Discussion Harem Opinions

I've only recently become a NU member, but I've been floating around the site for a couple years. Stories with harems (stallion, reverse, same-sex, etc) are everywhere. I've read a few of them, not gonna lie. I also don't really understand them.

So, I wanna know, what do people think about harems? Are they an annoying plot device? Is it cool to see the mc deal with different personalities? What specifically do you like/dislike? Favorite "type"? Etc.

Go wild.

 

It's kind of like being a millionaire and being sort of rich and being a billionaire. Except instead of money it's affection and or sexual interactions.
And similarly to money, each addition has to be original and not a carbon copy or you won't get very far with it.

 

I like them when they arent annoying...

 

Personality?????? What are these?????? Aren't those harem member just become MC doll without or for small reason?????

 

I like them when they are actually useful and not just a flower vase being a useless b*tch just there to suck the mc dick.

 

ughhhhhh
harems again why!!!!
ALL HAREMS SUCK
THEY ARE JUST THE AUTHORS FANTASIES ABOUT WOMAN
There are to many of them
They are annoying plot trope that never seems to be done right
I could go on ranting about this all day
but........
im out of QI
i spent them on the 3 threads i made today
i need to spend more time on my cultivation

 

Try reading this manga, as this is seems to me a harem done right, Kyou no Cerberus.

 

What is with the sudden influx of harem threads, [sigh] whatever to answer the original question I don't care either way as long as the story is good. Of course a bad harem can ruin a good story, while a good harem cannot save a bad story. On a side note I never see a harem story as being something to take 100% serious. In the end a harem is always about wish fulfillment, and appealing to fetishist. It is a funny concept, and great if you're writing smut since you give the readers I wider selection of fap material, but to put a harem in an actual serious story, you're fucking high.

 

Most Japanese harems generally fall under one of three categories.

• Super dense protag being circled by brainless vultures that are fighting over the body.
• The harem of mind broken rape victims.
• A scared lolicon too afraid to touch his harem because of how his peers will view him.

None of them are very sustainable. Honestly a proper harem should have all members loved equally even if not in the same way. And I don't just mean between the focus and the other members. Everyone needs to have at least good friend levels of care between them. Sadly most of the novels on NU fall under the first two harem types.

 

Yup, it's really annoying. Martial World, Peerless Martial God, Shura's Wrath, Spirit Realm & Overgeared. All of them would be better without harem

 

Annoying. They almost always take something away from the story or are used to supplement the author's lack of ability.

 

Eh, I've seen more then a few reverse harems as well. I'll admit that most of the harems here are wish fulfillment, but there is a real world use for them outside of fantasy and h type novels. Namely nobility and royalty's search for a male heir.

Read my above post my other thoughts on harems.

 

My opinion about harems is that they need to be build on a character which helps develop the MC into something which we can like.

Preferably, a heroine/Male leads that gives different opinion which builds character on the MC. Its fine if the ending is where he chooses one girl since the MC with the mature distinction to choose a girl he loves is something we can all agree on.

There are so many bad harems that even the good ones are Biased to the Anti-harem readers. Authors only go as to wish fulfillment whereas a good author that makes harem but uses that trait to develop his MC to someone great, is something worthwhile to read.

 

Harems/reverse harems are there to fulfill the reader's (who are mostly lonely and introverted in real life) fantasy of having tons of attractive members of the opposite sex throwing themselves at you. In that sense they're a good thing, as these are wish fulfillment stories. If your going to fantasize, then fantasize. Save realistic goals for reality.

The problem with harem stories is, because the authors are also mostly introverts, they have no idea how to write romance. So you get lots of characters falling madly in love with the MC for some stupid reason, and the relationship not progressing at all from there because the author is afraid of censors.

What all the harem haters never seem to ask themselves is: would ONE girl throwing herself over and over at a oblivious protagonist be any better than a harem doing it? The problem isn't the harem, it's that the author has no idea how to write romance.

 

3 or 4 women is really the max that any one man can realistically handle without giving them too little of your time to be any more than f%ck buddles. Any more than that and you would need the help of bisexual or lesbian harem members to keep your women satisfied. When you consider that the average man can barely handle one woman you realize that harem is a completely unrealistic form of interaction. The only possible way that a harem could exist in real life without some form of brainwashing or force is either with money or being the only sausage in a bisexual orgy. Since this is the case in real life for harems to exist in any other way in stories will for the most part always seem shallow since they never seem to have any more objective reasoning than "I love him, he has another girl, guess i will share".

 

Gotta say: It's my favorite genre, kill me people if you want.

Obviously I will not say something like: "Ohh all the harems make stories epic/amazing, they are bs if the don't have it" But it's true that if it is used correctly (like in Pure love x Insult Complex) is an epic tool to continue the plot with something like a family around the Mc but with a lot more love (That's kinda why i love this genre).

That aside, it's true that in the japanese world there are a loooot of harem that have no brain or they are wish fulfillment but hey, it's the same as shonen, there are good ones with a deep plot (Full Metal Alchemist) and someones with only fights (Bleach)

Pd: Only talking of Japan, China and Korea harem are kinda..idiotic. Almost all of them.

 

When its hard to enter into a relationship and support someone financially, emotionally, and security-wise, then being able to do the same for more than one illustrates how fantastically better at life you are than others...
Rarely is any of these stories with a harem (polygamous, I mean) develop the culture or world build the justification of polygamy beyound "Its not wierd for a powerful man to have 3 wives and 4 concubines and however many maids".

 

I see anyone who specifically seeks out harem novels as pathetic. 90% chance they've never held a conversation with a woman and have probably given up on having an actual health relationship

 

The only harem that i got fond of was in Mushuko Tensei just because the female protags actually have fleshed out personalities and their individual quirks that the others dont. They got lots of screen time with arcs just about them or atleast played a major part in the grand scheme of things or helped develop the MCs character

 

why do you idiots ask this question once a week, harems are a plot device and they are only ever useful if you have a good author. There is nigh any stories right now that have good harems in them, the rest are either completed or untranslated. First you need to have a semblance of a character in order to even try a harem and most nip and chinese authors have troubles even doing that for their mc let alone heroines or support characters.