Discussion Harems are a lie. I should never think a Harem can be good.

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Hoshiandme, Mar 9, 2019.

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  1. sweed

    sweed l.o.v.e.m.u.f.f.i.n.

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    1. You're using the wrong words. Point 5 and 6 "their" should be "they're" and in point 15 you forgot the to add the verb "is".
    2. "unless you want a lewd novel than everywhere else" what are you trying to tell us?
    3. Please add the novel's title in a spoiler so we don't read it.
    4. Why don't you rant in older "harem hate" threads?
    5. Why am I still awake?
     
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  2. Razort

    Razort Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]
     
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  3. Kurotsubaki

    Kurotsubaki Reincarnation of the Seven Deadly Sins

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    Almost though you mean harem in general.
    In real life? They're exist, but not that pink. More like a calm blue or blank white.
     
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  4. sufod01

    sufod01 Ghost

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    That's actually what i hate in modern jp harem novel (romance/comedy kind) because we can already guess MC will end up with only one girl but girls keep surrounding MC until the end..
     
  5. GuldTasken

    GuldTasken Well-Known Member

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    Just want to say... Harem is realistically possible if you assign a top hen that can boss the others around. It is all about that Heirarchy.
     
  6. DocB

    DocB "I see you, little mouse! Run along"

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    three lesbian, one hot girls with two male friends, one ugly girl and two gay guys in country where homosexuality is illegal, 3 guys in a train, a couple and someone that likes to watch/film, twins (appliable for both male or female), an overprotective mother on her daughter first time, an overprotective father in his son first confession with a catholic priest, so many ways
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2019
  7. SenjiQ

    SenjiQ [Wise, for a Bird]

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    Mate, I used to think that harems were inherently a detraction to stories. The I read Everyone Else is a Returnee and found a story where it didn't bother me.

    EDIT: also, it sounds like you think you can't be friends with an ex or someone that turned you down. (It also sounds like your unpopular IRL and are venting)
     
  8. Miserys_End

    Miserys_End 「Lv1 Pretend Person」I'm the preson i pretend to be

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    Here are a few recommendations with decent harems or love triangles that work and or in the case of TSM, has a very well thought out reason behind the harem without the MC being a complete garbage MC.

    RRL

    • The obvious one The Arcane Emperor though it's more a love triangle u less you count the sister, the elder goddess, and Gunther (which I dont, least for now)
    • Next up is Altos Imperium so far we've got two very fleshed out confirmed, a very fleshed out in the works, and two possibilities that may or may not join. Well one if more a possible foreshadowing and the other is just an assumption that might never be xD But the three mentioned above are close to the MC, and have well defined personalities and backstories.
    • The Simulacrum: interesting take on someone transported into a eroga. Just throwing this out there for the nah sayers, but the MC is not the ML for a dating sim or possible eroga plotline.(no sexual content so far, though some potential is there) It's actually a well written novel and well worth the read. In any case, the last chapter the MC made the jump from single to a OTT(one true threesome(new term for me but works)) and doubt there will be a third added to make it a harem. In contrast, the harem ML is more traditional and still somewhat in the dark about his plight.


    Original novel, but not on RRL

    • (R18, Smut warning) Three Square Meals umm.... yeah space opera with lots of interactions with his harem.. suprisingly fleshed out characters, though it is starting to struggle under the number of women involved... still think the author does a passable job with his harem characters despite the numbers involved and their soon to be obvious requirements.
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2019
  9. Galison

    Galison Well-Known Member

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    harems are so so depending on the harem. Mushoku Tensei has the best 3 people each their own people lots of supporting side chars most of which even if female do NOT want to be with the mc in a romantic way lots of male chars who also are their own chars and individual people.

    EDIT: The way i see it most harems such because their authors try to over reach ie any even remotely unique female chars must be a part of the harem. MT solves this in that they dont lol The author shows its entirely possible to make unique chars and not have them be love interests or villains to the mc
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2019
  10. Juju48

    Juju48 Well-Known Member

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    So it’s like a rom com or dating sim for boys. Funny.
     
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  11. Lithit

    Lithit Desu~'s Little Griffin

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    Hmm, interesting...

    While I've since left my younger harem loving days behind, I must admit I've never really come to hate harems...
    As a concept.

    What I really hate about harems, however, is that generally, they are only in a novel for these two reasons

    i.) The author, seeing the MC, overtly or not, as a self-insert vicariously enjoys female affection through their character
    ii.) The author realizing the amount of BANK you can make off tits and young girls constantly throwing themselves at a relatively characterless husk (who just *happens* to be very useful as an audience self-insert), decided to CASH IN.

    Neither of the above two is bad per se. If I had the chance to bring in that DOUGH, and all I had to do was kill my conscience as an author by reducing my cast to one-dimensional paper cutouts insert a harem in my story, I'd do so in a heartbeat.

    In fact, I have read (what I feel to be) some rather good stories that involve harems...
    Only one comes to mind right now (Sora No Otoshimono, which is a surprisingly heartwarming and funny anime/manga once you look past all the ecchi), but that does not disprove my point (though it certainly doesn't help it...)

    However, I subscribe to a rather minimalist point of view when t comes to story creation; If it doesn't add anything to the story, subtract that s**t!
    Of course, I don't follow this to the T, but I think it's very important when planning out the big picture in a story.

    Does my MC really need to be a transmigrator?
    Do they really need them to go through an edgy phase in their character growth brought upon by a stuffed in the fridge moment of some kind?
    Do I really need to spend 1 in every 3 F**KING PARAGRAPHS DESCRIBING HOW JADE LIKE THIS CHARACTER'S SKIN IS, OR HOW PLEASANT THEY SMELL OR HOW THEIR HIPS MOVE ABOUT IN A S-

    *Breathes in*
    *exhales*

    And one of the more contentious ones, does my story really need a harem?
    or better yet
    Does my story really need a romance?

    And I think this is an important question a lot of would-be authors need to be asking themselves.
    Do most OTP xianxia stories really need the entire story to revolve around reviving/rescuing/chasing after a single female character? (I'm looking at you I Eat Tomatoes)
    Does my Korean novel really need so many female characters pandering to a decidedly uninterested male lead? (I'm looking at a lot of Japanese and Korean Novels here, but I'm looking at you Toika especially)

    Does my novel gain anything by adding a romance, that you haven't thought about properly, you had happened over the course of half a chapter and that just remains lovely-dovey for the rest of the novel?
    Quite often, the answer to the above is that your novel gains very little and yet loses a lot of time that could have been spent:

    Showing character growth
    Advancing the plot/conflict
    and Going into greater depths of your world's lore

    To panty shots, sex scenes and token moments of affection that tell us nothing more about the character than that everything you've said about them being a level headed cold strategist is just bullshit and that they are no better than any random horny teen on the street.


    And I think that's a shame, because romance, romantic conflict, and sexual tension can be used

    Show character growth
    Advance the plot/conflict
    and Go into greater depths of your world's lore

    And as somebody who loves literature and literary spirit, I think this is a right waste of a lot of beautiful worlds in many wonderful peoples' imaginations.



    I originally didn't intend of this post being so long, but this is just something that's been brewing up in the pit of my stomach for a while, and I needed to let it out. Thx for reading (Or scrolling to the bottom of my WALL as the case may be)
     
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  12. Yamatohime

    Yamatohime Well-Known Member

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    Love is war... Your enemy's feeling is not you concern. =)
     
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  13. I Eat Monsanto

    I Eat Monsanto He who courts death

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    What's your point? That we should all fuck like monkeys and that loyalty to your spouse is a social construct?
     
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  14. All mighty Asian

    All mighty Asian Well-Known Member

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    It just wishes fulfillment because in reality
    Women's are calculator everything is a deal of profit and loss
     
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  15. Maelstrom08

    Maelstrom08 Well-Known Member

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    The only way for a harem to be good would be to have Polygamy exist. Even then its really hard for it to work unless all the girls/guys like each other as much as they like the protagonist. The only ones ive ever actually liked are ones with three people, so two girls and one guy, and they all have equal likeness to each other.
     
  16. jingsen

    jingsen Well-Known Member

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    I felt the same actually when i first started reading novels. But as my scope of novels that i read grows, my interest in harem stories decreases. It's hard to find a good story not corrupted by harems, when the authors try so hard to make the mc become someone every girl in the story likes, such that every other male exists solely to be stepping stones (villains or sidekicks) for the girls to fall head over heels for the mc like they have never loved before. Female enemies, girls who have never seen a male before, prideful girls, all can become a harem member. Some stories currently would actually be better off discarding the harem, but i guess that's the limitation of the author, to not be able to create relationships between the girls and other males, other than the mc
     
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  17. Bakaturq

    Bakaturq Tell me, what do you see?

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    If you have a harem, they will just play majong all day:blobjoy::blobjoy:
    [​IMG]

    You will go bankrupt cuz they go shopping, buys tons of sweets and soon they will get fat since they follow the crowd(harem) whoever eats the rest follow.
    And finally, they will only look good as a group due to the cheerleader effect.
    [​IMG]
     
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  18. DocB

    DocB "I see you, little mouse! Run along"

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    Tthat the same way that today's social construct is monogamy with a eventual divorce and new marriage, there has been times where the social contract has been man sleep with as many women as possible to pass down his genes and women sleeping with as many men as possible so that they would take care of her progeny (tribal ages) and times where a single person could offer more stability than a group so polygamy became norm.

    Bonus fact: from a biological stand point moaning is a curious reaction, it is basically saying i'm here in a defenseless position to any predator in hearshot distance. The whole primate family has both primates that moan and that don't, a those that din't moan are most likely to mate for live, while does that moan are polygamous, so it is thought that moaning is not for your partner but for those around
     
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  19. madness-

    madness- The Wanderer

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    :blobsalute: what a fact
     
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  20. kenar

    kenar ヽ(`・ω・´)ゝ

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