"Harem" is pretty fucking useless as a genre descriptor or tag, mainly because it refers to basically 4 different things.>Actual Harem. A collection of intimate partners who have little problem "sharing" their love interest in both emotional and physical aspects. I find these to be exceedingly rare, to the point I don't even ascribe this definition to the general "harem" tag. And when it does happen it's either at the very end of a work as a "reward for the journey" or the population of the "harem" is very small. 2 or 3 individuals at most. Supporting or side characters may have these but it's almost always just background dressing and has no impact on the tag.>A collection of strung along love interests who are all in a cold war "competing" with each other over the main character (male or female) without actually sharing them in an appreciable manner romantically. This is what I ascribe to the "harem" tag when I see it even though it's not by definition a harem. It's dumb, and rarely executed well. I see this type in as many stories without the "harem" tag as with, making the tag itself (or lack of) generally useless.>A series, usually not more than 3, of different relationships over the course of the story. With beginnings and ends but all from the perspective of the same character (MC). Also sometimes adopting the "harem" tag.>No official relationships and the MC is minding their own business but is pursued by multiple love interests with no resolution, usually used as a vehicle to fan the ego of the self insert template.
I've seen the term Harem applied to all of the above both in conversation as well as through category tags interchangeably. I've never seen an actual "Stable of a half dozen or more intimate partners waiting for the MC once they return to their domicile" in maybe the hundreds of stories I've read as a principle part of the story. if it happens, and it's rare as hell, it happens as the "hero/heroine" got their reward" conclusion. As part of a supporting character as background? Sure. Main Character? Cannot think of one. Not even in ancient imperial Chinese inspired stories involving an MC deigned to be emperor. Their father? Sure, Brothers? sure, Them? nope. It's hard for me to even think of a story I've read where an MC is juggling even two lovers openly or secretly beyond maybe 2 or 3 very famous cases.It's funny to see people say they hate harems when honestly I don't think there is enough actual harem content out there for there to even be a critical mass of content to hate - unless we are talking about all the love interests chasing an oblivious or disinterested MC.
>everyone understands what a harem is>but actually *autistic rambling*
>>283040800Harem being an umbrella term should never have happened.
>>283040882This
>>283040800spbp
2 and 4 are the sameno one actually calls 3 harem outside of when it's a subset of 2
>>283041116This, OP is retarded.
>>283040882Nah it's a good thing. Same with isekai as you just filter that shit out.
Having a harem vs being in the process of getting one since a harem end is always an option. It's the same way romance describes being in a relationship and trying to woo someone. The term is fine.
>>283040719This kind of stuff is true for pretty much every single genre or tag in existence. Very few if any of them are anywhere near as meaningful or well-defined as people like to think they are.
don't care, silver a best.
>>283041385They're well defined. There's just so many things that can happen throughout the course of a story that it's not worth it to have a name for each.
>>283041465And the more specific the tag the more of a straight spoiler it becomes. Has action: it's an action I don't need to know "action that contains hotheads losing it on others".
>>283040719Now we have also polyamories.
>>283040800/thread
>>283040719Actual Harem, Soft Harem, Native Harem and Dishonest Harem
>>283042421/thread
>>283040719Harem is just where Muslims keep their women safe so they don't get raped in the street by a 70 IQ serf whose goat was tired
>>283040719>watch this series>EVERY SINGLE GIRL is inferior to NatsukawaIt wasn't even fair to the other females in this series.
Did oreshura get an ending?
>>283045041It did. Fairly sure silver won, but don't quote me on that.
>>283045287No one won decisively.
>>283040719>this well established term is useless based on my personal, incorrect understanding of it kill yourself newfag
>>283041358Isekai isn't a genre either"The protagonist is from another world" doesn't tell you what kind of world it it or what to expect
>>283041447this.>>283044349>main girls is best.a refreshing change.
>>283040719>"Harem" is pretty fucking useless as a genre descriptor or tag, mainly because it refers to basically 4 different things.Because you’re trying to reverse engineer it like a fucking retard. Instead of trying to granulate between every single outcome of a thematic choice, a retarded sisyphean task, just ask>What is the author trying to do?Harem is simply the addition of more equally present female love interests for the reader to enjoy. Your actual criticism is how harem doesn’t offer satisfying narrative conclusions.
>>283040719Pink > Silver >>>> Black >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Orange
Don't forget "a bunch of girls like the MC, but its obvious from day one he already loves one girl, so the rest have no chance and are just getting strung along for the duration of the series because fuck them I guess".
>>283040719No it refers to one thing>three or more bitches who want to suck MC's schlong
>>283040719All of these are shit so it is a useful tag for avoiding shit.
>>283040719ehm, the idea of a harem, both based on china's emperor or muslim's tradition, is completely different from reality
>>283051258That's not what tags are for. Tags are for finding stuff, not filtering stuff out
>>283050806Useless because that says nothing about how he feels about any of them
>>283049311>Harem is simply the addition of more equally present female love interests for the reader to enjoy.This is just as present in non-harem shows as it is in harem ones, so it's useless
>>283045287>>283045356Silver won but decided to turn this into a sexless harem.
>>283044349...and yet she lost to the orange doggie.
>>283040719I hope you haven't read Umi no Misaki OP, because I haven't read a better harem yet.>is either at the very end of a work as a "reward for the journey" My favourite manhwa is guilty of this, Webtoon Character Na Kang Lim, the guy keeps the girls in suspence, it is a bit understandable because he does love them all, but we just get a timeskip, we don't get to see their reaction to finding out what he had been enduring behind the scenes, how they started dating for real, is 172 chapters, very thick chapters too unlike most Manhwas but while the characters are great it suffer from that typical "wall" that is in so many Romcoms, where character can only progress to a point and then they have to suffer this anxiety of being blocked....and with all those girls, we only get 1 chapter and a half.
>>283040721I don't think actual Ottoman-style historical harems have ever been used in manga except in cases where the main character is someone on the outskirtsProbably because the main character being the Sultan would really make him look like a shitty person
