Harem ( ハーレムもの , hāremumono , " harem works") is a genre of light novels , manga , anime , and video games focusing on a main character surrounded by multiple potential romantic or sexual partners. Originating in Japan in the 1970s, its popularity increased during the late 1980s and 1990s with the advent of dating simulator games. The genre often features a protagonist who's surrounded by three or more suitors , love interests and/or sexual partners . Harem works are frequently comedies that rely on self-insert protagonists of whom allow projection for the viewer, often accompanied with an ensemble cast of supporting characters. A story featuring a heterosexual male or homosexual female protagonist paired with an all-female/ yuri harem is informally referred to as a female harem or seraglios , while a heterosexual female or gay male protagonist paired with an all-male harem series is informally referred to as a male harem , reverse harem , or gyaku hāremu ( 逆 ハーレム ) . Although originating in Japan, the genre later inspired variants in Western media.
27-481: Aoi House is a harem original English-language (OEL) manga series written by Adam Arnold, with art by Shiei, and published by Seven Seas Entertainment . The story follows the misadventures of two down-on-their-luck college guys named Alexis "Alex" Roberts and Sandy Grayson who are thrown out of their college dorm and join an anime club dominated by crazed yaoi fangirls . College roommates Alexis "Alex" Roberts and Sandy Grayson have been evicted from their dorm after
54-783: A day-night cycle with a time scheduling system that provides context and relevance to character interactions, allowing players to choose when and if to interact with certain characters, which in turn influences their responses during later conversations. While bishōjo games make up the bulk of dating sims, other types of games exist. Games where the player character is female and potential objects of affection are male are known as GxB or otome games . Homosexual relationships are also possible, as there are games with no specific gender lines ("all pairings"). There are also girls' love games, which focus on female/female relationships, and boys' love games, which focus on male/male pairings. There are many variations on this theme: high-school romances are
81-430: A video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. While dating sims share a similar visual presentation with visual novels , they are distinct genres. Dating sims are largely dependent on statistical calculations to drive the plot, whilst visual novels focus on telling a branching story . Nevertheless, the term "dating sim" has become a generic term for romance-driven games ( 恋愛ゲーム , ren'ai games) in
108-402: A double-feature with the comedy Vampire Cheerleaders (written by Arnold and illustrated by Aoi House artist Shiei) as Vampire Cheerleaders: Vol. 1 . Carlo Santos of Anime News Network stated that Aoi House was a "fun, fast reading, much like the comedies it borrows from". However, he criticized the work for "[stumbling] in its search for parody". IGN ' s A. E. Sparrow praised
135-566: A same-sex harem anime would be Kyo Kara Maoh! , which features a male protagonist with male characters comprising his harem. Especially in dating sim visual novels, it has become increasingly common for harems to feature characters of multiple genders, with the player choosing whether to pursue an opposite- or same-sex relationship. Many harem works have fallen under criticism for unrealistic and often misogynistic portrayals of women and relationships. Female harem members frequently lack agency and personalities of their own, other than desire for
162-450: A series of infractions, the latest involving showing lewd anime , and the antics of Sandy's pet hamster, Echiboo. After seeing a flyer for the anime clubhouse AOI House, the two men believed they found the perfect place. However, the two boys soon learn that the clubhouse consists of five crazed yaoi fangirls who have mistaken Alex and Sandy for a gay couple—the flyer having neglected to mention that only girls and gay guys were permitted and
189-517: Is done specifically to let the readers insert themselves in the character's stead or develop sympathy for the character. Many harem love interests are easily enamored with the self-insert; falling for the main character because of simple kindness or coincidence, often described as due to their low self-esteem. Harem works frequently put off commitment to any specific love interest for as long as possible, sometimes indefinitely; commonly executed by oblivious or easily-flustered protagonists. By leaving
216-587: The January 2006 issue. Four graphic novels were published by Seven Seas between May 15, 2006 and June 10, 2008. On December 4, 2006, Seven Seas Entertainment released a Flash animated music video dedicated to Aoi House to YouTube , Newgrounds , and Gomanga.com. Aoi House: The Music Video was animated by Jonathan Talas and set to the Aoi House Theme Song – "Itsumo Futaride" by The J Brothers. The music video received 150,000 views during its first week and
243-549: The West. Dating sims are often dialog-heavy and focus on time management: The player must befriend and carefully build and maintain a relationship with one or more characters. Statistics largely underlie the game mechanics . The dating simulator genre was preceded by the raising simulation genre best codified by the Princess Maker series by Gainax , which focused on child raising rather than dating. The first game that set
270-536: The club. While he does not actually have a definite ending in the epilogue, a man with his earrings greets Jessica at Seattle Grace Hospital with a stethoscope around his neck. A hooded boy named Kevin Cardenas – In charge of their AMVs and has a thing for Morgan (calling her "McCutie") as well as any girl he sees. Moves to Tokyo in the epilogue just for the girls A boy with glasses named Dale Stevens – The club's artist. He gets roped into moving to Tokyo along with Kevin in
297-456: The clubhouse's original name was "Yaoi House", but the "Y" fell off of the clubhouse's sign. Once the truth is revealed that Sandy and Alex are two straight males, the two boys are allowed to stay because the housing committee has been on AOI House's case to get more members. The girls have some fun with Sandy and Alex in an attempt to turn them into yaoi-lovers, or at least make them the lodge's token gay couple. Mason Blue – The de facto leader of
SECTION 10
#1732875872378324-429: The comic as a must read for anyone who is a fan of harem manga and included Aoi House in the top ten manga of 2006. Matthew Alexander, writing for The Fandom Post , stated that while the artwork was passable, the writing really shines. He enjoyed the humor of having two straight guys living with hot girls who only enjoys anime featuring male homosexuality. PopCultureShock gave Aoi House a positive review, stating that
351-484: The crazy and perverse female house members is what makes the series so much fun. Harem anime The most distinguishable trait of harem works is the presence of a single protagonist surrounded by multiple different characters who are treated as options for a sexual or romantic relationship. In some instances, the plot may follow an additional arc for the protagonist and these characters to embark on together; however, many harem works, especially dating sims , focus on
378-546: The epilogue. A girl named Kimberly Ann and her pet pig named Luna-P (A reference of Chibiusa 's Luna-P Ball ). She goes on to win American Idol numerous time in the epilogue. The open lesbian Sanae – Has a crush on Nina, as well as calling out that Maria's breasts were bigger than Kimberly Ann's. She kissed Nina at one point during the Con Caper, and somehow got both her and Elle into bed (much to their horror when they wake up
405-593: The game ends, the player either loses the game if he failed to properly win over any of the girls, or "finishes" one of the girls, often by having sex with her, marrying her (as in Magical Date ), and/or achieving eternal love. This gives the games more replay value , since the player can focus on a different girl each time, trying to get a different ending. Dating sims often revolve almost entirely around relationship-building, usually featuring complex character interactions and branching dialogue trees , and often presenting
432-524: The game wanted to have experiences like this back in his high school days". The game was a strong hit in Japan, with 1.1 million copies by 1996. In general, simulation games (such as Tokimeki Memorial ) or the train sim like Densha de Go! were more popular in Japan than in America which preferred more action orientated video games. Games such as Sakura Wars and Persona (both series started in 1996,
459-553: The game. The Star Ocean series of RPGs also feature dating sim elements in a similar manner. Some Japanese dating sims may allow the player to have romantic or sexual relationships with characters in their teens. The degree of sexual content varies, but may often include intercourse. Sexually explicit dating sims may fall into the category of H Game or Eroge . Eroge only gets released to PC because large Japanese game companies do not want to release games with sexual content on their game consoles. Because of this, Eroge companies make
486-415: The latter would add dating sim elements in 2006 ) are RPGs with dating sim elements. In a typical dating sim, the player controls a male avatar surrounded by female characters. The gameplay involves conversing with a selection of girls, attempting to increase their internal "love meter" through correct choices of dialogue. The game lasts for a fixed period of game time, such as one month or three years. When
513-447: The most common, but a dating sim may also take place in a fantasy setting and involve such challenges as defending one's girl from monsters. One game series that often includes dating, with the goal of marriage, is the farm life sim series Harvest Moon . The subplot of dating is more focused towards choosing one of several girls or guys (dependent on the player character's gender) and offering them presents or joining them on events in
540-460: The next morning) after the epilogue. Aoi House first began as a webcomic written by Adam Arnold and illustrated by Jim Jimenez and initially ran from January 24, 2005 through April 15, 2005. The webcomic was picked up by Seven Seas and was republished with new artwork by Shiei on Seven Seas' Gomanga.com beginning on May 23, 2005. The comic was later serialized in Newtype USA starting with
567-440: The player's possible responses word-for-word as the player character would say them. Dating sims such as Tokimeki Memorial , and some role-playing games with similar relationship based mechanics to the genre such as Persona , often give choices that have a different number of associated "mood points" which influence a player character's relationship and future conversations with a non-player character . These games often feature
SECTION 20
#1732875872378594-478: The protagonist ends together in a polyamorous relationship with all of the suitors. While most harem works focus on a male protagonist with women or gay male suitors, "reverse" harem works focus on female protagonists courted by men or queer women. Although most harem works tend to be binary and heteronormative , works in the genre can contain characters of various gender identities and sexualities, including many yaoi and yuri harem works. An example of
621-405: The protagonist's desires and choices unclear, viewers with different preferences are able to continue their self-insertion without coming into conflict with source material canon . Most Harem works end with the main character pairing up with one or more of their suitors, with some games and visual novels featuring branched endings dependent on player choice. A "harem ending" occurs in works where
648-435: The relationships themselves (and the tension and competition between different potential partners) as the key driver of the plot. While harem works are a loose genre and vary greatly, certain tropes that lend themselves to reader self-insertion are common. The protagonist, commonly an everyman -archetype, often has very little characterization other than general amicability and reacting passively to their surroundings. This
675-558: The self-insert protagonist and one-dimensional visual and personality traits to differentiate them from other love interests. Critics have also argued that harem genre tropes around a passive protagonist effortlessly picking and choosing from multiple eager suitors furthers the mythos of men being entitled to female affection, and can lead impressionable male readers to react negatively to being rejected by women in real life. Dating sims Dating sims , or romance simulation games ( 恋愛シミュレーションゲーム , ren'ai shimyurēshon gēmu ) , are
702-418: The standard for the dating sim genre was Dōkyūsei (1992), which relied more on timed events than dialogue choices. However, Tokimeki Memorial (1994) truly popularized dating sims in Japan, in which the player, a high school student has the ability to date a dozen different girls. The goal of the developers was to hearken back to high school days. Konami director Akihiko Nagata said "the person who created
729-581: Was listed on YouTube's "Top Favorites (This Week) in Arts & Animation". It was also awarded Newgrounds's "Daily 2nd Place" award in December 2006. The music video was featured on the bonus DVD of April 2007 issue of Newtype USA . On March 17, 2010, Seven Seas announced the creation of the comedy manga Paranormal Mystery Squad , an Aoi House spin-off featuring Stephanie and Katie Kane, which will be written by Arnold Arnold and illustrated by Comipa, and will appear as
#377622