Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Reverse Harem Genre

I apology in advanced for the length of this post. I didn't mean to make it so long. Yeesh. I just got too into it. Anyway, I apologize!! Sorry! Still, please read it!
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If you are a female otaku, like moi, then you've most likely encountered the dreaded
BISHOUNEN!!!

Just kidding! They aren't dread. They are like heaven in a female otakus anime watching. Every once in awhile it's like BOOM! hot anime guy... Look at me. Love me. And the fangirls go wild!!

Any whom, the origin of anime crushes for most female otakus reside in a certain genre. I mean really, have you SEEN some of them?! They're like, the hotter, better, awesomer version of 1D, some other famous blonde guy, and I don't know...a vampire or something, mixed together into one or more beautiful bishounens. Anyway, so the origin of most bishounen characters is reverse harems. A genre that I am not ashamed to admit that I am very (very) familiar with! I mean... why wouldn't I be? They're just so.....
Diabolik Lovers
Otome Game Cover
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AH! Sorry.
As you could probably tell they're amazing. But this genre has its flaws just like any other genre out there. This one genre, is actually a little easier to mess up too, if I do say so myself. For starters, the most annoying, irritating thing about the reverse harem genre is the main character not getting into a relationship with your favorite bishounen. Since the first episode there was always a designated character to whom the heroine was to fall in love with. For Uta no Prince Sama it was Ichinose Tokiya!!! Ahhh!!! He's just so amazing so I can understand his!! Ahem, anyway. For Diabolik Lovers it was Ayato, and for La Corda D'oro it was Len. Of course they are other examples but those are a few.

That problem isn't really a problem in the games though. That's also another thing about this genre. Most of the animes were originally otome games. And the games, I bet, were usually really good because you can follow routes. Routes as in choosing who you want to try and win over and/or befriend and find out their story over a period of time. Unlike in the anime where the main character is solving each and everyone of everybody's problems on accident with her super wise words despite the fact she was a complete average joe until JUST. THEN.

Which brings me to another flaw of the reverse harem genre. And that is those animes where the heroine can suddenly fix every single hot guy's problems. Nothing is really pulling them together, it's just that the heroine for some reason is this crazy philosopher that is just so gosh darn interesting that they suddenly change for her, or the problems that they dealt with were suddenly solved! I hate that. I mean, no girl, no matter who she is, can do that in long, serious relationships let alone what is a period of less than a few months ESPECIALLY if she already is friends with so many people. That irritates me the most. A good example of that is Starry Sky. A reverse harem based off the zodiac signs.

Starry Sky male cast
Based off of Astrology Signs
There are a few of them that I think are good but still kind of do the above. Hakuoki I think is a good example. But in that anime, Chizeru, the heroine, is with the Shinsengumi for over a year. She lives with them matter of factly and tends to them everyday she's been there so it makes sense to her helping out somehow. Then again, you don't really notice it's a reverse harem on the account of all the historical events and sword fights coming from every direction. Which is actually pretty awesome.

But the one thing in reverse harems that I absolutely despise is when the heroine is an unlikeable person. And I don't mean is rude, more on the lines of too perfect. Or too innocent? It's usually a highschool girl so the innocent thing should just dissipate into thin air unless they have a good reason as of why it shouldn't. Example, Haruka from Uta no Prince Sama. Poor health. In the country for pretty much all of childhood to adolescent. And never really been around people other than grandmother. Makes sense. Yui from Diabolik Lovers was ridiculous. I mean. No. If a vampire is telling you to make him food while you're worried about skipping classes, clearly your priorities are not right. Also Brothers Conflict. The main character was a little irritating in my opinion. And I already said Starry Sky. 
A Cover for Otome Game
(and Anime) Amnesia

Anyway, now that THIS rant is over, I shall tell you why I made this. It's because I am currently watching a new reverse harem that recently began this year. The anime is called Kamigami no Asobi.  It consists of 12 episodes and has it's first season finished. So far it is not that bad I think? But I'm only on the 4th episode. Not much can be said yet. I hope to be making a review on it when I finish.

3 comments:

  1. AND THIS IS WHY I LOVE SPORTS ANIME. You get the reverse harem of hot, talented, well-rounded guys for a cast, without the centered female lead that totally destroys what could otherwise be an amazingly deep plot.

    You also get the action of the sports, adrenalin highs, motivation, and you learn about sports WITHOUT HAVING TO ACTUALLY PLAY THEM. And even with sports anime, they still have female characters that add dimension to the story, whether it be them as players, coaches, or just friends of the characters that are insanely funny and relate to the feelings of the female readers (i.e Aida Riko from KnB and the girl from Free! Iwatobi Swim Club even though it was 70% fanservice and 30% actual sports)!

    Downside, there are only a select few sports anime that have decent/tolerable until you get used to it - amazing art :( Those select few being Kuroko no Basuke (a die hard fave with PoT), Free! Iwatobi Swim Club (bruh...), Prince of Tennis (I cannot stress this anime enough) and a new favorite of mine that is ongoing atm, Haikyuu! There are a lot of other sports anime, but I either can't stand the art or the story line/cast are up to par. And because sports anime are primarily made of action type shots, it's hard to read the manga when the action is better executed in animation.

    So yeah. There was my not so mini rant on sports anime that I might as well continue on my own blog. REVERSE HAREMS FTW.

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    1. And I watched a few episodes of Kamigami no Asobi and couldn't get past it because of the super hella cheesy lines ^-^" It's just not one of my things... I might get back into it if your overall review is well because I saw gifsets of it and they looked really funny. The art is really nice and the characters are all well-rounded too. But... THAT SAILOR MOON LIKE TRANSFORMATION FROM BLONDIE I WAS DYING XDDDD

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  2. Frankly, I'm not a fan of bishounen. They're too . . . PRETTY. Boys shouldn't be prettier than girls. And the heroines ARE pretty unrealistic and frustrating. Like seriously, NO ONE can just HAPPEN to say the perfect thing to say to a TOTAL STRANGER and heal them by their own knowledge and understanding. AND the heroine takes WAY too long to figure out who she's in love with. OH MY GOSH JUST MAKE UP YOUR MIND WOMAN!!!

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