22 Anime With Absolutely No Fan Service

Fan Service – while the definition for it does not innately limit a service to fans as sexual in nature, fan service is the term in anime most used to describe certain lewd moments in a series.

You know the ones.

A cheeky jiggle of the bosom, a character tripping and falling face first into a woman’s crotch, or even the way the sun reflects beautifully off a flawlessly smooth man’s bare torso.

Those moments, while sometimes used for comedy, are also meant to titillate the audience as a service to the fans.

While there are certainly those who enjoy fan service in anime, not everyone wants it. It certainly makes an anime difficult to watch while riding the bus, for example, or in a room where people may be casually walking through on occasion. Fan service is definitely the reason why anime fans can occasionally be called degenerates.

However, anime is a vast medium, and there are plenty of anime with no fan service where you don’t have to endure clothes comically bursting off or moans that someone could easily confuse for adult entertainment.

If you are looking for anime with no fan service, then give these anime recommendation a try.

Best Anime With No Fan Service

Discerning Between No Fan Service and No Nudity

If there is anything I have learned from running this site, it is that for articles like this, I need to state my criteria clearly, as everyone has fun-filled varying opinions on what is considered appropriate.

That said, nudity in anime is not the same as fan service in anime. Both sex and nudity can be used as a storytelling tool. For example, famously in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji jerks off to a girl in a coma. Is that fan service?

No, it is used to display how fucked up Shinji is as well as contributing to some of the finer points of his character and his relationship with the girl in question. It is something more notoriously jarring to fans than a service to them.

If you can’t stand brief glimpses of the human body even as a storytelling device, perhaps anime is not for you. Because damn, anime sure does love nudity. It is almost as unavoidable in anime as it is in most other media these days.

Regardless, “fan service” nudity that these anime recommendations do not have include instances of:

• Boobs, butts, and panty shots used for comedy
• Raunchy comedy in general (though some may contain an innuendo on occasion)
• Beach episodes
• Purposefully lewd outfits in abundance
• Too much jiggle and lingering gazes that don’t contribute anything meaningful
• I even tried to keep anime with too many bath and shower scenes off this list, but that one is harder than you would think since it is often a beloved place for characters to contemplate.

That said, you may see a naked form on occasion in some of these anime recommendations. It is often used as symbolism for vulnerability or weakness, not to titillate you.

Vinland Saga

Vinland Saga follows a young boy raised in a secluded village in Iceland. When his father, a legendary viking warrior, is called to fight in the invasion of England, he sneaks on his father’s boat and witnesses him murdered by a mercenary on the journey.

This fuels the boy to follow this mercenary and fight him in revenge for his father.

Vinland Saga is a tale of vengeance about a boy who grows up on the battlefield, mentored by the very man he wants to kill. While it highlights warfare and violence, it is also surprisingly full of intrigue as it explores the political machinations of the time.

As there is actually a lack of female characters in Vinland Saga, there isn’t a lot of room for fan service. Mostly, it is just Vikings fighting and plotting.

Erased

Erased follows a failed manga artist who has the ability to go back in time for a few minutes after an accidents happens around him. However, one day when he witnesses the murder of someone close to him, his ability sends him back to his childhood just before a series of children would be kidnapped and murdered. Now, he must try to solve this mystery in hopes that it can stop so many people from dying.

As a mystery about murder, child abuse, and trying to change a series of events that happened when the character was a little boy, there isn’t a whole lot of room for fan service to be wedged in here. Too much intrigue to have room for lewdness.

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Natsume’s Book of Friends follows a boy that could always see spirits. It was this ability that tended to alienate him from other humans since no one believed him.

One day, he discovers that he inherited his grandmother’s Book of Friends that allowed her the ability to call upon the spirits whose names were in the book. After being targeted by a powerful spirit who wanted the book, he struck a deal with him. He works to free the spirits who want their names taken out of the books and when he passes on, the powerful spirit can have the book and whoever remains inside.

While this sounds rather action-oriented, Natsume’s Book of Friends is often a slice of life show. Only a handful of spirits are full of malice, with most simply existing.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

At first you might think mecha series like Gundam would be a pretty good option to get away from fan service, but you would be wrong in many cases. Gundam can be a mixed bag of decidedly serious tales of intergalactic war and lighter more fan service-laced tales of intergalactic war.

A solid Gundam alternative with no fan service is the Legend of the Galactic Heroes which places a huge emphasis on the politics that caused the conflict of the series.

Like some Gundam series, Legend of the Galactic Heroes follows a war between two different human civilization in the galaxy. The two sides have ideological differences that make peace through non-violence almost impossible.

This series, while older, is legendary as a space opera and one of the best anime series detailing intricate politics and war.

The Promised Neverland

The Promised Neverland takes place in a secluded orphanage where the orphans consider each other family. They grow and play together, and when they reach a certain age, they are adopted out to families.

However, one day the main characters discover that those children aren’t adopted out at all. Something much more sinister happens. This sets them on the path to escape their confines all while unraveling the real truth behind the purpose of the orphanage.

The Promised Neverland is not only a horror series, but it follows very young children. It has two things that are resistant to fan service. Considering that they live on a human farm and are trying to escape it, fan service just wouldn’t work.

Violet Evergarden

Violet Evergarden is most famous for being one of the most visually stunning modern anime at present.

The series follows the titular character who existed once only to be a weapon for war. She was trained to be a tool that is used for battle and easily disposed of. Like any normal human, her handler grew attached to her, and when he died, he sent her to his family where she, upon his last request, learns how to live.

She lost her arms in the war, but with the help of complex prosthetics, she gets a job as a woman who conveys complex emotions onto paper in the form of letters. The central element in Violet Evergarden is that she has trouble understanding emotions, and thus is pretty bad at her job at first. However, throughout the series you watch her grow and understand as she explores the emotionally poignant stories of others.

Moribito

Moribito follows a female mercenary who ends up guarding a naive young prince who was marked for sacrifice by his father. The boy’s mother hires her to spirit him away so that he can live, and this world-wise woman ends up mentoring him on how life is outside of his sheltered palace.

Moribito balances its plot well between action and moments where the prince learns valuable life lessons. It has no time for nudity, but all the time in the world to build out an interesting lore-dense setting.

Attack on Titan

In a world about the last remnants of humanity being pushed back behind a series of walls that protect them from giant (naked, but not remotely sexy) flesh-eating Titans, there is not a lot of room for fan service, much less happy emotions.

People die often and horribly, and later in the series the world becomes unexpectedly more complex.

While the naked, genital-free, and odd looking Titans may make Attack on Titan a strange anime for someone to walk in on you watching, it is a master of twisting its plot. What the series starts out as is not where the series ends up.

Shiki

Shiki sets itself up as a horror mystery about a series of deaths plaguing a rural village.

At first, people think it is some sort of illness, but it becomes increasingly clear that something else is killing these people in the night.

Shiki does an excellent job at building up its mystery and its tension up over the course of the series. It all leads up to that great “snap” that releases the tension in a violent torrent, making it a worthy watch for mystery and horror fans alike.

Rurouni Kenshin

While there certainly was some lewd happenings in history, Rurouni Kenshin doesn’t focus on them.

This series takes place in the Meiji Era of Japan where samurai were increasingly unneeded and often having trouble integrating into normal society. The story follows a man who has sworn off killing after a violent past on the battlefield. He still carries a sword, but uses the blunted edge to prevent taking lives with it.

Rurouni Kenshin portrays him as light-hearted and silly, but he is a man with a dark past. Much of the series follows people from his past turning up for vengeance or otherwise trying to get him to return to the man he was.

Terror in Resonance

Terror in Resonance is daring enough to be a story that follows terrorists instead of counter-terrorism forces as is usually the case. As such, it probably didn’t want to tempt fate with any fan service either.

Fan service would indeed ruin the pace and the message that the somewhat benign terrorists are trying to get across in this serious drama, though.

In this series, you follow two mysterious school boys who are carrying out non-violent acts of terrorism in order to try and get their message across to the public about the secret experimentation they had to endure.

That charm here is unraveling why they are doing it and what exactly happened to them.

Barakamon

I would dearly like to say that usually you are safe from fan service if the anime has a larger cast of younger children, but long-time anime fans know that certainly isn’t true. In fact, thinking that can go horribly wrong for you.

However, the specific sub-genre of found family anime is usually a pretty decently fan service-free genre.

Barakaman follows a calligraphy artist who, after an angry outburst about his art, is sequestered to a rural Japanese island. There, he tries to work on his art, but is often derailed by the shenanigans of curious neighborhood children.

While interacting with these comical kids, you also watch him start to unravel the cause of his anger issues and grow as a person.

If Barakamon and its mix of cute, funny kids, adult character growth, and no fan service are of interest, you should also give these series a try:

• Deaimon
• Kotaro Lives Alone
• Sweetness and Lightning
• Gakuen Babysitters
• The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting
• Usagi Drop

They could certainly be their own entries on this list, yes, but I would essentially just be saying the same thing about all of them.

Mushishi

Similar to Natsume’s Book of Friends, Mushishi explore Eastern folklore across a series of short stories framed around a man studying events caused by small entities known as mushi.

The events that mushi cause can be benevolent or malicious to the people in the area, despite the mushi not having any sort of attachment to causing either harm or good. They simply are, and the main character muses about that.

While his path towards mushi often intersects with other people, mushi – being entities of no conscious mind – don’t usually cause lewd occurrences.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil

While isekai anime about characters being sent or reincarnated into another world has grown quite popular, it also means fan service in the fantasy genre has grown with it. Isekai anime is built on the dual pillars of escapism and wish fulfillment, and a lot of horny dwells there.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil, however, is isekai of a different sort. Instead of escapism and wish fulfillment, it simply uses being sent to another world as part of its storytelling independent of indulging the viewers’ desires.

This series follows a shrewd and cold salaryman who was pushed in front of a train by an emotional employee he fired. He gets into a bit of a tiff with God at the moment of his death and in hopes to humble him and build belief, the salaryman is reincarnated in a World War II-inspired world at war where magic plays just as much of a part in warfare as infantry and machines.

However, he is reborn into the body of a cute young girl with a talent for magic. Yet, she still distinctly has the psychotic mind of a shrewd salaryman. Every action he takes in the show is calculated, trying to get himself a safe and cushy job in the back lines, yet God enjoys playing with him.

Carole and Tuesday

When it comes to music anime, most series often enjoy a lack of fan service. However some, like Nana, for example, do use sex and nudity as a storytelling device more frequently than you may like.

Carole and Tuesday follows two girls of vastly different upbringings being brought together by a desire to make music.

This series really embraces the struggle of young musicians trying to actually make it in the music industry. It is difficult for them and they also have their own character drama to contend with, but it also displays music as a major unifier of all people.

Other solid, non-sexual and fan service-free music anime includes:

• Your Lie in April
• Bocchi the Rock
• Kids on the Slope
• Given
• Stop This Sound

Like with Barakamon and found family anime, each of the above music entries could have had their own entry, yes, but it would – again – just be saying the same thing about all of them.

Cells at Work

Sometimes anime feels like the best way to keep people interested on subject is to make it titillating, so educational anime isn’t always as fan service-free as you might hope. However, Cells at Work is both educational and pretty wholesome.

The lewdest thing that happens in Cells at Work is that it takes place inside a human body. Various cells are depicted as anime characters and their duties are displayed as slice of life-esque jobs to be done or various action scenes.

While it overall is pretty interesting, it has a pretty good way of endearing the characters to you as well.

Ranking of Kings

Everything from the art style and characters to the setting evokes fairy tales in Ranking of Kings. However, it isn’t as tedious and predictable as the standard fairy tale. In fact, it is down right unexpected and inspiring at times.

Ranking of Kings takes place in a world where kings are ranked by both power and the happiness of their kingdom. The main character’s father, the strongest king, has passed away. The young prince is a rather weak mute boy, but expected to be crowned regardless. He is shocked when his younger brother is chosen instead, and decides to travel in order to become more powerful.

Those that don’t care for childish anime may give this series a pass based on a simple glance, but rest assured that it is definitely not as childish as it looks. People die and get maimed in surprisingly graphic ways that set it apart from your standard bloodless fairy tale.

Id: Invaded

I had wanted to include Psycho-Pass, but it has a little more contemplative scenes in the shower than some may probably want. So why not instead the extremely similar, but less shower scene-inclusive Id: Invaded?

Id: Invaded follows detectives who are privileged to use a piece of advanced technology that can access the Id Wells of a killer’s mind from a crime scene to help unravel their identity.

However, to access these Wells, you must be a killer yourself. So the main character was a detective but is currently serving a prison sentence for vigilante justice.

The Id Wells allows Id: Invaded really put the psychological focus on murder and other crimes in a deeply interesting and often surreal way.

My Love Story

You would think that more wholesome romantic comedies would be without fan service, but if it isn’t indulging fan service for a male audience, it is indulging fan service for a female one.

My Love Story tells the love story that probably a few anime fans can relate to. The main character looks more like a gorilla than a man, and as he looks so scary and is so strong, most girls are afraid of him. However, after saving a cute girl from a groper, it turns out she falls in love with him.

What happens after is nothing but wholesome fluff and this man with a brick for a face gets the wholesome innocent romance that all young people dream about.

As romantic comedy anime are often something that people really enjoy watching and probably don’t want fan service in, here are a few more that don’t have fan service either:

• Horimiya (though there is implied sex)
• Kimi ni Todoke
• Romantic Killer
• Snow White With the Red Hair
• One Week Friends
• Tsuki ga Kirei

91 Days

While there is really no place for nudity in a tautly-paced mafia story about revenge, you can never be too sure with anime.

However, 91 Days exceeds any expectations you might have had by following a man who had his family killed by the mafia when he was a boy. One day, he infiltrates the Mafia family, grows close to the boss’ son, and carries out his plan to destroy the organization from the inside.

However, things become complicated when his bond of friendship with the boss’ son grows stronger.

Anime actually doesn’t have an abundance of Prohibition Era-themed Mafia anime, but even if it really just has 91 Days, the series does such a good job with it that it only needs this singular series.

Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate follows a failing scientist who accidentally creates a way to send messages to the past. As is typical with time travel plots, he uses this innocently enough, but with major unintended consequences. Much of the series then becomes centered around him trying to undo what has been done to better effect.

The charming part of Steins;Gate is that it grows increasingly more tense as it goes on. What started as an almost comical romp turns firmly into a tense science fiction thriller.

Moriarty the Patriot

Moriarty the Patriot provides a unique new spin on the oft-spun Sherlock Holmes collection. This series, instead of following the detective, follows the primary antagonist – William Moriarty.

It of course takes its liberties, following no particular Holmes mystery, but instead it follows Moriarty as he helps people enact vengeance on the nobility that so often takes advantage of them.

Holmes himself serves as a sort of antagonist to Moriarty as he becomes increasingly more interested in his crimes.

Do you have any other anime series with no fan service for fans that don’t want it? Let fans now in the comments section below.