History Main / HaremGenre

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* In ''Literature/EightCousins'', Rose Campbell goes to live with her Uncle Alec, and becomes the target of affection to her seven handsome male cousins.

'''Gus:''' ''(laughs his ass off)''

* Hilariously lampshaded by Mother's Basement's [[FauxDocumentary PSA,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FmtiDbg4xY How to Survive a Harem Anime]]

* ''LightNovel/BeingAbleToEditSkillsInAnotherWorldIGainedOpWaifus'' is a {{reconstruction}} of the UnwantedHarem, through a HerosSlaveHarem.

* ''LightNovel/InAnotherWorldIAmCalledTheBlackHealer'' is a reverse harem, where the main character quickly builds up a group of male admirers. However, few are explicitly in love with her. Most of them seem to like her and have a crush on her.
* ''LightNovel/InfiniteStratos'' somewhat induces this by necessity: There's the eponymous PoweredArmor that only girls can use, but for some reason, one guy is able to use it as well. He gets plunked in to a dedicated all-girls school to learn how to use the same.

* InnocentCohabitation

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' centers around a female protagonist who's been reincarnated as Catarina Claes, the female villain of an OtomeGame she played before her death. She ends up with a rare instance of a bisexual harem, since [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer she attracts both male and female love interests]].

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' rapidly turns into this, courtesy of its CluelessChickMagnet NiceGuy hero, Kamijou Touma. It also attempts an explanation for why this trope occurs. Thanks to Touma's [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]] negating all supernatural effects which contact him, it's hypothesised that he is immune to the [[RedStringOfFate red string of fate]], meaning no one woman can be his soulmate. The series can be said to have the largest harem of any work, primarily due to the inclusion of the Misaka Network, who are 9969 clones of Mikoto Mikasa. Even without them, it arguably still holds the record.[[labelnote:A not exhaustive list of harem members]]Index Librorum Prohibitorum, Mikoto Misaka, Aisa Himegami, 9969 clones of Mikoto, Kaori Kanzaki, Itsuwa, Lessar, Leivinia Birdway, Othinus, Seria Kumokawa, Misaki Shokuhou[[/labelnote]]

* ''Literature/RedoOfHealer'', though in a DarkerAndEdgier sense. The protagonist, Keyaru, is hellbent on revenge after being subjected to all kinds of abuse because of his status as a healer, so he woos several girls to his cause by either brainwashing them into submission or relating to their own desire for vengeance.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' is this coupled with fanservice, comedy and AllMythsAreTrue action, with the added twist that every girl in the harem is willing to share, but they're competing to see ''who's first place''. Open pervert Issei is a major fan of this genre in-universe and elated to be in the position of the genre's protagonist.

* ''LightNovel/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'' subverts this early on. At the beginning it seems that this will be your typical harem series, seeing how the Light Novel seems to be playing the tropes straight, but by the end of volume 1 (chapter 10 in the Manga and episode 4 of the Anime) both leads Ikki Kurogane and Stella Vermillion become an OfficialCouple. The series also subverts many common tropes from harem series, where the leads solve their differences rather quickly without padding the drama, instead focusing on progressing the romantic relationship.

* ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'' involves [[TheHero Ayato Amagiri]] earning the attention of several girls across the series, with the twist that Ayato already chosen Julis as the girl he loves and becomes devoted to. While he cares about the girls, [[SupportingHarem he only sees them as friends, not love interests]].

* ''LightNovel/HybridXHeartMagiasAcademyAtaraxia'': Kizuna Hida is forced to become TheCaptain of a group of girls equipped with [[PoweredArmor Heart Hybrid Gears]] in order to defend the Ataraxia fleet from invaders from AnotherDimension. To do that, Kizuna must do [[DeusSexMachina perverted stuff]] to the girls, as doing so will power up their Heart Hybrid Gears and unlock new weapons and upgrades.

* ''Literature/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': Koutarou moves into a new apartment and becomes the unwilling roommate and LoveInterest to a CuteGhostGirl, a MagicalGirlWarrior, a {{Miko}} from an underground race, a HumanAlien princess and her servant, another AlienPrincess and a DarkMagicalGirl. They all(including Koutarou) start off hostile to each other, due to fighting over exclusive rights to Koutarou's apartment, but as time passes, they all become friends and something of a family unit even befrore the girls start falling in love with Koutarou.

* ''Literature/SisterPrincess'': An interesting (and unusually non-romantic) variation on this trope can be found in the anime. In which, a young man discovers that he has a baker's dozen half-sisters he never knew existed. Having grown up alone except for a few servants, he finds their slavish adoration of their "[[BigBrotherWorship big brother]]" somewhat overwhelming, but grows to love and treasure them all.

* ''LightNovel/HaremInTheLabyrinthOfAnotherWorld'' has its premise right there in the title; the main character finds himself in another world and gradually gathers a HerosSlaveHarem, and naturally all the girls [[PropertyOfLove fall in love with him]].

%%* ''LightNovel/{{Oreshura}}'' ZERO CONTEXT EXAMPLE

* In ''LightNovel/MazeMegaburstSpace'', female Maze has a ''bisexual'' reverse harem of both males and females interested in her. As she swaps genders at sundown and sunrise, its notable that Princess Mill doesn't care which gender Maze is at the moment.

* ''LightNovel/{{Maburaho}}'' is the [[UrExample granddaddy]] of all Harem works that take place in a magical school of some sort. Basically every trope you see in those modern works originate from Maburaho in some fort or another; from the idea of the setting itself making its magic known to the public, to the protagonist being a self insert loser who secretly holds grand power, to several of the female leads being tried and true archetypes vying for the protagonist, it all began here.

* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': Koutarou moves into a new apartment and becomes the unwilling roommate and LoveInterest to a CuteGhostGirl, a MagicalGirlWarrior, a {{Miko}} from an underground race, a HumanAlien princess and her servant, another AlienPrincess and a DarkMagicalGirl. They all(including Koutarou) start off hostile to each other, due to fighting over exclusive rights to Koutarou's apartment, but as time passes, they all become friends and something of a family unit even befrore the girls start falling in love with Koutarou.

* ''LightNovel/HaremPrince'' deconstructs and parodies a lot of tropes associated in the genre a la ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'' and ''Literature/{{Toradora}}''.

* ''LightNovel/HowToBuildADungeonBookOfTheDemonKing'' offers a somewhat dark take on the genre, since it centers on a VillainProtagonist, Aur, who is fond of recruiting many women to his crusade against humanity. Some come willingly, as they also don’t like humans, or don’t mind Aur’s misanthropic tirade against them; the good-natured women, however, are met with several doses of {{brainwashing}} ''[[RapeAsDrama through sexual assault till they start liking]]'' Aur and become fully supportive of his deeds.

* ''LightNovel/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'': Part of the {{isekai}} wave of the 2010s, and notable for the twists on the usual formula. Hajime starts with his classmate Kaori already crushing on him, but since she's the SchoolIdol the crush makes his bullying-prone life even harder. Then he rescues the imprisoned Yue from the labyrinth and falls hard for her, and they actually [[TheirFirstTime consummate]]. Every girl who joins his party after that, Kaori included, ends up competing with TopWife Yue.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' has elements of this; while Kyon has the most romantic tension with Haruhi herself, several other female characters such as Yuki and Mikuru also show varying degrees of romantic interest in him. Remember, this is [[JustForFun/TropeOverdosed a show that sinks its meathooks into any trope it can find and folds and spindles it to shreds…]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Oresuki}}'' starts out as a twisted satire of harem series, where the protagonist Joro is a manipulative jerk who [[HaremSeeker actively wants a harem]] but quickly finds out that the girls he tried to manipulate into falling for him are both into someone else, and the only girl who ''does'' like him is a creepy stalker. The satirical aspects [[SatireAndSwitch are eventually downplayed]] as more girls become genuinely interested in Joro, though the series never completely stops being self-aware about various harem tropes.

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'': [[TheHero Shido Itsuka]] must become a ChickMagnet ''by necessity'' to save the world. The series involves him dating [[MagicalGirlWarrior Spirits]], getting them to fall in love with him and sealing their powers with a kiss so they can live normal lives.

* ''Literature/{{Toradora}}'' settles into this genre in its second half.

* ''LightNovel/CatPlanetCuties'' features a BattleHarem, with the protagonist of Kio Kakazu, being [[ObliviousToLove oblivious]] to the affections of Aoi and Manami, two government agents, and tall, sexy, alien [[GenkiGirl Genki]] CatGirl Eris who proves herself to be a competent combatant as well.