Quote Originally Posted by Lord Celebi View Post
Really, though, how many people watch porn for the plot? Same thing. Anything with excessive fan service has its writing dictated by getting people naked. It could have the best writing and characterization in the world but it won't detract from the fact that its still porn. It won't do anything to advance the legitimacy of animation or anime as a medium in the eyes of the public.

I think you have it backwards with Free! The show was made to show mostly naked men--swimming is just the excuse.
But that doesn't detract that people, like myself, do exist that are willing to watch anime with excessive fanservice for plot. HOTD has an amazing plot, the fanservice just makes it hard to take it as seriously as it needs to be. Doesn't mean I that I won't watch it. Free! is similar. As much as I like the fact that the guys are 3/4 naked most of the time, the reason I got into it was because of the swimming plot. I watch shows for plot and if it has fanservice, well then ok, I'll just ignore it. Some people just have more tolerance than others and given your tone, I'm guessing you have like no tolerance whatsoever. Just because something has near porn in it doesn't mean the writing and such aren't good. There are many people that I know or have met online that watch shows for PLOT and deal with the fanservice. The people that don't have the tolerance for it are missing out because a lot of anime does have fanservice. Your argument seems to association fanservice with the show being automatically bad and that's incorrect. Just because it deters from the plot doesn't mean the show still isn't good.