Forum - View topicHarem or traditional romance?
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wanderlustking
 Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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By traditional romance, I mean that there is one primary romantic relationship, and any others are merely for the sake of rivalry or tension. I'm kind of split on this one. On the one hand, there is usually very little surprise in the olde way, even if there is a rival; but I've always felt that most harem shows appeal simply comes from more girls=more cute=good, or some similar formula. I think I prefer the third option really, wherein you have two strong female leads vying for the male leads heart. It's entirely possible that my poor opinion of harems is because I haven't seen very many good ones. Thoughts?
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Cramming any given anime into a label-bin like this is not going to help you sort out good from bad.
You would be better off exploring what makes a good harem anime and what makes a good romance. |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Either traditional romance or love triangle is best for me.
A lot of times, NOBODY chooses ANYBODY at the end of harems and it's so frustrating. Also harems definitely rely on more fanservice and other cheap things like the stereotype, one-dimensional girls to fill every fetish; loli, tsundere, yandere, kuudere, android girl, tomboy, CROSSDRESSER etc. to pull viewers in. The more characters you have, the less time you have to develop them...so you are left with either fluff or an unfinished story. Contrasted to traditional romance, where there are few characters so you can spend more time on each one. That's not to say I dislike harem-there are a few that are very good. Now harem MANGA? That's a different story. The author can make it as long as he/she wants so you don't have to worry about characters staying flat. Negima's a really good example. I seriously like everyone in that manga. EVERYONE. Last edited by Chiibi on Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13235 |
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Depends what harem shows you watch. If you only watch the ones based on ongoing light novels or manga, then yeah, they won't choose anyone.
All the other ones end with the guy picking a girl, more often than not.
That's actually how a lot of harem shows are. The only difference definitionally is that the guy (or girl) has over 2 potential suitors. For that reason I prefer harems. There's a lot more variety in the characters and you pick the one you want to support the most. Sadly in my experiences the best girl (read: the girl I like the most) usually doesn't win. The main herione (the girl who'll win) is usually obvious from the get go so there's that feeling of inevitability. But there are some shows that throw you a curveball. |
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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I guess I'm very lucky that the character I like the most usually wins...in both harems AND reverse harems. 
(I seem to be character-cursed in other genres though...like favorite=DIES.) =_= It really sucks. But oh well. Can't win 'em all. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7992 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I would prefer a traditional romance or love triangle over a harem, personally. However, harem series are also fine if they end with the main character making a clear choice. The deciding factors for me are whether I like the characters and whether the romance element is resolved by the end.
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HyugaHinata
 Posts: 3505 |
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Anything except harems. From my (admittedly limited) experience of harem shows, they're generally episodic one-trick ponies. RosarioxVampire and Love Hina are cases in point.
I enjoyed Ai Yori Aoshi though, because they didn't overplay the fanservice aspect of the show. Traditional romances are generally more complex, both character and plot-wise, which I why I often find myself going back to them several times. |
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HaruhiToy
Posts: 4118 |
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This thread made a question come to mind for me. Can anyone point to an example of a good serious anime that features a harem situation? I certainly can't think of any.
They are always played for laughs and if they attempt to take themselves seriously, they are just awful. |
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13235 |
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Anything by Type Moon.
But with harems you'll mostly get more comedic stories with a good deal of drama later on (see anything by Key). But no, off the top of my head I can't think of other completely serious animes with more than 2 love interests. |
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getchman
 He started itPosts: 9132 Location: New Hampshire |
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was there any significant amount of comedy in School Days?
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13235 |
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At first, yeah.
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HaruhiToy
Posts: 4118 |
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Back to my original question, I suppose School Days does qualify as an answer when you consider how a farce can be also serious. It seems pretty clear their intent was to make point of how different it was at the beginning versus the end. They certainly did that and we are left to wonder if the point they made was worth it or not. |
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13235 |
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School Days is a cautionary tale about why you shouldn't aim for all the girls.
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Kruszer
Posts: 7992 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Yes, yes, wise advice indeed. Definitely worth taking into consideration or you may find yourself spoiler[on the wrong end of a kitchen knife].
Anyhow, I think being not-so-serious is one part of the main definition of a harem show. If it wasn't funny and was always serious it wouldn't be a harem show it would be a drama, by definition, instead. [EDIT: Added spoiler tags. - Key] Last edited by Kruszer on Wed Nov 14, 2012 12:18 am; edited 2 times in total |
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dragon695
 Posts: 1377 Location: Clemson, SC |
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Neither, I'm sick to death of romansu and romcoms.
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