A very personal classification of harem series
After 'tsundere' and 'loli', harem has got to be the next most abused word in the anime vocabulary. Generally meant to describe series with a grossly unbalanced boy to girl ratio, the harem element is so pervasive that it has transcended genre boundaries to be become a popular sub-appendage in almost every genre type. Here I think is where a distinction must be made - anime with mere harem elements needs to be distinguished from harem series. Before I proceed, pls kindly allow me to reveal my very selfish motivations for pursuing such anime-trivialities - I had wish to write a "worthy harem lead" post only to find the list of 'harem series' too unwieldy to select my candidates from. After losing some shuteye, here's a highly biased classification of harem series to appease my sleep-starved brain and to hopefully ease my selection of harem leads.
Series with harem touches (Code Geass, Gundam SEED Destiny, Utawarerumono)
Productions where the overarching plot is largely independent of the lead-haremettes' romances although they might be employed as secondary plot devices.
Series supported by strong harem elements (Fate/Stay night, Tsukihime, AIR)
Productions where the overarching plot is symbiotic with the charms of the haremettes although the ensuing romance (if any) is still not quite its thrust.
True harem series
Series where the romantic courtship/tussle between harem lead-haremettes or amongst haremettes is the meat of the anime. Harem series are expressed in various forms.
Frivolous harems (MagiKano, Love Hina, Maburaho) - Focuses on shouting matches or screamfests between haremettes or slapstick bodily violence inflicted onto ecchi leads.
Dramatic harems (Da Capo, Canvas2, SHUFFLE!, Kiminozo) - Focuses on the conflicts between 2 of the more worthy haremettes.
Sweet harems (Tokimeki Memorial, Hani Hani Operation Sanctuary, Otoboku) - Are generally coming of age stories as haremettes mature through their affections for the lead.
Otaku-pandering harems (Raimuiro Senkitan, Hanaukyo Maid tai, Yumeria) - Generally involves mindless bishoujos that fall hopelessly for the lead and accept the haremesque scenario as normal.
Monogamous harems (Ai Yori Aoshi, To Heart, Lamune) - Focuses on the designated girl and her growing relationship with the lead. Other haremettes stand no chances but are not prevented from liking lead.
Most true harem series would have more than one attribute of the subclasses mentioned above. For example, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu defies a single subclassification. Seeing how the series is about Haruhi's growth through her sovereign claim of Kyon and conflict with the other haremettes, I'd say SHnY bears marks of the Sweet, Monogamous and Dramatic harem each with almost equal weightages.
Besides eliminating non-true-harem leads from my harem lead candidates through this exercise, I've also come to the realisation that my anime palette is inclined towards Dramatic, Sweet and Monogamous harems seeing how I enjoyed many of those representative series listed and how I abhorred the otaku-pandering harem. Now to contemplate where to list Kanon, Zero no Tsukaima and Hayate no Gotoku before I work on that harem lead post.
Related posts:
Search Hontou Ni
Recent Posts
- [Zyl] Anime Festival Asia 2011 Day 1 & 2 Impressions
- Protected: [Zyl] AFA11 AoEx Cosplay
- [Zyl] Hatsune Miku Live Party in Singapore 2011
- [Zyl] Anime Festival Asia 2011 Day 0 Intro
- [Zyl] Hatsune Miku Live In Sapporo 2011 Screening
- [Stripey] Fate/Zero 04~05 – Servants rankings
Recent Comments
Series & Themes
Maki Maki Blogroll
- yuribou
- ojou-sama juice!
- atarashi prelude
- random curiosity
- mou yamete!
- haiku anime review
- a product of wasted time
- moe check!
- memories of eternity
- washi's blog
Danny Choo
- Tokyo Today 3
- Taiwan Anime Event
- Eroge Collection
- PS Vita USB Mod
- Akemi Homura Nendoroid
- Tokyo Today 2
- You and Good Smile Company
- Hiring Now - Anime Jobs
- Tokyo Today
- Taipei Otaku Shops
@ZylZaku
- Watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on my long haul flight. Twice. Gary Oldman so badass. 1 day ago
- @moritheil Well, Black Lagoon's Chang is also a homage to the early Chow Yuen Fat (A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard Boiled etc.) 5 days ago
- @ani_nouto This is the version the screencaps are from: http://t.co/zyNUEaLj 5 days ago
- @ani_nouto Morita OVA 19:11 "I love you, Sayuri" in his sleep http://t.co/vN00ctwf 5 days ago
- @ani_nouto Morita-san OVA 11:12 Another woman's photo in mobile http://t.co/v6Qe8AXB 5 days ago
August 26th, 2007 - 23:19
For FSN to have its harem status revoked is like Pluto losing its planet status. Too… too cruel!
STRIPEY NO BAKA!!!
August 26th, 2007 - 23:32
>_> … *wants a high-res version of that Kanon image*
August 26th, 2007 - 23:32
Sleep starved indeed it seems, lol. Think you typed this unintentionally: “Before I proceed, pls allow me to reveal my very selfish…”
Good idea on picking out the non-true-harems series. Taking Code Geass as an example (which I say is harem-esque as well), there would have been loads of people wanting to get smart about how it’s not a (in your words) true harem. Nice avoid. Ummm, same goes for Fate/Stay Night as Kabitzin mentioned above. Anyone inclined being the “smart-ass” could have pointed out the anime adaptation for it wasn’t harem. Call me paranoid, but I look out for those as I tend to make heavy mistakes with my wording.
Hmmm, seems like most of the true harem series I’ve seen are in the dramatic category. Not sure my mind can handle any more drama though. Frivolous sounds the most silly, but somehow I can stomach it and like them well enough. What I don’t really like is monogamous. The last series that made me want to rip myself apart was Kanon. In the end, it’s aways Ayu. Sigh, what about Shiori!? Whatever, it’s late and I need sleep as well actually. And here’s to another one of Stripey nii-sama’s self-devised term, “true-harem.”
August 26th, 2007 - 23:39
I hear you. Nowadays I often hear the term “harem” used to talk about series like “School Days” or “Kiminozo,” when in fact those are much more traditional love triangle/soap opera type shows where there are 2 girls fighting over 1 guy. The character dynamic with a love triangle is quite different from that of a harem, with multiple girls of varying personalities. There’s a reason why it’s one of the most enduring plotlines not only in anime but in pretty much every storytelling medium.
Now Zero no Tsukaima–that’s a harem show.
Virtually all the girls are after Saito, and what’s more, unlike most harem leads, Saito not only knows it, he ENJOYS it!
August 26th, 2007 - 23:45
Mike, I think School Days could be a harem. There are at least 4 girls who like Makoto, and I think he’d get with all of them if he weren’t afraid of retribution.
August 27th, 2007 - 00:07
“Series supported by strong harem elements (Fate/Stay night, Tsukihime, AIR)
Productions where the overarching plot is symbiotic with the charms of the haremettes although the ensuing romance (if any) is still not quite its thrust.”
LMAO! Oh, man… I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it was hilarious. You have made my night.
August 27th, 2007 - 02:00
Kabitzin: LOL! Gomen gomen… I see it as a charitable act actually, not listing Shiro as a harem lead so that he wouldn’t be scraping the bottom when I churn out my worst harem lead list XD Still Saber/Sakura/Rin/Ilya make great haremettes
Crisu: Here you go
http://www.hontouni.com/taihendesu/images/pretty/kanon_harem.jpg
aurabolt: Heh, I think Kanon was deliberately ambitious and personally I thought KyoAni pulled it off pretty well with all that expectations
Indeed, the Ayu bits felt a little worn-out for me because of Kanon 2002 which related rather decently her story (mangled most other characters though) Speaking of Shiori, I’m still waiting for a Shiori figure to open your path into the figure harem world 
Mike: Well-said.
Frankly I have yet to see an intriguing love-tussle involving any more than 2 girls (ie in a harem setting). The harem aspect is fun and panders to the male ego but for something emotionally deeper the harem setting needs to give way to isolate 2 worthy haremettes for a death-match. Da Capo, Canvas2 and Kiminozo are such examples which I have enjoyed tremendously 
quigonkenny: Now that’s a most penetrating observation XD
August 27th, 2007 - 02:21
Hmm. School Days as a dramatic, otaku-pandering harem maybe? Good job at listing down the various types, your categorisations are quite apt.
August 27th, 2007 - 02:21
“Stripey’s thrust makes reader’s night.”
Not surprising, since the shima-shima tanuki has his own harem.
August 27th, 2007 - 07:18
“After
August 27th, 2007 - 09:14
1. I wouldn’t consider KGNE a harem. It is a love triangle. The game might qualify but the anime was pure triangle.
2. Other then Shuffle, Kagihime and Canvas2, most Harem anime, dramatic or comedy falls under the “Monogamous harems” where you already know by the 2nd ep if not the first who the “girl” will be.
Love Hina, Da Capo (Sakura never had chance), AMG and etc.
3. The only True Harem series where the focus wasn’t on just one girl Final Approach, where you had the group wedding in the end.
As far as Worthy Harem Male leads you might want to look this over:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/TnAdct1/WantedAnimeMales.jpg
August 27th, 2007 - 18:35
Heh. My favorite entry in that Wanted List is Jun’s (Rozen Maiden). Next is Yuuichi.
Stripey: *RAISES ARMS — YES* Yay! Oh how text cannot express the joy. I want a poster of this now now now. To put on my ceiling. Drooling goodness. ..This is the image that comes in pieces with each of the Kanon DVDs, right? I wonder how you got the full image.
Thankyouthankyou. ^_^
Your list shows me how little harem knowledge I have. o.o All I know is Love Hina from that list. And I tried to start watching To Heart, but didn’t have time to catch on (although Multi is adorable). Fate-stay/night I keep trying to sit myself down to watch but haven’t yet.
I do know Tsukaima and Haruhi. I never thought about classifying Haruhi as a harem, although I guess since you point it out, there is also Mikuru, Yuki, Tsuruya, and Ryoko. But those interactions weren’t really solid; I would put Haruhi as “touch of harem” rather than a true one.
–Actually I think I know now; my problem is trying to differentiate anime based off eroge with harem series based off their original manga. Stuff like School Days, Nanatsuiro Drops, Kanon, and Air are just by default going to have lots of girls around one central guy.
August 27th, 2007 - 18:44
My acid test for how central the harem element in the story is, is to just remove all the romantic elements, replace all the hawt girls with guys, and then see how much of the plot is left.
If it’s largely unchanged, probably not a true harem anime. If there’s just nothing left, well, there’s your harem story.
August 27th, 2007 - 18:59
this post wins
August 27th, 2007 - 22:44
I’m beginning to feel like I’m trapped in a biology or botany class on classification.
Perhaps I’m just a bit tired of people (or companies) labeling shows so they can more easily make fun of them or hate them (“oh I never watch josei – its so gay”). Though I’m certainly not accusing Stripe of hating anything in this article
A story is either engaging or it isn’t
… kind of like my theory of botany (green or not-green).
August 28th, 2007 - 00:48
Owen S: Thx.
I should really get cracking on School days. Thinking of starting a new category – “Dark harem” so that I can but sayonara Zetsubou sensei in there. Wonder if School days belong there.
Zyl: It’s times like this I’m glad Mrs Tanuki doesn’t read this blog XD
TheBigN: Oh yes, moe is muddling too
Much as I’m into moe, the term is so encompassing I find it hard to contain it within a definition or even several categories. 
Xellos-_^: LOL! Hmm I would think Futakoi had a harem end too? As for FA, I refuse to give up rooting for Akane (the sister) – May siscon prevail! XD
Crisu: You are most welcome!
I consider Haruhi harem because the story is mainly driven by Haruhi’s affections for Kyon. All the unearhtly things that occur are almost always a direct result of Haruhi’s feelings or jealousy. Add that fact that Yuki and Mikuru both have something for Kyon, it’s a harem series masquerading as a sci-fi 
Just my 2 cents.
Orion: You just summarised in 2 sentence what I tried to say in 2 pages XD Exactly my thoughts!
kei-clone: Glad you enjoyed it!
vexx: heh, subconsciously I think I’m trying to give more press to the tag ‘harem’ for traditional harem-haters to notice that there are more dimensions to just about many maidens mindlessly pursuing males. That the harem genre can be enjoyed in numerous ways like how noodles can be cooked.
But mainly, I think, I just enjoy fanboying about bishoujos XD