The term, harem, tends to crop up a lot when various anime series are discussed. Now, in the unlikely event that this is your first foray into anime, and visions of Arabic princes with forty-odd wives fill your head, I need to explain one or two things. Well, maybe one.

The word harem (like many other words) was simply adapted to describe situations in anime where the main character is male, and the majority of the remaining protagonists are female, are various ages within one or two years of the main character, and they all have various levels of feelings towards the main character. These feelings tend to vary in type and intensity.

Surrounded by beautiful girls - what more could a guy want? (Shuffle! and Seto no Hanayome)

The harem theme is ubiquitous enough to have almost become a genre in it’s own right – as a matter of fact, most of your romantic comedies (if not all of them), several romantic dramas and pretty much everything else all have the theme included in one way or another. If you doubt the veracity of this statement, look around: if one part of the cast is male, another part is female – it will crop up in one form or another.

In any case, based on my examination of the term, I’ve decided to look at the harem genre in general, and tie together common elements you find in any harem anime. For the purposes of this particular post, I’m focusing on anime that specifically deal with romance as its central theme.

I’ve decided to post some examples from shows I’ve watched in the past – Shuffle!, Kanon, Clannad, Midori no Hibi and Mahoromatic provide some great examples – so I’ll be using those shows as a basis for comparison.

And so, the elements:

The Main Character:

Okazaki Tomoya (Clannad)

… is almost always male. He’s just your average high-school (or junior high) student, and there is absolutely nothing special about him. He’s not particularly sporty, his marks are pretty much average, or low enough that he needs to turn to one of his female companions for lessons. Romance blossoms in the most unlikely of places, and tutoring sessions fit the bill perfectly.

He also has a less than average interest in members of the opposite sex. As a matter of fact, acquiring a girlfriend is the least of his worries. He tends not to notice the fact that girls can actually be attracted to him.

Rin (Shuffle!), Yuuichi (Kanon), Tomoya (Clannad), Suguru (Mahoromatic)

The Main Character’s Best Mate:

Sunohara (Clannad)

He is also always a male (sometimes there’s more than one). Unlike his friend, he is interested in members of the opposite sex, and is desperately trying to find himself a girlfriend. He almost never succeeds, because all the main female cast-members are too busy staring at the main character. Despite the fact that these girls only represent a miniscule proportion of the viable girls in his general vicinity, it never seems to occur to him to try his luck somewhere else.

The best mate falls into two categories. He’s either incredibly smart, street-wise and together, or he’s massively stupid. You also, almost never, get to hear them called by their given name.

Sunohara (Clannad), Midoriba (Shuffle!)

The rival:

This particular character doesn’t always appear. But when he does, he’s loud, mostly annoying, and always trying to fight with the main character in an attempt to get the girl he’s in love with to go out with him – sometimes he is also the main character’s best mate.

He also usually fails. Actually, he’s usually so annoying you don’t want him to succeed in any case.

See the section above.

The love triangle:

This needs mentioning before I even get to the female cast. Every romance anime – and by extension every harem anime – has a love triangle. Since there is more than one girl interested in the main character.

The love triangle, as a matter of fact, is the simplest form of complication. Since your typical harem-type anime contains at least three and as many as six or seven (if not more) girls, you have triangles, squares, and multi-sided shapes that mathematicians are still desperately trying to find names for. Keeping in mind that the main character is an average high-schooler, you can understand the levels of confusion he needs to deal with.

The pace of introduction

The female protagonists are never all introduced in the first episode. They tend to get spread out a bit, but you’ll usually find that all the main players are on stage by the fourth of fifth episode.

So, now we move on to our female cast. Keep in mind that the personalities you see below are not all separate – in many cases you’ll find more than one trait in a single girl. So, the class rep might be the smart one, the childhood friend could be the good cook (usually is too) and so on. Run some of your favourite characters through your head and see where they fit in.

The childhood friend:

Kaede

She’s usually the first girl you’ll see. She’s known the main character since they were toddlers or pre-schoolers, and knows him better than anyone else. She also lives in the near vicinity, sometimes around the corner, sometimes next door, and in some cases, in the same house.

Most of the time, she has a crush of some sort on the main character, which she refuses to admit to. There’s no way she could love him … of course not!! We’re friends … that’s all!!

Nayuki (Kanon), Rin, Chizuko, Miyuki (Mahoromatic), Kaede (Shuffle!)

The transfer student:

Lisianthus

This one gets usually gets introduced at some point in the first episode – usually towards the end, once the relationship, murky as it is, between the main character and the childhood friend has been established.

She doesn’t know the main character from a bar of soap, but takes an immediate interest in him, and somewhere along the line feelings blossom.

Lisianthus, Nerine (Shuffle!), Tomoyo (Clannad)

The class rep:

Ayase Takako

Every class needs one of these. Whether she’s the loud type or the shy type (look at Clannad, it’s got both), she is initially cold towards the main character. But some event during the progression of the series causes her to change her viewpoint, and eventually she also starts having feelings for the main character.

Ayase Takako (Midori no Hibi), Kyou, Ryou (Clannad)

The good cook:

Asa

One of the girls will be a good, if not exceptional cook. She loves cooking, and she will at some point use her skills to prepare a lunch-box for the main character, which will, of course, be delicious. At this point the best mate usually laments his lack of home-made lunches. And tries to steal a bite from the prepared lunch.

Nayuki (Kanon), Kaede, Asa (Shuffle!), Nagisa (Clannad), Mahoro (Mahoromatic)

The bad cook:

Ayu

If there’s a good cook, there’s bound to be a bad cook in the story somewhere. She never really latches onto the idea of cooking until she sees the good cook’s lunch-box, at which point she will usually try it out herself in the hopes of catching the main character’s eye. After a disastrous evening in the kitchen (usually an all-nighter) and several explosions, the lunch is prepared, and it looks great. Chances are it will taste really bad though.

Nerine (Shuffle!), Ryou (Clannad), Ayu (Kanon)

The smart girl:

Kotomi

She’s smart. Really smart. She gets excellent grades, but she’s also a complete bookworm. Usually the smart girl is also the shy one. But, because she’s smart, she also has the opportunity to get closer to the main character, because at some point he’s going to need some help with his school work.

Takako, Midori (Midori no Hibi), Nerine (Shuffle!), Kotomi (Clannad)

The shy one:

Midori

Our shy girl is the one that almost never gets noticed, because she’s so quiet. But she’s had her eye on the main character for a long time now, and she believes she knows all his hidden (good) qualities. But because she’s so shy, and believes she isn’t pretty enough, it takes a while for her to come out of her shell. But when she does, she’s good competition for the other girls.

Nagisa, Ryou (Clannad), Midori (Midori no Hibi)

The sporty one:

Tomoyo

This girl is pretty damn good at sport and you can almost guarantee that’s she’s one of the best at what she does in the school – be it swimming, volleyball or running. But, she’s usually not good at expressing herself to the main character, and hides her feelings by being loud and brash most of the time. She also worries that she might be a bit too much of a tomboy and not feminine enough for the main character to pay attention to. Experimentations in femininity are bound to take place.

Tomoyo (Clannad), Misaki (Mahoromatic)

The loli:

Primulaa

One of the girls is going to be either small, or young, or just plain underdeveloped. But she’s not going to let that hold her back – some guys are into things like that after all. Like the rest, she’s hot on the heels of the love of her life, but because of her disadvantages (especially in terms of bust size), she also tends to be a little bit more reckless than the others.

Primula, Mayumi (Shuffle!), Fuuko (Clannad), Ayu (Kanon), Shiori (Midori no Hibi)

Okay. Now looking at the above, I’m starting to think that I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the different personalities your typical harem has to offer, but I believe I’ve covered the main ones. If I go on this post is going to become unbearably long.

If you want harem overload, go read Ken Akamatsu’s Negima! – 30 plus girls of various personalities should keep you more than entertained.

Are there more? What personality types have you seen in harem anime that you think I should include. And which of your favourites fall into one of the categories listed above? Sound off in the comments and let me (and other readers) know.

Now, moving on – I believe it’s almost time for a quick preview of what the 2010 Autumn release schedule has to offer, and I’ll be offering some tips on world domination – anime style. Also – look forward to the introduction of our mascot.

Til then.