Female-oriented Harem

[mye]

We always see harem anime focus on males alone, such as Shuffle!, Happy Lesson, etc.. but there aren't many female-oriented harem around.. a couple would be like Fruits Basket and Fushigi Yuugi. That's all I can think of. There aren't many around, huh? So, why is it this way? Why won't anime producers focus on females being the lead in harem anime? Well. Fruits Basket and Fushigi Yuugi are pretty good anime, too.

[Radiosity]

Uh, because it's mostly males that watch anime, and producers tend to cater to the majority in order to make money? Sure, there are a lot of females that watch anime, but compared to the male numbers, it's not much of a percentage of the whole I'd imagine.

[Leo_Otaku]

totally sucks I would love more anime like fruits basket like.....>.<

[Guido]

Also I believe that male-oriented harem shows tend to focus essentially into romance-slapstick/comedy themes.

Prime example is nonetheless than Love Hina.

Besides, the producers take advantage to introduce gratuitious fanservice and sometimes some ecchi to reel the male viewers in.

An arguably example of this would be Amanaideyo!

In female-oriented harem shows, however, the stories delve into the drama and shoujo elements, exploring in-depth the main cast or the plot is driven by the characters.

Another common standard is that the cast's main males are all bishounen, which caters the taste of some female viewers to make their own doujinshi stories using those characters and putting them into a yaoi story.

A recent addition to this genre is Harukanaru Toki no Naka de ~Hachiyoushou~

Finally, in female harem, the bishounen look after the girl protagonist like a dear and cute small sister that wants to be listened to, have someone on whom can tell her tribulations and anguish, confide in, or looking for support.

These bishounen may act as either a fraternal or paternal figures to the protagonistic girl.

In male harem, however, the sexy appealing bishoujo normally beats the crap out of the main male when he commits a mistake, as the main male is portrayed to be a hopeless loser with a weak will to confront the big issues and immature, although possess the only redeeming point in being generous and committed to his promises.

[Proto]

Hmm... well if you dont mind old series (well... not really old) you could give a try to Hana Yori Dango ... though it is more of a romantic series rather than harem, but yes, with more men than women

[Veritas]

Originally Posted by Radiosity

Uh, because it's mostly males that watch anime, and producers tend to cater to the majority in order to make money? Sure, there are a lot of females that watch anime, but compared to the male numbers, it's not much of a percentage of the whole I'd imagine.

I don't think this is quite true, just that women/girls tend to be more casual watchers. Not really ones to sit on a site such as this and wait for another episode to come out.

It's this kind of thinking that really does a disservice to those who create anime. Just like how it was once thought that women didn't like video games, and then FF7 came out, and half of the people who bought it were female.

Why aren't there more comics/video games/anime/movies/etc. that cater toward women's tastes?
Because women don't like comics/video games/anime/movies/etc.
Why don't they?
Because there aren't any comics/video games/anime/movies/etc. that interest them.

It's an unfortunate cycle, but one we've seen before.

[DaFool]

Though I haven't seen, I think Kyou Kara Mao, Sukisyo, Meine Leibe, Cluster Edge qualify as female harem. I don't think there necessarily needs to be a female harem-builder protagonist, nor do the males need to be heterosexual.

Honey & Clover and Paradise Kiss to an extent has a large number of bishounens, though they don't go even close to the definition of a harem.

The percentages of female-oriented harem anime (or even shows for that matter) versus male-oriented go along the lines of female: male hardcore otaku ratio. Think Genshiken club...1 female otaku:4-5 male otaku. Thus breakdown of harem anime is at most 20% female-oriented, 80% male-oriented, which does seem the case.

Also, women have j-dramas / live-action, and these suffice in fulfilling the more serious romance needs. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on perspective), live action does not bode well for the severe violence and pantsu requirements of male-oriented romantic comedy. It could be just me, but it seems as though many girls would be content to have a story in any medium (even remain as manga), and not too keen to actually have it animated.

[Forbin]

Another is a typical harem has 3 or more people after 1 person.

3 Girls chasing after one guy and getting into fights (Maburaho). Guys best Fantasy.

3 Guys chasing after one girl and getting into fights. Reality.

[Mr. DJ]

besides Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yugi...can't really think of any other anime's that had a female lead...though the whole think w/ yelling each other names got really annoying and redundant SAILOR MOON!!, DARIAN!!, SERENA!, TUXEDO MASK!! SUPER SAILOR MOON! MIAKA!!! TAMAHOMI!!

lol, my roommate absolutely hates Fushigi Yugi because of Miaka and Tamahomi.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by DjTrizz

besides Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yugi...can't really think of any other anime's that had a female lead...

Yes, you can!

There's another anime that features a female lead and is combination of both magical girl surrounded by a group of bishounen guys.
Pretear

The anime tends to focus more about the inner tribulations, anguish, and fears of the characters of Himeno, Hayate, Sasame, and Mawata.

Although it does contains the usual pun of the main male calling the main female by an unpleasurable nickname, Hayate and Himeno are never shown to display their feelings in lovey-dovey and corny manners.

In fact, they do not openly disclose to admit they have a relationship in public, until the very end of the series.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Angelique is another good example, although I'm only really familiar with the games.

And Da Fool, you make a lot of sense. I'm not much for Japanese live action (actually, I'd rather give birth to a fullgrown yak than watch some) and a lot of that has been because of restrictions to the camerawork, motion style and effects which make up most of the shows I love (from giant robots to comedic harem) so it makes sense to me that what I'd look for in a harem anime (well, loaded with girls instead of guys of course) would be vastly different from what a girl would look for in her harem anime.

Then of course there's the best of both worlds. Oddly enough, Trinity Blood comes to mind. My girlfriend at the time and I watched that and we were both in agreement that the guys were to her taste and the girls were to my taste. So it sits on a throne of having good content for both sexes.

Tho most of these shows fit into gendres other than harem.

[uzumaki]

Originally Posted by Radiosity

Uh, because it's mostly males that watch anime, and producers tend to cater to the majority in order to make money? Sure, there are a lot of females that watch anime, but compared to the male numbers, it's not much of a percentage of the whole I'd imagine.

Really? In the U.S it seems the exact opposite, doesn't it?

I always thought that there were more male oriented harem anime because Japan, the wonderful land of oppurtunity and gender equality that it is *cough*sarcasm*cough* has more males than females in it's big anime production companies. They won't let women have harems anyways, since MEN are so much more superior that each and every dumb little main male character deserves his own harem of mindless clutzes.

[pianocello]

Shows featuring one female with multiple love interests do exist - you folks just aren't looking hard enough.

These are NOT shoujo but they do feature a female with multiple love interests:
Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl
Yawara! A fashionable judo girl

These are somewhat different (you'll know what I mean when you watch them):
Steel Angel Kurumi 2
Devil Lady

This is shoujo but I cannot recommend this horrid Fushigi Yugi rip-off:
Harukanaru Toki no Nakade - Hachiyosho -

[DaFool]

Originally Posted by uzumaki

Really? In the U.S it seems the exact opposite, doesn't it?

The US manga scene is 60% female readership. I'm not much of a manga person, but perhaps you'd find more female-oriented harem stories in manga?

...and how could I forget to mention Weiss Kreuz and Weiss Kreuz Gluhen. And Pretear = good choice.

[Aristophanes]

Originally Posted by DaFool

The US manga scene is 60% female readership. I'm not much of a manga person, but perhaps you'd find more female-oriented harem stories in manga?

...and how could I forget to mention Weiss Kreuz and Weiss Kreuz Gluhen.

Definitely, was flicking thorugh newtype the other day and I was amazed by the amount of Shoujo/bishonen material available. And guess what? Most of it's quite good!

[Guido]

Originally Posted by pianocello

This is shoujo but I cannot recommend this horrid Fushigi Yugi rip-off:
Harukanaru Toki no Nakade - Hachiyosho -

I thought of that first after watching the introduction for the first episode, but immediately found that the show has its own merits especially for the drama content.

I beg of you, please, don't speak on behalf of everybody else about this show.


For those who are fond of stories like FY, I highly recommend Harukanaru.


On-Topic

Another show that I could think of for the genre could be of Vision of Escaflowne, but I seriously doubt it.

Allen and Van are the only male protagonist that revolve around Hitomi, and that mostly would be represented as a love triangle of sorts.

[Forbin]

Originally Posted by pianocello

Shows featuring one female with multiple love interests do exist - you folks just aren't looking hard enough.



These are somewhat different (you'll know what I mean when you watch them):
Steel Angel Kurumi 2

Umm Pianocello, Kurumi is more of a Male Harem than Female. Only one person wants to sleep with Kurumi.

A more appropriate Female Harem would be Angelic Layer. Misaki has 3 after her until the very end.

Boys over flowers is probably the most obvious Female harem.

[elniro]

waaaaa?! fruits basket is a harem anime? loll

[Zappster]

Originally Posted by Veritas

I don't think this is quite true, just that women/girls tend to be more casual watchers. Not really ones to sit on a site such as this and wait for another episode to come out.

It's this kind of thinking that really does a disservice to those who create anime. Just like how it was once thought that women didn't like video games, and then FF7 came out, and half of the people who bought it were female.

Are there any stats out there that actually back up this statement? Because this is the first I've heard that half of the people who bought FF7 were female.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Originally Posted by Forbin

Umm Pianocello, Kurumi is more of a Male Harem than Female. Only one person wants to sleep with Kurumi.

Then I'd wager that you never saw the 2nd season of Kurumi I get the joke that was made and I'd like to add Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito up there for comedy's sake.