Because I relate to this personally...
It's really becoming an epidemic. I don't know when literal puritans invaded the anime community but they should fuck off.
Xenoblade 3 (while not an anime but is very obviously an anime JRPG) is a great example of this. Everyone was cheering how the character designs are "objectively" so much better, and yet there were plenty of somber and melancholy moments in the other games while tits and ass were out. Sharla's butt and cleavage windows, anyone? Even in the Definitive Edition they kept that. Hell, that could happen in X... yet it wasn't any less serious if you put Elma in a bikini while she was heroically monologuing about humanity's survival as a species. You could argue that in XC3 it's supposed to be serious and the sexual elements toned down because of how the Agnians and Kevesi are essentially dehumanized by the Moebius, but that didn't excuse 1 and X... or even any of the Gears/Saga games. Whatever, 3 feels like a 2.5 anyway.
Personally I dont mind when fanservice gets a little silly. I find the whole awkwardness of it kind of funny. I can see why people wouldnt like it tho.
Id probably be more critical of it if there werent so many idiots crying everytime a boob is shown in an anime.
I think it boils down to this: People who have the mental capacity to appreciate glorification of the human form (since this hobby is mainly consumed by males, it is then the female that is mostly featured) simultaneously or juxtaposed with the story's thematic presentation -whether serious or comedic- are simply built different. For example, Gurren Lagann (one of my favorite anime of all) still kept Yoko sexy in the second arc. She shows less skin as a teacher post-timeskip (the outfit is still really sexy, and makes sense since she's going to be in front of kids professionally), but otherwise rocks that hotrod bikini through all the serious, epic, and even sad moments (rest in peace, our boy and the noble sacrifices). No, it didn't make the show "less impactful because it was distracting," that's your problem. These complaints aren't even "fans" course correcting the creator, either... it's just moral outcry for self validation. I mean, Dragon's Crown Sorceress, anyone?
"We" are from a time when putting the female on display was no issue and it let people express... well, their love for the female and female form. The problem was never the schism that forms from sexual depictions while a serious plot is unfolding... the problem is the person viewing the material. Yes, even if a girl is brutally murdered in a psychological horror anime and a shot of her panties and vagina mounds show up on the screen as the limp body tumbles across the floor... that is still perfectly justified.
YOU (as in a hypothetical "you") are the problem for trying to control the creator's intent. It just boils down to an insecurity. Don't like it? Go find something else. Or better yet, why not make your own material that doesn't feature those elements and show us how it's done? Compete instead of complaining.
Who am I kidding, they won't because it's not about that, it's about control and FOMO, but that's a whole different can of worms.
Related to the actual thread topic
I don't know if I mentioned it before but I get bored by huge power-scaling stories like Nanatsu no Taizai and Fairy Tail. Deku from MHA I'm okay with... his growth is pretty meaningful. As a result I'm starting to gravitate more towards particular slice-of-life (Way of the House Husband), culturally significant works (Akane-Banashi), or well contained stories (Somali and the Forest Spirit). Which by the way, Akane-Banashi was recommended to me by a close friend and I
highly recommend it.