Harem Anime
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Don't worry.Redryhno said:
I avoided complete desolation.
It's just that back then, when I watched "To Love Ru", it was when I was much younger, and when I first started with anime. There was Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam Seed, Ghost in the Shell, and that was when I decided to take to the internet with my hobby. That was when I came across that anime, of course, I did not even see the genres warning about its topic. Yet when I started it, I first saw that this could be a romance.
How wrong I was.
I was so many episodes in, waiting for something to happen.
Then I simply quit, sick of all the bullshit. Yet somehow, as if the Heavens guided me to it, I watched Clannad. That was the moment when I turned my back on the harem genre, never wanting to see its betrayal ever again.
That is how I'm here, and completely hating the genre.
Quite the sad tale, but once I saw that such things as School Days exist, I know I made the right choice.
Becoming a little more optimistic, I have no problem that others enjoy it... Until they shove it in my face.
Then I get... BOOM.
I like Tenchi Muyo inspite of its genre and title character. I just love its fantastical space universe -Fucking magical tree space ships..? God approves! Speaking of which, Oh My Goddess is a nice one, too. Surprisingly lacking in typical fanservice as well.
As for the genre itself... Eh, it's good for some shallow titilation. And some can have a remarkable charm despite being softcore hentai, like Monster Musume. I have no real aversion to the genre or anything.
As for the genre itself... Eh, it's good for some shallow titilation. And some can have a remarkable charm despite being softcore hentai, like Monster Musume. I have no real aversion to the genre or anything.
<url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksSW_1F20pI>Tenchi is the best!
Tenchi is the best!
But, if I had a second place,
Then, Haganai takes the rest! (Harem!)
On a more serious note, I do like watching harem anime, yet I rarely buy them on DVD/Blu-Ray... So far, only the Tenchi series and Haganai have earned that honor of being bought on Blu-Ray... Sure, I had the complete series of Ouran High School Host Club and Chobits on DVD, but I gave those to my friend for his birthday since he loves those series more than I did at the time... Also, if it wasn't for the manga being better, I would have bought the complete [anime] series of Negima...
Other than that, unless theirs a twist to the premise and/or I don't see it as one until it's "too late", then don't expect me to buy it on Blu-Ray when it comes out... That doesn't mean I still won't try to watch it from start to finish, though...
Tenchi is the best!
But, if I had a second place,
Then, Haganai takes the rest! (Harem!)
On a more serious note, I do like watching harem anime, yet I rarely buy them on DVD/Blu-Ray... So far, only the Tenchi series and Haganai have earned that honor of being bought on Blu-Ray... Sure, I had the complete series of Ouran High School Host Club and Chobits on DVD, but I gave those to my friend for his birthday since he loves those series more than I did at the time... Also, if it wasn't for the manga being better, I would have bought the complete [anime] series of Negima...
Other than that, unless theirs a twist to the premise and/or I don't see it as one until it's "too late", then don't expect me to buy it on Blu-Ray when it comes out... That doesn't mean I still won't try to watch it from start to finish, though...
I will defend to the death three harem series, as having great plots and fantastic characters. These are my three favorite for this reason.
First up, Haganai. Which is considered a harem, even though a lot of romance is left out for a majority of novels and the anime. The characters somewhat fit tropes, but they give them enough personaility to make them unuqie and likable. It also gets bonus points for me, because I still have no idea who the protgonist will end up with. He's even confessed to one of the girls... well her body anyway(Gander over at my avatar and take a wild guess), and I still cannot tell you without a doubt who'll win.
Some drool may have just hit my laptop.
Next up is Highschool DxD. Imagine every religion ever was made real and throw in a couple dragons. You pretty much have Highschool DxD. Follows a group of demons on their journey. The series has some pretty deep plots and a pretty awesome cast of characters. They also somehow reach the happy medium of having bare tits in the middle of a serious conversation and not have it look stupid. Still shocks me how they do that.
Lastly is... Freezing. Not the anime, fuck that noise it sucks. The manga on the other hand is amazing. A badass force of women with men supporting them fight giant ass aliens. The early arcs are shit, as they effectively could be considered women being women and fighting over the stupidest of shit when a race of city-destroying aliens is attacking the earth. Luckily after the most frustrating arc in the world, which I shall explain below in a spoiler, the show picks up. Mostly when they actually start fighting cool things, like the aliens or military. Characters are good, plot's pretty decent as the show goes on, and you gotta love tragedy to love this one.
First up, Haganai. Which is considered a harem, even though a lot of romance is left out for a majority of novels and the anime. The characters somewhat fit tropes, but they give them enough personaility to make them unuqie and likable. It also gets bonus points for me, because I still have no idea who the protgonist will end up with. He's even confessed to one of the girls... well her body anyway(Gander over at my avatar and take a wild guess), and I still cannot tell you without a doubt who'll win.
Some drool may have just hit my laptop.
Next up is Highschool DxD. Imagine every religion ever was made real and throw in a couple dragons. You pretty much have Highschool DxD. Follows a group of demons on their journey. The series has some pretty deep plots and a pretty awesome cast of characters. They also somehow reach the happy medium of having bare tits in the middle of a serious conversation and not have it look stupid. Still shocks me how they do that.
Lastly is... Freezing. Not the anime, fuck that noise it sucks. The manga on the other hand is amazing. A badass force of women with men supporting them fight giant ass aliens. The early arcs are shit, as they effectively could be considered women being women and fighting over the stupidest of shit when a race of city-destroying aliens is attacking the earth. Luckily after the most frustrating arc in the world, which I shall explain below in a spoiler, the show picks up. Mostly when they actually start fighting cool things, like the aliens or military. Characters are good, plot's pretty decent as the show goes on, and you gotta love tragedy to love this one.
I've been holding this in for too long, time to get it out.
The main female character has a problem with anyone touching her. How was this caused you ask? By her half-brother, who raped, mentally abused, and effectively turned her into his own personal slave... for like seven fucking years. She finally manages to run away, but sees him again when she visits her family. It finally looks like she may be able to get payback for all the horrible shit he has done, only for her to instantly go back to her slave state. In which he rapes her again. Oh, I forgot to mention. While his favorite slave was away, he found another girl and did the exact same thing to her. He has now raped, mentally abused, and turned into slaves two women! Finally they have a chance to let the bastard die, and what does the main female character do? Saves his life, not only that forgives him when he goes "It's because I love you so much. I'm sorry, I won't do it again." I'm not shitting you, she forgives her abusive brother who raped her and did the exact same thing to another girl. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, WOMAN!?!?! KILL THIS FUCKING SCUMBAG!!!!! He isn't sorry for the terrible crimes he committed, he's sorry he got fucking caught. He's a monster, shove his face into water and don't stop until the bubbles are finished! You're doing a disservice to humanity by keeping him alive. Seriously, reading this arc was so painful, I almost had to put the series down. Forgiving your fucking rapist because he "loves you". Fucking moronic.
The main female character has a problem with anyone touching her. How was this caused you ask? By her half-brother, who raped, mentally abused, and effectively turned her into his own personal slave... for like seven fucking years. She finally manages to run away, but sees him again when she visits her family. It finally looks like she may be able to get payback for all the horrible shit he has done, only for her to instantly go back to her slave state. In which he rapes her again. Oh, I forgot to mention. While his favorite slave was away, he found another girl and did the exact same thing to her. He has now raped, mentally abused, and turned into slaves two women! Finally they have a chance to let the bastard die, and what does the main female character do? Saves his life, not only that forgives him when he goes "It's because I love you so much. I'm sorry, I won't do it again." I'm not shitting you, she forgives her abusive brother who raped her and did the exact same thing to another girl. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, WOMAN!?!?! KILL THIS FUCKING SCUMBAG!!!!! He isn't sorry for the terrible crimes he committed, he's sorry he got fucking caught. He's a monster, shove his face into water and don't stop until the bubbles are finished! You're doing a disservice to humanity by keeping him alive. Seriously, reading this arc was so painful, I almost had to put the series down. Forgiving your fucking rapist because he "loves you". Fucking moronic.
The only harem anime I've ever been able to stomach is Tenchi. The genre has become incredibly to repetitive. it's essentially the same cliched protagonist(I'm serious harem anime protagonist are all essentially the same guy) surrounded by a group of female stereotypes preforming the same four or five visual gags and canned melodramatic plot points that were tired 15 years ago.
I liked Tenchi. Enough that I watched and enjoyed GXP fairly recently and enjoyed that as well. All in all I usually avoid harem. Not because I don't like it, but because I don't like high school anime, and it seems to me most harem seems to reside there. Vandread wasn't high school, and was harem... and I did enjoy Vandread. There have been a very small number of non-harem high school anime that I like too though (only one I can think of off the top of my head is Okami-san,) so I guess I'm kind of neutral on harem. I CAN enjoy them. I just usually am inclined to give them a pass for unrelated reasons.
I have yet to see a good Harem anime.
Iunno, I like my girls to be fleshed out characters with actual interests, goals and romances that are actually sensibly established and well crafted. (Whether they turn out well or not.)
Iunno, I like my girls to be fleshed out characters with actual interests, goals and romances that are actually sensibly established and well crafted. (Whether they turn out well or not.)
Yup, I also hate harem animes. Mostly the wish fulfilment aspect. The only thing that separates these shows from things like Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey is the fact that I actually like cute girls, so I can sorta see the appeal. But at the same time, it's just... completely superficial, repetitive, riddled with clichés.
I might find enjoyment in a yuri harem anime simply because the focus has shifted from "desperate teenage boy surrounded by hot women" to something that isn't done to death. Also because female sexuality is so awfully under-represented in Japanese media.
I know it's hard for certain people to find women that are interested in them, especially if they live in isolated communities or aren't very social. I mean, I fall into that category. But at the same time... the way harem animes depict women is just so juvenile. I like tits and ass and panties as much as anyone else but there's more to life than accidentally catching glimpses of a girl's undies.
I might find enjoyment in a yuri harem anime simply because the focus has shifted from "desperate teenage boy surrounded by hot women" to something that isn't done to death. Also because female sexuality is so awfully under-represented in Japanese media.
I know it's hard for certain people to find women that are interested in them, especially if they live in isolated communities or aren't very social. I mean, I fall into that category. But at the same time... the way harem animes depict women is just so juvenile. I like tits and ass and panties as much as anyone else but there's more to life than accidentally catching glimpses of a girl's undies.
Its not as bad in manga whereElfgore said:I will defend to the death three harem series, as having great plots and fantastic characters. These are my three favorite for this reason.
First up, Haganai. Which is considered a harem, even though a lot of romance is left out for a majority of novels and the anime. The characters somewhat fit tropes, but they give them enough personaility to make them unuqie and likable. It also gets bonus points for me, because I still have no idea who the protgonist will end up with. He's even confessed to one of the girls... well her body anyway(Gander over at my avatar and take a wild guess), and I still cannot tell you without a doubt who'll win.
Some drool may have just hit my laptop.
Next up is Highschool DxD. Imagine every religion ever was made real and throw in a couple dragons. You pretty much have Highschool DxD. Follows a group of demons on their journey. The series has some pretty deep plots and a pretty awesome cast of characters. They also somehow reach the happy medium of having bare tits in the middle of a serious conversation and not have it look stupid. Still shocks me how they do that.
Lastly is... Freezing. Not the anime, fuck that noise it sucks. The manga on the other hand is amazing. A badass force of women with men supporting them fight giant ass aliens. The early arcs are shit, as they effectively could be considered women being women and fighting over the stupidest of shit when a race of city-destroying aliens is attacking the earth. Luckily after the most frustrating arc in the world, which I shall explain below in a spoiler, the show picks up. Mostly when they actually start fighting cool things, like the aliens or military. Characters are good, plot's pretty decent as the show goes on, and you gotta love tragedy to love this one.
I've been holding this in for too long, time to get it out.
The main female character has a problem with anyone touching her. How was this caused you ask? By her half-brother, who raped, mentally abused, and effectively turned her into his own personal slave... for like seven fucking years. She finally manages to run away, but sees him again when she visits her family. It finally looks like she may be able to get payback for all the horrible shit he has done, only for her to instantly go back to her slave state. In which he rapes her again. Oh, I forgot to mention. While his favorite slave was away, he found another girl and did the exact same thing to her. He has now raped, mentally abused, and turned into slaves two women! Finally they have a chance to let the bastard die, and what does the main female character do? Saves his life, not only that forgives him when he goes "It's because I love you so much. I'm sorry, I won't do it again." I'm not shitting you, she forgives her abusive brother who raped her and did the exact same thing to another girl. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, WOMAN!?!?! KILL THIS FUCKING SCUMBAG!!!!! He isn't sorry for the terrible crimes he committed, he's sorry he got fucking caught. He's a monster, shove his face into water and don't stop until the bubbles are finished! You're doing a disservice to humanity by keeping him alive. Seriously, reading this arc was so painful, I almost had to put the series down. Forgiving your fucking rapist because he "loves you". Fucking moronic.
the second girl he had freaks out about not getting attention anymore and tackles him, knocking both him and her off a cliff into the ocean and the very sharp, pointy rocks below.
Also, I'm not sure Freezing counts as a Harem anime considering there are only two women involved.
I find the concept of a Harem gross, the idea that you can 'own' numerous lovers/romantic interests and expect them to be devoted and faithful to you whilst you can't even devote yourself to one person! The bit that bothers me the most is that the Harem anime is usually light hearted and played for laughs, when in reality its something much more dark and sinister.
I wouldn't mind it if an Anime explored the dark sides of the Harem, the destruction of Friendships, members of the harem harming each other and the MC, the MC manipulating some members of the Harem to be submissive whilst others have autonomy, it would make an incredibly disturbing if not interesting watch.
I wouldn't mind it if an Anime explored the dark sides of the Harem, the destruction of Friendships, members of the harem harming each other and the MC, the MC manipulating some members of the Harem to be submissive whilst others have autonomy, it would make an incredibly disturbing if not interesting watch.
Look up Ouran High School Host Club and you'll see how things will go if the genders are reversed. I rather find that show quite funny, but then I also rather like harem anime. What sort of "self-enlightenment" do you think would be gained by watching gender-reversed harem anime? It's not like I watched Ouran Host Club and went, "Hey, that's objectifying!" I just smiled a lot and enjoyed the show. Out of curiosity, why does it offend you? That seems a rather strong reaction.briankoontz said:
I read a few of your other posts after this one so please forgive me for going back to this one when the others are a bit more tempered but why is harem anime strangling anything? Sure, you may find it vapid and have a bunch of perfectly good criticisms of it but the idea that some people might really like the stuff is reason enough for it to exist. "But this is killing the medium!" is the same sort of argument people use when trying to argue against, say, media aimed at gay or trans people and surely you'd argue in return that gay and trans people whould be allowed things that appeal to them, so why not people who like harem anime, or anything else really? Please excuse me if you've already covered this and I missed it; I am late to the thread.Fox12 said:
Well a good portion of harem anime has the primary protagonist as being pretty creeped out/uncomfortable with the whole affair. I too would love to see a darker version of the tropes, if it doesn't already exist which it very well might. Often times in harem anime though, the protagonist is just after one person's romantic affections and the rest is all for creating funny/awkward situations. Ranma 1/2 is pretty great for this, creating an "everyone has a harem!" point of view.Ronald Nand said:
The only one I could even think of was Host Club and I don't even think that counts. There certainly isn't the same kind of fanservicey thing going on (characters are shirtless sometimes but it's really not a huge thing) and they're not all trying to dick the protagonist.
Eh, nah. I kind of think of this genre the same way people think of Twilight and 50 Shades. Like.... I guess that's fine if it's what you're into? But.... nah. I think it's kind of weird.
And it's normally very male-focused anyway so it wouldn't be up my street. I find the characters are usually very one-note and even the way it portrays sexuality I find a bit limited.
So- I guess I don't hate it, but it's not for me. Live and let live.
Eh, nah. I kind of think of this genre the same way people think of Twilight and 50 Shades. Like.... I guess that's fine if it's what you're into? But.... nah. I think it's kind of weird.
And it's normally very male-focused anyway so it wouldn't be up my street. I find the characters are usually very one-note and even the way it portrays sexuality I find a bit limited.
So- I guess I don't hate it, but it's not for me. Live and let live.
Well, now that I've responded to three people, I suppose I ought to make the obvious even more obvious. I rather enjoy several Harem anime series I've seen. Like so many others, I freakin' love Tenchi. He's kind of boring but that's also kind of the point. He's an average boring guy thrust into a bizarre situation he wants no part of but is too nice to really try and extract himself from it. I also love Ranma 1/2 with its love octagons and multiplicity of harems, male and female oriented.
On the flip side of the usual track, I also liked the hell out of Ouran Host Club, which showed that the genre isn't just male titillation but that relationship hijinks are still amusing when the tropes get turned on their ear. I enjoyed it more than some of the male-oriented harem anime I've seen.
While there's certainly plenty to criticize in regards to quality with many of the series (isn't this true of all anime, hell, all media for that matter?) I'm honestly surprised by the amount of negativity toward the genre as a whole. Not so much the "I don't like it/think it's dumb" comments but the ones where people fully represent that the genre itself is some kind of abomination. It's just vain entertainment for people who like it; nothing at all wrong with that.
On the flip side of the usual track, I also liked the hell out of Ouran Host Club, which showed that the genre isn't just male titillation but that relationship hijinks are still amusing when the tropes get turned on their ear. I enjoyed it more than some of the male-oriented harem anime I've seen.
While there's certainly plenty to criticize in regards to quality with many of the series (isn't this true of all anime, hell, all media for that matter?) I'm honestly surprised by the amount of negativity toward the genre as a whole. Not so much the "I don't like it/think it's dumb" comments but the ones where people fully represent that the genre itself is some kind of abomination. It's just vain entertainment for people who like it; nothing at all wrong with that.
Fair enough, I haven't actually watched any Harem animes, I'm more looking at the idea itself. I still don't really like it when characters have multiple suitors and they don't bother to actually decide which they want, atleast when they don't take it seriously that they're toying with another person emotions. But if the other suitors are annoyances, and clearly unwanted I can see the comedy appeal. I'm more into romance combined with some other genre than straight up romance.Gorrath said:
There must be some dark harem anime's out there, I know theirs School Days, supposedly a deconstruction of the typical Harem Anime MC, I've read the ending of the anime and I'd agree with that analysis based on that.
I've not seen it but I'll check it out; the usually funny/comedic harem anime having a dark take on the tropes could be a really interesting watch. But yeah, most of all harem anime I've ever seen makes it quite clear that the protagonist isn't at all comfortable with their situation. Often they don't choose anyone because they really don't want any of their suitors and the one they are actually interested in themselves may very well not even be a part of the harem chasing them, or they may not have much of any romantic interest and just want to go to school or pursue their dreams like in Tenchi or Ranma 1/2. I'm not trying to convince you that you should like harem anime or suggest that there isn't any out there that might match what you describe; there may very well be. It's just the usual trope is that most if not all of the attention is rather unwanted. Anywho, thanks for letting me know about School days, I'll give it a look!Ronald Nand said:
Personally I dislike most harem anime especially if they fall into the trope of:
a) Violence against men is cute! I hit you because I'm jealous! Aren't I Kawaii! ^.^
or
b) JDPS (Japanese dickless protagonist syndrome)
If you are a late teenage boy, or young man, surrounded by beautiful women who would do anything for you, you literally can not mess up, and all you can do is get embarrassed around them, then you might have JDPS. I guarantee any real male who isn't either inhibited by religion or not attracted to women would dive into at least one girl head first. It's unrealistic.
There is a reason that JDPS exists, and it has to do with men in modern Japanese society and I don't feel like getting into that right now.
I will say though that the Japanese guys who like harem anime I've met in RL are some of the creepiest people you'll ever meet, and these are the people that these kind of anime are aimed at.
That being said, it is possible to do it well. Highschool DXD has a more realistic male protagonist at the expense of realism in the women, but the story with the angels, devils and fallen angels is rather interesting, even if the producer has said that the main character "will never have sex with one of the girls because if he does that once, that's all he'd ever do"
I also have a soft spot for Zero no Tsukaima, due to it's world building, although it does fall prey a bit, especially toward the beginning, of violence being cute.
Also any anime with nosebleed spurts is immediately stamped with a giant F.
Dishonourable mention goes to Rito in To love-ru. Dude is the epitome of JDPS, even if I do think most of the girls in the anime are great, Momo in particular.
a) Violence against men is cute! I hit you because I'm jealous! Aren't I Kawaii! ^.^
or
b) JDPS (Japanese dickless protagonist syndrome)
If you are a late teenage boy, or young man, surrounded by beautiful women who would do anything for you, you literally can not mess up, and all you can do is get embarrassed around them, then you might have JDPS. I guarantee any real male who isn't either inhibited by religion or not attracted to women would dive into at least one girl head first. It's unrealistic.
There is a reason that JDPS exists, and it has to do with men in modern Japanese society and I don't feel like getting into that right now.
I will say though that the Japanese guys who like harem anime I've met in RL are some of the creepiest people you'll ever meet, and these are the people that these kind of anime are aimed at.
That being said, it is possible to do it well. Highschool DXD has a more realistic male protagonist at the expense of realism in the women, but the story with the angels, devils and fallen angels is rather interesting, even if the producer has said that the main character "will never have sex with one of the girls because if he does that once, that's all he'd ever do"
I also have a soft spot for Zero no Tsukaima, due to it's world building, although it does fall prey a bit, especially toward the beginning, of violence being cute.
Also any anime with nosebleed spurts is immediately stamped with a giant F.
Dishonourable mention goes to Rito in To love-ru. Dude is the epitome of JDPS, even if I do think most of the girls in the anime are great, Momo in particular.