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[Solipsist]

I read some chapters of this manga, but most of my complaints actually come from the anime itself; which seem to share the same mentality.

In ecchi, it is mostly agreed upon that the protagonist is as interesting and vivid as sandpaper. The male-protagonist is only used as a lightning-rod to catch all of the tits and 'moe' that goes around it. The lightning-rod protagonist has no personality, no interesting features what so ever; except for his uncanny improbable connections which he either inexplicably acquired (like in this manga, where he has a childhood friend whom is affiliated with the CIA; got highly friendly *somehow* with a magical-assassin, has an uncle which seems to have deus-ex-machina contacts himself and the obvious heroine; the alien which popped out of nowhere...She sure picked the right guy to attach to), or by sheer improbable odds with minor effort (To Love-Ru's protagonist acquired the trust and love of an alien princess by "holding her hand and taking her away to his home", with the mixed addition of being incredibly idealistic with 0 capability of doing any of the things he spews out of his mouth aside of "running away strategically"...God that manga/anime is ferociously stupid).
Actually, ecchi usually seems to revolve around the protagonist being a cult-leader; the cult-leader himself has no actual strengths aside from collecting people to bestow upon him everything they have. But, in contrast to a cult-leader, most ecchi-protagonists are not charismatic, charming, useful or at all existent. Nobody normally reads ecchi for the guy, right? Most people just want to read it for the bouncing tits, random panties shot or for the more appreciated 'moe'.

So, Asobi ni iku yo....
Like To Love Ru (which is so pathetically stupid it can pierce the heavens, but the art is simply astonishing); it pretends to have a plot.
I say "pretend", because when you think over what I previously wrote: The protagonist's sole existence is to serve as a bucket for a water-tap: to 'receive' the female attention. Whether it makes sense or not.
Yet, the protagonist takes an integral, important role within solving major issues within some situations and events in the "plot"; the type anyone normally would not be able to: He infiltrates a heavily armed and guarded base with a tranquilizer gun which was given to him by his very encouraging uncle. His uncle pretty much tells him : "It's a good thing to risk your life for pussy". A highschooler...

Do you see the problem here? How detached from reality and reason the writing is? Yet how much it attempts to be connected to it?
If everything is directly tossed towards the favor of the protagonist like an incredible rod of fortune, why is his personality so stale and non-existent? In ecchi, it seems that the protagonist only makes an appearance like the "prince" just because the plot requires him to. "The author hath spoken!" and so he turns on god-mode to squash the contrived opposition. If he were to realize what amazing people he managed to flock around him; and actually reflect about it to use them for his favor in a utilitarian manner; I would applaud him! He has the uncanny capability to draw unbelievable eccentric individuals to him whom are all ready to grant them his favor. Be self-aware about THAT.

But, instead; the protagonist attempts to assume his "prince role" and provide protection for the "princesses" by himself; as if it is his job by default "as a man". I again direct you to the whole "infiltrating a base" moment again. It makes no sense within the rules of the show, which it seems to asspull completely by making them on the spot as it goes.

Now, some of you may say : "It is the wishy-washy quality of these manga that people enjoy. It's a very concentrated dosage of escapism."
Okay, sure. But when a series provides the reader with dazzling female individuals, both of personality, looks and improbable skill; but forces them to flock around a boring, antipathetic male lead; what is the point to it?
How do you really enjoy "moe" when this "moe" is always at the level of teasing? This is an important question for me, please answer it~

My logic says : You push forth a completely redundant antagonist to make everybody forget the protagonist is really not interesting while simultaneously giving him the incredibly contrived chances to grow.
Essentially, ecchi manga seems to realize its initial premise is so completely shattered and non-functional it has to present some sort of opposition to the premise itself it attempted to instigate. Otherwise, you have shows like Minami-ke which just restart itself with some minor carried-over properties.
I want to add that I do not 100% hate ecchi manga. I follow Monster-Musume specifically because it manages to present and develop the relationships of the characters to a degree they actually admit their intentions and PERFORM THEM. Even though the protagonist is completely useless as well, at least there is a sense of focus on the characters; how they feel, who they want, etc; instead of "Oh no big bad person! Forget anything we just did let's waste 10 chapters on this pointless garbage!". 

So I sign this long rant with a question : What allows you to enjoy Ecchi manga, and specifically Asobe ni iku yo ("Let's go Play)?
Cheers for reading this long ass scroll.

Edited by Solipsist, 10 October 2013 - 08:14 AM.

[idontknowyou]

   I believe you've made a mix up mistake by using "ecchi" in place for "harem". Ecchi, I believe and have read elsewhere described, is largely a catch all term for the inclusion or use of themes of sexuality or sexual innuendo inside of writing (or other art), predominantly manga. What you describe is the poorly developed relationships and plot structure that stem from Rito's ridiculous harem and circumstances in growing his harem. And the USE of ecchi in To-Love-Ru also follows the poorly developed and outrageous style elsewhere present in the manga; it is blatantly slapstick borderline hentai, there is no use of complex sexual tension which can also be an aspect of ecchi but is wholly ignored in that particular manga (and many beside it).

 

   In harem, yes, the main character is predominantly the same cardboard cut out whose only surprising capability is locomotion (as he is mostly a multiangular cardboard replica of a two-dimensional person {LOL #isThisMeta?} ). Ecchi on the other hand doesn't have a common character; if you look at the children in Today in Class 5-2, or the sometimes aggressive characters in more smut series and one-shots, they are nothing alike. Really ecchi doesn't dictate specifications of character type, only of circumstance (any character can collapse on the floor into a suggestive position; any character can walk in on a character who has collapsed on the floor into a suggestive position; the character's archetype is interchangeable). So the character and story fault you first mention is not the ecchi but rather the harem aspect of the manga.

 

   You do make a valid point in that To-Love-Ru's use of ecchi (sexual innuendo and context) serves one purpose and one purpose alone: it tries to give you a boner. In my circumstance, people read ecchi of varying degrees based on their mood and disposition. If I were in the mood and disposition to get a boner/masturbate but for some particular reason I didn't want to see nipples or vaginae explicitly shown on the screen or paper of my computer/page and I decided I was not interested in looking at Sports Illustrated for the 14th damn time (I mean today and I mean it doesn't work very well), then I would probably decide to look for the most extreme ecchi that I could find. To-Love-Ru is just that, only that, and really doesn't represent ecchi because of how little it actually uses ecchi in its scenes. There is often little to no suggestion that a scene is sexual, rather their use of tentacles, sex toys, and forced-sex circumstances imply it is far more animalistic and behavioral than sexual (if sexual is to mean anything greater than "rabbit humps other rabbit because it likes endorphins"). 

 

   Harems and, greater still, poor design perform as the catalysts for the problems you have brought up, for a harem relies on a group of girls (or guys, depending on your harem) who are oblivious to the realities of their situation. In reality this can happen but rarely, and not for months, and not when they all live in the same house or class or bullshit like that without them having absolutely no ambitions or self-respect. For someone to choose to continue to pursue you after you've shown little to no particularly special devotion to them is what we call "desperate" lol. So harems NEED inconsistency. Or they need division, but the complexities of dividing a group of girls and still making it fit a guy's fantasy are usually too much for shounen mangaka. The lack of personality doesn't derive from the fact that girls around him are sexy and cast in a sexual light, but rather from the fact that if he HAD a personality strong enough to be characterized, it would be even more inconsistent that he has 6 wildly different girlfriends waiting at his leisure. And if he HAD a goal, he would probably have already chosen which one to have his way with and thus ENDED the harem!

 

   I'm really glad you brought up escapism, because part of the lure of these harems is just that the main character can be made invisible. You could easily be that guy, hell I COULD BE THAT GUY. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SAY THREE LINES AN EPISODE AND GIRLS RUB THEMSELVES ON MY JUNK?? I'm down. Were he to take on a persona, he couldn't really grant you that choice. Either he'd be like you and you would agree with his decision or he'd act like an idiot (to you) and choose the wrong fucking girl! Or say something that you wouldn't say; or do something you wouldn't do. And this problem comes up maybe twice an episode when he is called to make a decision (and the bland non-persona decides not to make a real decision). Really a single "harem" manga is, in 90% of its occurrences, just an excuse not to write 6 shitty one-shot romances with the same approximate setting and a more specialized main character. And really would you want to try to get 6 independent manga published INDEPENDENTLY? The slight novelty of your core concept will probably look pretty lackluster the third iteration through, and coming up with a different slightly novel core concept will mean you could probably recycle the first two heroines you used before, rather than make new ones with different personas ie. different dialogue routes. 

 

   Please, please don't take this as me flaming harems or your argument; I'm only saying it because I fall into harems like water over Niagara. I read the shit out of them. And this is how they get me. And it's not the ecchi, because I see ecchi everywhere and I see it used so well sometimes that I want to go home and show my parents how impressive the scene was. Maybe it's the lure of what sex can do for profits/reads but mostly it's the harem. 

 

And I'll tell you it's precisely because it teases you that you read it until they stop releasing scans and translate something more worthwhile...for me that is...Nature made me my body and I intend to abuse it. Masochism all the way!

 

Anyway, Asobi has nice art, I only watched part of the first episode but yeah I totally agree To-Love-Ru is well drawn...Mikan, you is too cute. Asobi is crisp and does a good job with the CG too (except I hate the cat things' body motion they do, seems really blocky). 

[Solipsist]

Even though this is a year late, I feel obligated to at least give some replies.
First of all, I agree what I wrote back there applies more to Harem than Ecchi. Even though it's not really easy to find ecchi that is not a harem these days, and I am surprised I did not mention Ichigo 100% back there, since in terms of "indecisive protagonist fucking asshole do something", the author plays that horrible-trope off splendidly seeing as the protagonist is merely a self-oblivious teenager, and for once one can see how he grows, changes, and especially: Being tormented by his own inadequacy. It's a harem-esque manga done...Pretty darn good. I can't really say it's my fav genre, but that one did its job (I am yet to finish it, though...)

Oh, right. And I do not negate your opinions about Harem...Well, outside of using it as fapping materials. My spunk is only dedicated to horrible, terrible things.
I do not go against your adoration of Harem since, as I said, I like Monster Musume. Mainly because the art is aesthetically pleasant and it is quite cute (or moe I guess?). It's something very endearing to read once a month, although I doubt I'll be able to read it every day or so. I think all of us, once in a while, need an incorporeal teddybear to chest-crush with affection. (I wonder why I was just reminded of Usagi Drop?)

P.S: I like your point regarding "If the hero had character, he would actually do something; thus ending the show". If I read back what I said,

Essentially, ecchi manga seems to realize its initial premise is so completely shattered and non-functional it has to present some sort of opposition to the premise itself it attempted to instigate.

So,yeah. I agree. =) It's a nice way looking at it indeed, especially since it is so cynical.
I remember when I watched a couple of Ecchi / Harem anime so I could figure out how on earth mild-porn works in teenager-rated cartoons, I thought it'd be interesting if there was a premise in which the protagonist is aware that everything around him is utterly mad, that if he is so boring there is no way he would attract so many people to him. In Chaos;head they somewhat play it off in the anime, but I am yet to say if the VN did any better.

I'll wrap this up with this : 

   I'm really glad you brought up escapism, because part of the lure of these harems is just that the main character can be made invisible. You could easily be that guy, hell I COULD BE THAT GUY. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SAY THREE LINES AN EPISODE AND GIRLS RUB THEMSELVES ON MY JUNK?? I'm down.

Haha, indeed. Quite, quite. I myself am more into voyeurism than pretending "I am the sugoi special person", though. But that's a good line none the less. *pachipachi pachipachi*