Harem mangaFollow

I think this might be my favorite genre of manga/anime. I've read three new series in the past two weeks or so, and I notice a LOT of overlap. Let me start this over... consider this post an introduction to the genre of harem manga. If you haven't read harem manga before, read on for some suggestions, and feel free to add your own! I have read most of these at onemanga.com, although some (like Ai Yori Aoshi, Love Hina, and Negima!) I bought for myself. Some might just be anime.

In the genre I've read:
-Love Hina
-Negima! (as much as is currently available)
-Ai Yori Aoshi (the first 4 or 5 volumes)
-Tenchi Muyo (seen as anime, not sure if it's a manga)
-Ichigo 100%
-I"s
-Rosario + Vampire (I and II; as much of II that is available)

Basically the series fall into two types: the more dramatic and the more comedic. There is a third type mixed in: fighting. About half of the series above feature fighting as a theme. The stories can vary from realistic (like Ichigo 100% and I"s) to over the top (No Bra, Ai Yori Aoshi, Love Hina), to supernatural (Tenchi, Negima, DNA2, and Rosario + Vampire), but universally the genre involves several girls in love with the main guy (or in the case of No Bra, several girls/guys love the main guy). There are reverse harem series as well, but I haven't read them and likely won't. I seem to remember starting to read one about 4 hot guys living in a house for free in return for turning the girl there into a true beauty, but I only read a couple of chapters... anyway...

Most of the series will also involve a lot of comedy, slapstick, puns, and fan service*. The fan service varies from panty shots like in Ichigo 100%, to airbrushed full nudity like Love Hina, to occasional full-chest nudity in I"s or Rosario II). I have yet to see any actual hentai (sex) in these series, but you might stumble across some. If there is any actual sex going on, it is usually only hinted at and not shown (like in Love Hina).

Situations very often overlap in the genre. Ichigo and No Bra, for example, were read in quick succession and confused the heck out of me at one point; the main character in Ichigo starts freaking out when asked to swim, and I'm like "Well yeah, he can't swim..." and then realized that, while true, I was thinking of No Bra instead, where the main character had the same issue. Almost every one of these series contains hot springs at some point. That might just be a Japanese thing. They also all have class trips, and the love rivals usually fit into the following categories

-The smart, quiet girl
-The boisterous large-breasted girl
-The childhood friend
-The lolita
-The older woman, sometimes a teacher
-The tomboy

Some series have more rivals and thus more archetypes than others. Negima, for example, has over 20 girls, all with their own unique (more or less) personalities and stories. DNA2, on the other hand, has like 4 girls, only three of whom are ever truly love rivals. Most have two who are true rivals, and about 5-6 other lovely ladies mostly as filler and fan service.

Now, what about the main character?

The main character in harem manga and anime is the everyman. I would link TVTropes, but no one would finish reading this topic, so in short, the everyman is average in every way, but usually has a good heart, a love of his friends, and a lot of loyalty. Sometimes he has or obtains extra powers. Usually he starts out very weak physically, and has a propensity for walking in on bad situations and misunderstanding things. Often his indecision on who he likes the most leads to conflict.

So, if you've read up to this point, which of the above series are any good? The truth is, all of them have some merit. I enjoyed all of the series, but after you've read a few, you'll see the overlap and will likely start getting bored and predicting what will happen. Actually, getting predictions wrong is one of the things I enjoyed so much about Ichigo 100%. So I'll just put down some general guidelines and descriptions, and provide the onemanga link if anyone wants to read.

Love Hina:
My favorite manga of all time. To be fair, it probably isn't the best, but like Final Fantasy VII, it was taken in at a point in my life where I thought it was the BEST THING EVER and thus holds a special place in my heart. The series is about Keitaro Urashima, who has failed twice to get into Tokyo University - where he hopes to meet a girl from his childhood whose name and face he can't remember. He takes over his grandmother's inn early in the series and continues studying for his exams while dealing with his tenants; a bunch of lovely ladies who all gradually fall for him, despite his perverted nature and tendency to get beaten up by them. The series specializes in slapstick and comedy, has a bit of drama, is over-the-top but MOSTLY realistic, and has a ton of airbrushed fan service. http://www.onemanga.com/Love_Hina/

Negima!:
Made by the creator of Love Hina, this series is already twice as long as LH and is still in production (up to volume 24 or so has been released in the US). The series has multiple story arcs, and follows Negi, a 10-year-old child prodigy and English wizard, who is sent to Japan to teach high school girls English. Meanwhile he is searching for his missing father and trying to discover the secrets of his past and that of the magic world. The series has a HUGE cast of characters; Negi has over 20 students in his class, all with their own stories and personalities, and almost all with crushes on their tiny teacher. There's a lot of fan service, especially at the beginning, but less than Love Hina. Around halfway through the series, it turns into a fighting series as well, and the fan service and comedy drop back for a while. Personally I like the series, but it doesn't feel as focused as it should be, and I don't care for the fighting all that much. Obviously it is hugely supernatural. http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima!/

Ichigo 100%:
Also known as Strawberry 100% (Ichigo means Strawberry), the story is about Manaka Junpei, a middle-schooler who dreams of being a film producer. One day he runs into a girl on the roof of his school as the sun is setting and thinks "this would be perfect for a movie!" Unfortunately she runs away, and all he was able to make out on her was her strawberry pattern panties. So he begins his hunt for her, so they can make the dream come true together. The series is relatively realistic, has a decent amount of comedy, and is heavy in drama and panty-shots (go figure). The story, in my opinion, is superb; however, the manga starts out slow for the first 30-40 chapters. I also enjoyed that the series follows about 3+ years in the lives of the characters, allowing you to watch them grow and change. This was a series where I could not predict the ending, and thus I really enjoyed it. Also, the ending was perfect in my mind. I highly recommend it, and I feel it will be better after you've read a few other series. http://www.onemanga.com/Ichigo_100/

I"s:
Another realistic drama harem manga, this one is about a boy named Ichitaka having a crush on his idol-of-a-beauty classmate, Iori. The series starts off in high school, but ends outside, allowing you to see the characters grow a bit. However, the story revolves almost exclusively around the I-named characters. There is remarkable growth between Iori and Ichitaka (and some other girls, Itsuki and Izumi). However, besides the two named characters, the stories behind the other characters are not well developed. I could predict the ending pretty well and didn't care for it that much. There is a decent amount of fan service here, and sometimes full chest nudity (I think). It's a good drama series, but I didn't like it as much as some others. It will be good if you like realistic harem manga, though. http://www.onemanga.com/I%22S/

Rosario + Vampire
Really there are two stories here. The first series stopped but was picked up later. This series is about Tsukune Aono, a mediocre student who gets into a monster academy... where he is the only human. He immediately meets and falls for a vampire, Moka, and soon after a bunch of other lovely monsters fall for him. The series has a bit of fan service in the first series, and a lot of comedy, and some fighting. The first half of the first series follows a very predictable pattern almost every chapter: a monster appears, wants to fight, Tsukune releases Moka's power, Moka says "KNOW YOUR PLACE!" and kicks the monster's butt. The second season is the same, but to a greater extent; more fan service (including some full chest nudity), more comedy, and more fighting. The storyline, which is just for fun in the first season, gets more developed in the second. I say "season" and "series" interchangeably here; old habit from anime. While not a great series, it is very funny and if you are a monster nerd, you'll have fun checking out the monsters. http://www.onemanga.com/Rosario-Vampire/ and http://www.onemanga.com/Rosario-Vampire_II/. Note that Rosario + Vampire II is still being released; next update is in November. Also note that unlike other series with tons of chapters, Rosario has fewer chapters, but each is 35-45 pages instead of 18-20.

No Bra
I realized this isn't really a harem manga, and more like just a regular romance as there are around three love interests. So I took it out. It is gender-bender and very ecchi, however. Pretty funny too. http://www.onemanga.com/No_Bra/

DNA2:
Also more of an ecchi romance than a harem genre... although I guess there are like 4 girls... is that enough for a harem? Not sure. It's hilarious, however, if you enjoy fan service and comedy with some fighting and supernatural stuff thrown in. http://www.onemanga.com/DNA2/



Well, that's all for now. I took out a couple of them because they didn't fit. I haven't read all of Ai Yori Aoshi, so I really can't comment on it, and I don't think it is on onemanga so I won't get to read it any time soon. Anyone else have suggestions? Some others I plan on reading soon:
-Love & Collage (Ai Kora)
-Hayate the Combat Butlet (no ecchi stuff, apparently, but sounds funny)


Edit: *Note that not all harem manga involves fan service, but it seems a lot of the ones I look at do. Coincidence? Hmmmm... On onemanga there are themes for each series. If you don't like fan service, make sure there is NOT an "ecchi" theme on the series.

Edited, Sep 25th 2009 10:15am by LockeColeMA

No Bra was actually really good. I was surprised how much I liked it; I went to spasms of awkward laughter so many times while reading it! I just wish more was out :-P



I will hang my head in shame... I have never read any Ranma, and only seen maybe a half dozen episodes and, oddly, both OVAs. I know I need to see more; it really is one of the most popular ones. Know anywhere to find it online?

For the hell of it, I looked up TVTrope's list of Harem Anime to see what I've seen.

Ones I'd recommend:

Vandread - Three men find themselves captured by a ship crewed entirely by women. None of the men and most of the women have never encountered someone of the other gender before, and one guy develops a bit of a harem when it's found that his male robot can combine with the robots piloted by the females to make more powerful versions. Not sure I'd call it quite a harem anime, though he does end up with several girls wanting him. The series most interesting part is the reason why the planets are segregated between men and women.

Ouran High School Host Club - One of the funniest animes I've ever seen. It's also a "Reverse Harem" with one girl who has at least 5 guys who are attracted to her(explicitly or implied) as well as several girls. It also involves the fun of many people thinking she's a guy and having to hide that secret from the school as a whole.


Strawberry Panic - I'm not sure I'd call this a harem anime myself as the two girls who have "harems", much of the time are just admired by them at a distance. That's not to say there's not a fair amount of overt attempts at times, but it seems like the girls each only have 2-3 actual members of their harems. It's definitely an excellent example of a Schoolgirl Lesbians anime, though. It's also my absolute favorite anime ever. Well, of everything I've seen thus far.

There are several others listed there that I've seen, but for the most part, I think of them as "Love Triangle" as opposed to "Harem".

I enjoy Negima, although I admit it does get flaky on occasion.

To be fair, it's not that I have anything against the reverse harem genre; I just don't find it appealing. I'd need to read more to see if I like it or not. To be honest, the ecchi side of harem comedy is probably what I enjoy, as I almost put DNA^2 and No Bra on here, when they really aren't harem manga. I'm guessing that reverse harem is lighter on the ecchi side.

Also wanted to add: Ai Kora (aka Love & Collage, which really makes no sense; I think it should have been something more like "Love & Parts") is REALLY funny. Instead of being in love with multiple people, the main character is in love with different body types. It's a really weird series (fetishism is pretty much the theme), but all of it is done in a comedic fashion. I'm really liking it. Unfortunately it isn't complete, and I only have like 20 more chapters to go.