First I wanna let you know that it's centered about Haganai (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai) NEXT episode 10, so for those who haven't watched it yet: Spoiler alert.

Second, I'm an avid LN (Light Novel) reader; and I have read Haganai for a while now and I can proudly say that I've read all of the Baka-Tsuki's english translation ones and this topic has been bugging my mind for almost every time I watch anime, especially the harem ones. I chose to bring this topic now because I assume you guys are more likely to watch the anime.

In this episode we finally learn that the whole 'being dense on what the heroines meant' behavior is actually just an act that Kodaka's been playing all along, and this makes me think for a while, was it a right thing to do?

Truthfully I've never bought it whenever the protagonist in harem anime acted all dense and not caring everytime the heroines practically throwing themselves at him. It's also not uncommon that I've heard comments like 'What a lucky bastard!' or 'I wish I was him' or 'Stop being a fag already!' coming from you guys. But let's think for a moment here. Do you guys really want that? Do you guys seriously want that kind of responsibility on your hands? Now Kodaka realized this and he chose the lesser evil, to be the bad guy. Instead of choosing just one girl and hurt the rest or picking the harem route but with a risk of hurting someone when he favored one of them, he chose to be that stupid guy who gets scolded, punched, and hated while keeping his relation with the girls equal to outsiders' view. And I'm not just saying this for Kodaka alone, but to every male protagonist that has harem candidates on his sides.

So I want to ask for your opinion. Do you really think a harem story will really work? And if it does, will it be a happy one?

Hoooo boy, harem anime. This is a dumb genre.

The fact that the protagonist is dense in most harem titles usually stems from the fact that the writers want to create awkward/fanservice-laden scenarios. In terms of character writing, I honestly think the approach you mentioned being taken here is mostly negative. It creates an actively passive role, which results in being dealt pain in response to awkward situations while still being surrounded by romantic tension. It's not solving the core problem, and no matter what approach he takes, in the long run (if applying real-world logic to character writing, like a writer should), he will end up hurting them. The harem end route is one that I have a major problem with due to its lack of feasibility, and choosing one girl should be the end result in these types of shows. That should be the one that the writers give the most on-screen chemistry to, and while it may hurt others in the process, it's ultimately the more feasible and healthier outcome.

Here's the problem with harem anime, though: the very idea of it is pretty much based around wish-fulfillment and pandering, usually at the cost of realistic characters/writing. In a lot of harem anime I've seen, many characters ignore basic common sense in order to create the situations surrounding them, and their ways of thinking paints them as cardboard cutouts of characters instead of people with believable motivations and feelings. Of course, most people will ignore this because of the awkward scenarios and ecchi, and some will say, "Isn't media supposed to be escapist?" To the latter point, I say no most of the time, and if you want to make something escapist, at least have it be feasible. The characters in an escapist fantasy should still at least feel like real people, or any of the romance, drama, and tension don't work.

Many people complain about harem leads because they almost voluntarily take the path of least resistance/most physical pain. Well, you see, this is a model that sells because the viewer will be able to use them as a self-insert in this sort of escapist fantasy. It's up to the writing team to characterize them as more than that, and with a harem that the viewer is supposed to fawn over, it can be rather difficult. My personal favourite approach is to have arcs that do develop the characters while still presenting only two choices for the protagonist. This can be difficult to pull off, but it results in a more well-rounded, three-dimensional, believable protagonist. Assuming the writer's good, as well.

tl;dr: No, it's not a good path, because it ignores the reality of the situation. The harem ending would be even worse, though. Harem is a dumb genre.

People love love-triangles and love-polygons and people like seeing somebody similar to them as a main character that has something that they dont.
Any genre will lose its originality and become boring if you've seen too many, or you may just not like the genre and it wouldn't be suited to you.

I do think harem is pretty boring, but naturally harem is the also result of adapting certain VN (or in some cases Light Novels where chunks of the story get cut out).

If you think of CLANNAD, Steins;Gate, Mashiro-iro, Majikoi, etc.

People ask for it and it just happens

No. Harems typically do not work unless all of the people involved with the MC have mostly superficial relationships with him.

The thing is a harem is an unstable situation in itself--a point of transition where a glaringly unavoidable problem is set aside for a time, if you will. It can't be an ending by itself because there is still a core problem. The thing is, harems are usually desirable situations where an author or writer wouldn't mind making the characters carry out completely unrealistic or illogical thought processes to keep the harem going.

While acting dense as lead works to extend the harem's lifespan, it's no solution. You can't take a neutral position in a love relationship (unless it doesn't concern you) and expect it to solve something. You've got women surrounding you demanding some kind of answer. You either take them in or you turn them down. If you're too scared to hurt them, you'd probably end up hurting them all by being dishonest. If you end up being dense as hell, someone's going to corner you and pressure you to realize what kind of situation you're in and to take a decision.

On that note, you could make the harem last even longer by making the female characters terribly shy, but again, it's just stalling, not resolving. It must come around to a conclusion sooner or later.

WishfulFiction wrote:

People love love-triangles and love-polygons and people like seeing somebody similar to them as a main character that has something that they dont.
Any genre will lose its originality and become boring if you've seen too many, or you may just not like the genre and it wouldn't be suited to you.

I do think harem is pretty boring, but naturally harem is the also result of adapting certain VN (or in some cases Light Novels where chunks of the story get cut out).

If you think of CLANNAD, Steins;Gate, Mashiro-iro, Majikoi, etc.

People ask for it and it just happens

The thing is, harem in general relies on plenty of unrealistic circumstances. It's escapist fantasy. That's why it's seen a lot. The fact that it's another form of media doesn't change that fact.

Steins;Gate was a weird mixture but didn't focus on the harem elements. In general, Clannad and Steins;Gate don't present themselves as generic harems so they don't get really labeled as such. Mashiro-iro and Majikoi, on the other hand, do. Other, more critically successful harem entries tend to be weirder incarnations of the genre (this season's Oreshura comes to mind, by actually having the main three characters being well-rounded, three-dimensional characters). It's about execution. Otherwise it comes off as sexist pandering.

I don't like harem, but rest assured, my reasons are far beyond the frankly dismissive and reductive angle of 'oh it just isn't your thing'.

It would be nice to see an anime realistically depict a polyamorous relationship. I'm not holding my breath though.

Jarby wrote:

It would be nice to see an anime realistically depict a polyamorous relationship. I'm not holding my breath though.

I can see it happening actually. I'd like Gen Urobuchi to write/direct it.

What I'm hoping for is for Gen Urobuchi to announce "this will be the harem anime to end all harems." In the workplace, the words "dense", "self-insert", "the watchers might project themselves onto the main character", and "I want to make everyone happy" will get you fired immediately. This harem anime will be direct, concise, and straight to the point. It will show how harems crumble in the face of reality, what's wrong with any tactic a main character would normally choose in a harem, and what happens when you have main characters with common sense and depth in a harem situation.

Yes, that'd be the only harem anime I'd come to like

Brian OA wrote:

direct, concise, and straight to the point.

will show how harems crumble in the face of reality

what's wrong with any tactic a main character would normally choose in a harem

what happens when you have main characters with common sense and depth in a harem situation.

So, basically Clannad + A Tomoya without a Nagisa.

B-but senpai...T-thats lewd~

Harems are entertaining.

Five-month bumps aren't.

Mogsworth wrote:

Five-month bumps aren't.

My bad.

Random guy meets several girls and then eventually this girls fall with no aparent reason in love with him and at the end of the series the girls confess to the guy and he chooses one of them (mainly the main female character), or worse, he does not choose anyone.

The End.

And then, the second season.

Harems are weirdly funny in my opinion sometimes

harem anime = an enjoyment comedy 4 me

Harems are just a selling point of an anime. You could just throw a bunch of stereotypical girls in a super dense boy which totally hates crushing others feelings, and that's your harem. You got your tsundere, your "That-one-who-thinks-she's-the-best" girl, the nerdy one, the silent one, the bitch one, the melancholy one, and never forget the loli's. Holy shit the loli's and the moes, still dont understand why you guys like girls tripping down and seeing their panties, isn't that masochism? Harem is like the same fruit salad being served to you, but instead of milk, it's turning into fucking mayonnaise. The mayonnaise/milk is the story of the harem, the girls are the fruits and the bowl is the main character. But then, only few people managed to differentiate milk from mayo. The bad salad uses a mayo and the good salad uses milk.

As long the protagonist make a choice which heroine that he want to life with, i don't have any problems with Harem...

But Harem nowadays is......... sucks......

Shurelia wrote:

As long the protagonist make a choice which heroine that he want to life with, i don't have any problems with Harem...

But Harem nowadays is......... sucks......

AKA, the one who uses mayonnaise

harems , only one i eveer watched was to-love-ru xD I don't really get into ecchi so I don't bother watching it ,

Harem <3

HAREM :3

I don't care about the harem as long as I have the cake :[

I actually like harems, but there are very few good ones out there. All the MC's are retards and all the girls are so indecent. There is never a happy ending. In fact you could say that there will never be an ending because as soon as the MC and one of the girls is about to kiss or some amazing development will happen, one (or even all) of the girls will bust in and ruin the moment. But people will probably watch it for the fanservice and the romantic tension (and the girls girls guurrlllls)