I'm getting more and more confused nowadays, what the heck is the harem tag exactly now? I was watching anime since ~2007 and to me, if not in a classical sense (like Arabs and their hundreds of wives), 'harem' tag/genre is known as a sub-genre of slice-of-life/romcom, later anime like these were mockingly classified as 'harems'. But shouldn't it be used in a classical meaning in normal fantasy works? Like a situation where protagonist has several wives/partners in a confirmed relationship? Why the heck harem tag is put everywhere now without a good reason? If several females just thought that MC isn't so ugly that you can't even look at him properly somebody will immediately put a harem tag on this story. Harem (ハーレムもの, hāremumono, "harem works") light novels, manga, anime, hentai, and video games focused on polygynous/polyandrous relationships, where a protagonist is surrounded by three or more androphilic/gynephilic love interests or sexual partners. A story featuring a heterosexual male or lesbian protagonist paired with an all-female/yuri harem series is informally referred to as a female harem or seraglios; while a heterosexual female or gay male protagonist paired with an all-male/yaoi harem series is informally referred to as a male harem, reverse harem, or gyaku hāremu. That's wiki for you. Not really helpful though. I've also noticed that a relatively new trend is rising now with 'polygamy' tag which is actually the same, but put mostly on the stories where relationships are confirmed? Shouldn't it be exactly what a harem tag stands for? So my question is - what is going on with harem genre? Why is it tagged everywhere? It's so fucking confusing. When looking for something new to read I feel nothing but a headache when I see the damn 'harem' tag now. Sometimes MC doesn't even have a dick, or balls to use it but the story will be marked as harem. Or his level of interest in his female companions is 0 and there will not be a single line of dialogue based on romance but the story will be tagged as harem all the same.
Welcome to the wonderful confusion of the harem tag. Harem tag has been so diluted that any presence of multiple females and one male is classed as harem, even when there is 0 romance involved whatsoever. Personally, i think at least part of the blame lies with the onslaught of dense beta protags in JP novels that began in the late 00s/early 10s That's why we members of the 'true harem' faction gather round the polygamy tag and hold it up as the true harem signifier. Pseudo-harems, i think, are a large part of the reason why people hate on the harem tag.
Harem as I observed for now is currently used for a story with a male MC that is "surrounded" by female characters Relationship doesn't need to be considered before tagging a novel with a harem tag.
Creating a harem is like cooking. Each girl(or guy) is a like dish. Then you have a beautiful feast and some dishes work well together. They’ll have a nice synergy. To quote @Nahrenne, “The problem is, it's usually poorly made fast food, instead of top restaurant quality.” This why ppl dislike harem. Especially when the tag is overused then ppl tend to find more trash instead good quality harem stories.
When a guy has multiple wives, it is polygyny. When a woman has multiple hubbies, it is polyandry. When talking about having multiple spouses, it is polygamy. For harems, it has to be at least 3 girls who like/lust after the lead guy. That is a very simplified take on this anime genre. Whether or not there is actual romance is its own debate.
The 'Harem' tag lost its meaning a fair while ago with the rise of novels, light novels, manga/manhwa, and donghua/anime that had protagonists who simply had a large surrounding of women, romantic or not. People could apply the Harem tag to pokemon, simply because Ash has been around so many women. It's kind of ridiculous but it sells well for them. The results of this, though, is the tag and genre being blamed for low-quality works, which I'll admit, there are many of. As many people here have said, the genre has become filled with these sorts of stories. Because of this, people looking for the original meaning of the 'Harem' tag are now looking at Polygamy/Polyamoury/Polygyny/Polyandry as usually those tags mean that it's a confirmed harem with multiple romances (female), on one man. Reverse Harem is used for males on one female.
Personally, I apply harem when there are at least 3 girls with the guy at the same time. Not always but a common sign it is a harem is when those girls are living with the guy. I suggest only using the polygamy-related when they are spouses. Now, whether or not that also applies to common-law marriage equivalents in series is its own debate.
The way I see it being a love quadrangle is when there are at least 2 guys and 2 girls in the picture. Otherwise, 1 guy and 2 girls or vice versa is a love triangle. There can be gay/lesbian/bisexual love triangles/quadrangles as well. I do know that sexual assault or rape-type behaviors are common in harems. When it comes to that, well, at least sometimes the lead guy gets beat up for such behaviors. Now Rito (To-Love-Ru) is not a rapist. His clumsiness would fall under the idea of "unintentional sexual assault" or "unintentional penetration". Of course, proving such actions in real-life court cases is extremely hard.
I hope you're referring to Harem tag in general and not referring to the one used on NU. The Harem on NU is a genre, summon professor @runsing for more info.
How does the general harem tag differ from the NU "harem" tag? How I would the tags: Harem is when you have 1 guy with at least 3 girls and a Reverse harem is the lady equivalent. Gay harem is 1 guy with at least 3 other guys and Lesbian harem is the female equivalent. Of course, each harem team in harem, reverse harem, or gay/lesbian harems could have an LGBT member.
If we're talking NU, it's a genre not a tag. Romance is a genre, Yaoi is a genre, Supernatural is a genre, Harem is a genre. Manly Gay Couple is a tag, Protagonist Falls in Love First is a tag, Master-Disciple Relationship is a tag, Chuunibyou is a tag. As far as NU is concerned, Harem is a genre on NU and not a tag. Therefore, some novels does not have the genre and got locked after some persistent edits by passerby. The following are some quotes about how it's treated on NU. Again, what I'm saying here is how NU treats Harem. It's not how Harem tag works in general (novel, manga, anime etc) apparently. Since I don't prefer the genre itself bar very few titles, I can't provide more details about Harem tag in general.
not much i can add if you already quoted that much, just that novelupdates is directory for english-translated asian novels, with focus on east and south-east asian. as long as readers keep that in mind, understanding the trope and its usage is not hard. why even bother stressing over technical or original meaning of 'harem', when what you're reading is jp or cn or kr novels (or manga/anime)? it is like boot vs trunk, or hood vs bonnet. it is how 'harem' genre works if we limit it to jp or jp-influenced work's usage. @Kadmos1 pretty much already simplifies it. harem is not, and never an indicator of romance (as in romantic relationship).
Words change meaning over time as people use them in different ways. In the community of South East Asian novels, comics, and animation being translated to English, the meaning of the word harem has drifted away from the traditional use and has started to mean something different. The word polygamy, which is basically a synonym for the original use of the word, has been picked up to fill the hole. And I think it fits better, too, since polygamy is something that modern people might actually use to describe their own relationships, whereas the traditional use of the word harem is pretty much historical at this point. There's no use in complaining about word changes life this, it's happened constantly since the beginning of language itself.
Well, as I can see harem has become useless as a genre here now, why not add some complimentary genre/tags to harem genre then? Like 'no romance' as a genre or tags 'not a harem ending' / 'mc without romantic relationships'. I mean to begin with, tags were created for the sake of convenience and to help you choose something, but rn 'harem' is absolutely useless. If we follow the current logic (if there is a female organism that likes MC it's a harem) then you can basically tag like 90% of all wn on NU. Simply because even if the story has no romance whatsoever most of the authors will add some characters who are very interested in MC. Well it makes sense logically speaking. If you're insanely handsome/beautiful/strong it's not surprising that you will get some pursuers. Even a psychotic MC in Reverend Insanity had some girls who liked him. There is a 'loner protagonist' tag on NU but it's just as useless as a harem genre. Most of these 'loner' protagonists have friends and sometimes even lovers in the end.
You have "romance" and "harem" genre and "polygamy" tag. If you do a search exluding "romance" genre, you can find novels with "no romance". If you do a search with "harem" genre and exluding "polygamy" tag, you can find your "mc without romantic relationships" but still with a harem story. These tags and genres can be used together to find the type of story you want, you don't have to use them on their own.
Yes it sounds good in theory and I've tried to search this way before, but it's not working. Because more often than not novels are lacking in tags. It's not an unusual situation when MC has a partner but there is nothing in romance-related tags. Or it has a 'beautiful female lead' as a tag but no romance in the story itself. Sometimes harem genre is lacking the 'polygamy' tag even though MC has several wives. There are too many similar situations to count and describe them all. That's why I am saying that a simple 'No Romance' genre can fix this mess, at least a little bit. If you see it you will be able to understand that whatever happens in the story MC still will be single in the end. It's actually easier for those who are looking for novels without romance, while I prefer stories with it. Not that I like romance genre but because stories with no romance are usually completely one-dimentional or with a beta/dense/eunuch as a protagonist. There will be nothing but fighting, fighting and more fighting. Sometimes while fighting MC is fantasizing how he will fight some stronger guys next. 'After winning this I will go to the next region/sect/stronger guy (which were already introduced earlier in the novel) and fight them! After finishem them I will need to defeat another 2-3 guys in higher positions and I finally will be able to become a HOKAGE! So fking interesting! Absolutely not repetitive! What a story! Much wow! Other genres are pretty similar. Just instead of fighting our eunuch protagonist will be fully focused on something else. It may be a good trait in real life to be able to fully focus on something, but it's not interesting to read. And I'm trying to filter such stories through romance. If there is romance it means that MC has some other interests and is doing something else other than being focused on a single thing.
Like you said, that sounds like a problem with novels lacking the correct tags rather than the tags themselves being wrong. I, personally, think that having double tags for when there is X and when there isn't X is kind of redundant since if the novels were tagged correctly then you would always have one and never the other, so you gain no new information than if you only had one tag. The exclusion of the "romantic subplot" tag and "romance" genre should be equivalent to a "no romance" genre.
As per the Genre Explanation page: In other words, Harem can be simplified to "Multiple Possible Love Interests". That's basically all it is.
cuz it happened? just put harem here, there, that way, this way to point as long as hint cat A like cat B it potential lovey dovey, and too many fan service pokemon to collect so harem evolve~