Discussion [Rant] My problem with harem in novel

I don't know but there are quite a few of the Bodyguard and Xuanhuan CN novels where authors neuters/castrates/lobotomizes alpha MC and turns him beta/delta/omega and waifus in harems end up having to save/resurrect MC while MC lies dead/comatose/PTSD for 200 chapters and above.

 

Wot.. just out of morbid curiosity what title of the novel are that?

 

To me it often seem like a mix of the author not knowing how to develop the relationship between the characters once they are together and a desire to repeat the "falling in love" part of the story because it is easy to milk for cash.

Pretty much any story can turn into crap if they start to sideline supposedly important characters, harems are just especially prone to this since it is a type of story that relies on having many characters.

 

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/beauty-and-the-bodyguard/
https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/dons-adventure-in-another-world-唐寅在异界-novel-and-comic.62559/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-strongest-violent-soldier/

Along the course of the storyline, all 3 different MCs suffers various degrees of destruction to their male-member/dongle/rod/disco-stick and had to use either deus-ex machina intervention, cultivation regeneration or modern surgical means to recreate/regenerate/repair their male-member/dongle/rod/disco-stick.

 

I think so too.

 

Don't like it too, but it's a known formula for selling books. An expanded cast of FLs (or MLs) caters to different reader preferences and allows for a bigger audience. Someone referenced idol groups, same concept.
The whole concept of "best girl/wifu" crap came about because of this. Even in American media there's that disgusting Twilight Saga and different fandoms people fall under.

But as some commenters pointed out, how you define harem may be different (you're referring to the sexual harem kind).
There's the non-harem harem like "To be a Power in the Shadows", a gag parody novel that technically has a harem organization at 666+ and counting. So it's a "harem" novel without any physical relationship, and it's a good novel.

 

I always thought it's kind of weird that the first woman who looks beautiful without being super evil is considered a love interest. If the first nice woman, who also happens to be beautiful, is automatically your love interest for life, isn't it kinda like lottery where the MC happens to appear first?

I don't know about you, but I meet "nice and beautiful" women all day, every day. They surely aren't all love interests. And if they all would join my (not existing) harem, even viagra wouldn't be enough.

 

You missed my point, what I mean is "the first love interest" not some random woman who is nice and suddenly decided become a love interest.

 

I think "The first love interest" cliche of many Isekai novels is a result of the suspension bridge affect. Most of the time the protag is scared when they first arrive, so latching onto the first beautiful woman that in nice or caring isn't that hard to believe. Otoh, the author may have either just been to lazy to show all the interactions the MC had before they meet their first love interest, or just deemed them unworthy of mentioning.

 

I know how you feel, there are way too many novels that do it.
Though there are a few that can do the Harem tag justice, like the later half of Martial World or Spirit Realm keeps them balanced but competitive between the girls, just to name two.

But there are WAY too many that just can't do it right, the worst that I've seen is how Against The Gods gets so much recognition, even though almost every single arc ends with either a girl joining the harem or one dying/mortally wounded.

I guess the main reason why authors do this, is due to the length of there novels. Lots of novels have lots of arcs and interesting things that the author wants to put in, so they have to make them long to make everything fit. But to do this while keeping only one male/female companion is quite hard to do, as that requires the companion to be very close in strength compared to the MC, which is very hard to do, since there isn't enough "lucky chances" for both of them. The companion could also stay weak, but then somehow survive every attempt to kill them, as they will definitely get targeted as the MC's weak point.

One the best example of a good monogamy novel is any of the Er Gen books. I know, I know, Stockholm syndrome an such, I understand that how fall in love in the first place is quite bad. BUT, if you take any of them, the progress of all of them is quite good as they never get as strong as the MC, but they still live, since the MC finds a way to keep them alive rather than going to protect them every time they need trouble. Prevention>Solution.

If you want a good series that completely masters having both companions as the main characters, check out Pursuing Cultivation, its pretty good.