Is AMG harem anime?

[Straywolf]

I recently saw it classified as such and was wondering what everyone else thought.

[Anh_Minh]

No. Girls generally don't like K1 that way. Those who do don't appear much.

[DaFool]

Oh come on. AMG is a harem anime patterned after the mother of all harems, Urusei Yatsura!

Harem anime traits:

1.) Everyman male lead. (Keiichi Morisato = check!)
2.) >1 female who likes him a lot. (3 Goddesses + extra characters = check!)

AMG is not an h-game based anime, maybe some were confused because apparently a lot of harem animes such as Shuffle! were based on h-games.

[SlugZilla]

Nope it's not harem, there is only one girl that Keiichi loves and that is Bell.

[NoSanninWa]

It is not a harem anime for one simple reason. Keichi is interested in one girl and only one girl, without exception. Since his mind is already made up, there cannot be any confusion as to what his choice is. The only question is how slowly their relationship will form and if anything will happen to derail it.

A harem show requires that there be options which the male lead will at least be intrigued by.

[aliensporebomb]

Keiichi is interested in Belldandy but not the others.

However, there are definite signs that Urd maybe likes him a little more than he
suspects despite her machinations.

Some might classify it as harem anime but it's not like "Love Hina" where there
are a lot more women and many of them take turns crushing on the male lead.

[idofgrahf]

Even in love Hina, the main lead knows who he likes/loves from the get go. AMG isn't Harem simply because there is no competition, Keiichi likes one person and one person only if you watched the movie you would know why it isn't a harem. and I doubt Bell's sisters are stupid enough to try and steal him away since bell coud be pretty scarey when she actually gets angry.

[Maids! Maids! Maids!]

Maybe Urd likes Keiichi. In her own way, maybe Skuld likes Keiichi too. However, I don't think either would consider themselves potential partners. As far as I'm concerned (and I think Urd and countless old fans of the series would agree with me here), Bellandy and Keiichi are a couple. There is no harem. This is a more straightforward romance built around a couple.

Maybe Keiichi is the cause of confusion. He's probably one of the prototypes for anime male leads suffering from (and I'm choosing my words carefully here) romantic paralysis. I haven't seen the OAVs in years, and my memory may be a bit cloudy, but I recall a scene involving a pratfall. Belldandy fell on Keiichi or Keiichi fell on Belldandy. She looks him straight in the eye and (if memory serves me correctly, and it often does not) asks, "what can I do for you?" Well, about ten things popped into my head, but I'm sure you all know what happened instead. NOTHING!!! He's not indecisive. She's not unwilling. He just can't take the next step. She loves him. He loves her. They're a couple. And Skuld aside, I think most of the characters in the anime think them that way.

[Souten no Seigyoku]

There arent a lot of the usual harem stuff Ive seen.

Few to none of the common perverted misunderstood situations. Like Keichi walking in on Bell while she changes, Keichi falling face first on Bell's lap (itadakimasu!) or vice versa. tripping and falling on someones face (ala a shuffle! scene), etc. Nor are there any of the common followups to such scenes like the male lead getting the crap beat out of him.

There's just no perversion aside from Urds occassional inuendos. Wholesome family fun. Harem? No. Its just not there.

[Imion]

Originally Posted by Maids! Maids! Maids!

And Skuld aside, I think most of the characters in the anime think them that way.

Actualy even Skuld thinks that way, at least in the further development of the storyline.
She just doesn't like the fact, that her sister may be... err... occupied with something else than herself. She's a bit selfish in that point.

[Sector 6 Slum]

I don't think AMG is a harem anime because keiichi is only interested in belldandy and belldandy is basically the only one who likes him seriously.

by the way, what IS the definition of a harem anime? i know that love hina and ichigo 100% are examples but is there some sort of a definition?

[Whitemoon648]

Originally Posted by Sector 6 Slum

I don't think AMG is a harem anime because keiichi is only interested in belldandy and belldandy is basically the only one who likes him seriously.

by the way, what IS the definition of a harem anime? i know that love hina and ichigo 100% are examples but is there some sort of a definition?

An anime is called Harem when a male character lives with few girls in the same house and eventually the girls start having feelings toward the main male character. But AMG isnt like that. URD is even trying to get Bellandy together with him. So it doesnt count as Harem.

[Keiichi_chan]

Maybe I'm in the minorty,but I defintely qualify it as harem.

[Decel]

I have to say the question is indeed interesting, and got me musing about the harem definition and if it applies to this.

However I also think that this series is also considered harem. Even though he (and everyone else) knows who he loves, Keiichi always falls into situations that "isn't what it looks like".

I know that it's hard to compare AMG with Love Hina. A better comparison would be Ai Yori Aoshi which is also considered harem.

Waitaminute....

If AMG is harem, then Suzuka would also be harem...

Gah, I need to think this out...

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Sector 6 Slum

by the way, what IS the definition of a harem anime? i know that love hina and ichigo 100% are examples but is there some sort of a definition?

If you're asking, "Is there a universal definition?" The answer is no. Even on this thread not everyone's answering it the same way.

Wiki says this. Note that a harem series doesn't have to have a male living with a ton of females (Canvas2 and Shuffle were as haremy as they get, and neither lead lived with most of the females. In Futakoi, the male lead lives alone), and generic leads (male and female) are hardly limited to harem animes. Perverted situations are also not tied to harem animes (the same things can show up in non-harem animes). The term (I believe) is actually of WESTERN origin and has become a perjorative in the same way that "mindless shonen" is a perjorative for things like Bleach, Naruto, FMA, etc.

Usually I define it as a harem if there are at least three girls who like one boy and he has some level of romantic attachment to at least two of them (though usually the male character has a preference from the beginning). This would include things like Love Hina (wherein Naru, Motoko, and Mutsumi are shown to have various stages of romantic feelings towards Keitaro, who is shown to at least reciprocate feelings towards Mutsumi and Naru). Ichigo 100% would qualify (Manaka has feelings towards Toujo and Nishino). Ai Yori Aoshi would also qualify (as the male lead has some level of attachment to both Aoi and Tina).

Ah My Goddess (by my definition) would definitely not qualify. I've always thought of AMG as a slice-of-life show that happens to feature a couple in love, but depending on how you define it, it could definitely qualify as a harem.

EDIT: And, of course, I forgot to vote.

[Decel]

rooboy, nice explanation! It sounds very logical. I guess I'll use that as my reference for harem.

[Seyluun]

Some random loser suddenly find himself living with beautiful girls. Each of those have a personality straight off the "cliché personalities for hawt girls in anime" list. Yup, AMG is definitely harem in my book.

[viet80]

Who said AMG is a Harem anime?

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by viet80

Who said AMG is a Harem anime?

DaFool and eight other people who answered the poll anonymously. While that is a clear minority, the telling factor is that the anti-haremists have been clear and concise in their posted reasons.

[Muir Woods]

I think the main factor of how A!MG is percieved as harem or not is directly related to how indepth one defines their own definition of "harem". If one gives a broad/general description of what "harem" is (eg. "A wimpy male surrounded by many girls"), then it is simple to include A!MG in that very large container definition. But if one adds more detail and specificity to their definition (eg. "slapstick jokes, or ecchi situations"), it will become increasingly difficult to contain A!MG within the label of harem. But of course, this notion of definition specificity versus containment applies much more generally (to all definitions) than just anime genres. Anyways, what rooboy666 said is true, everyone has their own definition of what harem is, and not everyone's definition will agree with the major consensus. I, however, have a fairly conventional definition of harem, and it is in accordance with the perspective of the "no" side. Avoiding to re-iterate what they have already argued, I'll just say I support their main point, thus I voted no.