37 replies to this topic

[Kuroshishi]

I hear this so often that I think y'all have a crush on him or something. It's not like I hate him, but I'm just not convinced.

[rh75]

Okay, I'll bite though my list will be short.

 

A. He is not a spineless MC.

   1. He is not afraid of females.

   2. He is not afraid of speaking his mind.

   3. He is not afraid of conflict.

 

B. He has to work for the girls.

   1. None of the girls fell in love with him just because he was alive.

   2. He has had to prove to each of the girls that they can rely on him or trust him.

   3. He is able to say the right thing at the right time.

 

C. He has no problem with females.

   1. He doesn't get embarassed around girls.

   2. He likes all girls and their breasts.

   3. He has no problem with naked girls.

   4. When he does have 'accidents,' he doesn't run away instead thanking them for the feast.

 

D. Has no problem being overpowered.

   1. He has no problem going full out against an enemy.

   2. He isn't a pacificist or prone to speaking about 'peace.'

   3. He still uses his power even though it'll strip those around him.

   4. He does the studying necessary to increase and control his power.

 

E. His attitude towards everything is refreshing.

   1. He says whatever he wants.

 

 

I'm sure I've repeated myself and that things could be condensed, but these are a few reasons why he is the best harem MC. Other harem MC may have one or two traits from what I listed but the vast majority don't.

 

Also why don't you explain a little why you're not convinced?

[Kuroshishi]

*sighs* To be honest, I haven't read Trinity Seven in like a year. I had almost forgotten why did Arata pissed me off and I didn't want to re-read the manga to find out. But thanks to you, now I remeber that my grudge was on a more personal level.

 

Disclaimer: I'm aware of what I'm writing in the next lines and how embarrasing it is. I may regret it, but that's just how I am.

 

Basically, Arata goes against "the dream". Kindness, ocassional coolness, idiotic straightfordwarness, etc. I want to believe in a world where one single trait is good enough, because the girls will always be in the right moment in the right spot to notice it and fall for the MC. A world where all the girls, all the enemies, all the plots, all the coincidences, absolultely everything converges to give an otherwise average person the opportunity to shine; to me, this is the beauty of harem manga.

 

Yes, I'm talking about me. I'm a terribly average human being. Not a villain nor a hero, just a passerby who girls don't notice. And even though I may have gone about it the wrong way, I have tried to appeal to them. I guess I'm just not good enough. But since the first harem anime I watched, Love Hina, I have thought that even a worthless under-achiever like me could be loved if the right circumstances were met.

 

On the oher side Arata is probably loved because he is a great guy, and he has the Harem MC gravitational pull to top it off. But I remember him as a player, even if he didn't take advantage of the girls feelings, I still preffer a dense or shy MC over one that is aware of his own harem. Harems are unstable relationships by default where some feeling may be hurt, so being aware of that and allowing it it's a fault per se.

 

But ultimately, you could say that I'm a petty guy pissed off at a popular dude, and you'd be right; that's exactly what I am.

[Rune.]

I own the Love Hina books. I tried watching the anime adaptation of it, but the first two episodes were so 'ugh' that I never watched any anime adapted from Akamatsu's works ever again.

 

*Spoilers, maybe?*

Anyway, Keitaro may have been an underachiever in the beginning, but that pretty much ended when he got accepted to Tokyo U. Also, the only "right circumstance" that I can think of that ever happened in Love Hina was that he started living at the Hinata House. I still don't understand your dislike of Arata since as a fellow harem MC, Keitaro improved a lot. He stopped being the average guy, and he was a great harem MC because of that.

 

Arata as a character is great because of what rh75 mentioned. He's immensely different from the spineless, so-shy-around-girls-they-might-as-well-be-into-dogs MCs. Arata is like that one friend a harem MC has that's incredibly perverted and open to girls, except in Arata's case, he is the MC instead of some background character, which makes him fun.

 

For me, my main reason as to why Arata is a really good harem MC is because he is a character on his own and not some bland, empty shell that the readers insert themselves into.

 

 

Other harem MCs worthy of being called good:

- Keima from The World God Only Knows (sees girls as his conquest targets in dating sims)

- Rintarou from Dragons Rioting (quite the badass, but is deathly afraid of girls, and ends up in really hilarious situations because of it; also, many references to other stuff)

- I'm actually not sure if I should count him as a harem MC, given that the manga only has a few volumes out, but the main girls are interested in him

- Issei from High School DxD (I read the light novels, and to me, it's like Dragon Ball with lots and lots of breasts; anime has two seasons out, third one announced)

[Oblivion0117]

On the oher side Arata is probably loved because he is a great guy, and he has the Harem MC gravitational pull to top it off. But I remember him as a player, even if he didn't take advantage of the girls feelings, I still preffer a dense or shy MC over one that is aware of his own harem. Harems are unstable relationships by default where some feeling may be hurt, so being aware of that and allowing it it's a fault per se.

 

As mentioned by rh75 it's not like Arata instantly had his harem. He worked for each and every one of them. Which means he's also going to do everything in his power to make sure they are happy, even if that means making everyone his enemy. I personally think that harem mc's that are completely oblivious to everything that's going on around them is far worse. The girls tend to get hurt far more with them than mc's like Arata and Issei from DxD who actively seek a harem. In fact in the case of DxD all the members of Issei's harem have been mentally and physically saved by him, a prime example being Akeno. On the other hand I can't tell you how many mc's faces I've wanted to smash in because they're so freaking dense that they hurt and or break people with every word they say.

 

Also it's not like Arata goes completely against the dream "Kindness, occasional coolness, idiotic straightforwardness" minus the occasional he's all of that. He doesn't start out the best either, true he has obvious potential to become that but at the very beginning he looses the person closest to him because of that exact same potential that he has no control over. So throughout the majority of the series so far he's constantly trying learn how to use it so he can get her back. Not to mention now that he has a fairly good idea of how to use it he has officially started on the path to a Magic King. Which means he also has to find a way to defy his fate of becoming the destroyer of worlds. 

 

So it's not like he's a perfect character, in fact he has a lot of flaws. I think what makes people like him so much is watching how he overcomes them while still pursuing his goals in style. Instead of the "Oh I have so much going on I'm only going to focus on one person's feelings and completely ignore everyone else's" It's much more pleasant watching someone say "So what if I have a crap load of things going on! I'm going to get everything I want and make sure that it ends with everyone happy no matter what it takes!". So maybe more than the "dream" it's the "ideal" that everyone wants to be and do that draws us to Arata.

[Windburns]

I guess I'm thankful and surprised that this harem manga doesn't use the childhood friend card, there's nothing wrong with a manga using it if it serves the interesting parts of the manga. But Trinity Seven didn't need such a thing.

[Grifford]

Hmmm I didn't think of him as a great harem MC so far... I thought of him as a guy who likes to fool around (he doesn't make much of a serious impression is what I really wanna say) and is ok with having a harem and the girls are somehow ok that every other girl also has feelings for the MC. What I missed so far is the emotional investment from Arata. Like I said he is ok with having a harem but he doesn't seem to have any particular romantic feeling towards any of the girls (I don't mean that he prefers just one girl, but that it doesn't feel like he's in "love" with any (all) of them). It doesn't look like he will return any of the feelings from the girls as long as he gets to see them naked.

That may change now since with the newest chapter (40) we have seen another reaction to one girl from him... so maybe he will come to return their feelings in the end? Then I would be satisfied haha.

[Oblivion0117]

Really? I thought he went fairly seriously after Lilith there for a while. While I do agree he hasn't shown much in terms of love for the other girls, he has shown affection and care far above the norm for them. Personally I think it's only a rocks throw away from being love but since he has so much on his plate atm he doesn't really have time to advance those feelings to the next step.

[imercenary]

*sighs* To be honest, I haven't read Trinity Seven in like a year. I had almost forgotten why did Arata pissed me off and I didn't want to re-read the manga to find out. But thanks to you, now I remeber that my grudge was on a more personal level.

 

Disclaimer: I'm aware of what I'm writing in the next lines and how embarrasing it is. I may regret it, but that's just how I am.

 

Basically, Arata goes against "the dream". Kindness, ocassional coolness, idiotic straightfordwarness, etc. I want to believe in a world where one single trait is good enough, because the girls will always be in the right moment in the right spot to notice it and fall for the MC. A world where all the girls, all the enemies, all the plots, all the coincidences, absolultely everything converges to give an otherwise average person the opportunity to shine; to me, this is the beauty of harem manga.

 

Yes, I'm talking about me. I'm a terribly average human being. Not a villain nor a hero, just a passerby who girls don't notice. And even though I may have gone about it the wrong way, I have tried to appeal to them. I guess I'm just not good enough. But since the first harem anime I watched, Love Hina, I have thought that even a worthless under-achiever like me could be loved if the right circumstances were met.

 

On the oher side Arata is probably loved because he is a great guy, and he has the Harem MC gravitational pull to top it off. But I remember him as a player, even if he didn't take advantage of the girls feelings, I still preffer a dense or shy MC over one that is aware of his own harem. Harems are unstable relationships by default where some feeling may be hurt, so being aware of that and allowing it it's a fault per se.

 

But ultimately, you could say that I'm a petty guy pissed off at a popular dude, and you'd be right; that's exactly what I am.

I'm pretty sure I'm just being overly harsh, but "the dream" is to be a nice idiot and have everything in life go your way?
 

I don't think you even know what you're pining for if you're citing Love Hina. The MC in Love Hina was a guy who worked hard, FAILED, KEPT TRYING and THEN got things to go his way (after changing his goals). Lo and behold, life goes your way when you work for it.

 

Back on topic, yes Arata is OP and has the attention of a ton of girls (pretty much) right out of the gate, but guess what: he earned it. Repeatedly. Which is (part of) the point of the whole series. If he REALLY wanted to, the story would have ended after the first chapter. Stay in the dream world, live in the perfect, magical world with his cousin, f*** everything else, the end.

 

But no, he threw it all away and now he has to learn 'self-control', to learn how the other girls are orphans, trapped in a coma, trapped in another dimension, fight against his cousin, etc, etc.

Edited by imercenary, 23 July 2014 - 07:09 PM.

[UnlimitedBlades]

Hm interesting, Kuroshishi apparently likes the old fashioned dense harem MC? I can see where he's coming from, but I have the opposite feelings as him. When I see harem manga about some average lame everyman who just happens to be in the right spot, THAT pisses me off! (As opposed to me being able to relate more to him and self inserting as intended) Those types of dense idiot harem MCs don't do anything to deserve the attention they receive. Just because of some circumstances they get to be in heaven, and if I see them being dense and not taking into account the feelings of the girls they attract, it's even more infuriating. For example see Ichika from IS. He just so happens to be the only guy who can pilot an IS, because of that all the girls who are starved for male companionship go in heat for him. He doesn't even do anything special in particular. His character is so generic that you could replace him with any number of "Overall good guy" archetype characters from other series and the story would remain virtually unchanged.

 

When I see a good competent MC like Arata, I feel like I can root for him. He works hard and does commendable things I can admire. When a harem MC is deserving of their harem I can smile and think "Hahaha awesome job, I probably couldn't have done that!". Keitaro is actually like that too. Although he was "lucky" to be introduced to the Hinata Inn, all the girls treated him like shit and beat him up. It was a horrible situation but he turned it around with his hard work and sheer effort. I like seeing worthy characters succeed, not lucky idiots blunder around and everything works out because of lol plot armor.

[Name7380]

I want to believe in a world where one single trait is good enough, because the girls will always be in the right moment in the right spot to notice it and fall for the MC. A world where all the girls, all the enemies, all the plots, all the coincidences, absolultely everything converges to give an otherwise average person the opportunity to shine; to me, this is the beauty of harem manga.
 
Yes, I'm talking about me. I'm a terribly average human being. Not a villain nor a hero, just a passerby who girls don't notice. And even though I may have gone about it the wrong way, I have tried to appeal to them. I guess I'm just not good enough. But since the first harem anime I watched, Love Hina, I have thought that even a worthless under-achiever like me could be loved if the right circumstances were met.
 

The dense MC harems are made to appeal to average guys, Trinity Seven appeals to a different audience. That is why Arata is not considered the best MC to you.

Let's put it this way, I hate dense harem main characters the same way you hate Arata.

Arata is considered the best harem MC simply for not being the typical dense MC. The story unfolds in a different way that is appealing and refreshing to me.

[Spica3]

I own the Love Hina books. I tried watching the anime adaptation of it, but the first two episodes were so 'ugh' that I never watched any anime adapted from Akamatsu's works ever again.

 

*Spoilers, maybe?*

Anyway, Keitaro may have been an underachiever in the beginning, but that pretty much ended when he got accepted to Tokyo U. Also, the only "right circumstance" that I can think of that ever happened in Love Hina was that he started living at the Hinata House. I still don't understand your dislike of Arata since as a fellow harem MC, Keitaro improved a lot. He stopped being the average guy, and he was a great harem MC because of that.

 

Arata as a character is great because of what rh75 mentioned. He's immensely different from the spineless, so-shy-around-girls-they-might-as-well-be-into-dogs MCs. Arata is like that one friend a harem MC has that's incredibly perverted and open to girls, except in Arata's case, he is the MC instead of some background character, which makes him fun.

 

For me, my main reason as to why Arata is a really good harem MC is because he is a character on his own and not some bland, empty shell that the readers insert themselves into.

 

 

Other harem MCs worthy of being called good:

- Keima from The World God Only Knows (sees girls as his conquest targets in dating sims)

- Rintarou from Dragons Rioting (quite the badass, but is deathly afraid of girls, and ends up in really hilarious situations because of it; also, many references to other stuff)

- I'm actually not sure if I should count him as a harem MC, given that the manga only has a few volumes out, but the main girls are interested in him

- Issei from High School DxD (I read the light novels, and to me, it's like Dragon Ball with lots and lots of breasts; anime has two seasons out, third one announced)

You forgot Kusanagi Godou from Campione. (The LN, Anime don't exist) (Has the most balanced harem ever with only 4.5 girl.)

 

I don't really like Issei though (dislike Perverted Male Leads). Arata (I could still read this even if with a somewhat Perverted Male Lead) and Godou is good harem mc for me.

Edited by dithar, 04 August 2014 - 09:02 PM.

[Oblivion0117]

You forgot Kusanagi Godou from Campione. (The LN, Anime don't exist) (Has the most balanced harem ever with only 4.5 girl.)

 

I don't really like Issei though (dislike Perverted Male Leads). Arata (I could still read this even if with a somewhat Perverted Male Lead) and Godou is good harem mc for me.

I would have agreed with you if Issei had stayed that way throughout the entire series but he doesn't. If you were to compare the current him (Volume 17 is the most recently translated of the LN) to how he was in the begging they would seem like completely different people.Yes he's still a pervert but it's more of a normal level? I mean there isn't a single male in this world that isn't but he realizes that that's only superficial and that it's not all there is in life... In a way he's like how Arata is in that yes he wants a harem but while that's big it's also small compared to all the other things he wants and needs to do (which is a lot!).

 

Godou is about the exact opposite of Issei in the beginning but he has started becoming a lot more open to the girls around him. Also you say he has a harem of 4.5 girls on his harem but that's more like his inner circle harem (not quite sure who the .5 is supposed to be). In truth Godou has quite a large harem himself, heck he even has goddesses falling for him! And yes the anime was horrible compared to the LN's

 

As to your statement of not liking perverted male leads, if they are only perverted then I completely agree with you! However if the perverseness is only a part of him and not what controls his life then I think it makes the character more realistic. Which is part of the reason why I really enjoy Arata, Issei, and a few other male leads. Though I think the LN's do a lot better at developing these types of characters.

 

...God I don't think I've ever posted as many long posts as I have in this thread... I wonder why...?

[Spica3]

I would have agreed with you if Issei had stayed that way throughout the entire series but he doesn't. If you were to compare the current him (Volume 17 is the most recently translated of the LN) to how he was in the begging they would seem like completely different people.Yes he's still a pervert but it's more of a normal level? I mean there isn't a single male in this world that isn't but he realizes that that's only superficial and that it's not all there is in life... In a way he's like how Arata is in that yes he wants a harem but while that's big it's also small compared to all the other things he wants and needs to do (which is a lot!).

 

Godou is about the exact opposite of Issei in the beginning but he has started becoming a lot more open to the girls around him. Also you say he has a harem of 4.5 girls on his harem but that's more like his inner circle harem (not quite sure who the .5 is supposed to be). In truth Godou has quite a large harem himself, heck he even has goddesses falling for him! And yes the anime was horrible compared to the LN's

 

As to your statement of not liking perverted male leads, if they are only perverted then I completely agree with you! However if the perverseness is only a part of him and not what controls his life then I think it makes the character more realistic. Which is part of the reason why I really enjoy Arata, Issei, and a few other male leads. Though I think the LN's do a lot better at developing these types of characters.

 

...God I don't think I've ever posted as many long posts as I have in this thread... I wonder why...?

 

About Issei I know he get better in later Volumes but that's not enough for me, probably because the writing style involve so many power up, given & hidden powers and breasts. 

 

About Arata I like him for the points mentioned by rh75, he along with Godou, Shinobu (Tsuki Tsuki LN), Mc from Seitokai no Ichizon are my favorites harem MC.

 

PS. i don't really see Godou have a large harem when girls in outside circle are not actively interested in him and some of those are not even love, Luo Hao (dre-dre over him but like a spartan too and no love yet), JPS, Athena (close but not love), Lancelot (rivalary)  don't count, Circe (who know what's her idea of love is, probably involve turning one into a pig), those girls from middle school are long past events, Asuka and Sakura count though, Aisha and those maids from the past didn't count. So from me Godou have 4(Erica, Ena, Yuri, Lily) and Hikari(.5) in his main and 2 or 3 in the outside.

Edited by dithar, 05 August 2014 - 02:04 PM.

[Rune.]

I need to read more Campione before I agree to anything about Godou. I don't really know why, but I stopped reading when it got to his origin story (about Volume 3, I think). For some reason, when he started telling Yuri about himself, I went: "Augh, I'm taking a break from this." I suppose it's because the author only started exploring how Godou became the way he is after 2 whole volumes. At that point it didn't really matter to me how he got his powers.

 

Another good harem MC, though: Sai Akuto from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou.

Spoiler

All-powerful, not a pervert, and actually manages a harem, complete with sexual relations. Unfortunately, the ending was kind of... sad, in a way.

Edited by Rune., 06 August 2014 - 03:28 PM.

[Spica3]

I need to read more Campione before I agree to anything about Godou. I don't really know why, but I stopped reading when it got to his origin story (about Volume 3, I think). For some reason, when he started telling Yuri about himself, I went: "Augh, I'm taking a break from this." I suppose it's because the author only started exploring how Godou became the way he is after 2 whole volumes. At that point it didn't really matter to me how he got his powers.

 

Another good harem MC, though: Sai Akuto from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou.

Spoiler

All-powerful, not a pervert, and actually manages a harem, complete with sexual relations. Unfortunately, the ending was kind of... sad, in a way.

Ah I know that one, although i like him he doesn't  strike me as memorable or leave an impression on me I suppose.

 

Lol you stop campione! at v3? when the story become actually good and the overarching story started to appear?

Campione in a nutshell (in RPG terms) is a world where humanity has a level limit of 20 and A villager character defeating an impossible to fight lvMax final boss.

Edited by dithar, 06 August 2014 - 08:03 PM.

[sidzero]

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, the reason why he's the best harem protagonist has less to do with HIM and more to do with every single other harem protagonist ever.

Other protagonists in harems seem to suffer from one of three major flaws. They're either monogamously dedicated to one and ONLY one of the girls in his harem, ridiculously awkward around women (freaking out when they see panties or touch boob), or completely oblivious to the feelings of the girls around him. All three of these flaws, to me, make the protagonists seem unrealistic.

Worse yet, despite the many MANY harems I've read, is that I can count on a single hand how many harem protagonists DON'T suffer from at least one of these three flaws. Off the top of my head, I can think of only two. Arata here from Trinity Seven is one, and the other was Ataru Moroboshi from Urusei Yatsura (which despite having been the first harem manga ever, may or may not actually be considered a harem by today's standards).

Don't get me wrong, I love harems... but the biggest problem with all of them has always been the protagonists. Well... except for the tsunderes. But that's a whole other conversation entirely.

Now, for some responses:
 

 

So it's not like he's a perfect character, in fact he has a lot of flaws.

The thing about the perfect character is that he/she HAS to have flaws, otherwise he cannot overcome those flaws in order to make a story interesting. A story that lacks characters overcoming their flaws is not a story at all.
 

 

I guess I'm thankful and surprised that this harem manga doesn't use the childhood friend card, there's nothing wrong with a manga using it if it serves the interesting parts of the manga. But Trinity Seven didn't need such a thing.

No childhood friend? Then who or what is Hijiri?
 

 

Hm interesting, Kuroshishi apparently likes the old fashioned dense harem MC?

 

I like seeing worthy characters succeed, not lucky idiots blunder around and everything works out because of lol plot armor.

Old fashioned dense harem MC? Go read Urusei Yatsura sometime. If you can get over the fact that it's a 35 year old manga, as I mentioned earlier, it was the first ever harem. Ataru was probably the furthest thing from a "dense harem MC". I don't mean he was smart or anything, but he's not the kind of protagonist that would have failed to notice that one of the girls was into him. I mean, the only girl in his harem who actually liked him he intentionally ignored, all for the sake of chasing the skirts of the various girls in his life who couldn't stand him.

Also, I want to completely agree with the idea of despising harem protagonists that build their harem out of sheer deus ex machina. I mentioned earlier that I don't care for protagonists who seem unrealistic, and I feel the same way about harems altogether. And before anyone tries to say that harems themselves are unrealistic and a guy could never get into a situation where he's surrounded by beautiful girls who are in love with him... I can say with absolute certainty that it is not only possible, but that it does occasionally happen. But they only last as long as a guy is able to continue playing hard to get.
 

 

if the perverseness is only a part of him and not what controls his life then I think it makes the character more realistic.

While I agree that a character driven by his perverseness are usually uninteresting, it can be done well. It just usually isn't because most harem authors are more interested in showcasing their female characters and making them fall in love with the protagonist no matter what than they are in telling a good story. Which I understand given the whole moe-moe obsession that the Japanese audience that harems are usually written for are guilty of.

Edited by sidzero, 11 August 2014 - 04:35 AM.

[Static Transit]

Well... except for the tsunderes.

 

I feel the strong need to point out that classic tsunderes are fine when done correctly, it's the modern tsunderes that make me want to smack somebody.

[wow40]

*sighs* To be honest, I haven't read Trinity Seven in like a year. I had almost forgotten why did Arata pissed me off and I didn't want to re-read the manga to find out. But thanks to you, now I remeber that my grudge was on a more personal level.

 

Disclaimer: I'm aware of what I'm writing in the next lines and how embarrasing it is. I may regret it, but that's just how I am.

 

Basically, Arata goes against "the dream". Kindness, ocassional coolness, idiotic straightfordwarness, etc. I want to believe in a world where one single trait is good enough, because the girls will always be in the right moment in the right spot to notice it and fall for the MC. A world where all the girls, all the enemies, all the plots, all the coincidences, absolultely everything converges to give an otherwise average person the opportunity to shine; to me, this is the beauty of harem manga.

 

Yes, I'm talking about me. I'm a terribly average human being. Not a villain nor a hero, just a passerby who girls don't notice. And even though I may have gone about it the wrong way, I have tried to appeal to them. I guess I'm just not good enough. But since the first harem anime I watched, Love Hina, I have thought that even a worthless under-achiever like me could be loved if the right circumstances were met.

 

On the oher side Arata is probably loved because he is a great guy, and he has the Harem MC gravitational pull to top it off. But I remember him as a player, even if he didn't take advantage of the girls feelings, I still preffer a dense or shy MC over one that is aware of his own harem. Harems are unstable relationships by default where some feeling may be hurt, so being aware of that and allowing it it's a fault per se.

 

But ultimately, you could say that I'm a petty guy pissed off at a popular dude, and you'd be right; that's exactly what I am.

Hikigaya get out of this body!!!!

Edited by wow40, 19 August 2014 - 07:52 PM.

[bushwhacker2k]

Impressed by the amount of responses in this thread-

 

From my perspective, there is all of ONE reason why Arata is liked. Personality.

 

He's confident and he knows what he wants (+ he's not a dick about it). The power is just icing on top.

 

I think Love Hina may have been my first harem as well, and I remember liking it initially... though on hindsight after watching it more recently I'm pretty sure the ONLY reason I liked it was because it was a harem. I loathed Keitaro's relationship with all the abusive girls.

 

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I think it's partially because of reading harem manga like this that I am the way I am. I strive to be different and better than I otherwise would be, I don't want to be a dundering idiot who gets smacked around because he has no idea what he's doing and is totally incapable.

 

---

 

Other protagonists in harems seem to suffer from one of three major flaws. They're either monogamously dedicated to one and ONLY one of the girls in his harem, ridiculously awkward around women (freaking out when they see panties or touch boob), or completely oblivious to the feelings of the girls around him. All three of these flaws, to me, make the protagonists seem unrealistic.

Well said.

 

I hate when a harem situation is set up and then immediately subverted, it defeats the entire purpose of the harem. I also find it really tiring when the Harem Protag overreacts to every little thing about the creature known as "woman" (and then the rest of the manga justifies his idiotic behavior). I'm not quite as bothered by the last one but I can certainly agree that it is annoying.

Edited by bushwhacker2k, 10 September 2014 - 05:14 PM.