Explain the appeal of Harem Anime

[iwinatlife]

Both my Girlfriend and I enjoy Harem/ Reverse Harem Alot becuase the characters are interesting.
Such As Fruits basket, Love Hina , Ouran , and recently Kiss him not me.
We even have wall scrolls for a couple .

But yes we like most of those in spite of the protagonist, Especially Keitaro and Tohru

 

[Jux]

While of course having a monogamous relationship is more of a way to ensure your genes moving on than everyone fucking everyone, a harem isn't that. See, the women don't have sex with more than one man, the man just has sex with more than one women, that way it minimizes the risks posed by infertility and even if one or two of em cheat, you have all the rest left, while if your monogamous partner cheats and has someone else's child without you knowing your genes are screwed. Certain kings of antiquity had literally hundreds of children through having harems, that's where the concept begun. I remember this South America king who was said to drink coffee such that he could have sex for 12 hours a day every day, and he'd drink a ton of coffee to make it work out.

Harem anime doesn't follow this formula though. It may be called a harem because it's multiple members of one gender vying to the attention of a single member of the other, but in all the ones I've seen, the protagonist doesn't actually get them all.

And yea, mating strategies are typically more complicated than just a binary mono/polygamous, enforced social hierarchies are, as I stated above, a type of pressure. That doesn't mean one is predisposed one way or another, as my conclusion stated.

 

[RaikuFA]

Pandering to virgin shut-ins

Which makes it incredibly weird how blue-balling so many of them are - 'oh, here's 18 Amazingly Hot, Super Skilled, Slavishly Loyal Women who are all the Ultimate Submissives, BUT NO SEX, NO SEX FOR YOU, NONONO YOU HAVE SEX YOU DIE HORRIBLE, PAINFUL DEATH but also the girls communicate by rubbing their breasts on your head and having random orgasms BUT YOU CANNOT TOUCH YOUR PEE PEE OR YOU WILL EXPLODE WITH DEATH'.

Like, surely the virgin shut-in otakus would want to see someone like them get all sorts of tail, yeah?

Well, there's always hentai. Where the otherwise unremarkable and wimpy male lead turns out to be a sexual virtuose with infinite stamina, improbably sized dick with non-existant refractory period, and, despite no prior experience in bed, inexplained ability to thoroughly satisfy multiple women (often at once) to the point they become addicted to his cock/pass out from pleasure. This guy doesn't just get to sex all his haremettes, but also their best friends. Their moms. Their older sisters. Their little sisters. His own mom and sisters. Basically anything with a vagina that appears on-page/screen.

As for non-hentai often not including sex, I suppose that's partly because any harem manga/anime that actually has the main character engage in sex with his harem would risk landing it in that hentai section if the act is actually shown, depending on how explicit it is.

Also, I suppose many writers wouldn't want to risk losing fans by having the girl that isn't their waifu 'win' by getting it on with the male lead. Unless of course he gets them all in the end, restoring the status quo harem manga/anime seem to love so much. But again, getting all the girls is more the territory of harem hentai.

You should see some of the doujinshi I've read. Lot more believeable. I can give some recommendations.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

snipticon prime

You should see some of the doujinshi I've read. Lot more believeable. I can give some recommendations.

No doubt you could. And yeah, I know there are exceptions to the "main guy is a sex god who bangs every female he meets" hentai trope. I mean, that's what the netorare/netori genre if for. As well as some rarer examples that actually show sexual relationships somewhat realistically, albeit still rather idealized.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

It's easy. You write a blank slate protagonist, you write a bunch of cute female characters with bare bones personalities, you put them in a zany situation, and presto, you have a full season of episodes where you make no progress and you appeal to a very wide audience compared to if you just had the one cute girl. And it's easier than writing a single good romantic pair too since you never have to develop anything. It's cynical cash grabbing. Some of it is better than others, notably when they actually put some depth in the different characters, but most aren't.

 

[MerlinCross]

Myself? I like the characters. If it's done well.

I dislike when it's just blank slate and 5 variation of chests and butts. I also prefer to see that said 'harem' is part of the show rather than the WHOLE show. My personal favorite is Love Hina. Yes he got a whole slew of girls fawning over him about mid way through but the main focuses were him getting into a college/school and his relationship with 2 girls mainly. Granted I dunno if it really counts as a Harem anime.

I stopped keeping up with Rosario + Vampire but that also seemed good to me. Again main character gets a lot of girls but another big focus was "Here's this Human going to a monster school" and the misadventures that followed.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Harem anime doesn't follow this formula though. It may be called a harem because it's multiple members of one gender vying to the attention of a single member of the other, but in all the ones I've seen, the protagonist doesn't actually get them all.

And yea, mating strategies are typically more complicated than just a binary mono/polygamous, enforced social hierarchies are, as I stated above, a type of pressure. That doesn't mean one is predisposed one way or another, as my conclusion stated.

It actually varies, the aforementioned to love ru has a plot about making an actual harem you see. In the normal definition. Of course a lot of the more popular shows do as you say but still, that's kinda the point, when you see a show break out of the mold, be it in interesting characters or not going for the typical true end route with one girl, that's actually a pretty cool show!

It's easy. You write a blank slate protagonist, you write a bunch of cute female characters with bare bones personalities, you put them in a zany situation, and presto, you have a full season of episodes where you make no progress and you appeal to a very wide audience compared to if you just had the one cute girl. And it's easier than writing a single good romantic pair too since you never have to develop anything. It's cynical cash grabbing. Some of it is better than others, notably when they actually put some depth in the different characters, but most aren't.

Good shows play on this expectation, delivering actually-good characters instead of the 5 random shallow girls, in the gap between expectation and reality amusement and glory appears.


Shows where the protagonist doesn't suck like that are more rare but also give you that joy when you inadvertently end up running into one. Negi in mahou sensei negima is top tier shounen protag thrust in a harem mayhem, by the author of Love Hina. I dare you to call Negi boring and blank-slate.

 

[crimsonspear4D]

Harem shows have gone waaaaaaaaay down hill over the years, and it's like they're not even trying to do anything different with the genre other than add MORE bland, incessantly annoying, generic girls to the mix. Let the male protag drown in a sea of T&A that he can never touch or the universe might end.

Harem anime has always had the dubious honor of treating female characters like absolute garbage, but at least in the old days the women were more diverse character-wise and had decent, if not respectable, reasons why they were attracted to the guy, and were rivals actually fighting and competing over suitor, not horny dogs dry-humping the guy's legs or fighting over a chew toy.

I could get back into watching a harem show if there was one where the creators had the fucking balls to actually give a legitimate, credible reason why the guy can't or won't EVEN ATTEMPT at starting a mutual relationship with one or all of the girls. I don't know, like hes asexual or gay or just not attracted "these" women. ITS NOT FUCKING HARD TO COME UP WITH A REASON.

Also, while I have heard that there was ONCE a female audience for harem anime, it was back when it was about which ONE girl hooked up with the man in the end. Like in Tenchi Muyo, it was more about who would Tenchi logically go with: Ryoko OR Ayeka? Now, I can't imagine any woman unironically liking a harem anime. Ecchi, yeah. I mean, I'm a guy and liked a few gaybaiting anime.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

It's easy. You write a blank slate protagonist, you write a bunch of cute female characters with bare bones personalities, you put them in a zany situation, and presto, you have a full season of episodes where you make no progress and you appeal to a very wide audience compared to if you just had the one cute girl. And it's easier than writing a single good romantic pair too since you never have to develop anything. It's cynical cash grabbing. Some of it is better than others, notably when they actually put some depth in the different characters, but most aren't.

Good shows play on this expectation, delivering actually-good characters instead of the 5 random shallow girls, in the gap between expectation and reality amusement and glory appears.

True, but as you said later, they are rare, and unless they try and aim for some higher aspiration by taking on aspects of another genre they will never be more than a Harem anime, that being an extremely shallow romcom. I mean, I genuinely enjoy Monster Girls, but as good as that show is, it is still limited by its genre and I still can't say it really is all that great. It is fucking perfect for what it is, but it is what it is.

Shows where the protagonist doesn't suck like that are more rare but also give you that joy when you inadvertently end up running into one. Negi in mahou sensei negima is top tier shounen protag thrust in a harem mayhem, by the author of Love Hina. I dare you to call Negi boring and blank-slate.

Negima (punctuation varies) would be great were it not for how absurdly awkward it makes me feel. Great for young teens fantasizing about young teens. Terrible for any kind of adult. I do wish it was just straight shounen action like Ken apparently wanted it to be though. Would have been pretty great.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

It's easy. You write a blank slate protagonist, you write a bunch of cute female characters with bare bones personalities, you put them in a zany situation, and presto, you have a full season of episodes where you make no progress and you appeal to a very wide audience compared to if you just had the one cute girl. And it's easier than writing a single good romantic pair too since you never have to develop anything. It's cynical cash grabbing. Some of it is better than others, notably when they actually put some depth in the different characters, but most aren't.

Good shows play on this expectation, delivering actually-good characters instead of the 5 random shallow girls, in the gap between expectation and reality amusement and glory appears.

True, but as you said later, they are rare, and unless they try and aim for some higher aspiration by taking on aspects of another genre they will never be more than a Harem anime, that being an extremely shallow romcom. I mean, I genuinely enjoy Monster Girls, but as good as that show is, it is still limited by its genre and I still can't say it really is all that great. It is fucking perfect for what it is, but it is what it is.

Shows where the protagonist doesn't suck like that are more rare but also give you that joy when you inadvertently end up running into one. Negi in mahou sensei negima is top tier shounen protag thrust in a harem mayhem, by the author of Love Hina. I dare you to call Negi boring and blank-slate.

Negima (punctuation varies) would be great were it not for how absurdly awkward it makes me feel. Great for young teens fantasizing about young teens. Terrible for any kind of adult. I do wish it was just straight shounen action like Ken apparently wanted it to be though. Would have been pretty great.

The main point is that there is hope and there's a lot of good stuff so no need to be overly down on something or classify it as having no redeeming values as I saw happen in this topic. Monster Musume is a liiiitle too weird for me but to love ru and kiss x sis deliver the best that the pure harem genre has to offer.


As for Negima, I think your issue is with Akamatsu's art style which is youthful-looking by nature. Also during the time of its serialization in Japan there were political battles about lolicon anime and manga and Ken was actually a representative of the manga side so the character Evangeline was created as a response to the criticisms that were being levered against the genre. Under that context, all those things that make you feel awkward are Ken trolling the puritan censors he was opposing, which made for a glorious read. The setting also indeed was middle school which is around the prime age for shonen series so you don't really need to pay attention to it much, most anime chars seldom act their age. Hell Yoko in Gurren Lagann was 14 during the first part.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

The main point is that there is hope and there's a lot of good stuff so no need to be overly down on something or classify it as having no redeeming values as I saw happen in this topic. Monster Musume is a liiiitle too weird for me but to love ru and kiss x sis deliver the best that the pure harem genre has to offer.

I'd like to make it clear that I don't think the genre has many redeeming values unless It aims to be something other than a harem anime as well.

As for Negima, I think your issue is with Akamatsu's art style which is youthful-looking by nature. Also during the time of its serialization in Japan there were political battles about lolicon anime and manga and Ken was actually a representative of the manga side so the character Evangeline was created as a response to the criticisms that were being levered against the genre. Under that context, all those things that make you feel awkward are Ken trolling the puritan censors he was opposing, which made for a glorious read. The setting also indeed was middle school which is around the prime age for shonen series so you don't really need to pay attention to it much, most anime chars seldom act their age. Hell Yoko in Gurren Lagann was 14 during the first part.

Except that it is about girls from 12 to 14 molesting a pre-pubescent kid. That is not ok. When you're just hitting puberty it sure seems like a dream come true. When you're 20 something years old, it is kinda awkward.

 

[sanquin]

Which makes it incredibly weird how blue-balling so many of them are - 'oh, here's 18 Amazingly Hot, Super Skilled, Slavishly Loyal Women who are all the Ultimate Submissives, BUT NO SEX, NO SEX FOR YOU, NONONO YOU HAVE SEX YOU DIE HORRIBLE, PAINFUL DEATH but also the girls communicate by rubbing their breasts on your head and having random orgasms BUT YOU CANNOT TOUCH YOUR PEE PEE OR YOU WILL EXPLODE WITH DEATH'.

Like, surely the virgin shut-in otakus would want to see someone like them get all sorts of tail, yeah?

This is because Otaku are generally very awkward around the opposite sex. They like to fantasise about being with all the pretty girls, but if it actually happened they wouldn't know what to do with themselves or their partner(s). So such anime stop just short of where the target audience would become awkward, or make the protagonist awkward themselves. Plus the whole not wanting to outright be in the hentai genre, while still teasing the possibility.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

When I was twelve and Tenchi Muyo was on Toonami I loved that show for the simple reason that there were a lot of pretty girls to look at

Fast forward to my early twenties and I was throwing shade at a girl for liking a reverse harem and she told me that she liked them because guys were always dicks to her, and it was nice to fantasize about a bunch of guys just being nice to a girl

So yeah, maybe they're aimed at dweebs, but maybe the dweebs need something like that

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

Except that it is about girls from 12 to 14 molesting a pre-pubescent kid. That is not ok. When you're just hitting puberty it sure seems like a dream come true. When you're 20 something years old, it is kinda awkward.

And 20 year olds are generally not the target audience for that series. That's like a straight guy griping that a Yaoi series has too many gay dudes in it.

Also, did you even read that series? He winds up in awkward situations, but it never really goes into molesting levels.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Except that it is about girls from 12 to 14 molesting a pre-pubescent kid. That is not ok. When you're just hitting puberty it sure seems like a dream come true. When you're 20 something years old, it is kinda awkward.

And 20 year olds are generally not the target audience for that series. That's like a straight guy griping that a Yaoi series has too many gay dudes in it.

Also, did you even read that series? He winds up in awkward situations, but it never really goes into molesting levels.

Go back. Go back and real my earlier post where I said it was fine for young teens but gross to me now that I'm in my 20's. So do you think I am aware of the first part there? Maybe?

Notice that I know who fucking wrote it and that he had originally intended for it to be standard shounen fare. Note the dumb in joke about the punctuation on the different adaptations the series has received. Do you honestly think I never read it? How?

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

Except that it is about girls from 12 to 14 molesting a pre-pubescent kid. That is not ok. When you're just hitting puberty it sure seems like a dream come true. When you're 20 something years old, it is kinda awkward.

And 20 year olds are generally not the target audience for that series. That's like a straight guy griping that a Yaoi series has too many gay dudes in it.

Also, did you even read that series? He winds up in awkward situations, but it never really goes into molesting levels.

Go back. Go back and real my earlier post where I said it was fine for young teens but gross to me now that I'm in my 20's. So do you think I am aware of the first part there? Maybe?

Notice that I know who fucking wrote it and that he had originally intended for it to be standard shounen fare. Note the dumb in joke about the punctuation on the different adaptations the series has received. Do you honestly think I never read it? How?

If it's okay for young teens, and young teens are the intended audience, then why the heck are you even griping about it? Go watch something more intended for your age group if this sort of thing embarrasses you!

As for how I could think you've never seen it, because you made the claim that Negi gets molested when that doesn't really happen. Heck, the closest thing to it would be that thing with Chachamaru's whole key winding incident and it was NEGI who was inadvertently doing the molesting there.

Granted, two of the girls DO give me stranger danger vibes, but again, it never really ventures into territory that would draw Chris Hansen's notice.

Harem anime has always had the dubious honor of treating female characters like absolute garbage, but at least in the old days the women were more diverse character-wise and had decent, if not respectable, reasons why they were attracted to the guy, and were rivals actually fighting and competing over suitor, not horny dogs dry-humping the guy's legs or fighting over a chew toy.

What harem series have YOU been seeing? Most of the one's I've seen usually has the male getting thrashed for being/looking like he was being perverted while being a bland as crap individual.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Except that it is about girls from 12 to 14 molesting a pre-pubescent kid. That is not ok. When you're just hitting puberty it sure seems like a dream come true. When you're 20 something years old, it is kinda awkward.

And 20 year olds are generally not the target audience for that series. That's like a straight guy griping that a Yaoi series has too many gay dudes in it.

Also, did you even read that series? He winds up in awkward situations, but it never really goes into molesting levels.

Go back. Go back and real my earlier post where I said it was fine for young teens but gross to me now that I'm in my 20's. So do you think I am aware of the first part there? Maybe?

Notice that I know who fucking wrote it and that he had originally intended for it to be standard shounen fare. Note the dumb in joke about the punctuation on the different adaptations the series has received. Do you honestly think I never read it? How?

If it's okay for young teens, and young teens are the intended audience, then why the heck are you even griping about it? Go watch something more intended for your age group if this sort of thing embarrasses you!

I read/watched it when I was the intended audience. I am only griping about it from the perspective that it is something that looking back I think comes off as creepy now that I am an adult. I am not saying it is a bad series for young teens. I have repeatedly said otherwise, before you even started replying to me I had already stated that. I do think that any adult who uses the series to get off should probably seek help.

As for how I could think you've never seen it, because you made the claim that Negi gets molested when that doesn't really happen. Heck, the closest thing to it would be that thing with Chachamaru's whole key winding incident and it was NEGI who was inadvertently doing the molesting there.

Granted, two of the girls DO give me stranger danger vibes, but again, it never really ventures into territory that would draw Chris Hansen's notice.

And all the naked bathes with characters who profess to be attracted to him is just A OK? The creepy rich girl? I get it, as a young teen's wet dream it is fine. It is only divorced from that context, once you no longer project yourself onto Negi but instead see him as an ignorant and innocent kid that it all comes off as super awkward and creepy.

 

[Marik2]

Because eye candy and it's nice to see a large cast living together and interacting

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

Sod it, this is going nowhere fast.

 

[TheScorpion]

I can see why most people don't like harems. But for me, they're a fun guilty pleasure depending on what show we're talking. For me, I hate SAO. I really get nothing out of it. I just find it dull as shit.

For me, I like ones that are actually funny or are ridiculous enough that I get some laughs or a bunch of good riffs out of it like Monster Musume, Rosario Vampire, and To Love Ru. Then again, most of the ones that I like tend to lean towards the latter. Though It helps that there's a character that I always like to see like Rachnera, Kotegawa, or Rika Shiguma.

On the flip side, there's also a few that I'm not a fan of like Love Hina, definitely Sword Art Online, and the many bad LN adaptations that I wasted my time with like Absolute Duo, Sky Wizards Academy, and especially fucking Shomin Sample. There's also the ones that I got tired of like Nisekoi and Ranma1/2.

Still wanna check out a few others like Tenchi Muyo and the Monogatari series or even continue something like Rosario Vampire or The World God Only Knows and definitely some more romance anime that have similar tropes at times. But that'll have to wait until I organize my MAL more and finish a few show on my backlog.