Forum - View topicWhy Dangerous Anime Boys Are All The Rage
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18189 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Very interesting piece, one which lays out quite well some aspects of shoujo (more broadly) and reverse-harem (more specifically) romances which I have always found perplexing.
One follow-up thought: Could the "yandere girl" archetype sometimes seen in male-oriented titles be considered a parallel to the "physically aggressive because I'm having trouble restraining myself" type seen in these titles? Or are yandere types too extreme/not aligned in the power structure to make a proper comparison? |
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CeaseActivity
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I'd say that while they're similar in that they're both very assertive and dangerous, they're not the same thing. A yandere's appeal is a combination of unpredictability, danger and absolute commitment to the self-insert main character. The unrestrained aggressiveness archetype is more about making the self-insert seem irresistible, and it puts them in a submissive position and power position at the same time. |
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brucepuppy
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Wow, an article about reverse harem. First, let me thank the author for bringing this up.
As for my preference, I like the "elegant" style. I know I can't express it clearly. I played several otome mobile games, while some of them are good, many others just feel... cheap. This is what I dislike. But at the end of the day, I think I'll still choose the light flavored Ouran or Furuba over the dark nuanced ones like Amnesia. |
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Animefun17
Posts: 2 |
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I honestly prefer Reverse Harem over Harem any day.
It brings out the most sexualized story every time. From Ouran, to Dance with Devils. I find it intriguing and sexy. |
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tentensan
Posts: 102 |
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This article was a nice read. It's true, most reverse harem animes have been going to the dark side of things. I mean, Diablock Lovers is basically full of nothing but dangerous anime boys who are on the boderline of getting slapped with a restraining order. But, hey it's what the female audience they're aiming for enjoy. For me personally, I enjoy more light hearted reverse harems like UtaPri.
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CaRoss
 Posts: 457 |
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Great write up. I've enjoyed my fair share of Reverse Harems and shojou romance series in the past, but have fallen away as the abusive trend picked up (cannot stomach it at all, it's also why I hate series like Baka and Test on the flip side of the harem quotient, abuse is not good).
This article did a great job at laying out the background on this trend and providing me with information that I didn't honestly know about it (although some of it is easy to infer). I can now say with 100 per cent faith that I cannot stand these abusive relationship Reverse Harems/Otome Games and am going to continue to screen all before I jump in 
In other words, I prefer the sweet and soft romances rather than these ones. Give me an UtaPri or Ouran any day over these other ones. Also, it would be really interesting, if you're up for it, to see an article on the twisting of the nice guy trope in shojou romances. I've noticed multiple series that play to the bad boy trope, and in return make the "nice guy" into an irredeemable creep, just for being a good friend (in some cases) or not too sure about the heroine's dynamic with the bad boy. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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Well, y'know what they say, good girls love the bad boys.
Well, hell look at the amount of people that love Levi. I'd seen discussions where people asked why there were so many crazy in love Levi fans. From their perspective Levi just looked like a downright sociopath. He has that wild, and extremely dangerous air about him. Yet, has an extreme penchant for cleanliness and order. Yet Hanji seems to pine over him a bit. So in some odd way there's only so much he's willing to allow in his space. Anyone else will find that fog hard to cut. There's always the mystique behind the "bad boys". The other aspect is being unobtainable or unapproachable. I have 4 camps of guys I'm fan of, not really bad boys but either wild or slightly domesticated: -The burning heart guy who's jolly that will kick your a$$. -The jerk that proves everyone wrong, but you find it odd that the one attractive woman in he joint likes him and she's all a flutter over him to the point of making that MF'er soup because HE NEEDS it. Yet he could care less if he ate or not. The relationship is VERY one sided. But somehow...he's a good person, he just has to come to the realization of it. -The guy that gives you "the look" that scares the $*** out of you, letting you know an a$$ whooping will ensue if you step out of line. -The nice guy that is a "crouching tiger hidden dragon" and if push comes to shove will demonstrate it on yo' a$$. Pretty boys need not apply. But y'know this may be one reason why the modern day "vampire" stories are so popular as well. But I wouldn't mind seeing a column on the guys that date dangerous women. |
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AwaysAnnoyed
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I'm just glad you have more descent 'reverse harems' like the Story of Saiunkoku and Hanasakeru Seishounen. There's also Neo Angelique Abyss, Kamigami no Asobi and the Kiniro no Corda series, even Yona of Yona of the Dawn is surrounded by bishies. But that's reverse harems going into a different direction.
'Diabolik Lovers' and 'Dance with Devils' are not the sum total of anime reverse harems, and should not be used as the entire genre's show piece. (Probably an off-topic post, but oh well~♪) |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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I've always found really weird how the different typical love story in anime deal with sex. It's especially strange that reverse are a lot more upfront about sex and often have more imagery that's directly sexy whereas harem will often have fan service be more about comedy. It's even weirder that the possibility of sex seems to always be on the mind of all the character in reverse harem (where the female main character often even thinks about it) but in harem it seems like nobody even realize that its a possibility (with some case where the main character will run away from it). |
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Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
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Great read, thank you.
I feel I've grown out of the age where I'd fantasize about bad boys being (sexually) attractive or wanting to rescue them, but I find manipulative bastards in fiction highly entertaining - if they're well written and complex enough to count as real characters and not just archetypes. Intelligence, plotting, scheming and ruthlessness is what always gets me onto their side. As they can be found in many genres, this isn't limited to reverse harem shows. I've never liked vampires, not even in puberty, but I've been a devoted musical theater fan through adolescence, with all the wonderful tropes that come with it. I've had a VHS tape of Takarazuka's version of "Elisabeth" and loved the German/Austrian original, where the female protagonist is secretly in love with death (as in Death, the singing, dancing, ruffles-wearing male protagonist). Great memories. Still, she was a strong character and not an empty stand-in, which is why (Vampires aside) things like Twilight would have never worked for adolescent me. Abuse isn't sexy. And bad guys are only attractive if they treat (at lest) the female protagonist with respect. |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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Entirely conjectured post here, but might have something to do with how these stories sell themselves. Harem stories might sell themselves as self-insertion as well, but it seems to me that the "waifu" aspect overshadows it a lot and that there is a thought that girls actually doing anything with the boy would 'taint' them or something. There is plenty of harem where both are sexually curious, but ones where they actually do something (not counting smut) is pretty rare. On the top of my head I can only think of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, which is a light novel. |
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MajorZero
Posts: 359 |
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One thing I want to understand is what's the appeal of reverse harems to male audience? I can't speak about other dudes here, but my collection of reverse harems is strangely big (at least in terms of what has been released in the West).
Anyway, one thing I don't get is appeal of ordinary protagonist outside of the realms of action series (because badass normal is always more interesting than near invulnerable superhuman) and slice of life pieces. Most of the protagonists in otome novels and books like Twilight lack any distinguish qualities which would make them truly special (except that they're weak and supposedly innocent), they're outright boring and flat. Is it because girls should be your avatar or writers really think that we can't relate to someone with slightly more personality? |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9841 Location: Virginia |
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MajorZero wrote:
I figure if I can identify with the hero where a male is the central character I won't have any problem when a female is. Most male central characters have personalities and abilities that I don't. I love Black Lagoon, but I would be horrified if I had to live in Roanapur. I enjoyed Ranma 1/2 but I have no interest in martial arts. As long as the story is interesting and the characters engaging the gender of the central character is not an issue. Harem or reverse harem doesn't matter unless that is all the show has going. If the characters are toxic or the hero acts like a complete idiot, I will probably drop a show regardless of gender. |
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phoenixalia
Posts: 1408 |
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I'm so starved for any kind of shoujo anime every season that I'll take anything that I can get, be it a shoujo anime, reverse harem anime (both manga and otome game types).
But really, I wish more reverse harem manga or light novelsspoiler[ (WILL I EVER SEE A FANTASY REVERSE HAREM LN EVER ADAPTED FOR ANIME IN THE SEA OF FEMALE SERVICE?)] would get adapted into anime. The story is much better, the heroine isn't an idiot, she can be quite competent and isn't 'the utterly ordinary high school girl'. The only reverse harem otome anime I really liked was Kiniro no Corda Season 1. KamiAso and Utapri are OK too. Amnesia and Dialovers? Blech. As for DwD, I don't know. Ritsuka's stupidity is starting to really get on my nerves. |
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phia_one
Posts: 1657 Location: Pennsylvania |
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I'm picky about reverse harems. Kamigami no Asobi is my favorite one in regards to otome games. Yui actually has a personality and isn't a doormat.
I've never been a fan of dangerous/bad boys as a love interest. I'm also not a fan of werewolves, vampires, and demons either. I personally don't find the idea of romancing a guy that could seriously harm you in some way appealing Last edited by phia_one on Thu Nov 19, 2015 8:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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