Harem is a genre that centers on polyandrous or polygynous relationships. This means that the main character, be it female or male, is surrounded by three or more love interests. Sometimes, they can be considered sexual partners. But, why are harem anime popular? Why is this genre loved by many people?
Does this mean that people agree with polygamy? Does the idea of having too many partners seem intriguing or interesting for those who prefer this genre?
We also noticed an increasing number of harem anime, particularly in the fantasy and isekai anime genres. What do those genres have to do with harem?
Some Popular Harem Anime
As the demand for harem anime increased, more manga, light novels, and anime about this genre have been released throughout the years.
In fact, in one anime season, it would be impossible not to have at least one anime containing a harem in the list of shows.
With this, we think it would be good to list down some popular harem anime for those who have not tried to watch this genre before.
A simple search will provide you with several popular titles, including Ouran High School Host Club, Clannad, High School DxD, and Monster Musume.
In fact, there are even anime shows that include the word “harem” in their title. Some examples are Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World and World’s End Harem.
What is interesting is that aside from harem anime containing polygamy (which is still not accepted in many cultures), harem anime also contain sexual scenes that give offense to how women are treated and represented.
Yet, the popularity of harem anime continues to increase, but why?
Why Are Harem Anime Getting Popular?
Although we can’t really tell why people prefer this genre as it differs per person, some harem anime watchers believe that their interest in the genre started with curiosity.
The question, “who among these characters will end up with the main character?”, is one of the driving factors that keep people hooked.
Since there are a lot of love interests, each viewer might have their own desired character for the lead to end up with, and they will want to know who gets to have a happily ever after.
For some people, it might be a secret fantasy of being loved by a lot of people or having romantic relations with several people.
As mentioned, polygamy is not accepted in most cultures, though there are some who approve of males having multiple wives.
Of course, there are also those who watch harem anime because of the sexual scenes as this genre usually contains a lot of those to attract more viewers, which might be the same case for those who watch hentai -- but that is another story.
Genres That Usually Contain Harem
Harem, unlike other genres like romance or horror, is usually considered a sub-genre of the main genre. We mentioned earlier that usually, isekai and fantasy have harem as a sub-genre.
Some viewers believe that the reason for this is that isekai and fantasy anime are usually set in ancient times wherein having multiple partners is considered a strength, especially in terms of abilities.
There are also those who believe that it has become a pattern, and as long as these types of combinations (isekai-harem and fantasy-harem) are in demand, more and more harem anime will be released.
With that said, those interested in watching harem anime should consider checking out isekai or fantasy anime.