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Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - 100 Girlfriends Is The Endgame Of Harem Anime
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2266 |
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Bless 22i for giving BokuBen fans the omnibus end. Long shot heroine fans found peace and contentment instead of worst girl winning. Except spoiler[Rizu fans, they got dumpstered like 50 chapters in and never stopped.] As a lapsed one, I pity them.
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jmckenna15
Posts: 136 |
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We Never Learn is still one of my favorite harems even with the ending mainly owing to the fact that even with the pick-your-own-ending, each of the girls had a unique relationship with Nariyuki that only they could have. They weren't interchangeable and if any girl did wind up being the winner, you could easily support the decision based on what was built up (and the different endings bolstered that). Plus he is a genuinely nice and caring guy (albeit more than a little dense) that is easy to root for.
Meanwhile Quints, albeit with some good character moments in the second season, didn't have as great of a male lead for me. He was harder to like, and the eventual winner was somebody who I really didn't think got a lot of development or screen time compared with the others. Even if it became obvious who it was, I wasn't over the moon with the ending. As for Girlfriend Girlfriend, as a manga reader I'm still keeping a tight lip on how that winds up, but if it's gets 2 more seasons, I think it'll bring the authors around. 100 GF is crazy harem fun, but KanoKano is certainly just as enjoyable. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2275 Location: Online Terminal |
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Bless you, Nicholas Dupree |
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chrisb
 Subscriber Posts: 624 Location: USA |
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I genuinely dislike Mirika in Girlfriend, Girlfriend. I feel that the other 3 girls have perfect chemistry/conflict and bring enough comedy to the show. Mirika’s behavior comes across as toxic and stalker-ish. Naoya’s actions in the last episode were also extremely annoying. He’s transitioning from likable idiot to total idiot. I read some of the future manga volumes and it does seem to improve (Shino’s arc is perfect), but the story for now is losing its charm.
100 Girlfriends avoids the tension in most harem anime and still manages to have an enjoyable story. It surprised me with how heartfelt it could be and the dynamic between the girls is sweet. |
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JustMonika
Posts: 1061 |
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The best thing ever invented by a human
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Akcoll99
Posts: 243 |
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We Never Learn- I think this series did a good job of making each girl unique and distinguishable, and giving each one a compelling reason for being in love with Nariyuki. He was also quite likeable and it was easy to root for any of them to couple up at the end. I developed a heavy personal preference for Mafuyu, so the "multiple endings" approach worked for me because it meant I got one for her that I could personally consider 'canon.'
Nisekoi- I couldn't make it all the way through the anime or the manga of this one. It's good to hear it stuck the landing, but the 'tsundere's tsundere' approach on the female lead made it hard for me to enjoy. 100 Girlfriends- Sheer brilliance. I can't remember the last I laughed this hard at an anime. It manages to take digs at all the tropes of harem anime while also showing how to do them right. I'm curious to see if we make it all the way to 100, but so far the first 13 or so we've met in the manga (up to where I've read in the American release) have all been great, well-developed characters. Girlfriend Girlfriend- I've only seen the anime, but to me, it looks like it's bending towards expanding the harem, with as many as four girls all vying for attention. Male lead seems up for it, but how will the girls cope? I'm anxious to see where it goes. I'd love for the manga to get a physical release in the US as well. Rent-A-Girlfriend- Ugh. This series. A case study in how to make a male lead as annoying and as unlikeable as possible. None of these girls would realistically have an inkling of a feeling for this immature twit and he doesn't deserve any of them. Such an unlikeable series. I genuinely don't get its success or appeal. Harem In The Labyrinth Of Another World- While I appreciated a harem anime with actual sex in it (despite the term "harem," they tend to be so chaste...) it is rightfully pointed out they forgot the "harem" part until the last episode and a half. Points off for that. Outside the sex scenes, the show was very meh. How Not To Summon A Demon Lord- On the other hand, this is one series that is really fun and likeable while also not ignoring sex as a component of the relationships. Diablo's "marriages" to Rem and Shera are genuinely sweet and I've enjoyed watching them grow into a true polyamorous throuple. Love To Lie Angle- Super cute and proof we need more yuri harem series. I'm sorry it was Digital Manga who got the license for the manga. Like just about everything else they ever touched, we only got one volume before being dumped/forgotten about... Quintessential Quintuplets- They mentioned this in the piece, but my biggest complaint was that the "winning" sister was the one who probably got the smallest amount of screen time/character development. QQ got me rooting for at least two other sisters, only to pull the rug out at the last minute. Killed some of my enjoyment of it. My Next Life As A Villainess- haven't checked this one out, but I appreciate the bi-harem approach. Smartphone- Haven't seen this one either, but haven't heard much good about it. |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2168 |
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It feels honestly weird seeing Nisekoi so fondly remembered, because I remember when it first came out, and the overwhelming fandom consensus was that it was just utterly and shamelessly derivative. A cup of Ranma, a cup of Love Hina, a tablespoon of Sumomomo Momomo, and so on. The typical reaction seemed to be "Double Arts died for this?".
I'd been in anime fandom about five years when Nisekoi debuted in 2011, and harem romance already felt like it'd been around forever. From its origins in Ranma and Tenchi Muyo to titles like Saber Marionette J, Love Hina, I"s, To Heart, Vandread, Negima, shoujo series like Fushigi Yuugi and Ouran, and so many more. It does make me a little sad that you didn't have time to talk about pre-2010s series, because there's a lot to potentially dig into in the evolution of the genre. (Side note, it wasn't until quite a while into QuintQuints's run that I fully realized how popular it had gotten, but I think going by Oricon sales, it might honestly have been the most popular shonen romance manga -- strictly talking about series from "proper" shonen mags -- since Love Hina. I never quite got what people saw in it.) |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2266 |
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L0ken
Posts: 79 |
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Nothing I can add to 100 girlfriends discussion, since manga came out just in right time when I was fed up with common horseracing bullshit and harembaits that produced more frustration then satisfaction in the end. 100kano came out of nowhere and gave me 100 times more then I ever hoped for a harem romcom series to be, so I don't want to write another essay gushing about it simply existing, please support this gem of a genre and buy manga volumes if you like what it's doing.
Instead I have directly the opposite opinion about We Never Lean and Nisekoi then Nick and Chris do. While it wasn't apparent through WNL anime adaption, which straight up cuts entire half and more of the manga chapters and story, including full recurring side characters and most importantly, personal character arcs of all the girls besides Fumino only to get to rushed anime-original ending, inspired by the final chapters of one of the girl route that weren't released back then. Thus making anime basically a worse demo-version of source material... Yeah, anime may be it's own thing compared to the manga. So I believe route approach worked and defended by so many because through entire manga series it has specific slice-of-life daily tone where Nariyuki kinda evenly spend time with each of the 5 girls, there weren't dominating girls in screentime unlike the anime, everyone got their personal arc and unique interactions with him, all while Nariyuki hadn't developed a strong preference that may hint who is the definite "right one". 1-volume route arcs for each girl were enough slices of story to make us believe that any outcome could really happen based on entire manga prior. Naturally WNL may not completely avoided waifuwars and horseracing in the community like 100 girlfriends easily does, but the overall tone of manga and girls being friendly with each other still weren't as spiteful or competitive as many other romcoms do. I finished it with fond memories and kinda satisfied, so I recommend to check out the manga. Nisekoi on the other hand definitely doesn't have universally liked reputation and was often citied as one of the most frustrating romcom experience, especially for very dragged 2nd half and unpleasant plot stalling moments. It had plenty of going on for itself in 1st half and some during it's 2nd half, but in the end I feel it didn't do most character justice or properly utilized their potential, some characters like Raku or Onodera felt degraded and disappointing. I wouldn't call it really bad, maybe on re-read it may be better experience, but Nisekoi still feels like as normal romcom experience, though it got great Shaft adaptation for Season 1. |
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zztop
Posts: 647 |
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That's on the source material's pacing. Unlike most harem series where they introduce the girls in quick succession at the start, Harem Labyrinth's girls are introduced in a more distantly paced manner. And then much of the story reads like a daily living record of dungeon diving, power grinding and daily chores. |
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Thespacemaster
Posts: 1137 |
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It's funny when the mentioned the bisexuality concept of My Next Life as a Villianous as that is one of the key aspects that made that series stand out among others.
As far as i have seen and read(keep in mind i have seen and read tiles for like 14plus years at this point). it is the only title that truly takes that approach when it comes to harem routes and potential suitors, i can't recal any other title that has at least as far as i am aware. The one key aspect i look in harem show is not so much the all the characters are interested in the mc it is more like how and why they like the lead and how it develops, while the harem route might be the''dream'' i prefer when an mc does pick someone at the end and even more when it has other female or male routes(for reverse harem) and not all of thema re interested in the mc. it makes the romance/harem of the ones that are feel more grounded and special, something a lot of modern stories forget these days. |
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quentntarantado
Posts: 13 |
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I am anime only so I don't know what's coming up beyond the episodes, but if we're going to reach a hundred, I do hope to see boys, lesbians, transvestites, hermaphrodites and more in the mix. People are objecting, "the poor girls, at 100, Rintaro can only spend less than 4 days a year with them".
Well, the girls, boys, transgenders, and such can love each other. It's Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love". All adults love each other and care for all the resulting children. I thought that's the best kind of society to have. |
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quentntarantado
Posts: 13 |
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However, since the title says "girlfriends" and in the manga, Rentarou has met 26 girlfriends, it's getting less and less likely anyone outside girls are going to be included.
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njprogfan
 Collector Extraordinaire Posts: 1193 Location: A River Named Toms |
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While I agree about the manga ending for We Never Learn, my fav girl got the first end arc and the others I remember were alternate endings AND to this day it's the funniest Rom-Com I've ever read; laugh-till-it-hurts funny which the 100 Girlfriends manga is coming mighty, mighty close and possibly surpassing. Out of all the others I'm either 'reading now' or 'already finished' or 'have no interest', except for Nisekoi, but some individual physical volumes, (I'm a collector) are way too expensive so I might try it digitally someday. I will agree with the guys about 100 Girlfriends, it's is the best Rom-Com to come around in a long while.
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Hiroki not Takuya
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