Discussion Polygamy

Good luck Summer-chan!

 

In other words, you haven't found a character type you love. Maybe it's one of those that weren't invented yet.
Me, I love Rei clones. All of them.

In other words, you dislike complex characters who aren't one-dimensional caricatures.

That's how love works, duh! You don't love a person because he has done a lot for you. You love him/her because he/she is a wife/husband material. Good-looking, strong and brave, rich and generous, weak and motivated or whatever else attracts you. The memorable event like the hero saving a girl is just the point she noticed him, not the real reason she loves him.

In other words, you dislike complex villains who have meaningful motivation.

 

Dr. Flannan, from Applied Perversions and Tropes department of a major university.
Accodring to General Harem Theory, harems aren't intended to portray a realistic one-guy-and-many-girls relationship where he gets to marry them all. There are one or two girls whom the author uses to develop romantic plots, but all the others are really there for the reader's benefit. Contrary to common belief, men have different tastes in women, and many of them will find the main romantic heroine to be boring or otherwise not to their taste. That's where a wide selection of girls come in. The discerning reader can always find a girl to his liking and read the story to enjoy her adventures.
This theory has been successfully applied to develop such modern wonders as Maleless Stories for Male Audience, which drop the male lead and associated bad writing, and concentrate on the girls. Their success demonstrates the correctness of the theory.
If you find that talented writers don't do harem as much as they used to, it's because they have switched to this new genre.

Any questions? Oh, I have one!

In the past, "first girl wins" used to be the standard. The first girl the MC meets was the most complicated character, got the most screentime, and got the guy in the end. Nowadays, writers try to avoid this trope (because First Girls tended to be too bland - either an all-around good girl, or a tsundere), which means it's the second girl that is most interesting. Because you know, waiting until vol 13 to introduce MC's true love is too much.
Yes, kids, it really happened. The MC went with a harem he didn't recognize as love interests for many volumes, until he met the right girl. Let this be a lesson for IRL relationships - you don't have to marry an osananajimi or a classmate. You never know if you'll meet a pretty elven maiden later in life.
For homework, you should read TVTropes articles "First girl wins" and "Last girl wins". It will be on exam. Sorry, I got too much into teaching mode.

 

1. How can I find a character that I love if they are all the same? There is no originality in them. Have you ever read a cn harem novel and actually remembered the names of all the harem members. Maybe there has been such a type of novel for you but I can actually say that I have never read such type of novel. Why, because there is no need to remember the names. They are just the same recycled characters with just different names but with the same setting.

2. Just because they can change the way the main character behaves does not make them complex characters. If there was a build-up or the author was actually competent then yes I could actually call it character growth, but most times it is just that the author decides to dumb down the mc for whatever reason. Character growth is slowly built over time. If a 'smart' main character decides to do something stupid after knowing a girl for a few chapters you can't call that character growth, that is just lazy writing. If a 'strong' and 'arrogant' mc that insults every guy he meets but suddenly lets a girl he hardly knows walk all over him that isn't character growth, again that is just lazy writing. And that happens a lot in these types of novels. It is not that the main character actually grows in character, it is just that the personality and the character of the protagonist switch just because of a girl he hardly knows.

3. I don't know what kind of relationships you have been, but that is not how love works. Love is built over time. If a guy you know suddenly gives you a can of coke, can you actually say you have suddenly fallen in love with him? No! you can't. Why, because love isn't that simple. Maybe that can of coke actually made you somewhat attracted to the guy or you change the way you thought of that person, but again that is not love. All those examples I have given at most make you develop a crush on that person, but that is not love. For example, I have a mansion in a post-apocalyptic world the main character at first decided to go to the post-apocalyptic world for some money and to come back and never return. But after meeting a girl there for one week he decided that she means the world to him. You don't fall in love with a person in one week. Can you be attracted with a person after knowing them for one week, yes. Can you start a relationship with a person after knowing them for one week, yes. But that is as far as it could go. Would you want to marry a person you have only known for a week? Would you sacrifice your own life for a person after knowing them for a week? I bet you wouldn't and if you would I really wonder how long the marriage will last. I can't remember the name, but there was another novel where the girl decides to sacrifice herself for the main character she has only known for 2 days.

4. How the actual fuck did you manage to come up with that idea. I really wonder which steps you took to come up with this logic.
I only said, that in novels with big harem suddenly all women are suddenly saints that and every male is suddenly an arrogant, cheating rapist. Women are humans too, just like with humans, they are greedy, lustful and are capable of the most horrendous crimes. Yet these novels suddenly make every woman incapable of harming the main character. In a novel with big harems, there are no female villains, and if there are the female villains compared to the male villains equal 1:9. For example in the novel 'hail the king' I have only seen one female bad guy and the role she plays is so small at this point you could call her a background character. Another example is the novel 'true martial world' where there have been 0 female villains in it.

I would advise to read what I wrote again. Because you totally twisted my words.

 

maybe it isnt realistic to start relationship with many girl at once and the romance are kinda forced its not natural

 

It ends up as the harem either becoming a driving force of the novel, where arcs can only be created, where there is a girl/guy to be added into it. Most times, the execution is just bad. Sure, you get to see girls/guys of very different types, either by appearance or by personality. But if most of them are irrelevant until an arc is made for them to be involved in, then its just annoying to see it. If there is a specific love interest that the mc shows lots of favourtism for, or is just the most common, is there a need for a harem?

All in all, most people dislike seeing harems, because the novels aren't suited towards a harem, or just do the harem horribly. Also when compared to novels with Monogamy, the plot derails itself, as well as just giving each love interest not enough screen time.

 

Oh, you meant within the same work! I thought you complained about how characters across different works are similar.
I don't read Chinese works as I mostly read Japanese works. Japan does a reasonably good job making harems with sufficiently unique characters.

I wasn't talking about character growth. I was talking about one person having different aspects to his or her personality. For example, generally being capable of being cool and rational, but losing that when there is cheese girls involved.

I sure know what kind of relationships I have been in. A girl once talked to me, we talked for about an hour, and I knew I fell in love with her. Would I risk my life for her? Most likely yes, I am the sort of person who would risk his life at the drop of a hat.
We drifted apart later, I suspect it's because the love was one-sided on my part, but I don't regret the time spent with her. Ahh, youth.

Well, you just said it - every female villain in the story has a compelling reason to be MC's enemy. Unlike Chinese normal writing, where people (usually male) are MC's enemies because they are embodiments of evil and vice.
I have a strong preference for stories where people are more-or-less good, but have reasons for conflict. It makes things way more believable to me.

 

Well from the novels I've read I don't really care enough about any of the relationships. Most of the time the development feels half-baked because it has to share with the other relationships. I want to care about the relationships but most of the time I don't.