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This has got to my favourite ‘Character reveals his harem fantasy’ moment since SHUFFLE!’s Itsuki Midoriba’s declaration. At least the Shinrabanshou doesn’t have the activiation requirements of the Kuihuabaodian (葵花å®å…¸ i.e. you have become a eunuch)!
LOL at the harem hijinks of this episode. Felt quite a lot of echoes of other anime series as well…
Note on the poster: ▼ Show
Speaking of pervy teachers, our esteemed Academy Director Stripey made a strong claim that the male harem lead was the key variable in determining the success of a harem anime during the most recent Hontou Ni Staff Conference. This excerpt (skypecast, 1:22 min, 1.26 MB) was part of a discussion about Mizuho’s role as the harem lead for OtoBoku. Stripey posited that a clearly unworthy harem lead would impact unfavourably on the desirability of the harem females; a lousy male harem lead would overwhelm other variables such as basis of attraction, character design, quality of animation, voice acting and so on.
I’ve always been fascinated as to how the etymology of the Arabic root of “harem” has meanings of the forbidden and the sacred; in contrast, when “harem” is used in English, it often connotes sexual licentiousness and epicurean excess.
It would also be interesting to track when the word was first applied to anime series with a male lead being surrounded by girls who are all hawt for him. This genre is quite a venerable one (e.g. Ranma 1/2) but I can’t seem to recall the term being widely applied to series prior to Love Hina. The use of the term also creates its own sub-vocabulary such as “male harem lead” who is usually a loser who can’t decide on choosing one girl among the many - thus raising accusations of how harem anime series are essentially vehicles for otaku wish fulfillment.
Harem anime series certainly enjoy a certain degree of popularity because the sheer variety of heroine types will appeal to fans across a wide demographic. Besides being able to "pick your favourite", interest is maintained through rival camps forming and then slugging it out against each other in forums, blogs and other electronic community media. Such extended interaction is even more plausible when the series has an ambiguous ending where there is no clear “winner” - though why would the girl be a winner if the male harem lead is a loser? It’s like being told that you’ve just won the lottery and the prize is life imprisonment and hard labour. Besides, who’s to say that how these harems will turn out in the medium to long term?
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