Almost Otaku: Harems & Anti-Harems
Tom goes "extra-sensory" to answer an anime question.
Video posted by Lemon on Nov. 29, 2010
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A shounen franchise of enormous popularity, Death Note started with Tsugumi Ohba's manga, illustrated by the popular artist Takeshi Obata. The series is essentially an extended police chase thriller, but with added twists, including the existence of Shinigami (death gods) who can control the death of humans.
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I like Harems some can be over the top and some are treated well. The only one I can think of right now is Please Teacher, that was a complete... harem experience! o_O
but I tend to enjoy harem anime most of the time.
As blind as being blind-folded?
I find harems to be funny for the most part.
Can't think of a good harem anime that is souly based on the concept alone though.... Tenchi Universe maybe... but last time I watched it was more than a decade ago.
Right now I'm watching Sekirei, which happens to be a harem. It is different though. Kinda has a shounen tournament thing going on. It does have some of the bad archetypes like the main character is just like Keitaro from Love Hina.
As long as you don't take them seriously, they can be entertaining to watch.
Joking aside, it seems to me that the problem with most harem animu is that the guy gets like four or five different girls who want to ride his dick without doing anything, or in some cases actively rejecting their advances. To use a recent example, there was that boy in Asobi Ni Ikuyo! who did almost nothing until the very end of the show other than be a generic Nice Guy. There were girls with actual skills, backstory and personalities of their own, but all their own plots revolved around trying to get that boy with the glasses even though he never thought about it. Whenever he entered the show, things usually slowed down until they had someone else in the frame.
Maybe there are different relationship standards in Japan, but it seems more likely to me that these stories are just wish fulfillment fantasies of people who haven't talked to that many women in their lives, let alone have meaningful relationships that didn't involve transactions of money.
One interesting subversion IMO would have to be Seitokai Yakuindomo. Sure, it only had one joke that it stretched over 12 episodes, but it took what would be a perfect harem setting (something a few characters in the show even mention) and parodied it into oblivion. The male lead was not interested in sex (at least not more than a normal highschool boy might be) while the majority of the girls in the show made perverted jokes both knowingly and unknowingly.
I actually just got done watching all of tenchi muyo ryhoki. Probably the best harem I ever seem, though others love hina, mabey tenhjo tenge? mabey. I enjoy em but honestly they are all unrealistic, i mean there is no way tenchi wouldnt hook up with at least one of those women.... except for washu and sasami cause well washu is usually in the form of a child and sasami is a child. Though both are embodiments of actual gods....
YAY MORE VIDEO CONTENT!!! <3
I've done a bit of looking around and took multiple views into account when I came up with I believe to be a good dual-definition for harem.
1. A harem can be defined purely as a guy just being surrounded by 2+ girls (love interest is debatable).
2. A harem can also (and more commonly) be defined as a man surrounded by 2+ girls who are in love with him.
A reverse-harem would be the opposite of #2.
Personally, harems are my favorite anime as the make me laugh and fanservice brightens my day. Now, while usually the lead male and his ladies are very much the same from one series to the next, each has a shining moment or element that sets it apart. Most generally also lack a reasonable story but there are some out there (Tenchi Muyo, Love Hina, Sekirei). My other harem suggestions, for those who like the genre, are Maburaho, Samurai Harem, Tenchi Muyo: GXP, and Negima!.
@JJOR64:
Minato from Sekirei is different than Keitaro from Love Hina. Minato is actually really smart and is willing to make bold moves to protect those around him. I find him to be one of the best harem protagonists I've seen.
@Tom_Pinchuk:
Well Tom it seems you still have yet to experience a "real" anime harem. But don't worry, there are classics in that genre as well. A couple examples (that I know and love) are Love Hina and Tenchi Muyo. I did a Beginner's Guide a few weeks back for the reverse-harem Ouran High School Host Club to bring some light the the series (and it's the only reverse-harem I know).
Anyway as for what I think...
Well, I've seen a few harems and I've never really been too into them...except for one:
Rosario+Vampire
I think what I liked about it was that it didn't take itself too seriously (even breaking the 4th wall at times) and that the characters and setting were pretty unique and interesting. Also I thought it had a lotta funny moments. ^^
As for a reverse harem, I'd say Ouran Highschool Host Club which is another fav of mine.
I also remember another reverse harem...I think it was call Neo Angelique(?), I don't think I finished though.
I'm not suprised you are seeing colors, you come off a colors seeing type of guy.
Right on! harems seem okay....
edit...a platonic harem, thats, idk, kind of messed up in a way! I don't think Berlusconi or Kaddafi have this kind of harem
Oh... god...
I better put some clothes on.
Harems before were some what little hearted and more down to earth in some ways but now their starting to be over-the-top and unrealistic. Most harems really do appeal to the lonely Otaku that wish for love and having a main character that is also down in the dumps helps them put themselves in to the show in some ways.
As for whether I like it? It depends on how it's handled. It's often handled badly, but that's true of most plot elements, lol. I do tend to enjoy a raucous sex comedy now and then, and those almost always involve harems of one form or another.
The biggest pitfall these kinds of shows have is that typically even if the writer tries to make the protagonist interesting and likable, s/he tends to get drowned by the personalities of the harem members. Another part of it is that the center of the harem pretty much has to always be the "straight man" since if the harem members were the straight man they'd be pretty much indistinguishable from each other, and at that point it would make sense to just collapse them into one character, thereby destroying the harem.
There's a lot more room for interesting leads in harem dramas, but I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, since most harem shows are comedies.
I <3 Harems and wish every day RL could be like a rediculous Harem without me having to go grap a guitar and form a band.
Harems have a sort of mixed meaning in manga/anime. They can be a simple theme and a genre. They can be fun, but if a writer is skilled enough. They can give purpose to all these women. Something in him that they find endearing. Some Harems are just called so, because they have a large female cast. Not all the women really need to desire the boy.
They can be fun in comedies, but not so much when forced into drama.
Though, ultimately they are mainly part of building of an ego power trip for most males. Part of what makes them so popular. In the harem genre. You will almost always notice that the protagonist and target of desire is a rather plain or meek male. Though surrounded by a wide variety in unique women.
Even I admit that I'm not above such ideals. I get quite a rush hearing compliments from beautiful women when it comes to my artwork. Positive feedback on my art is always nice no matter the source, but from a lovely lady it always feels different.
Harems are lighthearted and fun?
Let me just get my old man beard, rocking chair and shotgun for this.
I still prefer the old fashioned style of Harem where the Guy had to actually work for the affections of the girls in the show. Maybe it is just because we know about more shows now but it seems like today's shows focus more on the dude making sweet Crocodile Rock instead of developing a meaningful relationship. It is bad enough that now days we have these stories where the dude gets one girl then, oh wait time warp. Its now before the relationship.