3rd girls in harems,are they really useless ?

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

I'm the opposite. Ami would have been the only one that could appeal to me. Needless to say, I didn't get very far in the series.

Just to be clear, I had no problems with Ami's character design. In fact, she's probably the most physically attractive of the three main girls in Toradora.

But her personality and overall handling just really rubbed me the wrong way. Keep in mind this was only based on the first 10 or so episodes of Toradora, if that. Ami may well become more likeable after the point that I dropped at.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Just to be clear, I had no problems with Ami's character design. In fact, she's probably the most physically attractive of the three main girls in Toradora.

But her personality and overall handling just really rubbed me the wrong way.

I hate to be shallow, but when I'm not keen on anyone's personalities, looks is gonna be the dominant criteria. And Ami sorta wins by default.

[Akito Kinomoto]

The funny thing about Toradora! is how most people who weren't too keen on it did like Ami as a character more than Minori and Taiga, AFAIK.

Back on topic, Mashiro-Iro Symphony's ending was well done in execution but the idea itself was out of place. The two star heroines of the show were actually regulated to the sidelines while the story stops telling itself from Shingo's perspective. The change is subtle and developed one character while further characterizing another but the end pairing itself happened before the audience ever knew what was going on.

[frivolity]

I think it's mostly a result of the writing process. Those harem stories that have a pre-determined end, where the author begins writing the story with the winner in mind already, tend to have said winner as either the first or second girl. In the world of anime, manga, and light novels, where stories can get pulled in the blink of an eye, authors have to keep the storyline flexible and be prepared to end it quickly if needed. For this reason, it is rare for the 3rd girl to be the pre-planned winner since there is much less room to manoeuvre events around her ending.

Aside from that, I think the third girl has a fairly even chance in those stories where the writing is done on the fly and the author is willing to let the characters take over the direction of the story without having a winner or ending planned beforehand.

[BradleySmith]

Well the 3 harem's i watched are sekirei heaven's lost property and rosario vamprie and all show lots of love for the MC except for HLP ikaros gets way under nurtured