Recently watching Kill la Kill has got me to think about this a little bit. I've seen varying opinions on the subject, some think it's a pleasant and welcome inclusion, some believe it can ruin a show or video game completely for them, and of course, some are indifferent towards it. It's pretty ambiguous, and although I can guess what the most common opinion might be here, there are likely to be varied answers.

For the sake of avoiding "If it's rare and infrequent then I don't care" answers, let's make this about works that are well-known for noticeable amounts of fanservice. Is there a point where a significant amount of it can cross the line? And if so, what are some examples in which you feel that is the case? Any examples of tasteful fanservice that you don't have a problem with at all, and that may actually improve the work in some way?

Edit: I was mainly thinking of sixual fanservice. My mistake for not clarifying. That's what happens when my only definition of fanservice comes from TV Tropes.

Look at it this way. The entire ending to Breaking Bad was homage to a fan that had cancer. None of that was originally planned.

I find it very hard to watch a show (usually anime) if it is clearly filled with fanservice. Pantyshots and BBB (big bouncy boobs) are very annoying when they get crammed down your throat every two minutes.

It really depends on if it's gracious fan service or terrible catering for ratings/viewers/consistent fans.

So, would you say it's totally fine as long as it's handled in a specific way, regardless of quantity (within a reasonable limit)?

Nevrmind, got the wrong defenition of fanservice

Absolutely. There's a difference between tasteful fan service and awful fan service. Easter Eggs are an example of (mostly) tasteful fan service, because then you're mentally doing the double fingered point at the devs going 'Dohoho, I see what you did there bro and I love it!'

It's not the amount of fanservice in and of itself that will determine how I feel about a show. Rather, if fanservice is the show's only reason for being, I'm not going to like it. On the other end, if the story and character development are grade-A, and it is also full of service, I'm going to like the show. It's neither detrimental nor beneficial to me.

Easter Eggs wouldn't be an example that the OP is talking abut though, he specifically is only talking about sixually-charged fanservice. It was probably poor word choice on behalf of the OP, because in the gaming community, things like references, allusions, and easter eggs are what are thought of when someone mentions fanservice, whereas in the anime community it's more commonly associated with panty shots and other ecchi things.

Yeah, some occasional boob joke is fine, but it gets really tiresome after a while, and the huge increase of anime fanservice in the past decade kinda killed my interest in modern anime. Instead I just re-watch older stuff from the 90s and early 00s.

And talking about games, the Mass Effect fanservice was pretty horrible too, with Tali and Ashley.

You'll be hard pressed to find any modern stuff that doesn't completely overindulge in this when it comes to anime. Thanks to Japan's long term recession the industry has become absurdly insular and laser-focused on a particular niche demographic that is inclined to spend money on this kind of stuff.

Ah, I thought this was more a 'Fanservice General' thread.

Anywho, that's partly why I was turned off from most anime. I'd have friends go 'Oh, you should watch (anime)' and it's be chock full of upskirt panty shots, boob groping and borderline hentai. I just figured at that point I'll stick to shows like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop and ignore 90% of anime discussions/communities (To which I still do.)

I'd disagree, unless you include in the fanservice pool a completely non-charged just-having-fun-with-friends beach scene that's common in many romance stories.

Generally just by leaving the shounen demographic you can escape most fanservice (which would leave shoujo romcom and romdram as the most common options). If you want to stay in the shounen demographic, you can usually avoid it by sticking to sports-oriented anime or martial arts-oriented anime. It's generally the slice-of-life and action shows set in the modern day that are fanservice-heavy. Even then, though, there's still a good number every year that don't have any service of note.

Ryuko is hot so she's excused. Dat tomboy voice, man.

I'm not fond of fanservice, but I don't hate it either unless it's constantly there and overshadowing the actual plot. Same goes with ecchi. The way series like Azumanga Daioh and Evangelion do it is alright, like dedicating one or two episodes for it, but if it's constantly shoved up the viewers face it becomes tedious and hard to take the series seriously.

There are shows that I feel only exist because of the fanservice, and that's lame.