With the rising popularity of Japanese culture, many people have been influenced to watch anime or read manga. Especially after the quarantine began, everyone started familiarising themselves with the culture. Due to the rise of it, we have come across many unknown terms. Today we will be discussing the meaning of the word “harem” in detail. I’m assuming if you are here, you want to know the meaning too! If you wish to know an on-point definition of the term, you are in the right place. “Harem” is a famous anime and manga genre. Let us get into the meaning and origin of the term right away!
Meaning Of Harem
It is said that the term is derived from the Arabic word “Hareem” which means women. However, it might also mean many women being married or related to one man.
I assume you must have come across anime shows where the primary male protagonist is surrounded by many girls who might or might not be his love interest. However, there are many variants. A harem might include an all-girl series where the main female protagonist is a lesbian. These types of series also belong to the yuri genre.
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The literal meaning of the harem genre refers to the man having sexual relations with all of the female characters. However, that rarely happens. In anime or manga, the guy is usually cowardly and awkward, but his love interest is always one girl. It might be that the guy is confused between two characters but always ends up with one girl. This concept is usually made so that the audience doesn’t hate the male protagonist.
Reverse Harem
As I have mentioned before harem refers to a man surrounded by three or more girls. Or a lesbian surrounded by three or more girls. However, in a reverse harem, the roles are exchanged. In such anime or manga, the female protagonist is surrounded by many males. Conversely, it might also be that the lead character in the anime is a gay man surrounded by three or more men. Such shows would fall under the reverse harem and yaoi genre.
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Best Harem Anime
Here is a list of a few top-rated harem anime shows that are loved by the audience.
- Nisekoi: False Love
- The Quintessential Quintuplets
- Demon King Daimao
- Highschool DxD
- Infinite Stratos
- Haganai
- Masamune Kun No Revenge
- Arifureta: From Commonplace To The World’s Strongest
- My First Girlfriend Is A Gal
- Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend
- Yamada Kun And The Seven Witches
- Rent A Girlfriend
- Yuuna And The Haunted Hot Springs
- The World God Only Knows
- Outbreak Company
Reverse Harem
Here is a list of a few top-rated reverse harem anime shows that are loved by the audience.
- Fruits Basket
- Ouran Host Club
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom
- Kamigami no Asobi
- Diabolik Lovers
- Dance With The Devils
- Watashi ga Motete Dousunda
- Yumeiro Patissiere
- Magic-Kyun! Renaissance
- Prequel: B-Project: Kodou Ambitious
- Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou
- Yume Oukoku to Nemureru 100-nin no Ouji-sama
- Akatsuki no Yona