“Real” storylines in Harem anime – Revelation or Old Hat?

Posted on | September 30, 2007 | 12 Comments |

If you think about it, harem anime is probably up there with mecha as a defining genre for anime. In fact, when asking a lay person, they would probably quote harem shows after the usual tentacles, Pokeymans and GIANT ROBOTTS. Well, they would probably describe it as “stuff with anime porn and stuff and big boobies”.

But that’s your typical lay person for you…

Harem, like its typical counterparts is fairly formulaic in nature. In fact,Â harem storylines can probably be succinctly described in one sentence:

” Boy and girl who haven’t met for some time (but may have made some kind of childhood promise) randomly meet and subsequently try to fall in love while being continually and comically harassed by the rest of a cast of pretty girls with various womanly charms”

Hmm, that’s quite a long sentence. How about:

“Boy meets lots of girls and chooses the one with the biggest breasts”

OK, maybe that one wasn’t true.

However, it’s good to find that some of the more recent shows deviate from the well worn track of harem-ness, trying to get away from the stereotype of harem as a romantic gag device. For the most part, harem fills the hole for light, predictable TV with moe-moe eye candy where a romantic storyline gives rise to opportunistic fanservice shots and overused one-line gags.

I, as a purveyor of the visual arts have a rather special place in my heart for harem shows, but would be first in the queue to say that boredom is a constant danger. I mean, there’s only so many times you can watch the protagonist being pummeled into submission by a plain-looking tsundere leading girl before the joke gets a little old.

But what of the genre’s recent forays into seriousness?

If the first thought that springs to mind is “Blasphemy!” then you probably shouldn’t read any further. If you think about it, there are two ways in which the typical one boy, umpteen girls storyline can gain just that bit more depth. The first and most obvious way would be by turning the central plotline into a truly believable or touching love story and away from the typical love/violence affair that plagues an increasingly tsundere cast. Sure we all wish that the troubles in love could be so easy to deal with as a smack to the face every once in a while, but those in the know would say that in real life there is far more angst and convoluted feelings that a tsundere could shake a harisen at.

Besides the borderline (based on a harem erogame, but anime less so) Kimi ga nozomu eien, other shows with strong romantic plotlines include SHUFFLE! and Kanon (incidentally both also erogames). Kiminozo in particular sacrifices the comic aspect of the usual storyline for a dark and emotional insight into a realistic love drama made worse by an unusual situation. SHUFFLE! was also genre breaking in that while many of the original harem comedy elements persisted, the impression that the central couple were actually falling in love (rather than the typical shallow affair) was indisputable.

The other way in which the mould is currently being broken is by the abandonment of the typical plotline altogether and the inclusion of more serious story devices which, in any other context, could conceivably fit into other, non-comedic genres.

The most recent animation that struck me as memorable in this respect was Zero no Tsukaima II. As I reported in a previous post, there is a strong harem overtone, but underlying this, there is a more serious arc with issues of war, pacifism and unexpected character death, eliciting some actual thought processes and elevating it above the level of its purely harem predecessor.

Another great example of a long running well thought out storyline is Mahou Sensei Negima! (yes, I know I rave about it a lot, but contrary to internets opinions I still love it) In Negima!, Akamatsu distils the purest harem storyline elements (large cast of unique and attractive young girls, fanservice shots, love polygons and inexplicably exploding clothing) and shoves it into an action packed rollercoaster of a plot with fight scnes reminiscent of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s, coupled with drama, cliffhangers and the kind of evil laughter typical of your common or garden British BBC soap drama series.

In short, the extraction of the harem parts combined with strong plot is the very height of “come for the chicks stay for the kicks” (credits to love for that). The important point to take away is that it is not the harem genre in itself that is snore-inducing, but lack of imagination leading to rehashing of tried and tired ideas. While everyone loves to see an interesting female cast, harem mangaka need to make more effort to please us increasingly discerning masses.

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Category: Anime, Comment, Philosophy/Thoughts

Comments

12 Responses to ““Real” storylines in Harem anime – Revelation or Old Hat?”

dood
September 30th, 2007 @ 4:21 pm

are there any harem anime that are original ? are all of the harem series based on erogames or manga ?
i can see why eroge anime tends to be boring because of the usuall “different types of girls the main character has to choose” like tsundere etc. (maybe your guide can help create intresting type of characters :) ),
i find Kanon to be a little boring because of “every girl has a problem lets solved it” and the choosing of the less appealing girl (did i hear uguu ?). kiminozo was refreshing (but still not the greatest show ever).
Author
September 30th, 2007 @ 6:30 pm

What about Mahoraba? The unusual composition of the harem in it was quite refreshing and innovative for the time.
Ero-kun
October 1st, 2007 @ 1:36 am

I’m currently watching Koi Koi Seven, another harem anime with lots of fan service but it also includes mecha. I think it is very interesting.
Klu
October 2nd, 2007 @ 11:39 am

I agree with you the harlem storylines are getting better and better as the genre matures. Zero no Tsukaima S:II is indeed a great highlight in this season’s anime. A series you did not mention which dealt with its set of serious issues in the same harlem-ish way is Utawarerumono.

I can understand if Utawarerumono doesn’t come to mind at first due to the subtle undertones of growing love though the series. It lacks the direct quality of ZnT or Shuffle!.

Still, I hope to read more of your insightful articles this month and see what you think of the upcoming seasons’ anime.
the7k
October 19th, 2007 @ 11:05 pm

I luvs the Negima too. =P Sure, it might not be very deep, but the villians are cool looking, the girls are beyond adorable, and the fight scenes are exciting.

Higarashi and School Days are also harem-type shows that end up becoming very dark. Utawarerumono is a favorite of mine (of course, I liked to game too. Mixing Tactical RPG with Bishoujo game is genius.) Kanon, Air and all other Key titles’ll hold a special place in my heart for bringing much needed depth of story to the Bishoujo game genre.
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