All-Purpose Harem Fanfiction Discussion Thread

Most of those doujinshi are all-original works, actually, not parodies of existing anime/manga.

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You'll find that a lot of official harem works have very poor reasons for the male lead to have anyone outside of the Patient Childhood Love Interest fall for them. Sometimes this is because the lead has a very generic or nonexistent personality, meant for allowing the audience to project on them in place of (or because it's easier than) writing a main character with a strong personality. Other times it's because the reasons other girls fall for The main character come off as shallow or have nothing to do with their own established characters.

OK I have to ask? Why is that even a thing? Why? Who the fuck even cane up with that?

The only sick fuck that I can see coming up with they is someone who really hates the main male character.

It's a sadistic fetish. I hate it, and I'm not saying anyone who likes it is an actual sadist any more than anyone who likes gore movies would like to mutilate and kill in real life, but I imagine 'hatred' is not necessary. Sadism enjoyment doesn't seem to require actual hate (although I guess it helps), just a leaning to find pleasure on another's suffering.

Most of the reasons I've seen others like it comes down to the plot of NTR stories being so comically stupid to them that it Crosses the Line Twice and they don't have an issue reading them anymore, or the average NTR artist seems to be way better to them than most doujin artists.

It's a fetish I get (especially when it's aimed at characters you don't like) but one I'm not into and try to avoid at all costs.

I guess I could understand if the point was for people to see themselves in the positions of the guys who have sex, but they;re always fat, old and ugly. Who the fuck wants to see themselves as that?

Not to insult anyone who's old or fat but still not exactly an image people want to affiliate with themselves.

edited 16th Dec '15 6:55:33 PM by Archivist10

Again, I compare it to gore; it's supposed to be revulsive, visceral and ugly in the first place, so the perpetrators are extensions of that. Just like you don't want your slasher monster to be a charming pretty boy, the evil guys here have to be comparable fittingly nasty presences.

Or that's what I'm guessing.

Then again maybe's its best I don't understand. There are some things the sane mind is not meant to know.

But we are talking about your mind...

(Rimshot).

That's actually something different, call Netori.

Netorare (or NTR for short) is basically a Japanese term for cuckolding. The direct opposite is called Netori where the protagonist steals the girl from another guy.

They're not always fat, old, and ugly. A lot of them are bishies who simply have slimy personalities (or at least, they have zero respect for the concepts of marital fidelity and the like when it comes to their victims). And for some reason a lot of them have much bigger johnsons than the NTR'd good guy.

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OK, has there ever been a harem manga/anime that has played/subverted the harem formula?

You realize that's an oxymoron, right?

I've read that both Bakemonogatari and Seitokai no Ichizon were both subversions of how Harem Genre works normally play out, but I've never consumed either work and I have no interest in doing so. As a result, I can't tell you what it is they subvert.

Is there any fanfic that has several male harem leads going on their own together simply being bros, no Ho Yay or romantic angle, without the girls making more than guest appearances? Something without any onscreen romance, simply a plain boys' adventure where they can show they aren't all just copies of each other? Because I want to read that, and if it doesn't exist I want to write it. I doubt it could sustain a series, since as we've settled the haremettes are the main appeal of the genre, but I'd like to see an oneshot playing with the concept.

edited 27th Mar '16 10:04:25 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

I'm trying to write a 2814 chapter like that, but it's hard since, well, the girls are pretty important...

Considering that your story is more focused on the magical girls, therein lies the issue of involving them if you were just writing the bros.

[DATA LOST]

When does a story officially become a harem? Is it when a certain amount of people like the main character? Is it when 'harem hijinks' start? When they all start to approach the main character?#

I'm asking this because I'm wondering if Neon Genesis Evangelion or Baka And Test count as harems. Or even Maken Ki which although feels somewhat harem-ish doesn't exactly follow the formula step by step.

Well, IINM the most commonly agreed upon criterion for a harem-genre story is that the character that is the target of the harem has to have at least three characters of either sex that either are a Love Interest to him or have him as their respective Love Interest. Two such characters only counts as a Love Triangle.

Beyond that... Well, there is room for debate. Suffice to say that, at least IMO and according to most respectable assessments I've come across, the NGE anime and official manga (that is, Sadamoto's manga) are not harem-genre works, but they do offer ample fuel for harem-genre romance via the franchise's spinoffs, such as Shinji Ikari Raising Project and Girlfriend of Steel 2 (both are video games with manga adaptations).

edited 16th Jul '16 5:58:18 PM by MarqFJA

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Stories don't have to be set in the Harem genre in order for the protagonist to have a harem of possible love interests.

Having multiple potential love interests isn't an instant qualification for the harem genre. It's possible that Anno may have been trying to deconstruct certain typical elements of the harem genre via the character dynamics, but that doesn't negate the fact that said character dynamics are missing several elements that are indispensible for a harem-genre story.

For one, the only romantic interactions that actually happen in Shinji's not-harem within NGE anime and manga canon are strictly between Shinji and Asuka, dysfunctional as that relationship is. Shinji and Rei's interactions are very scarce, and when they do happen they're both too brief and too ambiguous to be called proper romance. Shinji and Misato's relationship, meanwhile, consists of no more than the following: Joking to Ritsuko about making moves on Shinji, teasing Shinji about his attraction to Asuka, and attempting Sex for Solace to console an emotionally distraught Shinji near the end of the TV series (with disastrous results for their fragile relationship when he firmly rejects her). And we haven't even touched upon the ambiguity of Kaworu's few interactions with Shinji, and what that says about his sexual orientation.

Oh, and most important of all: There's a glaring lack of competitive actions between any of the above potential Love Interests over Shinji's affections, barring the very few times that Asuka got jealous of Shinji paying attention to Rei and acted in a way to draw his attention back to herself (e.g. Episode 10, the "back roll entry" scene at the pool). Competition between harem members is an essential part of the genre; even Highschool Dx D, where the harem is honestly OK with sharing the guy, has the girls compete for the position of "First Mistress"*.

---

• They're competing for that and not for the position of "Legal Wife", because the latter is already claimed by Rias Gremory — and none of the other girls see a problem with that! And yes, Rias has no issue with the rest of the harem's existence; her hubby-to-be is a Harem Seeker, and she wants him to be happy; she does go mildly Clingy Jealous Girl when she feels she's "left out" or someone is butting on her private time with Issei (the aforementioned husband-to-be), though. All in all, it's refreshing take on the Harem Genre, to be honest.

edited 16th Jul '16 6:51:38 PM by MarqFJA

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A character having an Unwanted Harem (or even being a Harem Seeker) is distinct and separate from the work they appear in being in the harem genre.

It's a good thing you made that clarification because your post prior to that would've had not just the overall Pokémon Anime qualify, but also the Diamond & Pearl saga on its own merit.^note Though the harem focus if that saga is taken by itself is not Ash, but rather Dawn.

Ketchum's corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced tactic is indistinguishable from blind luck.

Eva took care of what response I was going to give.

edited 17th Jul '16 7:14:38 PM by VeryMelon

... You will have to elaborate, since I haven't been following the Pokemon anime ever since the Johto arc.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.