What is a harem anime? It's a story where one man — usually the most ordinary and plain one — suddenly becomes the object of attention for a huge variety of girls representing various stereotypes. The term itself was coined in the West with the release of Tenchi Muyo! in the 90s, but in reality, these types of shows existed even before that.
Manga Urusei Yatsura, released in the 70s, can be considered the first harem story. And it all went downhill, especially with the advances in the video game industry.
The popularity of harem shows resulted in the release of dating sims — games where the player has to win the hearts of various girls through convoluted stories in which he needs to make the right choices. Sometimes the games were the basis for the anime adaptations — and they still are. Famous Tenchi Muyo! was influenced by dating sims.
However, it all peaked with the release of Love Hina in 2000. This is the anime based on the manga series of the same title, though there are some differences between the stories. But one thing is presented in both of these mediums: Keitaro, the main character, is completely and utterly useless.
The only reason the girls in the series are interested in him is because he's a main character. Not because he's a good person, or he has some traits that make him likable — no. He's just been put in the protagonist's spot and that's it.
Before the term "harem" was coined, these types of shows were called "romantic comedies" where the comedy usually stems from the abundance of fanservice bordering on ecchi and some moments that are connected with the protagonist being surrounded by a flock of girls.
The combination of the seemingly excusable accidental perversion that Keitaro demonstrates and the immediate punishment he receives created a formula that became a staple for harem shows for the next decade and practically ruined the genre, and now moved to the isekai, the majority of which are harem shows.
This type of behavior made Keitaro surprisingly relatable to love-starved otakus, cementing the stereotypical shallow characterization and cheap, mundane gags. Keitaro's only saving grace is that somewhere deep in his heart he's a hard-worker and a borderline decent person.
But there's nothing special about him, nothing that makes him differ from thousands of regular humans who, sadly, couldn't make it to become a male lead in the anime and therefore lack romantic attention.
This is the ultimate power fantasy, just in the romance form, and the one that changed the genre. Thankfully, current pure harem shows are changing the trajectory and moving towards more interesting scenarios. But Love Hina's legacy still lives on.
There's a way to make something like that worse.
What is a harem anime? It's a story where one man — usually the most ordinary and plain one — suddenly becomes the object of attention for a huge variety of girls representing various stereotypes. The term itself was coined in the West with the release of Tenchi Muyo! in the 90s, but in reality, these types of shows existed even before that.
Manga Urusei Yatsura, released in the 70s, can be considered the first harem story. And it all went downhill, especially with the advances in the video game industry.
The popularity of harem shows resulted in the release of dating sims — games where the player has to win the hearts of various girls through convoluted stories in which he needs to make the right choices. Sometimes the games were the basis for the anime adaptations — and they still are. Famous Tenchi Muyo! was influenced by dating sims.
However, it all peaked with the release of Love Hina in 2000. This is the anime based on the manga series of the same title, though there are some differences between the stories. But one thing is presented in both of these mediums: Keitaro, the main character, is completely and utterly useless.
The only reason the girls in the series are interested in him is because he's a main character. Not because he's a good person, or he has some traits that make him likable — no. He's just been put in the protagonist's spot and that's it.
Before the term "harem" was coined, these types of shows were called "romantic comedies" where the comedy usually stems from the abundance of fanservice bordering on ecchi and some moments that are connected with the protagonist being surrounded by a flock of girls.
The combination of the seemingly excusable accidental perversion that Keitaro demonstrates and the immediate punishment he receives created a formula that became a staple for harem shows for the next decade and practically ruined the genre, and now moved to the isekai, the majority of which are harem shows.
This type of behavior made Keitaro surprisingly relatable to love-starved otakus, cementing the stereotypical shallow characterization and cheap, mundane gags. Keitaro's only saving grace is that somewhere deep in his heart he's a hard-worker and a borderline decent person.
But there's nothing special about him, nothing that makes him differ from thousands of regular humans who, sadly, couldn't make it to become a male lead in the anime and therefore lack romantic attention.
This is the ultimate power fantasy, just in the romance form, and the one that changed the genre. Thankfully, current pure harem shows are changing the trajectory and moving towards more interesting scenarios. But Love Hina's legacy still lives on.
_15615.webp)