku.
It’s this sheer nakedness and honesty that makes the show so fun. There is none of the awkwardness of an out-of-place element, like a slapstick comedy making a failed attempt at drama, or vice-versa (common mistakes in otaku-oriented programs.) It’s like watching porn – you seek and it delivers, and it is good. You don’t go into porn expecting anything except for porn and naked bitches (and maybe singing), and you don’t go into Strike Witches expecting anything other than fanservice – in both cases, your desire is delivered.
The Nakedness of Sengoku Basara
SenBasa begs you from the get-go not to take it seriously, and to just sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Date Masamune (voiced by the excellent Kazuya Nakai) kicks off the show screaming “ARE YOU READY GUYS?! PUT YA GUNS ON!,” has an exhaust pipe on his horse, and when he and Sanada Yukimura collide, the force is that of an H bomb. You immediately know that this will be an epic, manly, and crazy awesome show – nothing more, nothing less.
It’s a different genre, but it’s the exact same kind of all-encompassing fanservice as Strike Witches. All of the men are ultra-cool, ultra-respectable, and ultra-attractive (for the huge fujoshi audience the show has in Japan), but us guys aren’t left hanging either as the women in the show also have immense tits and the tendency to cum at the touch of a guy (lol). It’s got that same self-awareness propelling the show to success and, once again, it’s easy to turn your brain off and enjoy the ride for what it is.
Image by Komagata http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=komagata
The Truest Similarity
It’s easy enough to point out the similar uses of fanservice in these two shows, but there’s a certain key that really drives the comparison home: Gayness. Both shows are really, really gay, with great purpose.
This gayness is really in the bones of both shows (I went there.) The original Sengoku Basara game, like many things with all-male casts, is really big among fujoshi (the female Japanese fans obsessed with yaoi) and the anime adaption is very aware of this. There’s boatloads of Foe Yay, guys who literally worship their commanders, extremely faithful servants, etc. Touches of dialog like Yukimura saying of Date Masamune ‘I felt his passion in my soul!’ through blushing cheeks are where the creators really acknowledge their purpose.
Strike Witches has all of the same things, but on the girlish side where it’s much more touchy-feely and emotional. It’s not enough that the girls all have female love interests, but there’s also not a male love interest the series over. Strike Witches even does us a bonus favor by giving us many possible pairs, but never finalizing any of them, making it easier to speculate, choose your favorite couples, and write doujins.
(Just a quick note, when SenBasa first started, ALL I could find of the show was bl and generally ‘cute’ images of the guys. Now I can’t find shit. Anyone know why? Is this US fandom fail? At least I am still finding some gay youtube vids as of Sep 09. As for Strike Witches, a simple ‘Strike witches yuri‘ search on any good image or doujin site should suffice.)
You may have guessed, but 'Strike Witches yuri" is one of my most frequent search terms. Image by glock23.
Boning a Parallel
It is not inaccurate to state that an otaku would both like to become one of the characters in these shows as well as bone one of them, or be boned by one of them. I would make the case that with Strike Witches, it is true that many male otaku want to be a young girl, but still like girls. It appeals to a man’s desire to be more pure, open, and emotional. A lot of guys feel that they cannot be that way as a man, but are totally comfortable with their heterosexuality – hence the desire to become a lesbian woman.
The same probably applies to fujoshi who are fed up with feminity and want to kick ass and be awesome but still be attractive to beautiful boys. And of course, even if we move past our fantasies and get straight to our desires, people on both sides will be happy about seeing beautiful people of the same sex gettin’ it on!
I was told to write about ‘wanting to be a Strike Witches character and wanting to be boned by a SenBasa character,’ but I think that betrays the gayness of these shows. I would rather be a Strike Witches character getting boned by other Strike Witches characters (NSFW link). However, I was also told ‘Don’t fuck this up,” so here we go – I want to be Lynette Bishop getting boned by Date Masamune while he screams “ALRIGHT! PUT YA GUNS ON! LET’S GO!”
Related Posts:
STRIKE WITCHES IS PERFECT – My reaction to episode one.
SENGOKU [FREAKING] BASARA 2: HANDS DOWN, GREATEST ANIME EVER – I’m seeing a trend in overblown reactions lol
Sengoku Basara Fun – I AM THE RED CAPE DIVER – A post on the ps2 fighting game Sengoku Basara X before the anime was announced.
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
I have no idea how factually accurate this post is, but it’s fun and made me not care. You may have fucked this up more times than there are panty shots in SW, but fuck I didn’t care anymore.
What you did miss on, is a part of the fanservice in SB is the epic manly speeches. That, more than the action was the most entertaining bit for me.
I talked about manliness, I figured speeches were inclusive. I didn’t think there were really all that many notable speeches in the show anywy, but that’s me. I assure this post is factually accurate, because a lot of, uh, research went into it >.>
If it’s researched you gotta cite your sources in the Further Reading section (or somewhere) and not just whore your older posts.
I didn’t research it on blogs or anything. Also all y souorces would be in moon if there were any. And it’d take me years to find them.
I call BS. Cite.
I just added about 9 quantifying links right before the last image.
Good boy.
Talk about getting into the bones of these comments.
Dammit, now I’m gonna have to go check of Sengoku Basara.
Could’ve been gayer, but over all you didn’t fuck it up. Japan needs to get to work on a Lynette x Masamune doujin, right now.
You didn’t fuck this up. Good job! From what I saw (fringe views, mostly audience reactions and whatnot) you definitely captured the spirit of both. Excellent.
Now write more, and go deep into the bones of the comments. There’s a lot more waiting for you. Don’t fuck them up!
I’m thinking I might get started o the biggest and baddest one staring me down from across the room. I’ll have time tomorrow to do it and it will be glorious.
I can’t believe I forgot to say this: you fucked it up.
Digitalboy, I never knew you wanted us to tell you what/how to write. Next time, analyze the nakedness of Queen’s Blade, and try doing it without using the letter ‘e’.
In spite of the at least 3 pots in my blogs history saying ‘tell me what to write?’ Hold on let me grab one. http://fuzakenna.com/2008/05/19/my-audience/ (bad post though interesting to look back on) http://fuzakenna.com/2008/11/01/tell-me-what-to-write-about-you-little-fucks/ (horrible and not interesting at all XD)
Anyway that post idea will have to wait unless you post it on the other post in the required format.
I have to admit, I never would have imagined a person successfully arguing the similarity between Strike Witches and Sengoku Basara before reading this post.
That said though, there is one important difference between them; unlike Strike Witches, watching Sengoku doesn’t make me feel like a pedophile.
Well done, if rather over the NSFW line (does that make it even better in some books?)
I was gong to do a full-on NSFW post but I couldn’t find any senbasa porn so i figured it wasn’t fair.
Interesting, but I almost would have liked to see this in two posts. Gene-splicing these two shows into a single entry makes for a very big beast to tackle. That said, it’s a genius juxtaposition (we are, after all, pretty much talking about the same thing for different genders) and I enjoyed reading it. Cheers.
Mm, that’s the thing – there’s not that much to say about these two shows. Both are SO fandervice-based that it really jsut comes to ‘this show was awesome’ and then there’s not much else to say. Both are total popcorn anime (or rather pop-porn anime).
Those girls need pants.
This is no.
Girls never need pants.
This is yes.
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This would be the point at which I nearly fist-pumped, strangely enough. I’m fascinated by this claim, even if it’s the sort of claim I probably wouldn’t make, so I’m glad you did. Not that I want to be a gay loli or anything, but otaku sexuality is such an interesting clusterfuck.
Something I’m interested in exploring in slice of life girl bands, but which I haven’t been able to frame coherently enough to write about yet, is the effacement of gender identity: if there really aren’t any men around to worry about, does gender simply become a nonissue? And, if it does, maybe the girl band appeals less to the desire to have female characteristics, and more to the desire for a society in which it isn’t necessary to get all flustered about sex and gender, because the important thing is the essential humanity beyond all that.
You are onto something there. I might be inclined to post about it myself! Maybe a group post is in order?
I’m willing. Hit me up on the Google Empire at superfanicom; I’ll keep mulling the idea over.
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