Talk:Harem (genre)

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So what was the first anime/manga title to fit the genre that wasn't strictly a Magical Girlfriend series?

-Paul Soth

Depends on who you ask, since different people have different definitions of "harem anime." Kimagure Orange Road might be a contender. (It's got psychic powers, but they belong to the male main character and his relatives, not to any of the romantic interests.) The "harem" is pretty small though... a love triangle in the anime, and only one additional potential interest in the manga. If you're looking for entirely "normal," the oldest example I can think of would be one of the Dokyusei/Kakyusei/Graduation anime adapted from romance games. But those are pretty recent, and I'd wager there's something earlier. Shimeru


I have never heard of the term "harem anime". It sounds a little misleading because I think a manga like "Love Hina" is a bit too cute and comedy oriented to associate it with the word "harem". Maybye another phrase could subsitute it?

It's a fairly well-known term, and being cute or comedy-oriented isn't excluded from the definition. -- Antaeus Feldspar 23:34, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"Ai Yori Aoshi" combines magical girlfriend with harem? Aoi doesn't have any magical powers. I thought magical powers were a defining characteristic of "Magical girlfriend"? - Nik42 05:55, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

This is one of the best wikipedia articles I've ever read but I don't know why...

Contents

[edit] Hand Maid May

Would someone mind adding a listing for this anime? While it's fairly modern, I personally feel it's rather defining for the genre, plus it showcases many of the basic character types.

[edit] School Rumble

I think this one fits the bill, specifically for Harima Kenji's evolving interests in / living arrangements with various different girls as the series progresses. If Ranma fits the bill, I think School Rumble should as well.

School Rumble does not qulify for a harem comedy because it features multiple male leads in fairly significant roles.--Secretwanderer 04:18, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

School Rumble is an odd duck. The focus of the series (specifically the manga) frequently shifts from one character to another. Although the first few volumes were primarily about the lopsided triangle between Harima, Tenma, and Karasuma, but in the more recent volumes the story is focusing more on Eri's crush on Harima and the the latest few Yakumo's reaction. There really is no true protagonist, and not all the girls are infatuated with one guy (or vice-versa). The series itself proclaims to be a "love comedy" but there are no harem aspects. --Wererat42

[edit] My-HiME/My-Otome

How do these two animes qualify as harem? The male "leads" in each series were only secondary characters, and they sure as hell didn't have a bunch of women swarming around them vying for their affection. And what little harem-like action they got was far from being important to the overall plot. Calling these two animes harem is really going overboard. You wouldn't call Love Hina a mystery anime just because it had a mystery plot in one of its episodes, would you?

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The "Mai" series should not be considered as Harem for the above explanation. In fact, the storyline can be unaffected after omitting the male characters. By definition, Harem requires a main central male character surrounded by females.

Instead, the series belong with Bishoujo. 75.32.32.165 18:10, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sakura Taisen

Does Sakura Taisen count as harem anime? Ougami has girls from Japan and then France... although he doesn't socialize with them much. --MaskedRiderGatack 09:44, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ah My Goddess?

Should it be on the list? 80.47.102.221 03:48, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Not really, since it's Magical girlfriend rather then Harem. --Paul Soth 17:50, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps the general fanbase hasn't labeled it as such, but it does have a single lead male living with three (for a few episodes four) female characters, with a few secondary female characters as well. It is definately a Magical girlfriend story, but it also seems to fit the definition of Harem anime, at least as defined on this page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.211.190.211 (talk) 10:08, 2 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Fate/Stay Night

How about this series? While it's not primarily a romance, Shiro does collect an impressive harem (Rin, Saber, Sakura, and Ilya at least), and three of them end up living with him. ~ CZeke 07:39, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Anime version only had Saber as a love interest. Cant be considered a harem anime. Question2 03:03, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] About Chobits and Urusei Yatsura examples

I removed Chobits and Urusei Yatsura as examples of the harem genre. The reason I removed Chobits was that throughout the entire manga/anime series, Chi is the only character who displays definitive romantic interest in Hideki (and even that can be debated on her being only a machine...). Yuma appears to like Hideki at first, but she says that it was just a big-brother fulfillment of him later on, and she was really in love with another person all along. Same with Hideki's teacher, who runs off with Hideki's classmate early on. Once you've eliminated both of them, you're left with just Hideki and Chi, and a plot more resembling a magical girlfriend one than a harem (a bit like Oh My Goddess!). IMO, a series can only be classified as a harem anime if no less than two of its main characters show clear romantic interest in the lead.

The claim that Urusei Yatsura is a "definitive harem series" contradicts the statement on Urusei Yatsura's article that contrary to appearance, it is not a harem because most females are repulsed by Atari's perverted behavior. I'd say (from what I've seen so far of the series) that Urusei Yatsura falls more in the magical girlfriend category like Chobits because Lum is just about the only girl that will put up with Atari.

That all said, this article is probably the most comprehesive analysis of the harem comedy on the web. Where else would you see such thorough definitions of stock characters and numerous examples to boot? Kudos, Wikipedia! Breed Zona 01:32, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Busou Renkin??

From what I've seen of both the manga and anime I would have to argue about the statement that this is a reverse harem. If anything I would classify it as a shonen action series in every sense of the term. Kazuki is depicted as the lead character, and the story focuses more on him 'powering up' in the same manner as Naruto or Kurosaki Ichigo. --Wererat42

[edit] Pita-Ten

Would Pita-Ten be considered a Harem? On various websites, it's been defined as a Harem, but it may also be a "magical girlfriend" anime. Just wondering.

--68.70.175.155 14:34, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ranma 1/2

Ranma has a harem, like whoa. However Akane has a lek as well. I think it could be added into the gender variant section at the bottom as an example of both. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.185.92.127 (talk) 20:19, 7 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Original research

As amusing as the character depictions are, I am afraid that unless references are provided it seems like original research.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk  22:12, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed it. I'd like to have such a section/article someday though, as I'm pretty sure I could cite that.--SeizureDog 07:18, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Magical Girlfriend?

The second paragraph marks this article's topic as almost interchangeable with "Magical Girlfriend," however, other comments on this talk page, and the Magical girlfriend wiki page mark them as very distinct. I suggest a change somewhere, as they can't both be true. 128.223.190.94 21:14, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Harem must be significant plot point

To qualify as a Harem anime, the interactions between the male lead and the female characters must be the main point of the series, or at least a significant plot point. People seems to be thinking that just because multiple girls are interested in one guy it means its a harem anime, which is NOT true(under this definition Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is a harem show which is.....whaat?!). Question2 03:07, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

In a certain sense, Higurashi is harem. The twist though, is that it is merely a plot device designed to drop the viewers' guard. --SeizureDog 21:23, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] sayonara zetsubou sensei

Would this anime count as a harem anime since it was the main male's negative outlook on life which the anime is party about that caused three of his students (The Hikimori, the stalker and the fussy one) to fall in love with him?

[edit] Keep the list off of the article.

We have Category:Harem anime and manga for that and listing them is redundant. Focus on the subject matter itself. --SeizureDog 04:49, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why is Ranma a "harem" series?

As far as I know, the harem genre began in 1992 with Tenchi Muyo. Besides the fact that more than two characters have their eye on the protagonist, there's not that much to go on with the classification. The clichés and stereotypes associated with the genre began with Tenchi.

Consider this:

So how can a manga series from 1987 be associated with the genre?--Nohansen 05:11, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

I've been looking for something good to cite on Tenchi Muyo being the first harem series. In any case, it's possible that it's sort of like with survival horror. Resident Evil was the first game to call itself that, and the term was retroactively applied to earlier games such as Sweet Home. I don't see Ranma as counting for harem though, as the focus is not on the fact that there are a lot of girls that like him.--SeizureDog 06:26, 2 October 2007 (UTC)


Ranma 1/2 has a HUGE focus on Akane, Shampoo, Kuno, Ukyo, and various other random women wanting to marry Ranma and it's part of the comedy of the series, so how can it not be a harem anime? Tenchi Muyo may have been listed as the "first harem anime", but if you look, all the same plot devices and story ideas are prevelant in Ranma 1/2 (and yes, I've seen all of Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki and I'm watching Ranma 1/2 right now and honestly, they're BOTH very similar in terms of comedic plots and what not). And I'm sorry, but SeizureDog is wrong, that is A focus of the seires (though not the only one, just like Tenchi is not SOLELY about lots of girls after Tenchi). (76.23.99.25 04:07, 3 October 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Fushigi Yuugi, A reverse harem?

Umm.. We have Fushigi Yuugi listed as a reverse harem, but it's not really. It's a series of complex love triangles and yes, many of the male characters are "in love" with Miaka, but Hotohori marries someone else and only Tamahome is ever really shown as a real love interest. That makes 2 characters fighting for the affection of Miaka, not 3. The only other character to mention that they love Miaka is Nuriko and he was often depicted as being in love with Hotohori (and he mentioned his "love" for Miaka right before his death, so it was never fully explored or explained). Also, a major element of harem anime is the comedy and there is aboslutely no comedic value in the love triangles that Watase Yuu creates. They're often bitter and extremely painful for all involved (as seen in her various series). I don't think Fushigi Yuugi should be labeled as a staple for the "reverse harem" genre when it's not really about that. Fushigi Yuugi is more about love triangles (Tamahome/Maika/Yui, Hotohori/Nuriko/Miaka, Yui/Nakago/Suboshi, ect.). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.99.25 (talk) 04:16, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The first ones?

I am curious to know who were the first harem manga and anime? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.51.192.149 (talk) 16:00, 11 May 2008 (UTC)