How hentai made me biased…
Posted on | August 29, 2008 | 7 Comments |
This week I’ve been thinking about harem anime.
Mostly, I’ve been thinking how I have been collecting the latest addition to this genre; Sekirei, but somehow have not gotten around to watching even the first episode. I quite enjoyed the second most recent offering, Kanokon, but that was probably on the grounds that the content pretty much bordered on hentai rather than the actual harem aspect.
So why am I somehow frightened to watch the start of Sekirei? Well, when I was in Japan earlier this year, the streets of Akiba were plastered with posters advertising the start of the season and it looked pretty good. You could pretty much tell that it was a harem anime straight away – Lots of girls on the poster, breast sizes and hairstyles variable, personalities obvious through even a static 2D image (loli, genki girl etc.etc.). And I remember thinking to myself – “Hmm, what prodigious mammaries…I must partake of this Japanimation”.
…But somehow, I have not had the courage to pick up this series to watch, even given hundreds of opportunities. So I thought long and hard about what exactly it was that was stopping me from partaking in the fanservicey goodness. Then it hit me. I christened it:
MALE-PROTAGONISTOPHOBIA, or Koutaphobia named after possibly the worst male protagonist in history (of Kanokon fame)
Namely, I was sick and tired of watching weak male protagonists with terrible personalities that hardn’y change over the course of the series somehow attracting the attentions of a harem of attractive and well-endowed women – Perhaps I’m overanalysing to say; probably reflecting the original mangaka’s fantasies as an otaku grande.
For me, I think, the weakness of male protagonist is the worst point of harem anime. There are several reasons for this – first, harem anime are watched by men, and as such, the attractive but stereotypical girls already have a headstart. Even if they do cliche things or have zero personalities, it’s almost expected so doesn’t detract from the fact that they’re there pretty much for the eye candy rather than any kind of plot (Plot? what plot?) Second, the single male lead in a harem anime can act either as: a reflection of the watcher’s desires (i.e. when the watcher puts himself in the place of the lead, since he identifies himself with the protagonist) or simply a focus of envy. If the watcher fails to identify with the personality of the lead male, then he is left with the feeling “why is this git getting away with all those women, even though he is a complete prat?”.
I then looked through my list of anime to find the harem offerings. I found similar cases in Girl’s Bravo (Yukinari coming close second after Kouta in worst male leads evar), Kanokon, Sumomomomomo, Amaenaideyo!, Green Green, Love Hina and Hanaukyo Maid Tai. Notable exceptions to the rule are the last few episodes (volumes of manga) of Love Hina, Kanon/Clannad, SHUFFLE! and He is my master(if only for the comedy value). Amusingly, by my criteria, Otome wa Boku ni koishiteru would probably class as a harem anime.
But, thinking about it a little bit more, the male leads in most of those quoted are not so bad. Eventually the protagonist in Sumomomomomo (in episode 24 -_-) realises his feelings, the ero-priest in Amaenaideyo! is amusing, if not complex and Taro-sama never falters in his love of Mariel, even in a house of 100 maids.
So what was it that fuelled my Koutaphobia to such a degree then? I was stuck on this for a while, but finally came up with the answer: Hentai
Love and I watch an increasing amount of hentai – primarily because its a lot more interesting than boring pornography and secondly because there are many amusing things, some bordering on the ridiculous (Inbo’s chips-where-chips-shouldn’t-go coming in top there for the moment). However, hentai could in many cases be classified as a glorified harem anime that goes that one step further. Most hentais involve a single male lead who is somehow fancied by a huge number of women for reasons either obscure or ridiculous.
Prime example is one of Milky’s (Bible black) anime that we’re somehow watching at the moment – Discipline. In this, we have an annoying male lead coupled with an equally annoying voice being forced to have sex with dozens of girls because of his amazing (slightly) expanding penis. Of course, he doesn’t like all this rape. Wow it’s such a chore. Or take the protagonist from Aniyome who falls so easily for his brother’s wife it’s amazing he has any morals at all. And let’s not forget all the “cruel protagonists” who turn all the girls obedient just by poking them with their not-particularly-prodigious tools. Worst protagonist ever probably has to go to the bottletop glasses wearing shortass who someone thought might be the comic relief in Iyashite agerun Saiyuki. Let’s learn a lesson from this, hentai animators – just because your audience is ugly doesn’t mean they want to see their characters being screwed by ugly men. There’s something to take away with you.
The reason that hentai protagonists are so bad are numerous. First of all, the harem factors I mentioned are multiplied – Noone expects girls in hentai to have any kind of personality at all, so anything further than “cum-hungry slut” is a plus. Also, since se is involved, the jealousy factor is multiplied manyfold, especially if the protagonist is annoying or stupid. Since hentai is an audio as well as a visual thing, the voice actors matter a lot more, since an anoying voice can put you off far more than in a bog-standard anime. Add to that the small budgets and non-experienced voice actors and you have an occasional recipe for disaster. Although what’s most amusing is female seiyuu’s “talking with their mouths full” of course.
Here is a list of characteristics that I think are acceptable in hentai protagonists:
- Shy and inexperienced paired with experienced (older) girls (Like a Kouta who actualy puts out) since it allows watchers to feel superior to him
- Cool guy who doesn’t act cool (I can’t think of an example of this one) – acceptable since I would allow him to have many girls because of his awesome humbleness.
- Normal guy who just isn’t sure who to love – is OK but perhaps slightly towards the realm of fantasy. Often done badly by making him normal yet obnoxious. (Bible black being my prime example)
- Guy who rapes lots of girls yet somehow is cool…(Renketsu Houshiki had a great one of these, especially since he dresses up as a girl in one scene and the ending is hilarious)
List of protagonists that are not OK:
- Guys who think they’re cool just because they’ve got lots of girls
- Guys who think they’re cool because they think they’ve got a huge penis
- Guys who think they’re cool because they’ve got special powers
- Obnoxious guys that control and rape women. That’s just a criminal offence.
- Mad professors of bondage and sex toys. It’s just been done too much.
If anyone thinks of any more, stick it in the comments ^^
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7 Responses to “How hentai made me biased…”
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August 29th, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
(Plot? what plot?) xD ~ Anyway, i don’t think that really much Hentai is watched by women (since I really need to agree with the fact that the male lead of the most series ~ is it Hentai or the usual harem ~ is an ugly idiot which somehow manages to get a lot of girls.) Or maybe the industries just oversee’s women like me who actually look those things. (~can’t believe that i said this loud) And by the way isn’t Yukinari of Girls Bravo the best way to show this. I mean he’s AFRAID of women but just surrounded by them?! (But i actually liked the series i mean so much cliche and Fukuyama made my day ^^) But i need to totally agree so i really can’t criticise anything of what you said.
August 29th, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
*wants to hug Joku*
Don’t be shy of your hentai addiction – outing yourself on the internet is the first step towards a glorious perverted future.
Have to say I do quite prefer hentai to anime at the moment (apart from Soul Eater – I’m getting quite into that). Maybe I just don’t see the point in watching another harem anime that doesn’t have plot *or* sex, *and* has annoying characters.
Oh and Strike Witches was ok for a while but it’s kinda boring, and it’s starting to feel wrong just looking up little girls’ skirts.. maybe more on this later..
Also there was a male protagonist in Bible Black? Sigh.. I’m gonna have to watch that again (again) >_
August 29th, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
Would a blackmailing protagonist be different enough from a controlling one? I don’t have any examples since most of the hentai I find is a bit brutal for my delicate sensibilities.
Also can Kanokon really be called a harem show? I mean yes Kouta is surrounded by a large amount of girls, but only two maybe three if you count the fox mother show any actually interest in him. If any thing it seems to be twist on the magical girlfriend genre. Also the reason I think Kouta comes off so bad is because he isn’t even a character really, he is a wierd mixture of a plot device and sex toy.
Regarding Sekirei, it isn’t that bad as far as the protagonist is concerned. He is actually proactive at points, there have been worse.
August 30th, 2008 @ 6:37 am
To be honest I don’t watch much hentai anime, so I can’t really comment on that. Eromanga is more my thing, it seems.
The horrible male protagonists were a good reason for me to dislike harem anime, but for some reason I really liked Magikano. I know, I know. Oh and I love Sumomomomomomo, though Koushi was just an (admittedly wussy) ordinary dude.
I do feel though that when you watch a harem show, you know exactly what to expect. Maybe hentai is somewhat excusable since viewers can at least get themselves off from the sex (see the ever-popular “Plot? what plot?”) but for a regular show that probably wouldn’t even classify as softcore porn, I can definitely understand your reluctance.
August 31st, 2008 @ 2:24 am
I am guilty of having too much hentai, either in stash or saved in my hard drive… I dont think i will ever go back to ‘normal pr0n’ (then again i never liked normal pr0n to being with)…
September 4th, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Negima! has a hero who’s too smart/strong/polite/likeable etc. to be remotely believable and is one of the best animes around- is there some connection?
Negima! isn’t really that Hentai but I thought it needed to be mentioned.
September 8th, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
I’m more into ero manga as well,but I like sekirei at least he doesn’t act completely overwhelmed like tenchi did in tenchi muyo, and he is actually trying to save them from having to “disconnect” the other sekirei’s from the askiba’s.
According to wikipedia sekirei is done by a woman artist who does yoai but some of the women seem to have awkwardly placed nipples lol