Harem Anime: A History

[@Pratchettgaiman]

I find it endlessly amusing that Negima is Ken Akamatsu going "I'm gonna sneak my Harry Potter/Pokemon/battle manga/isekai right under the publishers' noses by making it look like a harem story!"

[@mrmxypltk]

Not to mention that it's also done fantastically! Sucks that he had to give it a quick chop ending, but UQ holder has been nice in a sort of alternate universe/time line epilogue way.

[@BlueBlazeKing]

I know and the transition was pretty good as well

[@TwilightWolf032]

@@mrmxypltk I'm glad it's taken as an alternate timeline epilogue, because I can't stand it... it was fine until the protag revealed his Mary Sue nature and just stole Kiliplo Astrape in a perfect usage of Magia Ereba in his first try because of hula hoops... And I can't believe that's a sentence that makes sense...

[@Elyandarin]

I thought the faux romcom harem parts in Negima rather added to the experience; I didn't find UQ Holder nearly as interesting when I tried to read it - it just came off as regular shounen manga. The way Ken Akamatsu had to contort Negima's story to fit both genres at once is a recipe for originality. ("The school is under attack by giant robots! And they wield clothes-disintegrating laser beams! But this is serious world-threatening business! But nobody gets hurt and also there's cheesecake!")

[@TwilightWolf032]

@@Elyandarin Let's not forget the way they solve the problem - let's make an army of middle school kids, but we'll tell them it's all an attraction using CG!

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

"You can't disagree with me, she's definitely a tsundere." Only Taiga herself would disagree with your assessment, but the rest of the world would agree.

[@ReaIHuman]

Who are you? Identify yourself

[@duzor10000]

This man watches too many Yoitube videos

[@antoninperron1307]

18 i think

[@spaceglidinmio2388]

What about Louise?

[@errorloadingmusic821]

@@ReaIHuman If you really pay attention he's only on a few very big channels which he comments on daily.

[@aaronleeiii6208]

Me: Wait...it's all harem anime? Geoff: Always has been

[@slevinchannel7589]

This Genre was always a bit 'Oof', but recently, it spirlas out of control. How cringe.

[@shikigranbell7608]

@@slevinchannel7589 no not"oof"and it doesnt spiral out off control and of course its NOT cringe either so wrong answer.

[@antoniestrydom6367]

It's Harem anime all the way down mr dude.

[@dast.radling8965]

*Kingdom of Predators plays*

[@informationyes]

@@shikigranbell7608 That's not a counter argument your just giving another opinion which is just as valid as his lol I think its out of control as protag is basically so clueless they must be aromantic

[@AsianRock90]

I love how Ranma 1/2 is written by a woman. That and it was one of the first manga to have a male and female harem. Also, Ukyo is best girl and Ryoga is best boy. : )

[@AllPwrflSteve]

I ship them hard

[@molybdaen11]

There was always so much drama involved when Ryoga was on screen. I wonder what would happened if he had an assistent to find his way?

[@anarchomando7707]

@@molybdaen11 but then what would the plot do

[@Hanmacx]

Ranma is best Girl xD

[@noahbossier1131]

Nice

[@JessDeeBee]

"Who will Ranma end up with, and WHY is it Akane?" I just about died laughing.

[@MouseGoat]

Yeah, that perfectly sums up Ranma in one sentence. stil tho Ranma such perfection

[@morganrobinson8042]

@@MouseGoat We all knew the conclusion as soon as they met. The rest is just paradoxically interminable chaos as we wait for the author to come to the conclusion when the money dries up.

[@molybdaen11]

It feels hollow after a while. Ukyo was clearly a better match since she showed real concern and understood him the best. The others mostly focused on themself.

[@Noplayster13]

@@molybdaen11 Only Kodachi is a worse match for Ranma than Akane. If a murderous, honorless, manipulative, self centered sadist like Shampoo is a better match for your main character than the primary heroine, then there is a serious problem with that heroine.

[@BKsunstar]

@@Noplayster13 I think the point was he has to work through Her personal problems xD

[@kevinarteaga3824]

Damn, having been a teenager in the mid-00's, this is such a deep-dive into some weird years that I'd put a lot of work into forgetting. Thanks MB. Ya bastard.

[@benjamingardner3314]

Seriously, tried to erase all of that and it all came rolling back in. My original break from harem was thanks to a soda can batlle anime off of Sekirei, and after the second episode I just "nope", closed my computer and stopped watching anime that wasn't already syndicated in the US for a few years.

[@wblakekimber]

Trying to find the good stuff that hadn't already made it to american tv was like trying to pan for gold after the gold rush ended. There was so much garbage. Just endless piles of it.

[@thegreatcalvinio]

I remember way back when Ranma 1/2 ads would pop up at the end of Pokémon VHS tapes. Good times.

[@marocat4749]

Good notalgia, and its pretty progresive regarding gender

[@Docklead]

I remember a white lion advertisement

[@36moshpit7]

My Pokemon VHS tapes had Ranma and Kimba commercials before the episodes. That was nice.

[@mothersbasement]

It was also in the back of all the old pokemon comics

[@36moshpit7]

I forgot, they also had commercials promoting...themselves. It had Ash yelling something like, "Not one, not two, but THREE! FULL! EPISODES! That's THREE times the adventures! THREE times the Pokemon! THREE times the FUN!"

[@Saebrak]

I was eating lunch when you called Julius a tsundere bitch and almost choked.

[@betelgoose9712]

I was in the middle of a house full of sleeping people and had to take a break to keep myself from screaming and waking everyone up. Oddly enough, I did end up rolling on the ground giggling to myself for thirty seconds.

[@saajiddaya2152]

Lol, I was like WTF when I heard that

[@sketchycat6223]

He wasn’t wrong

[@TucoBenedicto]

God , I just commented on the same thing. I fucking lost it for a second.

[@Dash-lx4ng]

Wait timestamp?

[@chibiktsn3]

I was a girl who loved anime and actually liked the PG harem anime shows growing up. I thought it was neat how there were so many different types of female characters in one show, which was rare to nonexistent in Western animation, and only as an adult did I noticed the fetishy elements of the genre.

[@Just-in-Space]

Exactly. I was all over the harem animes as a teen. Definitely more female characters to the trad shonen one girl in the group troupes. But now I can watch my nostalgic favs but they are soooo cringe 😬. Really hard to watch when you understand a little to much troupe and pervert for pervert sake they can get.

[@Humbird00]

My favorite aspects of Ranma and Tenchi weren't the harems but the outstanding jokes and incredibly fascinating lore behind them, respectively. The whole "harem" thing seemed almost like an incidental detail that emerged almost by accident. Especially Ranma. That show just accumulated characters at an alarming rate. And yet somehow the harem was the part the anime industry focused on imitating?

[@pastellified6040]

i started watching ranma on a whim, and i am genuinely blown away by how entertaining it can be. it almost feels like a parody of the concept of harems, i know they weren't really a thing at the time of release but it feels like the show uses the harem aspect for actual comedy rather than wish fulfillment fantasies!

[@BunBun299]

Tenchi and Ranma were some of my earliest exposure to anime. Loved them both. I remember watching some episodes on Tenchi out of order, seeing that the girls all had super powers, and wondered, "So, do they ever do super hero things? Or do they just hang around this house."

[@WingedEspeon]

Yep. ranma is my favorite anime just because it is so funny.

[@xbloxlive5454]

This is an unpopular ship. Female Ranma x Ryoga.

[@azoth6641]

Fun fact: Ken Akamatsu always wanted to do a shōnen manga, hence the latter half of Negima and the entirety of its sequel UQ Holder. But clearly anime producers would rather have him replicate the financial success of Love Hina, hence their subpar, to say the least, anime adaptations. Thus was born a recurring joke amongst 2000s anime fans about the “curse of Akamatsu.” P.S.: Geoff, speaking of SAO, why did you forget Eugeo?

[@murderman8578]

Yep Akumatsu got Done Dirty as Fuck Also Negima got more Shounen after 60 chaps

[@marocat4749]

Not that uq holder isnt a harem, but its more about he world that the harem, that stays important as well,its just smaller. But its more action, and rest, but konomaru, and kirie are are a harem. Plus allthe others wanting to date him.

[@ghostphantasm]

UQ Holder was a good watch for me, definitely enjoyed the world.

[@murderman8578]

@@ghostphantasm JC Staff fucked up the Material

[@BlueBlazeKing]

I know the closest we got were those OVA’s but they were more best hits from the manga more than us seeing the actual story.

[@BonsaiPop]

I’ve seen the entirety of all of these shows 🤔 Sekirei does rule.

[@rolan.r]

Kind of insane 🤔

[@BonsaiPop]

@@rolan.r call culture what you want 🤔

[@ileanabriannemari]

I meannnnn 🤔

[@rolan.r]

@@BonsaiPop can't argue with that

[@user-xh6ju3pg8c]

Hui I live your videos featuring unique and great animes??

[@ohsafan]

"Clannad is a harem anime and it changed my life" is the realist statement I've ever felt

[@owenmaleski2203]

I think it'd be more accurate to say Clannad is a harem anime and it crushed my soul

[@WineZ22]

Need to give credit to Clannad. Yeah.

[@Snowstrider0001]

Yeah, Clannad was a surprising gut punch when I first watched it, but it was all worth it in the end.

[@Drilling4mana]

I feel exactly the same about Monogatari. Harem shows are....... good, actually?

[@RedRocket4000]

@@owenmaleski2203 Yep only thing in 59 years that has actually made me cry. Luckily As I paid full attention and have full background to realize everything going on from the very start I was lifted to heaven in final episode. And then amazed how every thing tied together. People only watch After Story they can't even get the ending better to watch the movie which takes out the multi universe Sci Fi Fantasy mixed with Shinto of the story. Clue Stein's Gate stuff going on but powered by spiritual forces. Very deep. On a simpler level why no both twin's route in Virtual Novel and of course no all the girls route with optional mom addition.

[@phantomdaroomphie9673]

I love seeing Tenchi Muyo/Universe getting some appreciation. Sometimes I feel like nobody else even remembers it exists. While most people my age grew up on DBZ, Sailor Moon, and Inuyasha, Tenchi Muyo was my earliest introduction to anime, and will always have an extra special place in my heart.

[@YoshiTheOreo]

Washington along with Panthro is why I had an interest in technology. Plus something about that hairstyle of long, cape like hair was really attractive/appealing to me. SSJ3, Jairya, Lilly's mom from Pokemon, etc.

[@traewatkins931]

I agree, to this day I regret selling my OG laserdisc of Tenchi Muyo OVA, that I got from a friend whose parents often went to Japan. That was my first "real anime", not counting the ocassional Robotech, Speed Racer and Star blazers one could rarely see on TV in the 80s and early 90s.

[@JannPoo]

It's a very nice analysis, but I think "Oh, my Goddess!" (1988) deserves a mention as a prototype of the harem genre. Sure the protagonist is pretty much committed to one specific girl (but so is Araragi with Senjougahara), but it already set the trope of one male character living together with several beautiful girls (and interacting with several others) and being mostly focused on daily life situations.

[@chiaracoetzee]

This is similar to something like Bunny Girl Senpai, where the protagonist immediately hooks up with one girl and explicitly has no interest in any of the others, but it's nevertheless clearly a harem anime because most of the secondary cast is cute women/girls and he's bringing them home all the time, each one gets an arc, at least one of them is falling for him, etc. Going back farther, same exact deal with Kanon. In some cases, as with Air, I'd arguably call it a harem anime even though there are no romantic connections in the show at all, period, because it still has the structure of one.

[@RbDaP]

"so is Araragi with Senjougahara" Ok it has been years and I dropped it after Nise but I remember Araragi perving and stuff with several girls (granted, he never goes hard on Tsubasa, since that would require him actually *doing something*)...

[@JannPoo]

@@RbDaP Yeah araragi definitely fools around with other girls, but he never crosses a certain line and he's very upfront when it comes to state who he truly loves. This is very different from the typical indecisive oblivious harem protagonist that always tries to avoid the subject whenever the girls try to make him take a decision.

[@RbDaP]

@@JannPoo i suppose it's a way of seeing it. At least to me, it doesnt register like that just by watching the anime (and again I dropped after finishing Nise

[@jean-martinvonsiebenthal2836]

Indeed. Especially as the author mentioned Akamatsu's A.I. Love You, which to me always appeared to be a rather blatant copy.

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

The funny thing is, that because Re: Zero originally started from a fanfic about the Familar of Zero (and later evolved and changing stuff until becoming what it is when it was first published as a Web Novel on 2012), so it has "Harem genre" at its core It is kinda funny how Re: Zero, Deadpool and Rick & Morty (not to mention many other superheroes that started as their own take on the concept of a character for example, Homelander or Hyperion being Superman pastiches / analogues based on the original) share background of "started as parody / fanfic of something else but later became its own thing"

[@frecio231]

wait, do you hae any evidence of the Re:zero starting as a Zero no tsukaima fanfic? If so could you share it please?

[@matheusnunes234]

I need to know if this is true...

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

@@matheusnunes234 I swear I anwered This comment....maybe because the comment included the link where it was said it was deleted Here ir goes.From wikipedia: "In the late 2000s, the light novel series The Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) spawned a number of fan fiction on the website Shōsetsuka ni Narō ("Let's Become Novelists"), also known as Narō. Tappei Nagatsuki initially began writing The Familiar of Zero fan fiction on Narō, before building on its isekai ("other world") concept to write his own original web novel series on Narō, called Re:Zero, which began serialization in 2012." From what is said, Is like how Rick & Morty original started as a Back to the Future parody. Apparently Tappei at first wrote Familiar of Zero fanfics, eventually reworked some stuff or that inspired him to make his own type of isekai, and according to other trivia i heard of, Tappei already had Created Emilia for something else (what else? i don't know. maybe it was one of his OC for said fanfic, a DnD character, who knows) and then thought "it would be interesting seeing this girl's story". And thus, he eventually created Re:Zero and published it as a web novel on 2012

[@matheusnunes234]

@@ianr.navahuber2195 That's really cool, could you send the link but disguise it as not a link?

[@Nikolai2i]

@@frecio231 kinda makes want to read cross over of these shows now 😂

[@lemmythetrash-goblin8291]

Okay, but "what if giant robots, but depression?" also describes about half of all Gundam-series

[@julianx2rl]

Just half? Not depressing enough.

[@BlueBlazeKing]

True but Evangelion doesn’t have an anime adaption where it’s just about kids playing with toy models

[@SecretIdentityStudio]

@@BlueBlazeKing It did have a CG chibi gag anime, though.

[@jfbeast]

I'm looking at you, *IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS*

[@azoth6641]

@@BlueBlazeKing Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise: “Hold my alien planet beer”.

[@Truck-kun11]

This is the kind of history class that really matters.

[@dotted_stains2239]

Truck-kun speaks facts..... When will you be taking me thi truck-kun? 🥲

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

Of course you'd say that, since you're constantly isekai-ing people into them XD

[@ZekeStaright]

Man, I love the hell out of Ranma, but the trope of beating the shit out of a guy for accidentally walking in on a naked girl or even worse, getting the shit kicked out of him when she shouldn't be in the area or she walks in on him has ALWAYS rubbed me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, beat the shit outta guys who're trying to sneak a peek, but super tsundere who send someone flying for a simple mistake drive me up the wall. I'm still not sure how people can actually like tsun characters for the most part.

[@thekimbapissexy9915]

FINALLY someone said it! it has always been so unreasonable that it's the guy's fault for the girl walking in on HIM! tsunderes make me hesitant when i watch a romcom in general.. maybe that's the one icky bite i felt when i was watching ranma

[@mikylak7983]

To be fair when Ranma was new that wasn't as...wide spread (?) of a thing, at least not in the US (but back then your anime options were substantial smaller) i found the first few episodes wonderfully different (around that time American cartoons where rescue rangers, dark wing duck, basically Disney if I recall) and Akane's over reaction i could, in part, write off as also being angry at their parents, Kuno, a sister that would sell her virginity if she could get away with it, etc. That said, I thought it worked for Ranma but got over used and old really faster pretty much everywhere else. Although I did love the male protagonist solution to the situation in chivalry of a failed night (creepy factor aside). It was the first time I had seen one try to avoid the inevitable beating that way.

[@megamage911]

Now, as someone who DOES enjoy tsundere characters, I completely agree with this. If you want the main guy to get beat up by the girls, at least give us a plausible reason as to why they do so. Love Hina is one of the worst offenders, cuz Kentaro is the most innocent guy you could imagine, and they STILL feel the need to kick the shit out of him for accidentally falling into the bath, but in Highschool DxD fx. the main guy is very much a perv, so he deserve it when he gets beat up. Actually,I will say, Monster Musume has kinda cracked the code on having an innocent mc, but also having him get beat up, cuz there it's more a case of the girls not really knowing how to control their own strength and how fragile a normal human is compared to them. Hell, there's even an entire episode dedicated to the fact that he might be close to dying due to injuries he's gotten from them xD

[@w.reidripley1968]

Getting violently buried under a heap of school desks or one-shotted through the roof from indoors doesn't seem to faze Ranma any. Without Ranma being a masochist. BTW, perhaps "Ranma One of Two," is a better translation that translates the funny-funny in the title: that Japanese expresses fractions as number ratios...

[@sev1120]

@@megamage911 monster musume is one of the best ways of combining the different tropes into one, and it fits together so well that, regardless of who you are, it's almost guaranteed you'll take a liking to the personality of one of the girls. Be they the clingy and doting Miia, the tomboyish but innocent Papi, the regal and refined Meroune, or even the stoic and calm Cerea.

[@theflyingdropbear2009]

can't have enough harem anime. also High School DXD is a legendary harem anime, with deep characters, an amazing plot, girls with great assets, and most importantly, the physics.

[@petrsevcik5044]

The reason High School DxD is so great is that even if you strip (pun not intended but welomed) away the harem and ecchi parts of it, you still get a pretty decent shonen battle anime.

[@BobMarley-vl5gl]

Yes very deep

[@OscarSanchez-id8kd]

I can only imagine how long they took to make the foley to accompany those physics.

[@MaddDogg316]

High school DXD was basic AF. OP MC goes brrrrr and all the girls like him for no particular reason whatsoever. Yuuki Kaji was the same generic MC he always plays with no depth or intrigue. What a waste of time.

[@jacobnorris8256]

Highschool DXD gets way too much credit for its "great story and characters". It's literally only great by outright hentai standards or by generic harem isekai standards. By any remotely sensible standards is thoroughly mediocre.

[@Neetaku86_vt]

Tenchi Muyo set in stone the majority of the rules and tropes for most modern harem anime. And even now it trumps most of them in both quality and execution.

[@supersasukemaniac]

I love the Tenchi Muyo series. And yeah I kind of agree it set the tropes for a Harem anime, and none have really touched it sense. I think one reason why is that Tenchi himself was aware of the lunacy around him and tries to ignore it. Eventually he full on embraces his chaotic life.

[@mothersbasement]

It really is incredible how well it holds up, especially the original OVAs, compared to 99.9% of the things it inspired.

[@Neetaku86_vt]

@@supersasukemaniac Plus Tenchi originally was more of a troublemaker and somewhat rebellious in the OVA. It wasn't until Universe where he became more of the typical harem protagonist.

[@kronkrian100]

Ironic considering that it's more than 2 decades old and it shits on most modern harem writing.

[@Neetaku86_vt]

@@mothersbasement I think what separates it from most of modern harem anime is that, while it's female cast does stick to their tropes, they're not so set in stone that they don't break out of them. Like we're not surprised someone as soft-spoken as Ayeka starts acting as rough as Ryoko because we're shown that she has that tomboy side too.

[@kronkrian100]

"Basically everyone is trying to fuck and/or fight everyone else all the time". LITERALLY THIS.

[@BlueBlazeKing]

It’s called being fightsexual , though some of them are more fightcurious

[@DanielSilva-to8fo]

That line really is *Ranma 1/2 in a nutshell* xD

[@Ramsey276one]

5:13 Okay I am relieved it’s not just me writing this stuff after all! XD

[@Ramsey276one]

@@BlueBlazeKing basically a Full Contact Fiancé and several Battle Bachelor(ette)s

[@tarvoc746]

@Joseph Douek Ah yes, the opposite of sapiosexual: morosexual.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

The moment you mentioned “Tokimeki Memorial” my soul left my body, and I could see the Stargate from 2001.

[@Vesperitis]

I see someone's watched 6 hours of Action Button.

[@hundvd_7]

The moment I heard it, I got a flashback to Action Button's 6 hour review

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

@@Vesperitis Three times…per video.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Oof

[@Vesperitis]

@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick Watch them all 5 times and you'll be able to experience the past, present, and future simultaneously.

[@cebeliuswrites967]

As a man who started his writing career with a monster girl harem (that paid off my house and freed me forever from my engineering chains), compliments of an audience generated for me by Monster Musume (and Monster Girl Encyclopedia) I thank you for this deeper dive into the harem genre. I also still think your Harem PSA is a top contender for the funniest shit ever uploaded to youtube. Props.

[@nathanfake9163]

Well I've gotta know how that story goes, if you don't mind telling.

[@yurigagarine6998]

​​@@nathanfake9163he's lying. EDIT: actually I just looked him up and he happens to be a filthy furry. Which is worse than lying imo.

[@blissfuldj7627]

​@@yurigagarine6998 your opinion is trash

[@michaelramon2411]

As the survivor of a real-life high school harem anime (complete with a Childhood Best Friend, a nerdy girl with glasses, a rude-mouthed tomboy, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, a shy artist and a somewhat younger girl with a bigger chest than the rest put together; plus actual, warring shippers, plus a convoluted arc about who to ask to the prom) I appreciate this deep dive into the origins of my condition. Maybe, someday, we'll find a cure. They're definitely doing a lot of research into the subject. Though the cure proposals come awfully slowly...

[@jameslazaridis4180]

Wait for real wow okay name every single chick in your Harem

[@michaelramon2411]

​@@jameslazaridis4180 I won't write their names for privacy reasons, but I can give you a quick rundown: - Childhood Best Friend was, well, a friend since elementary school, though we got a lot closer in high school as some of my other longtime friends changed schools. She also had a newsboy cap that she wore constantly. - Nerdy Girl wore glasses, loved math and was in a whole bunch of clubs with me, so we did a lot of work together (including me being a key part of her charity project club). - Pixie Girl was always super hyper and loved pink things and glitter, but she also had other quirks, like loving dissections. She also had a whole character arc where I and some other friends figured out that her very annoying extreme-girlyness persona was something of a façade she made to try and be liked, and we helped convince her to just be herself. - Tomboy was another longtime friend who wasn't very feminine (really short hair, cargo pants, etc) and had an abrasive-but-in-a-likeable way personality that she got from her cop mom. She was a behind-the-scenes-at-theater type of person, if that makes any sense. - Shy Artist tended to be very quiet, but she was very good at drawing, and we bonded a bit working together at a summer camp. - Newcomer was a few years younger than the others, but we'd had a class and later a theater production together and got along well. She had a bubbly but mischievous personality, and a noticeably larger chest than the others, which I only bring up as further evidence that this was an anime. For the record, I didn't actually date any of them (we were just friends) but I WAS actually shipped with them. A lot. And I was kind of the only guy in this social circle. There was also the time I asked Nerdy Girl to prom as a friend (which was the climax of a VERY convoluted arc about who I was going to ask), and then an extremely anime miscommunication happened because Childhood Best Friend and Nerdy Girl have the same first name, spelled differently. It was a wild time.

[@nou5382]

@@michaelramon2411did they confess or do you just suspect them to have a crush on you

[@michaelramon2411]

@@nou5382 ​ @nou5382 One of them did calmly ask if I wanted to try a relationship beyond friends after we had lunch one time and I said no, and we went on with our friendship like nothing had happened. (Years later, she started dating girls, so probably for the best.) The main issue was not so much that I was in a love pentagon as it was that we were surrounded by lots of opinionated shippers. In particular, one girl shipped me and a friend HARD, to the point that whenever she walked into a room and saw us talking, she would go "Hey guuuuuys" in this weird voice. Eventually, she realized that this was killing whatever shred of a mood there was, so she instead would respond to that situation by slamming her hand over her mouth and walking back out of the room, which still just brought attention to her and made it all weird. Fangirls, man.

[@josephmatthews7698]

I had seven and they all only referred to me as 'master.' The main three worked tirelessly to recruit more. If I wasn't such a prude I would have started a relationship with all of them but it all fell apart when I finally slept with one and made her my girlfriend even telling the others I was 'monogamous' so stop following me around serving me. It was very freaking weird and gave me some messed up ideas about women that took me over a decade to unravel and actually find a partner I could share a life with as an equal.

[@PaulNBlack]

I love whenever anyone recognizes the genius behind DxD, mixing plot with PLOT, and getting away with it because both are done magnificently. The amount of research the author must have made is astonishing considering how many mythologies he's mixed up by the end of the first part of the novels.

[@TheOneTrueEfrate]

Boobie dragon holds a special place on my heart.

[@tyrantravealpha]

@@TheOneTrueEfrate Oppai Dragon is Vegeta of Harem anime. He doesn't always win, but when he does he wins BIG.

[@AlexTenThousand]

Is it weird that I'm looking forward to the inevitable series of videos fleshing out the worldbuilding of the Archie Comics multiverse?

[@CombatSportsNerd]

Nah bro, different strokes for different folks

[@nathancarter8239]

The world-building is wild as fuck, even in the primary Archie comics, because canonically magic and the supernatural exist (Sabrina the Teenage Witch and her stuff) but we don't interact with it because none of the main characters in Archie are clued into the masquerade.

[@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat]

@@nathancarter8239 not sure if canon but crossovers with punisher and tmnt also exist

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

@@nathancarter8239 there was even an issue where sabrian genderswapped the whole town but no one noticed

[@TupocalypseShakur]

The Archie Predator fits in there somehow

[@TH3L33TF0X]

Calling out Julius as a part of Subaru's harem, so true Geoff

[@papersonic9941]

The disrespect to my boi Otto, tho.

[@RedRocket4000]

@@papersonic9941 Yep

[@pixxboi8390]

If anything, Subaru is the tsundere to Julius.

[@JannPoo]

@Llecder But then I wonder why he mentioned Satella. You don't actually see her in Season 1.

[@paulschumacher4308]

As a guy who graduated high school in 1997, Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo were the first two anime series I ever fell in love with.

[@Thollis1987]

Nice!!

[@elimDBZ]

I think for alot of american audiences their first exposure to the harem genre was Tenchi Muyo. The anime had no business being on Toonami with such an adult theme to it but it was such an iconic toonami anime despite the 1st tenchi anime had only 6 episodes.

[@Monhamd1000]

We all agree that Tenchi Muyo is 100 times better than Love Hina.

[@JustInCaseD]

I was surprised that Date a Live didn’t get a mention, due to its immense popularity. But then after thinking about it makes sense. It wasn’t one of the harems that can be credited with being the trendsetter for anything: Infinite Stratos beat it to the mecha category, The World God Only Knows was the first to apply literal dating sim mechanics to an anime, and DXD has been its instant comparison since it’s inception for obvious reasons.

[@JeffreyPiatt]

He also skipped Neptunia a franchise with the same character designer and a yuri harem

[@mr.e9502]

I love that Tenchi Muyo got some recognition. Also, Washu is best girl. She’s the best of all worlds as a highly intelligent, motherly, red-headed shortstack, and you can’t change my mind about that.

[@MagicalMaster]

Why would I? You're right? Ayeka and Ryoko have stupid amounts of personal crap they bring into everything, Sasami's too young. Mihoshi's an idiot and Kiyone's just kind of there. Washu's interesting, can be reasoned with, clearly WANTS that man and the worst baggage she shows is that she had a child before and lost it due to political maneuverings and would rather not have that in her life. Bang on. Sign me up.

[@RedRocket4000]

@@MagicalMaster Sasami is centuries old I do mean many, don't worry when he gets her pregnant it with the much more mature female she shares her spirt with . And at least it the same when he marries the ship/rabbit it does have and adult form I will admit I was floored when I l learned even it has his kids. And I do love Washu and a short stack except those few times she shows she does have a tall form also which is hot. The fact that she's and avatar for one of the creator goddesses and that additional bonus.

[@Scarnehu]

You know, personally, I'm glad Geoff dropped the "Professional Shitbag" sign-off". He seems like a fairly cool guy and deserved better than self-deprecation.

[@petrsevcik5044]

I always viewed it as a proactive self-defence. Someone's inevitably going to call you that in the comments and you kind of take the wind from them if you make fun of yourself yourself.

[@matthewmartin3420]

That'll happen when you finally get your own place. You gotta grow up a little.

[@GoodlyPenguin]

Self-deprecation is *okay* but it grows tiring and it reeks of insecurity that also gets tiring

[@RegalPixelKing]

Is being a hentai historian in a greasy library much better?

[@GoodlyPenguin]

@@RegalPixelKing Literally YES

[@Ubersupersloth]

Not all harem anime are bad. That being said, I’m always wary of a show being a harem because such a show NOT being a fanservice-riddled, poorly written wish fulfilment extravaganza seems to be more the exception than the norm. I’ll admit to liking “My next life as a villainess”, “Ouran High School Host Club” and even “Monogatari” and “Monster Musume” to an extent (though the sexualised camera angles and stuff is more than a little offputting in those latter two cases. Especially for Monster Musume). So, yeah. Harem shows CAN be good. They’re just unlikely to be.

[@whiteraven181]

It's nice to see I'm not alone. I genuinely get put off more series via them being harem wish fulfillment than I'm drawn in by, especially when one of the check-boxes for one of the girls to fill at least half the time is literally "seems or is underage."

[@Ubersupersloth]

@@whiteraven181 Anime will anime, I guess.

[@cheshire1]

For me, the most important thing is that the main character is not an empty shell for the viewer to project themselves onto.

[@BobMarley-vl5gl]

Basically harem is only good when it is overshadowed by a good story, but that never happens because what writer would ruin a good story for no reason.

[@tytytyty5659]

Read girl from random chatting it is a pretty good harem story. Although, It is a manhwa.

[@cachedgaming]

I think Geoff is one of the only KZbinrs who can post a 30 minute video where I'll go "I'll just watch a bit of this in and then put the video in the background", only to discover half an hour has passed and I'm still watching because the editing adds to the video so much that I can't leave it. Props to his editor(s) too!

[@nathancarter8239]

The thing that made and makes harem anime good is interesting characters. Whether you're riding a comedy or a drama, you need characters that can bounce off each other. Tenchi Muyo had that in spades, with characters who would react in predictable and yet interesting ways to shenanigans. A lot of harem manga characters are schlock, mere stereotypes who react in cliched ways, more from typing than authentic reactions. This is why Monster Musume is so good when it's good: because the characters all have strong centers that butt up against each other in weird ways.

[@Saltyoven]

The mangaka says darling has blank eyes to be more immersive. I say it's because there's so much chaos in his day to day life, that he's just on autopilot all the time.

[@rokurokubi3273]

Hehe. Butt.

[@vincentgraymore]

It is true. It is a series that deserve a second anime just to have the moms enter the picture and not just because it is an excellent ecchi show. The manga has gone on too long, though in many aspects.

[@vixiestarfire]

imo Ranma 1/2 is one of the most hilarious shows I’ve seen

[@AlexMuriloPinto]

Yes! And Love Hina is the most hilarious manga you can read

[@MagicalMaster]

It's not an opinion it's a fact!

[@Noplayster13]

This might be a cliche to say, but the manga is SO much more funny, especially later on once it passes the anime ending. It has an official English translation and localization. Cannot recommend it more.

[@supersizesenpai]

I'm glad he gave a shoutout to the greatness that is "Sekirei". In my opinion its the benchmark for the battle/harem genre.

[@redred222]

that show is got such a big heart, the lead guy really cares for everyone and hes not a loser either

[@Ginko_Sakata]

Manga is 10/10

[@SuperJkob]

The fact your mentioning Ranma 1/2 makes me so happy. I'm on the fourth season right now and I can't get enough.

[@JeremyCoatney]

“WHICH stereotype?” *snap* “Yes!” Truly special kind of funny and sad at the same time

[@maxspecs]

Best girl in that show, though.

[@sirog7116]

MB 's quote of the year : Stop lying to yourself (cause you know Monogatari series is somewhat harem).

[@anontob]

Nah its def a harem lol, but one that has so much spice 😭😭. I still love it for the story and characters tho. Its prob one of the best representations of a harem....with some exceptions in regards to "content" 😳

[@sirog7116]

@@anontob i always wondered why the Harem tag was missing and assumed that the website forgot to put it . But now I know why . Monogatari is something else . It created fetishes which were not even though to have been possible.

[@Hinotori_joj]

Monogatari is somewhat every genre and at the same time no specific genre

[@voidembracedwitch]

Monogatari is undeniably a harem. Like, seriously, it has 1 actual relationship and 3 girls crushing on Koyomi (1 noticeably younger than him, another both younger and older simultaneously) within two "seasons" of the LN.

[@ben99ny69]

@@voidembracedwitch If you go by that, then i can name a lot of anime/manga that are harem then but aren't told as such. Code geass, steins gate, chainsaw man, no game no life, and might as well also include death note, a silent voice and fruits basket.

[@Kyman102]

"I've got a lot of Maburaho Shade" - Look ever since you mentioned it in your "Harry Potter Rip Off" video I would LOVE to hear a deeper dive into all the ways Maburaho fails

[@mrmxypltk]

Speaking as a fan of maburaho, who also realizes that it's shit, I would also love to see this. Its okay to like shitty things. You just have to be able to be honest with yourself, and admit that they are shitty.

[@BlueBlazeKing]

@@mrmxypltk True because this is really a show meant to turn your brain off and just enjoy

[@iklo7476]

Harem anime's done right are beautifully character driven, which makes the whole tension of who's waifu is going to win all the better. Taiga is a great example of that a character that grows so well you ended up invested in her getting the protag in the end.

[@Gyrono]

Highschool DxD is definitely one of my favorites, especially because Issei is such a unique protagonist compared to most harem protagonists. He's as dumb as a brick but not dense to the fact that the girls around him like him. In fact they manage to explain why he doesn't go all the way with any of them in a really believable way, especially considering if he'd been willing, he could have lost his virginity to Rias as early as the end of Season 1.

[@mosark6554]

Well he does do it with everyone eventually. I think so anyway. I dont remember that what DXD EX was.

[@TankHunter678]

He actually becomes rather intelligent by the end of the Light Novel through sheer hard work and studying.

[@RandomPerson-cf3gt]

He actively wants a harem and work towards it.

[@mosark6554]

@@TankHunter678 is the series finished or still ongoing

[@TankHunter678]

@@mosark6554 The light novel is done last I checked. Issei is a successful business owner, got married and had kids with all of the girls (who all were basically their mother's powers on steroids because apparently him being the father boosted the mother's side), and is basically under the thumb of all of his wives. Of course there is hints of Issei and crew having more adventures but the main story is done.

[@laurencebrown3822]

If Takahashi can go back and give Inu Yasha a proper ending years after the fact, then nothing's stopping her from doing the same for Ranma 1/2. The hard part of doing that would be finding an ending that would hold up to all the amazing fan fiction that series has inspired.

[@joeycote480]

I would love to see Ranma redone but taking a bit more nuanced approach with side arcs actually changing the situations of characters and time advancing. By the end of season 4 everyone is still in the same grade despite there being two different sets of winter episodes many episodes apart? Would love to see things like what Nabiki would do to try to get out of the house, presumably to get into a business college. Or some exploration of what Sune Tendo does to get income. So many interesting things that could happen with the characters that is never explored. Would probably have to keep it in the same time period because cell phones with map features would make Ryoga's problem easily solvable.

[@JohnSmithsu2006]

lol

[@mandisaw]

Ranma manga had about as close to a canon ending as you're gonna get. I didn't read InuYasha, and bailed after 2ish seasons of anime, but any closure she gave it was likely in-service to the Next Generation manga that's now being animated. Similar deal with Cardcaptor Sakura, although there at least, CLAMP already had a long history of interlocking their stories and messing around with prequels/sequels.

[@mpietran6]

​ @mandisaw The _Inuyasha_ manga had a proper ending. It just wasn't animated until much later, as the original anime got cancelled. And the ending was not "in-service" to the "next generation manga," because _Yashahime_ wasn't conceived until a few years ago, was conceived as an original anime that is now being adapted into a manga, and Takahashi had little to do with it beyond character design and the original _Inuyasha_ setting and characters.

[@Florceleste28]

Thanks for making clear that Inuyasha and Ranma have proper endings in the manga versions. In Ranma case, its was always meant to be more a comedy/action than anything else, so I always feels the ending was just on par with the tone.

[@arbknight12]

I think I’m going to re-watch your ‘Surviving Your Harem’ PSA!

[@slevinchannel7589]

This Genre was always a bit 'Oof', but recently, it spirlas out of control. How cringe.

[@Vesperitis]

Don't forget your ABCDs!

[@aftp4i94]

@@Vesperitis Ah... That's right. There's 4 things. Three out of four ain't bad and on the upside my sister's lunches are quite delicious.

[@DeadHaremGuy]

You should.

[@nebufabu]

Remember when every TVTropes page began with seemingly the same 20 or so animes, Bleach to Yu-Gi-Oh? That's how I learned Ranma 1/2 was a thing... ADD: Wait, _Villainess_ is actually return to isekai roots? Makes sense

[@TheOneTrueEfrate]

Yeah escaflowne, and fushigi Yugi were the proto isekai, with things like magic knights rayearth following closely iirc. Fushigi yugi, like many shojo, also has the main character seal the deal whilst within the main storyline. Which is a nice change of pace from most Shonen derived or targeted harems.

[@MABfan11]

Quintessential Quintuplets is easily the best harem i've watched, the development of Fuutarou and the quintuplets, both as a group and as individuals, is amazing

[@frostyblade8842]

Yeah QQ is amazing, I love it so much and was sad when the manga ended and all the girls are great. My only gripe is the bride didn't get as much development as I'd like and it's all kinda dumped in at the end but eh no show is perfect

[@BaronKrool]

Surprised to learn how young the genre actually is, and that it's rise and codification coincided with (and I'd imagine was bolstered by) the western anime boom that lead the the current ecosystem we have now. I never would have guessed that harem as we understand it STARTS at Ramna and Tenchi, and that beforehand it wasn't really a "thing" yet. ...Is harem the "isekai" of the 90's?

[@mandisaw]

Modern harem starts in the early 90s, but partly for business reasons. Merchandising became a huge, overwhelming part of the business model starting in the mid-80s into the 90s. More characters means more character-items - from posters, pins, and artbooks to image albums & drama CDs with the various seiyuu/VAs. Essentially harem takes the sentai model and applies it to narrative-driven anime/manga for even greater scale. It cannot be overstated how much merch Rumiko Takahashi has pushed - I think only Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam) and Akira Toriyama (Dragonball & Dragon Quest char designer) have her beat on the all-time merch sales charts.

[@SheikAshii]

It surprises me how much I love this genre. I’ve seen almost every show mentioned in the after 2000s part. And they’re all in my top animes of all time. Amazing. I need more dumb shows like cat planet cuties, sekerie, girls bravo, monster musume, and arguably Worlds Strongest Deciple Kenichi

[@gamerkev30]

I wholehartedly agree.

[@trazyntheinfinitearchivist7866]

If we're talking about Harems, I would stand up and proclaim my love of Monster Musume to any weeb. The animation, characters, comedy, plot, PLOT and total lack of tsundere make it one of my favourite shows hands down

[@DeadHaremGuy]

I enjoy how the girls are used in a way to explore how biology influences the culture of the fantasy Races.

[@carsonrush3352]

Lack of Tsundere?! Impossible!! I'm pretty sure the lamia is the tsundere. Most of the girls nearly kill him every episode, but here more than most.

[@trazyntheinfinitearchivist7866]

@@carsonrush3352 Funny thing is, not even the Lamia is a tsundere

[@zerofox641]

I've been patiently waiting for almost 7 years for a sequel. The manga has only gotten crazier and weirder and I want to see it animated. It's such a fun story and the characters and world building are interesting. And ya no Miia is definitely NOT a tsundere. If anything she's fills the role of "jealous possessive" girl. I would slightly argue that Centorea is sort fills that tsundere role. She isn't as open about her love of Kimihito as the others, and tries to play off most of her actions as just serving her master. But she doesn't hate him nor doesn't hide the fact she cares about him.

[@trazyntheinfinitearchivist7866]

@@zerofox641 and that's what makes Cerea best girl

[@leiderendlich4574]

Thank you for that shoutout to the Negima francise. You nailed its transitional problem perfectly. To this day it's one of my favorite shounen battle mangas, but it is really hard to recommend to anybody without telling them to skip the first like 6 Volumes when they don't have romcom "affinity".

[@whiteraven181]

I tried to get into Negima because it sounded like it had an amazing story and fights, but I hate skipping parts of a series and the beginning was just too uncomfortable for me. All these girls enthusiastically chasing after their teacher who LOOKS LIKE A CHILD was just more than I could take.

[@elrick44]

would that mean that Pokemon is a harem? I mean, Ash has had multiple lady friends that are interested in him on some level. with Sun and Moon even having 3 at once

[@ligtningdog6399]

Not really. Yes, the SM era had his trio of girls. But Ash only likes Pokemon.

[@elrick44]

@@ligtningdog6399 but aren't a lot of harem protagonists dense in the ways of love? Also I was counting chikorita as one of the girls that liked him

[@ligtningdog6399]

@@elrick44 2 things. 1) The girls have to be part of the main cast at the same time. The show rarely has more then 1 main girl as a time. 2) Ash's lack of interests in girls makes him borderline asexual.

[@krspaceT1]

@@ligtningdog6399We can ask about 'borderline Asexual' Ash when they let him turn 11.

[@elrick44]

@@ligtningdog6399 ok, that #1 was what I was really asking about

[@philcollins5457]

It quietly makes me happy that "link in the dooblydoo" has persisted despite Idea Channel stopping years ago. Just an extra dash of wholesome nostalgia to this detailed culture piece about creative application of shading and line art. :)

[@BeastGuardian]

Now I'm nostalgic for the '90s. I adored the original Tenchi Muyo! and El Hazard back in the VHS days. My mom, in addition to getting into Ranma 1/2 and Fruits Basket, really got invested in Love Hina. It's funny how even my aromantic asexual self ended up enjoying so many of these earlier shows despite my complete disinterest in t&a.

[@katelynna10000]

Oh my god someone else had El Hazard on VHS. I was given the entire collection of The Wanderers by my cousin as a child. In fact, most of them are still in a basket across the room. Annoyingly, I think the only one I'm missing is the first one.

[@SkyeHDD]

Adult Swim introduced me to Harems with Tenchi Muyo, and my taste has never recovered

[@cassgryphon]

Toonami for the win! \o/

[@NATA5II]

Came here to say this. It made me feel funny inside and I wasn't quite sure why at the time. It also was a big influence into like aggressive, crazy girls like Ryoko.

[@bitetheasp]

@@NATA5II Ah, Ryoko. My first anime crush.

[@rhoell2050]

Little did my teen brain know that i was watching harem history in the making

[@pedrocamelo2567]

I just want to add here that, for those who don't know, the original Tenchi OVA's storyline has continued in anime form and just a few months ago Tenchi tied the knot with ALL the girls. This makes Tenchi the only harem anime series that I know of that actually has a harem ending and not just the hero marrying the first girl he met.

[@DeadHaremGuy]

Good for him.

[@Gyrono]

Actually, another Tenchi series beat the OVA to the punch. GXP ends with Seina getting 8(9) wives.

[@pedrocamelo2567]

@@Gyrono Oh, I didn't count that one since they kidnapped him just before the wedding and it wasn't clearly shown what happened afterwards. And then the wedding sort of happened off camera.

[@Renni_Jay]

I think "In Another World With My Smartphone" ends with the protag marrying all the nine girls in his harem, and "Girlfriend Girlfriend" is about a guy and his two girlfriends who are also eachothers girlfriends and then a third girl comes in too I think, so there is some more poly stuff out there.

[@pedrocamelo2567]

@@Renni_Jay That's good to know! But, is it in anime form? 🙂 I mean the endings. I think I saw the first one but the first season ends with an open ending.

[@DMBLaan]

Counterpoint to the need for a tsundere - Monster Musume has exactly ZERO of them and is one of the best harem manga/anime out there. Fight Me!

[@ecekyelx]

this comment needs more attention as it made me think of all the characters and yes there is not one tsundere in monmusu

[@mikemorro140]

Cerea kind of was

[@vincentgraymore]

Agreed. I do not like Tsundure, perhaps why I cannot understand the "greatness" with Taiga. Good show with decent messages, but not that great.

[@Noplayster13]

@@vincentgraymore Yeah, I don’t get it either. In Ranma 1/2 Akane is almost universally considered worse than the two other fiancees.

[@Xenotaris]

Eh, I prefer Rosario + Vampire

[@kikiohearts]

My next life as a villianess. One of the best (I know new) harem animes I've seen in a gold while. You can always teach an old trope new tricks

[@obits3]

My first experience with Love Hina was the manga. While it did jump to ecchi pretty fast, the first page sold me on the whole thing. A lot of this was due to being a high schooler at the time who was applying for college. Also, there’s a certain point in the manga when everything comes together and it is amazing.

[@ShiroTheHero43]

Ranma 1/2 is one of the best LONGEST mangas i ever read, ending wasn’t satisfying but still a 10/10 for me

[@petrsevcik5044]

I watched the anime and it's good, but it does suffer from being old.

[@animefanatic33]

After finishing ranma 1/2 i was LIVID. The ending pissed off 15y/o me for months and I vowed to never read another Rumiko Takahashi story again….. and then i was introduced to Rin-ne and i fell fast and hard!! UGH 😑

[@BlueBlazeKing]

True but that’s more of a Takehashi thing. She can right amazing stories but until Inuyasha she couldn’t write an ending.

[@Mirality]

Not sure InuYasha is a good example of her writing an ending. Took her a couple of decades to get there...

[@BlueBlazeKing]

@@Mirality Sure it took a while but we did get an ending

[@Crazael]

Personally, I would consider Urusei Yatsura a proto-harem anime. While it's mostly just Lum and Shinobu who show interest in Ataru, and even then, Shinobu gives up on him after a while, other girls do occasionally come up, and it does a lot of stuff later harem anime copied over. Most notably, To Love-ru, which pulls a fair bit of its base idea from UY.

[@OtterSeaborne8901]

I'm surprised Infinite Stratos made the list for exploring interesting high concepts when from what I remembered, it was mostly interested in stating said high concepts and immediately going back to "generic magic school but it's mecha" with the inescapable gravitational pull of a black hole. The show asked some interesting questions, then gave the most trite and boring answers it could to get back to the flirting faster. Yes, I did first watch it on physical media after seeing part of the first episode at a con, and yes, I do hold a grudge.

[@frostyblade8842]

Infinite Stratos was awesome and I really enjoyed it since it had people from various different countries who were funny and interesting. It was mildly generic but it was a still super enjoyable watch and I wish it got a season 3

[@SecretIdentityStudio]

Yeah, it had some concepts it could have worked with, but it turned out generic with a side of feeling like MRA propaganda, and the girls went from zero to dere in 60 seconds or less. The only one he actually had chemistry with was Charlotte, and only when he thought she was a guy!

[@BlueBlazeKing]

@@SecretIdentityStudio the chemistry with Charlotte still exist, but yeah the show has a lot of interesting concepts that could work but the focus seems to follow a lot in the harem side of things

[@frostyblade8842]

@@SecretIdentityStudio Do you mean NRA, out of curiosity? I thought most of them had nice build ups, especially Charlotte and Hoki, while Charlotte is probably my favourite ship, Cecilia was hilarious

[@owenmaleski2203]

To me Infinite Stratos is up there with SAO in terms of wasted potential. There were so many potential plotlines they could've given us. How was the IS made, why can only women pilot it? It could've been about preventing, taking part in or rebuilding for WW3, because we all know wars begin as arms races. Heck, they gave us an actual terrorist organization that kidnapped the MC and still want him but they never did anything with it. It could've been about finding non-militarized uses for the IS since it was too powerful. Like space travel, EMS work, mining, going into places like the bottom of the sea or Chernobyl. It could've been about sexism towards men. It could've even been a shonen mecha battle anime and nobody would've complained. Or heck, it could've delivered in some small way for the romance to even one of the girls. We all know Charlotte was best girl, but the fact that they never gave any romantic progress anywhere was infuriating. While Charl is my favorite, I think the concept of Cecilia learning not to be a sexist, snobby bitch could've been nice. Or Laura learning what it means to be a regular girl and not a soldier/tool could've been nice concepts. Or, the author did say that Ichika acted dense on purpose, it could've been one of the first meta parody anime like OreSuki. Or, this is my favorite idea, it could've been about the world being poised for war, except the school was a way to foster international relations. Introduce Ichika to try and improve those relations, all the while being forbidden to get involved with anyone, to maintain impartiality. Yes, I put this much thought into a subpar, comedy harem anime. It's a shame that the author never did.

[@LinguarumFautor]

As a guy in high school in the 90s who watched and read Ranma, I found this history of the evolution of harem anime fascinating. So much change within my lifetime!

[@Ichorizor]

DxD is unironically one of my favorite shows, like ever. Is the writing bad? Oh yeah (particularly early on). Is it cliche? Oh yeah. Does it still hit all of the tropes I love while also giving a cast that is fun to watch? Most certainly.

[@notationmusical]

I have a harem story idea: The girls and guys like the MC because of his grades and looks, but they are not actually in love with him. The MC is aware of this, so he helps the girls and guys with things such as relationship advice, and later on, the girls find the person that they actually love (or they don't, but they move on and grow).

[@Vesperitis]

Seriously, a manga that is purely about platonic friendship between boys and girls would not just be novel, but incredibly healthy.

[@notationmusical]

@@Vesperitis This could give the MC some nice character development, as even though he can't fall in love (and at first he tries to and then learns he's aro/ace), he's happy to help others, but also learns that he still can have friends. (here's kinda a little twist though, he will end up with someone that he loves platonically, or...maybe he doesn't. Who knows?) Do I have too many ideas for this story? Most likely, but it's interesting to think about.

[@danfr]

It's not exactly what you're describing, but Chobits almost goes through that pattern. Except for Chi, basically each of the protagonist's potential love interests grow and get together with the person they actually love due to their involvement with the protagonist.

[@wdcain1]

King of the Hill had an episode like this with Bobby as the school counsel and the girls fawning over him.

[@notationmusical]

@@wdcain1 I haven't watched King of the Hill, but I'll be sure to check it out.

[@xbuttonsx]

I'm counting Haikyuu!! as a Harem anime because everyone and their mother wants to set for Hinata, and Kageyama is the biggest Tsundere I know.

[@notationmusical]

I guess if anything, Food Wars is a harem anime. Both the guys and girls want to beat Souma, but can't help but admiring him and his food skills.

[@TranceKujaIX]

Thank you for the well crafted and researched nostalgia dump. ❤️🙏❤️

[@kingace6186]

Man, I missed Ranma. Since it does lean towards the harem that much, it still feels like a refreshing harem anime to this day. Plus, the protagonist was a gender-bending martial artist whose dad can also transform, but just into a panda and back. And "anything goes martial arts" is still incredible to watch.

[@battlesheep2552]

Definitely helps that it's less about wish fulfillment and more about the wacky hijinks that ensue when your typical chaste protagonist is lusted over by damn near everyone in a world where everyone is some kind of martial artist.

[@LegandsandLabyrinths]

The influence of Takahashi's MAISON IKKOKU on LOVE HINA also shouldn't be overlooked: It's from Maison Ikkoku that Love Hina grabs its student protagonist and apartment building setting. Harem Anime basically boils down to a pastiche of Rumiko Takahashi without the complexity or depth of character.

[@mandisaw]

This. Even early Fushigi Yuugi painfully echoes Takahashi's style & tone, up until Shit Gets Real. Luckily Yuu Watase found her own style/tone, and was able to riff on harem themes (positive & negative) in her own way, in later works.

[@J3Puffin]

As someone whose primary occupation outside of my actual job has been writing gacha game fanfic, yes, harem anime is great. Much culture, amazing work, thank you for contentz.

[@ruslanhoncharenko2179]

I hope 100 girlfriends gets good adaptation one day, this is one of the best harem comedy that came out in Reiwa era, finally one that doesn't take itself too seriously,without tired waifuwars because all girls win and with MC being the super likeable character.

[@Ramsey276one]

Is that number FOR REAL?!

[@NickDeArmon]

@@Ramsey276one Yes, though the MC hasn't met all of them yet. I believe it's somewhere under 20 at the moment. Great read btw.

[@matheuskirisame]

I was hoping to see this comment here, good taste sir

[@Ramsey276one]

@@NickDeArmon if they adapt it, it could be infamous as the Karoshi Anime ( imagine the workload of managing 100+ characters!) XD

[@DemiIsNotHere]

Its kinda ironic and thats why its funny.

[@shuriken05]

The mention of Saber Marionette made me happy. No one I ever talk to knows what it is.

[@murderman8578]

So underrated

[@shuriken05]

@@murderman8578 more like forgotten!

[@Shawnchapp]

ya its a shame because its a pretty interesting one

[@kirbyfanprime]

Literally only know about it because my bestie loves it and gave him his obsession with gynoids.

[@murderman8578]

@@shuriken05 Shame since it was Good AF

[@sarahhamed4496]

Tenchi Muyo's science fiction and myth elements are fantastic. I went back to watch recently and was sadly put off by the harem elements. :/ I was bummed about that. I think it didn't register as much when I watched it on adult swim so I remember it more as a space opera. It's not even that harem anime bothers me, I just remember it going way harder on the scifi.

[@BingBangPoe]

One of the reasons why _Love Hina_ was such a blast was because the author, Ken Akamatsu, started his career drawing hentai, so he knew where to poke the interest of his readers. One of his most famous pieces, for instance, is a _Final Fantasy VII_ doujinshi.

[@Raph___A]

My first harem anime was To Love Ru. I had a good teen life.

[@idrop579]

To love ru was definitely a journey

[@mothersbasement]

I hope you drank plenty of fluids!

[@UmCaraNormalnumPlanetanormal]

My first one was literally Highschool DxD, dont really know how to feel about that LOL

[@CombatSportsNerd]

Mine was Negima! Magister Negi Magi. Honestly can’t recall if it was trash or just average but it was a fun imo

[@richardgale5893]

Lala was such a ray of sunshine.

[@malcolmotoole]

The Rosario + Vampire manga is legitimately a great shounen and actually uses it's harem elements in an excellent way to advance the plot and character development. I'll die on this hill.

[@chrisrd4]

Would you be willing to die side be side with a friend?

[@malcolmotoole]

@@chrisrd4 My man. 🤝

[@BlueBlazeKing]

Amen, I remember watching the anime and thinking it was okay for a fan service show but when I read the manga it became an instant classic in my heart

[@Antasco]

literally one of the best Manga i've ever had the pleasure of reading

[@elemomnialpha]

Wish it kept going

[@DavidRichardson153]

I won't deny, I was introduced to manga through Love Hina when my best friend in high school lent me copies to pass the time. From there, I went to Negima, then Bleach, and on and on it went. I was already watching anime during those nights I stayed up late (mostly Inuyasha, Bleach, and 00 Gundam on Adult Swim), so the foundation was already laid. I have gotten physical and digital copies of multiple series in their anime and manga forms, though Love Hina was the one I got the most towards (none of the unofficial fan-made stuff, though). I do agree that I find myself reading the manga more than watching the anime, though there are still a few episodes I watch more than others (the even more comedic ones, that is). While I did enjoy the..."plot" of Love Hina's harem mechanics, I was mostly hooked by the comedy gags (one of my favorite one-timers was how it took Naru only 2.5 seconds to go from "apologize to that girl and offer your support" to "YOU LECHER!! [punch]." I was raised with homemade VHS tapes filled classic Looney Tunes shorts, and growing up, whenever I wanted to see comedy like that without popping in a specific tape (mostly because I hated having to rewind the tape as my dumb @$$ often forgot to do so after it was done), it was in manga and anime that I was finding my fix. Today, I enjoy pretty much all of the series explicitly mentioned in the video...for...various reasons (the implied ones are a bit more mixed), and I have been getting more into light novels - the LNs I have been reading have a lot less harem than I thought, though there is still plenty in what I have read. Still, there are genuine gems to be found in any genre, even though I personally tend to gravitate towards the more comedic series (raised on Looney Tunes, remember, along with Three Stooges), and like this professional h^ntai historian, I will defend what deserves defending.

[@DarkNight]

The original tenchi trilogy are some of my favorite series. And the tenchi universe movie, tenchi in love, is one one of my favorite anime movies.

[@SoujiMonaru]

The first Harem Anime I think of when the term's mentioned is Ranma. Second is Tenchi, but I watched Ranma a few years after it came out, and was thrilled with the way they told the stories of these people. So when I got to see Tenchi I was instantly hooked to it, as I thought it did the genre better. Nothing has ever taken that away from Tenchi, though I really love the Quintuplets and can't wait for another season of it.

[@Aoikyoki]

"My next life as the vilainess all routes lead to doom" is my favorit harem anime.

[@onewhowalkedaway]

I really hope it gets a good poly ending

[@zacharydutson6195]

It's not a bad genre, just as I get older the more uncomfortable I get watching it, so try to avoid them unless they have a good story as well.😅

[@rashedyadig]

Good story is pretty rare in new animes lmao

[@CiaphasKirby]

Ranma 1/2 is still one of my all time favorite comics. A lot of modern series focus really hard on making the MC an easy to fill in self insert for your average skill-less teenager, but Takahashi was like "No, Ranma is a hardcore martial arts prodigy" and let him be crazy competent instead of a shitty doormat. Also, the harem was very clearly on obstacle in the way of him getting together with Akane, and in quite a lot of chapters they wouldn't even show up. Also whn the more serious arcs happened, a lot of the harem misunderstandings were put on the backburner, because shit needs solving.

[@Christopher._M]

@@CiaphasKirby that's my biggest gripe with harem anime and isekai. The MC always has to be an average loser character that looks like any other mob character. All for the reason because they want people to relate. If those anime gave their MC a distinct look with a bit of personality or some sort of unique feature they might actually make their manga a hit. Imagine Yu Yu hakusho with a MC like most harem protagonists. Probably would have failed

[@Silverizael]

It doesn't help that so many "reincarnation" manga these days that include something like that keep having the characters be younger and younger. We're really at the point where the only appropriate response to them is "Sorry, but that's pedophilia".

[@triggerfairy4070]

My gripe mostly is that harem anime/Isekai is now just a checklist that need to be filled.

[@Truck-kun11]

I can't imagine the Harem genre working in any medium other than anime....for some reason it just works

[@tonyinfinite5174]

Sometimes it gets stale they're too which i find hilarious hentai can keep most of their plotlines fresh and original, while harem anime rip eachother off so often it's grand we should keep in mind what's the point here huh

[@thelinedrive]

Maaaaaannn Hanappe Bazooka is a trip. Like I don’t even know how you come up with a story like that.

[@jaikthesnake6285]

I like the video style where you're on camera. The editing and stuff makes it more fun to watch than the whole video being clips from relevant stuff

[@flu3b93]

Glad to see you uploading Geoff. Things will be alright

[@ShadeXH]

"The fans of Love Hina were here almost exclusively for the fan service and gags." The Love Hina manga is a legitimately good story of romance and personal growth. How dare you, sir. Do I maybe have a bias since it was the thing that got me into manga in the first place? ...Maybe. Also, it's better than Mushoku Tensei, you philistine.

[@jayands]

I mean, I wouldn't go THAT far; I'm personally waiting for...'bout season 3, or MAYBE the S2 finale of MT, just because I've read ahead. I love Love Hina, mind; it's the first (and so far only) manga series I collected to completion, but it's more nostalgia reasons that I hold it so dearly

[@shazzadhossenshishir3333]

Yeah dream on.

[@damightystevo]

FINALLY, SOMEONE ELSE APPRECIATES SEKIREI! I've been looking for someone else that understands how great this anime is for so long you have no idea.

[@Snowstrider0001]

Cat Planet Cuties became one of my favorite anime, mostly for how it made fun of so many SF tropes. Not to mention the fantastic cat lady aliens (with two sets of ears for some reason).

[@DeadHaremGuy]

I really like the Op

[@molybdaen11]

That is a great anime. The idea of weapons so advanced that they just remove fibers but no skin alone had great potential.

[@gma5607]

For everything he might say I disagree with, I'll always appreciate Geoff for being one of the 12 other people on Earth who forcefully loves Girls Bravo.

[@DeadHaremGuy]

amen

[@BlueBlazeKing]

Wait there are others?

[@52leveler]

As much of a template you mention Love Hina is, i wish the anime had the chance to adapt till the end of the manga, for all the characters mature and even got over keitaru crush, SPOILERS: he himself became better and even an archeologyst, heck they got married by the end and everyoen got to achive their dreams and discover what new things they wanted to do, if not for naru i say motoko had the best character development of them all.

[@BlueBlazeKing]

Not only that but what I love about the series is that Keitaro is gone for almost a full volume of the manga. To me I thought that was pretty amazing as we got to see the girls fro a different point of view

[@cloudstrife8]

Jeez...I've seen almost all of the Harem animes he listed throughout the episode. I apparently have a problem. Sidenote: Girls Bravo was hilarious

[@vedritmathias9193]

Regarding Tenshi Muyo: We all know Ryoko was the only REAL love interest. The rest were just bait and distractions. Also: Clannad is a harem anime and it made me ugly cry.

[@RedRocket4000]

LOL Tenchi marries them all and I do mean all including the Rabbit/Ship and gets them all pregnant and they have kids and adventures daughters of Ryoko and Ayeka are best friends who go on adventures. You can see the whole harem who marry him and Ryoko and Ayeka pregnant in recent OVA but they chicken out and have that mostly in the background of the in front action the training of the male lead of War on Gemminar.

[@Noplayster13]

@@RedRocket4000 They don’t call marrying the whole harem the “Tenchi Solution” for nothing.

[@Featheryfaith7]

@@RedRocket4000 You mean Tenchi Muyo GXP? That sounds familiar...

[@jeffagain7516]

Wonderful "history" lesson again Geoff, delivered with your iconic humour and sensibilities. Much appreciated Buddy.

[@RyoHazuki224]

I'm surprised you didn't include the great "Shuffle!" in your mentions of great harem anime series. Yes, I include that series as a harem even though it does break from convention and I LOVE IT EVEN MORE FOR THAT!!

[@Haxses.]

He does very briefly mention it at 17:08 as the "angel and demon" variety.

[@breadifies2800]

Having my first exposure to anime as a kid being the harem genre is not the best for a mentally developing adolescent i've realised

[@Ramsey276one]

Oops XD

[@fandal]

hands above the table, young man.

[@Abell_lledA]

One is caught up playing the impassioned protagonist in one’s Subjective Narrative of Self🎈

[@slevinchannel7589]

This Genre was always a bit 'Oof', but recently, it spirlas out of control. How cringe.

[@osteelgen8225]

Ooh, so you’re spamming it everywhere

[@osteelgen8225]

@@slevinchannel7589 oh, more spam.

[@maillardsbearcat]

Wait a minute.. what channel did I see you on yesterday?

[@BacchaeOphanim]

I kinda wanna make a parody harem called 'Oops, the Harem Protag is Aro-Ace'. I got a title logo thought out and everything. Except an actual storyline beyond 'harem protag wants nothing to do with this plot'.

[@Haibing22]

Add psychic powers and you are describing “the disastrous life of Saiki K”

[@marocat4749]

Meta with hi avouding that and him realizing he is in hell or a story? He could be in hell too and that is his punishment and he has to do something something to either get demon allies to help him or gtting along with him without harassing him.

[@notationmusical]

As an aro-ace, I find this clever. I also have a story idea: The girls and guys like the MC because of his grades and looks, but they are not actually in love with him. The MC is aware of this, so he helps the girls and guys with things such as relationship advice, and later on, the girls find the person that they actually love (or they don't, but they move on and grow). This could give the MC some nice character development, as even though he can't fall in love (and at first he tries to), he's happy to help others, but also learns that he still can have friends. (here's kinda a little twist though, he will end up with someone that he loves platonically...or maybe not...? idk)

[@petrsevcik5044]

I'm pretty sure there are at least couple like that already.

[@blakefieri3447]

i am so ridiculously happy to hear someone mention fushigi yugi despite how old and not-currently popular it is, that was one of my favorite manga back in the day!

[@AndresLionheart]

I couldn't believe how many of those classics listed at 17:01 I've watched like 15 years ago. Girl's Bravo, Omamori Himari, Rosario Vampire, Asobi Ni Iku Yo, Princess Lover, To Love Ru, etc. The only one missing for me would be Kanokon. It was definitely a phase in my life. I never forgot Girl's Bravo human brush scene though...