Discussion Whats up with these harem novels?

Discussion in 'Novel Discussion' started by Zeeb, Feb 28, 2023.

  1. Zeeb

    Zeeb Active Member

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    Why are so many harem novels not tagged as harem?
    Basically I absolutely loathe harems. Not because think it's wrong, whatever floats your boat, but because I enjoy a normal romance so much that I get irked whenever there more than 1 interest. I can't even stand love triangles. Tch.

    Anyway about the tags, I always exclude harem from tags when I search but regardless 90% of the novels have multiple people tryna jump on the MC's MD if ya get me. In my opinion this is still a harem. Even if the MC is loyal to one, as long as he doesn't deny others I'd still say that's a harem. Is that wrong? Or is the harem tag strict on what's classed as a harem and what isn't?

    Also did I post this in the right place? I've never used a forum before. Does this work?
     
  2. Goblin Sleuth

    Goblin Sleuth Well-Known Member

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    You know I'm the opposite, I hate it when a tag is used when it doesn't really qualify in the first place. Like you'll have a protagonist that has the occasional one night stand, but never gets into a serious relationship or makes any of his flings official. Yet for some reason it will get tagged as a harem story, and every time he sleeps with a new girl someone will make an idiotic comment about a new girl joining the harem.
     
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  3. Zeeb

    Zeeb Active Member

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    Mmm Well in the first place if he's having one night stands then there probably isn't a main girl in the first place right? At least not yet. So let alone a harem that's not even romance. I guess this depends on whether said girl sticks around the MC afterwards. And if she still sticks after we've got a main girl then I'd say its a harem.
     
  4. Goblin Sleuth

    Goblin Sleuth Well-Known Member

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    What would be nice is if he would add the reason we added the tags. Just a setence or two, have it so when you hover over the tag a little box will open up with the info inside. It could work like this.

    Protagonist is a royal prince starts out with a massive harem, loses it all in the first few chapters when his empire is destroyed by an enemy country.

    You could do it with other tags too of course.

    The protagonist lover gets killed by the main villain half way through the story. He revives her at the end though.

    While not explicitly shown it is implied that the protagonist assaulted someone after being drugged with an aphrodisiac.
     
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  5. Zeeb

    Zeeb Active Member

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    Yea but imagine the effort to explain each and every tag. Honestly I think there should just be more tags for more specific situations. Like 'Implied r*pe' or 'revived loved ones' or longer tags like 'multiple crushes on protagonist'.
    Could even add tags like 'face slapping'. Really just tags that not only catagorise but also describe.
    As for writing a description of the tags that could be left to reviewers.
     
  6. Goblin Sleuth

    Goblin Sleuth Well-Known Member

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    If we do that we just end up with a million different tags, NU just did a tag purge so I doubt adding a bunch of new tags would be approved. As for it being a lot of effort to explain each and every tag. Yeah sure it would be, and I'm sure most tags would be left blank without any explanation. That is okay though, the only tags that really need to be explained are the most controversial ones. Basically the ones that determined whether or not someone will give the story a chance, or avoid it like the plague.
     
  7. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    Yeah, it's wrong. That kind of situation is a love polygon, not a harem. The protagonist has to reciprocate the affection to multiple women for it to be a harem, or maybe the women are so domineering that he can't get free of them. Sometimes it gets tagged as a harem by people like you but I understand your POV so it doesn't bother me too much. And I understand why it bothers you, but a love triangle gives an opportunity to show how strong the pairing is when done right.
     
  8. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    Books get mislabeled on NU all the time. Harem novels aren't even among the worst offenders out there, so either we all get used to it, or get proactive about fixing whatever gets misapplied when we come across it. As far as I can tell, the worst off are the historical novels. These books should be some of the easiest to identify, if it's a historical novel then it has to be set in a real place, during a real time period, and perhaps be about real events and real people. And yet maybe some 80% of all the novels under the "Historical" genre on NU don't fulfill any of these! Hell some of them are set on fantasy worlds.

    I think that a lot of the confusion comes from there being two distinct traditions for harem novels. The one that everyone agrees on is the Chinese harem novel which typically sees the protagonist marrying several women. The other is the Japanese harem novels where the protagonist is surrounded by female characters but who may or may not have any romantic interest in any of them. This might not look like a harem to some people, but it's actually the definition used by NU. And the reason is pretty simple: NU's tags and genres are primarily based on the ones used for anime and manga so it just inherited it by default.

    There really isn't any way getting around this as the genre applies to two completely different kinds of books, and neither of them are really genres to begin with. The only real rule is that if the relationships are just the protagonist and two love interests then it's a love triangle instead of a harem. But a love polygon is absolutely a harem as far as NU is concerned.
     
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  9. joey183

    joey183 The Mysterious Entity

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    Yup, that's true. As long as there are more than 2 potential female interests on the protagonist, it's a high chance it'll have the harem tag. It's just depends on whether it's a light or heavy harem settings.
     
  10. peterwitch

    peterwitch Active Member

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    I know right! Loathe is a strong word but what's wrong with many girls at once. Isn't it the same but different boob sizes and personality. A novel idea! The girl can change his personality and her looks. Or better yet she has DID (Dissociative Indentity Disorder) who can change their looks.