A question/debate about harem animes

[Sephiroth]

This kind of ties in with the running thread about Twitter and some of its ripple effects. I’ve noticed any number of downright toxic “influencers” who seem to be trying to live out a real life anime harem fantasy, like a particular one who was recently arrested in Romania for human trafficking. It occurs to me that these creeps are a lot like the weirdos who watch Wall Street and Scarface without taking in how Gordon Gecko and Tony Montana are the bad guys. On a a similar note, they seem to have not absorbed that harem animes are by and large comedies where the primary gag is playing against type; the male protagonists are typically hapless nerds who are seemingly at a loss for what to do with this bevy of beauties who want nothing more than to get in his pants. In fact the draw of this sub genre is usually the harem themselves, not the main character, because they are the ones with actual personality and story to them. In point of fact in the most well known harem anime, Tenchi Muyo, the word muyo roughly translates to “without purpose,” literally “Tenchi is Useless.” Further still, other running gags do have roots in some loose social commentary, for instance: if the make protagonist does act lecherous toward his harem they will bash him over the head or punish him in some other way despite their lust for him-kind of like a warning to keep your eyes straight and hands to yourself. The harem are often so jealous and possessive that they cause the protagonist no end of problems-like a warning to not be a womanizer and play with women’s feelings. One member of the harem is often reserved and prudish while another is more sexually expressive, a clash of women archetypes. And finally, the male protagonist often ends up settling on the member of the harem that is actually the most physically and emotionally abusive of them, so while he is supposed to be the harem “master” he is still in a more passive role to her.


Did I miss anything or am incorrect about something?

[Deleted]

sephiroth is just a kenny omega impersonator who compensates with his sword

[Mike Strike]

Jan 21, 2023 7:05:42 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

This kind of ties in with the running thread about Twitter and some of its ripple effects. I’ve noticed any number of downright toxic “influencers” who seem to be trying to live out a real life anime harem fantasy, like a particular one who was recently arrested in Romania for human trafficking. It occurs to me that these creeps are a lot like the weirdos who watch Wall Street and Scarface without taking in how Gordon Gecko and Tony Montana are the bad guys. On a a similar note, they seem to have not absorbed that harem animes are by and large comedies where the primary gag is playing against type; the male protagonists are typically hapless nerds who are seemingly at a loss for what to do with this bevy of beauties who want nothing more than to get in his pants. In fact the draw of this sub genre is usually the harem themselves, not the main character, because they are the ones with actual personality and story to them. In point of fact in the most well known harem anime, Tenchi Muyo, the word muyo roughly translates to “without purpose,” literally “Tenchi is Useless.” Further still, other running gags do have roots in some loose social commentary, for instance: if the make protagonist does act lecherous toward his harem they will bash him over the head or punish him in some other way despite their lust for him-kind of like a warning to keep your eyes straight and hands to yourself. The harem are often so jealous and possessive that they cause the protagonist no end of problems-like a warning to not be a womanizer and play with women’s feelings. One member of the harem is often reserved and prudish while another is more sexually expressive, a clash of women archetypes. And finally, the male protagonist often ends up settling on the member of the harem that is actually the most physically and emotionally abusive of them, so while he is supposed to be the harem “master” he is still in a more passive role to her.


Did I miss anything or am incorrect about something?

The lack of proper paragraphs comes to mind. That was hard to read.