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Summer 2014 Anime |OT| this thread has been outsourced to Toei Phils

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Thinking about it some I come to the conclusion that there's really nothing I like about the concept of a harem anime. I certainly enjoy me some good comedy, some drama and relationship shenanigans but... those aspects usually end up suffering rather quickly in a harem show. For example in Nisekoi I actually quite liked how exaggerated everything was from facial expressions to awkward situations and, at first, enjoyed the characters quite a bit, too. In fact the pacing didn't even seem so bad at first.

But then... well it's a fucking harem.

So because they want to retain the status quo the story halts down to a slow (the whole locket background of Nisekoi is absolutely stupid anyways to be fair) and worse, the characters progress less and less. Eventually you look at those shows and think to yourself that nothing even seems remotely realistic and relatable anymore.

How can it be that these characters now each other for multiple months but kind of nothing significant changes. These 'tsun' moments with Chitoge get really old and our MC should react differently by now surely. Oh and some of the girls sometimes don't even appear at all anymore. Like what's even left to like about it?

You can make some love triangles or have even more parties involved and have it be good. Give it a nice/funny premise and then have actually a properly thought out story.

In Nisekoi the basic premise with the two families being at peace due to the fake relationship and what troubles this brings was actually not bad. It was good enough to get me interested and then the story can be continued by its characters and their progression. Instead though there this entire locket bullshit that makes zero sense and is just a stupid tease anyways. The feud between the two families only matters when it can be used to keep status quo. With each further episode everything makes less and less sense really, and I hate that.

In TWGOK I only really liked the third season because we suddenly got some genuine relationship drama. It was actually really fun to follow that, considering it's now somewhat serious in a world that's already kinda ridiculous due to the previous two seasons.

I'm kinda digressing though and not even sure where I'm going with this but yeh, I think the actual harem aspects of a harem show are hurting those other aspects I actually enjoy.
 
I mean, that robot angel harem show has the guy turn into water so he can grope girls in a swimming pool. He is unrepentantly male with his sexual desire. Yet he has a harem of robot angels that he never once considers having sex with, let alone his hapless childhood friend who is forever alone.

Now that's just completely false. Dude just has no game and all the game at the same time, as well as some emotional roadblocks stemming from an inferiority complex. He'd be open to a straight-up orgy if he got over his own insecurities.
 

Midonin

Member
They can have sexual desires - real ones - without it being all about sex. Having a horndog protagonist who wants to peak at girls bathing at the onsen but can't move past holding hands with a girl doesn't really solve anything.

I mean, that robot angel harem show has the guy turn into water so he can grope girls in a swimming pool. He is unrepentantly male with his sexual desire. Yet he has a harem of robot angels that he never once considers having sex with, let alone his hapless childhood friend who is forever alone.
This is the part I have a problem with. Most of what constitutes "masculinity" is just a social construct. And it's perfectly possible that someone could be into the pornographic ideal of sex (since so many of them have a stash of porn mags), but the actual romantic love, with its cooperation and mutual interest and commitment, requires a completely different set of skills beyond mere sexual desire. There are multiple kinds of loves.

That does a disservice to real romcoms though.
I don't think so, for the same reason why Papillon Rose doesn't do a "disservice" to Sailor Moon or Madoka. I'd rather have the genre be broader (but still with its limits) than narrower.
 
I'm disappointed that Ken Akamatsu is a hack too.
Ken akamatsu gave me evangeline kitty Mc dowel and setsuna so i'll forgive him
Outside of School Days, no other lead actually goes for it in that way though. All the others are just empty shirts pretending to be more than they are.
Well the MC lead of ai yori aoshi goes for it at the end of S1.

But yeah many franchises don't show the deed because this stuff airs on TV.
And i believe that's the only reason why they don't show that
 
Thinking about it some I come to the conclusion that there's really nothing I like about the concept of a harem anime. I certainly enjoy me some good comedy, some drama and relationship shenanigans but... those aspects usually end up suffering rather quickly in a harem show. For example in Nisekoi I actually quite liked how exaggerated everything was from facial expressions to awkward situations and, at first, enjoyed the characters quite a bit, too. In fact the pacing didn't even seem so bad at first.

But then... well it's a fucking harem.

So because they want to retain the status quo the story halts down to a slow (the whole locket background of Nisekoi is absolutely stupid anyways to be fair) and worse, the characters progress less and less.

I liked the progress of DiaLover, Brocon, and Hiiro no Kakera.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Now that's just completely false. Dude just has no game and all the game at the same time, as well as some emotional roadblocks stemming from an inferiority complex. He'd be open to a straight-up orgy if he got over his own insecurities.
I thought his excuse was that he doesn't see the angel robots as humans or something? Either way, he willfully ignores the girls around him that would probably be more than happy to explore his sexual peculiarities with him.

I mean, they even help him crossdress!

In terms of actual relationship drama harem animes generally suck. Love triangles or bust!
The problem with love triangles is that they tend to go nowhere. It's why I appreciated that AnoNatsu was just so definitive and resolved that problem by the fourth episode.
 

Vylash

Member
The key to a good harem is making the MC as inoffensive as possible (maybe even good???????????) having a great cast of girls that interact with him and each other in fun ways, and aren't just bland tropes like "tsundere" and of course don't drag the damn thing out for 30 years like a CERTAIN more recently adapted show, doesn't need to have a super interesting story or anything, just make it fun
 
The only harem I'd like to see would involve a guy being friends with 4 or so girls and they all do cute things together. That's it.

No fanservice. No love triangles. No items. Fox only. Final destination.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Ken akamatsu gave me evangeline kitty Mc dowel and setsuna so i'll forgive him
Well the MC lead of ai yori aoshi goes for it at the end of S1.

But yeah many franchises don't show the deed because this stuff airs on TV.
And i believe that's the only reason why they don't show that
Eh, sex can happen in anime. B Gata H Kei and Say I Love You come immediately to mind. Kimi ni Todoke at least implies it with one of the friends. I mean, I'm not asking for hentai. You can just show characters kissing, fade away, and then show them covered up in bed like pretty much all sitcoms/dramas do on real television.

And if I remember correctly, Ai Yori Aoshi basically had a canon girlfriend but built a go-nowhere harem around her. lol

I'd watch a slice-of-life harem show set in ancient times.
Oda Nobuna?

The only harem I'd like to see would involve a guy being friends with 4 or so girls and they all do cute things together. That's it.

No fanservice. No love triangles. No plot. No items. Fox only. Final destination.
We already have those. GJ-bu being the most recent one, but I guess there's that Jinrui show now.

(Insert joke about Sayonara Zetsubuo Sensei here)
 
Because the discussion goes toward that direction i want to say that Nisekoi IS a bad show despite how enjoyable it can be , because it's too afraid of making his plot go forward.

That onodera beach scene IS THE WORST PADDING EVER

On topic , Writter lack of ideas can kill a harema anime/manga

See : Nisekoi !
 

Andrew J.

Member
Sabagebu 01-02

High school anime girls are usually so full of cloying niceness that it's refreshing to get some who are straight-up spiteful jerks. That's part of why I liked Binbougami-ga too, come to think of it.
 

Mokoi

Banned
In terms of actual relationship drama harem animes generally suck. Love triangles or bust!

They do suck, and I like the romance to go somewhere. Also Love triangles are nice sometimes. Have you seen white album 2? Is it good at pulling it off.
 

Midonin

Member
When looking at an anime, I always consider the characters more important than the plot. Good characters can lift up a below-average plot, but a show with a decent plot but terrible characters will always come up lesser.
 
Are there any harem animes where the the girl is surrounded by guys? That's something I wouldn't mind watching.

-Hakuouki ( good )
-Staarry sky ( meh )
-Saiunkoku monogatari ( awesome greatly recommanded )
-Ouran Host club ( awesome must watch )
-Haruka naka toki no nakade ( horrible )

For more, ask DTL.
 
Lying awake in bed and I suddenly feel a disturbance in the fabric of the universe. Lo and behold, people are bad-mouthing Date A Live.

ijywboyAr6gNu.gif


Kurumi's inclusion alone makes it the greatest harem since the days of the Ottoman Empire, but it was actually one of those incredibly rare shows where I liked all the main girls, albeit to significantly differing degrees. Not going to quote all the above posts, but to cut a long story short - those who have acknowledged the goddess's greatness will be saved at the time of judgment. Everyone else, enjoy your spacequake.

Origami is an acceptable but ultimately false idol.
 
We already have those. GJ-bu being the most recent one, but I guess there's that Jinrui show now.

(Insert joke about Sayonara Zetsubuo Sensei here)

Does it have no items, Fox only, and Final Destination? :p

All kidding aside, this might be what I was looking for when it comes to the genre looking at the show's plot description. I'll take a look at the first episode and see what it's like.

But what other ones are out there?
 

Vylash

Member
Lying awake in bed and I suddenly feel a disturbance in the fabric of the universe. Lo and behold, people are bad-mouthing Date A Live.

ijywboyAr6gNu.gif


Kurumi's inclusion alone makes it the greatest harem since the days of the Ottoman Empire, but it was actually one of those incredibly rare shows where I liked all the main girls, albeit to significantly differing degrees. Not going to quote all the above posts, but to cut a long story short - those who have acknowledged the goddess's greatness will be saved at the time of judgment. Everyone else, enjoy your spacequake.

Origami is an acceptable but ultimately false idol.

This is a beautiful post, comrade
 
Isn't there like 10 thousand clones of Misaka all of whom are in love with Touma or something?

I heard about it but I'm not sure if that's true or not.
 

Mature

Member
Lying awake in bed and I suddenly feel a disturbance in the fabric of the universe. Lo and behold, people are bad-mouthing Date A Live.

ijywboyAr6gNu.gif


Kurumi's inclusion alone makes it the greatest harem since the days of the Ottoman Empire, but it was actually one of those incredibly rare shows where I liked all the main girls, albeit to significantly differing degrees. Not going to quote all the above posts, but to cut a long story short - those who have acknowledged the goddess's greatness will be saved at the time of judgment. Everyone else, enjoy your spacequake.

Origami is an acceptable but ultimately false idol.
I bend the knee for no Loli.

You could be like me and just watch Beautiful Dreamer.
I was once like you— content in my naivete. Then, Madp and Hito, with their collected wiles and seduction, tempted me into the garden of Lum. Now, my backlog is sent back another year. :(

It's worth it.
 
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