Discussion What is qualified as a Harem?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by RenarDuSud, Jun 21, 2017.

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  1. DarwenGwein

    DarwenGwein Well-Known Member

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    I'm gonna have to disagree with a couple folks here and say if a major part of the series is the girls(/guys) all chasing the protagonist, it's a harem series. A story doesn't have to have a harem ending in order to be a harem series. Nisekoi does not cease to be a harem-based story just because the majority of the girls are dismissed in the last handful of the hundreds of chapters.

    Now, something like Tenchi Muyo where you have two serious love interests and a gaggle of other girls is a much more debatable point. As such, I'll clarify my opinion that the potential harem members must be legitimate love interests of the protagonist. In my mind, Tenchi Muyo and Love Hina are romcoms featuring love triangles and lots of fan service, not harem series (except that other Tenchi Muyo that *does* feature a harem end, but fuck no to digging all fifteen versions of the show up again right now, thank you).
     
  2. Sena

    Sena Well-Known Member

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    First, there's a difference between "a harem", "the harem genre", "harem ending", etc., so it's best to be clear what exactly you're referring to.

    Historically, in terms of Japanese media (anime/manga/light novels) which is where the genre originated? Harem, as a genre, applies to any story where a central theme of the story (not just something that happens for a while) is a male (usually*) MC being surrounded by girls (usually), living/travelling together or just spending a lot of time together (a school club for example). It doesn't matter if they're attracted to the MC at all (though most of them usually are), it doesn't matter if the MC likes any of them (usually the MC is only really interested in a relationship with one girl, if any), it's really just about the gender ratio and nothing else. Anything beyond that is just people applying their own preferences, or referring to something other than the genre.

    *It can be harem if a gay male MC is surrounded by girls (there have been a couple manga/LNs like that) but only if it's specifically intended as such, and if you switch the genders the definition pretty much stays the same (reverse harem, or it can still just be called harem). Yuri/BL harems are different; since there's nothing unusual about a female surrounded by females or male surrounded by males, some attraction (even if it's one-sided) or at least fanservice (basically anything that hints at homosexuality, even if every character involved is straight) is required.
     
  3. VixenKiss

    VixenKiss Machiavelli the Princess

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    We'll agree to disagree.
    If a novel has elements of tragedy, perhaps a few characters or the MC have elements of a sad or tragic past some might want to apply the tragic tag to it, but I don't think this warrants labeling the narrative as a whole as "tragic." Same the the harem tag. Sure, tons of girls chasing the MC is harem-esque, but if the MC at the end ultimately chooses one (or two depending on your definition) then that is definitely not harem.
     
  4. Tebix

    Tebix Well-Known Member

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    What you want to say is netorare, which is stealing away a person from their loved and crushing their former lover. There is a reason that it isn't liked by many.
     
  5. Luxcilla

    Luxcilla Well-Known Member

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    Depends on the perspective though.
    Readers tend to portray themselves as the MC, so they prefer Netori than Netorare.
     
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  6. RenarDuSud

    RenarDuSud Active Member

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    that's not an orgy?
     
  7. justmehere

    justmehere Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I should've put the living together until your death, not just having s3x.

    And I should've added the exclusion part where the girls just have fun together and let you be alone eventually. That would be NTR, lesbian style....

    So much shid could go wrong with this ... :D
     
  8. Deleted member 41274

    Deleted member 41274 Guest

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    Highschool dxd sums it up with a harem king
     
  9. bighandxyz

    bighandxyz Active Member

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    harem as a tag is whenever 3 girls is interested in MC.

    That's it. MC personal feeling does not matter, as long as during majority of the series more than 3 girls is chasing after MC that's a harem.

    There are many series with harem end, some with ambigious end (toloveru), winner at the end (love hina), and some were even chosen at the start (monogatari). But all these series are tagged as harem

    Your personal opinion might be different, but the above is how most people and company categorized it. It doesn't really need much discussion
     
  10. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    The usual connotations of harem are either:

    a) Multiple Love Interests.
    b) Multiple partners.

    Both work well, some people prefer one or the other, but both are used fairly commonly.
     
  11. Ko

    Ko "The Corrupted Queen"

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    I personally consider it is a harem when there are more than two to choose from .. It doesn't matter what kind of situation they are in as long as the third man/woman is there .. then the harem is alert is on. \o/
     
  12. eseul

    eseul [ blank ] |_・)

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    if it's just two, that is a love triangle. Not a harem.
    When it's 3+ I feel like that is harem.
     
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