How Gender Equality Affects Fan Service in Anime

gamerant.com:

Fan service is a core part of any anime or manga franchise, and it's been a large part of its success. As most people know, early anime relied heavily on female character sexualization as a sub-plot. Of course, hence the name, fan service is meant to act as a «service» to fans — so it's not necessarily a bad thing if it matches with the target audience.

Though some anime's target audiences aren't as exclusive as others. Classic shounen anime had more fan service than shoujo anime did — and even ones that didn't have a particular gender demographic, still relied on male-targeted fan service. It can't go without saying though, that as the years progress and society evolves towards a more egalitarian state, depictions of fan service become broader in terms of audience.

The Problem With Reverse Harem Anime

Earlier anime had no issue with using fan service beyond its potential. Beloved classics such as Golden Boy relied heavily on fan service. Every episode has Kintaro undergoing his «pervy» antics where he finds himself in questionable situations involving a scantily clad or seductive woman. Though the purpose of the story was a young man being mischievous, this is still worth mentioning. Golden Boy isn't necessarily inherently sexist, as Kintaro's hijinks are a result of being immature and goofy and getting himself in trouble — not to mention his character is not meant to be taken super seriously.

Rosario + Vampire is another one of these — being a harem anime with an «average looking» guy managing to attract the attention of his nonhuman classmates. Predominately relying on the male gaze, each female character embodies a trope; Moka as the «Genki Girl», Kurumu as the «Sexy Lady», Yukari as the «Innocent Impressionable