Harem Genre

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"...serials about awkward young men very pointedly NOT having sex with a selection of eager women."

— Zero Punctuation, Devil May Cry 4

Harem is a genre/plot frame that is mostly present in the Japanese media of anime, manga, Light Novels, Visual Novels, and Video Games. As the name says, the genre's basic premise involves a "harem" of at least 3 (but usually more) girls sharing a common interest in a male protagonist. Gender Inverted, LGBTQ, and If It's You, It's Okay examples exist, as do age-adjusted renditions for younger audiences. Typically each harem member has a markedly contrasting personality, often personifying a single classic characterization archetype while (usually) the opposite applies to the protagonist.

The protagonist may take it as an Unwanted Harem, react as a Harem Seeker, or be Oblivious to Love; but he almost never actually enters a consummated romantic relationship with any of them, except perhaps as the grand finale. Particularly pure examples of the set-up, where the plot is designed to keep the "race" for the male protagonist's heart in a perpetual dead heat, are known as the Balanced Harem subgenre. Other possible dynamics include the "Harem Route", where the girls choose to share the lead character amicably rather than risk losing him and their friends completely, or the "Shuraba" ("Bloodbath") route, where There Can Be Only One and the contenders ruthlessly sabotage each other to secure mastery. There is also the hybrid option where the harem is "led" by a female lead in a conventional Official Couple relationship with the MC and "backed" by a Supporting Harem. In such cases, the work usually indicates only one or two girls as the main characters, in contrast to the standard harem works.

Not surprisingly, Harems frequently go hand-in-hand with the Ecchi genre and gratuitous Fanservice. That said, outright Hentai harems are rarely seen and often poorly exemplify a genre where Wanting Is Better Than Having and Unresolved Sexual Tension is a primary source of dramatic interest.

Contrast Royal Harem, which is about the literal, traditional sort of harem as found in a royal palace. See our handy-dandy guide if you want to write one of your own. Often overlaps with Starring Smurfette, though the presence of that trope doesn't necessarily mean a harem story is taking place.

Harem genre tropes:

Common character types for the Harem members:

The Ace — almost always applies to one of the heroines, usually the School Idol.
Abhorrent Admirer — a variant where they're always attractive.
- Incest-ant Admirer
Action Girl
A-Cup Angst — usually applies to the tsundere.
Aggressive Submissive
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
Big Brother Mentor — most male harems include a big brother type; expect the heroine to worry that he only sees her as a younger sister.
Bokukko — almost always the Childhood Friend.
Broken Bird
Butt-Monkey — almost always applies to the protagonist.
- Designated Monkey — many of them eventually fall into this.
The Casanova / Ladykiller in Love — a flirty popular guy is a must for any reverse harem.
Cat Girl
Chaste Hero — usually applies to the male lead.
Childhood Friend — the female lead usually fills this spot.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend — the expected outcome in most instances.
Clingy Jealous Girl — in order to perpetuate the triangle and romantic tension.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander — usually most of the members will have at least one cute quirk, but especially strange/dreamy types are also popular.
Cool Big Sis — usually she keeps order in the harem, but, she can also portray a more experienced girl as Love Interest.
Cute Clumsy Girl
Cute Ghost Girl
Cute Sports Club Manager — less common nowadays, but still shows up sometimes. Leads of reverse harems sometimes act as this for their love interest(s).
The Cutie
Delicate and Sickly
Defrosting Ice Queen — typically either the Emotionless Girl, or Ojou.
The Ditherer — The lead is very often one of these.
Dumbass Teenage Son
Elegant Gothic Lolita — usually the Defrosting Ice Queen type. Also likely to be a Mysterious Waif.
Emotionless Girl
Extreme Doormat — usually applies to the male lead.
Face of a Thug — scary-looking and tough-talking guys with a soft side (stereotypically involving taking care of a kitten) are common to reverse harems.
Fetishized Abuser
Genki Girl
Girl Next Door — usually the protagonist's childhood friend.
Handsome Lech — always present in a reverse harem but his chances of success are often close to zero.
Hard-Drinking Party Girl — A fixture of the classic harem is to have at least one rowdy and sexually liberated girl.
Hunk — A must-have in any reverse harem is a strong-built and traditionally masculine type.
Kavorka Man — often exists as a role-model for the protagonist
Kichiku
Kichiku Megane
Light Feminine and Dark Feminine
Little Sister Heroine — Almost always complete with Not Blood Siblings or Kissing Cousins, if she wins or will be treated as a legitimate part of Love Triangle. Nevertheless, you can meet the real Brother–Sister Incest but only as a play for laugh or drama.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy — reverse harems always have one of these
Lovable Jock — reverse harems typically include at least one sporty guy, usually either a cheerful idiot (affectionately termed the 'sports baka') or a reserved guy not used to talking to women.
Kawaiiko
Magical Girlfriend
Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Meganekko
Meido
Moe
Mysterious Waif — usually a strong contender to be the lucky girl, since their intrigue enhances their appeal and draws the protagonist to them.
Nice Guy — which is usually why they're all drawn to him; also common in reverse harems, often as big brother types
Noble Male, Roguish Male
No Respect Guy — when the story makes the protagonist as the only Nice Guy while his peers are envious Jerkass who only Loving a Shadow of popular girls in school.
Non-Action Guy — as a contrast to the Action Girl to make the protagonist an Expectation Lowerer.
Ojou — A rich girl, who can often have a mixed European-Japanese background. Traditionally portrayed as Foil to Yamato Nadeshiko as a European ideal of beauty.
One of the Boys — Almost always the lead female and childhood friend of the male protagonist. Her chances of being the lucky girl are usually slim and none.
Otaku Surrogate — Usually, either the Genre Savvy heroine, whose remarks and behavior make up for everything that the protagonist can not do for censorship reasons, or Wrong Genre Savvy character as the male lead's best friend.
Patient Childhood Love Interest — as a rule, the main Love Interest of protagonist, which he however, does not notice.
Peerless Love Interest — almost always overlaps with Ojou.
Petite Pride
Princely Young Man
Psycho Lesbian — Often a foil and/or a rival to the male protagonist for the affections of one of the Haremettes.
Ridiculously Average Guy
School Idol — almost always applies to one of the heroines, very often overlaps with The Ace.
Sharp-Dressed Man — usually at least one by default in any reverse harem, and alternate suit costumes for the rest of the cast will likely be very popular.
Shrinking Violet — no harem is complete without one.
Smitten Teenage Girl
Stalker with a Crush
Stoic Spectacles
Sugar-and-Ice Personality
Tall, Dark, and Handsome — sometimes the protagonist is this to explain his success with women.
Token Mini-Moe — usually the little sister of one of the haremettes, and often too young to be an actual contender.
Tomboy and Girly Girl — usually the main two competing haremettes.
Tsundere — a girl who switches between affection and aloofness/hostility; usually either the main female, or the main competing haremette.
What Does She See in Him?: Usually when the protagonist is a Ridiculously Average Guy, it will have other girls and jealous suitors wondering how such a guy could have the attention of so many cute girls.
Yamato Nadeshiko — The traditional Japanese ideal of femininity. It has appeals to different kinds of fans and can provide a contrast to a Tsundere.
Yandere — The inversion of the Tsundere, just keep a close eye on her tendencies.

Example subpages:

Other examples:

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Literature

Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note: While downplayed due to this being a series about and primarily aimed at tweens, there's no escaping the fact that it's one girl surrounded by boys that she and everyone around her consider to be cool and good-looking, and she even develops some feelings towards some of them. While not as strong as older Reverse Harem series, it still has the same effect.
In Tairen Soul, Ellie is surrounded by handsome men who swear they'll die to do her bidding. They (officially) don't want to be together or sleep with her, however.
In BladeArc, Yuuto has an elf, a thief, a female ogre, a swordwoman, a princess, a crew of female warriors, and Death herself in love with him.
In Eight Cousins, Rose Campbell goes to live with her Uncle Alec, and becomes the target of affection to her seven handsome male cousins.
In the book Power Play: A Hockey Romance by Mia Moon, the heroine finds herself being courted by four hockey players.
In Harem of Fangs, heroine Ally Swift finds herself being courted by five powerful vampires.
The Succubus Lord series revolves around a guy and his harem of succubi.
Harem Prince deconstructs and parodies a lot of tropes associated in the genre a la The World God Only Knows and Toradora!.

Live-Action TV

The HBO show Big Love (although in this case, the harem is justified as the characters are fringe Mormons).
The ABC series The Bachelor counts as this. It involves 20 women competing over the course of a few weeks for the affection of one man.
Million Yen Women, which is about a struggling male author made to live five women who are complete strangers to him, while technically a Psychological Thriller, gets a few elements of this thanks to the living arrangements.

Webcomics

Big Break (2019): Troy, a college student hailed from the country attracts the attention of his three female roommates.... along with any other woman he encounters.
Parodied in Not Quite Daily Comic's "Not Quite Harem Anime Arc".
Ow, my sanity has one made entirely of Eldritch Abominations.
Questionable Content. Marten has, over the course of the comic's run, had many female friends who could be potential love interests. However, only two have actually progressed to that point, and the first relationship ended badly. With the rest, the chances of this happening are slim at best for one reason or another.
Deconstructed in My Dear Cold-Blooded King. Mei may be surrounded by hot guys all interested in her, but the experience of being courted by all of them, along with the lengths they're willing to go to in order to get her, is incredibly taxing for her psyche.

Web Original

Hilariously lampshaded by Mother's Basement's PSA, How to Survive a Harem Anime

Harem genre tropes:

Common character types for the Harem members:

Example subpages:

Other examples:

Alternative Title(s): Harem Anime, Reverse Harem, Harem Series, Harem Show, Harem Comedy, Harem Cast

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Harem Genre

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Harem genre tropes:

Common character types for the Harem members:

Example subpages:

Other examples:

Alternative Title(s): Harem Anime, Reverse Harem, Harem Series, Harem Show, Harem Comedy, Harem Cast

Previous

Index

Next