**Quick post summary:** harem anime suck, coz characters get hurt and i feel for them…
Harems suck, and i’m glad i can acknowledge that now.
When i was a teen, around 14-16 so when i first got into anime, i used to love them. A harem of girls interested into the main character and their interactions filled with jealousy, just lead to a crap ton of comedy. What was even better, wherever there was an option where one of the girls actually won, i would almost without fail, side with the girl who ends up winning (getting with the guy) but i’d always feel real bad for the others.
Then as i grew older, i watched shows with love triangles and harems but, these shows had more weight to them. The characters felt more real and like actual people then just characters created for a story. Best examples of this are “my teen romantic comedy” and “the quintessential quintuplets”. In the first one, the girl i preferred ended up with the MC, but i felt real freaking bad for the other… and then with the latter… A harem anime which i still adore even tho i now have a thing against harems. The one i prefered, ended up losing. She did not end with the MC and i then realised how the nisekoi fans felts.
I’m not sure if its coz i’m considered an empath, or if i just really connected with the characters due to my own experiences with romantic relationships but i really felt their pain. Their heartbreak and their frustrations. Their sadness had found it’s way to me. I may not have wept for them, but i certainly felt for them. I can understand love triangles even tho i’m not the biggest fan but harem anime, i just can not.
I’m just glad that animes with one pairing and no other rivals for affection are common. This seems to be a trend and one that i’m really enjoying. All of that being said, i wonder how i would feel about harems if i was ever in one. Would i care for the others like i do for these characters or would i only think about myself, and just enjoy it. Probably not gonna be losing much sleep over this but whatever.
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