So you wanna watch a harem anime. Or maybe you’re just amused by my post title.
In any case, the harem genre is one that enjoys a negative reputation from anime viewers, mainly due to the core nature of it being one guy surrounded by many girls waiting to jump him – rather pandering, even I will admit.
Of course, such a stereotype is the same as assuming that all shonen action shows involve men in spiky hair screaming, or all shoujo romances feature blond-haired ambigously-gendered prettyboys surrounded by sparkles and flowers, or, more pertinently, that all anime is hentai. So it’s my job today to recommend some of the better harem-type shows out there with a fun little activity – and I don’t mean fun like your teacher’s definition of “fun”, trust me, so it’ll be OK.
The problem with the harem genre, and the reason it has gets a bad rap from so many people is that, admittedly, it does vary wildly in quality. There are piles of pandering shows which are nothing more than the stereotype I mentioned above. But not all of them belong in this pile.
Rather, many shows have a harem setup only in appearance, and belong to a greater genre I usually term the ‘visual novel’ shows, after works like Kanon or Tsukihime that were originally visual novels, that have a skewed male:female ratio for sure, but have a more refined (or at least more refined pandering to emotional fools like me) taste.
So here’s a little quiz I devised on a boring weekend to help you determine which visual-novel / harem-type anime might suit you. Amuse yourself, at least to see if you’ve seen what I’ve recommended and whether it suits you or not. It’s all about what personally appeals the best in such a diverse genre like this.
Enjoy! (Yeah, everything’s after the jump. Keep going…)
Please take out a #2 pencil and a sheet of paper. Keep all eyes on your own paper, anyone caught cheating will be forced to watch To Heart 2. You have 10 minutes to complete this quiz and…begin:
1) In my anime characters, I look for:
A) Moe moe cuteness!
B) A gripping backstory.
C) A complex mix of black and whites.
D) Something that touches me personally.
E) Signs of insanity.
2) Do you like to see shows end?
A) I wish they never would!
B) I always tear up at endings.
C) Only if the ending makes sense.
D) As long as the ending isn’t weak.
E) In violence, yes.
3) Moe is something that
A) Makes a character really adorable to me.
B) Isn’t really relevant to me.
C) Helps accentuate a character’s personality.
D) Is good as long as it isn’t overdone.
E) Helps to hide the true nature of a character.
4) Thoughts on incest?
A) It’s an interesting dynamic.
B) It is best, like they say.
C) If only they hadn’t been related!
D) It makes for a good story.
E) What does a guy doing a girl and her sister count under?
5) A schoolgirl should have a big -
A) Heart.
B) Brain.
C) Secret.
D) Rack.
E) Knife.
6) I greatly dislike characters who -
A) Aren’t relevant to the story.
B) Are obviously pandering.
C) I can’t relate to.
D) Are melodramatic.
E) Are too stable to be drive insane.
7) Would you cry manly tears?
A) No shame in it!
B) Only if a show is really touching.
C) I’m not a crying type of person.
D) I hate shows that make me cry!
E) Manic, insane laughter is more my thing.
8) Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl go out. Thoughts on story?
A) Is that all?
B) Awwwwww~
C) Short and sweet.
D) It’s not bad, but could use some complexity.
E) Do they fight, break up, and are at each other’s throats the next page?
9) Plot twists are -
A) Really shocking to me.
B) A good way to redefine a show.
C) Way too overdone.
D) Necessary to a good show.
E) Better when they’re bloody.
10) What do you think of this quiz?
A) I’m looking forward to seeing how this works.
B) It’s entertaining.
C) I’m hoping I get a show I like!
D) I’ll tell you after I’m done with it!
E) I’ve realized E’s are the joke answers, and pick them anyway!
Results:
As you may notice, the answers are generally split up into four definite categories (plus letter E), that most harem-style shows are defined by. These categories are thoughtful, lighthearted, emotional, and dramatic, and explain themselves pretty well. Score yourself a point for each answer as follows:
1) A – Lighthearted, B – Dramatic, C – Thoughtful, D – Emotional
2) A – Lighthearted, B – Emotional, C – Thoughtful, D – Dramatic
3) A – Lighthearted, B – Dramatic, C – Emotional, D – Thoughtful
4) A – Thoughtful, B – Lighthearted, C – Emotional, D – Dramatic
5) A – Emotional, B – Thoughtful, C – Dramatic, D – Lighthearted
6) A – Dramatic, B – Thoughtful, C – Lighthearted, D – Emotional
7) A – Emotional, B – Thoughtful, C – Dramatic, D – Lighthearted
8) A – Dramatic, B – Emotional, C – Lighthearted, D – Thoughtful
9) A – Emotional, B – Thoughtful, C – Lighthearted, D – Dramatic
10) A – Thoughtful, B – Lighthearted, C – Emotional, D – Dramatic
(Don’t count any E’s, unless a majority of your answers are E’s … then skip to the bottom.)
Still with me? Good. Take the two categories you scored the highest in – if you tie, just pick one. It’s not a horribly serious quiz and it’s meant for fun anyway. Besides, if I had the choice I would force you to watch all of these. Nevertheless, the purpose here is to try to find a show that fits you, so take your two categories and follow this list.
If your highest category is X and your second category is Y, then your X-Y would be…
Thoughtful-lighthearted Show ▼
KimiKiss Pure Rouge
If you’ve ever heard of this show, you’re probably crying out right now that KimiKiss isn’t a harem show. And you’re right! It was based off a visual novel with a decidedly harem slant, but the anime itself is remarkably gender neutral, despite the fact that KimiKiss has two male heroines with two female interests each.
This complexity of relationships, where nearly every character has a complex dynamic with two other characters, typically one a friend and one a lover, makes KimiKiss a intriguing show to watch. It may not be thought-provoking in terms of changing a life outlook, but it’s always fun to analyze the relationships between the characters, and predict who’s going to get together in the end.
It’s a very down to earth romance-type show, and overall it’s a very mellow, sweet, yet quite unpredictable watch. Certainly you won’t decide for a long time which girl will get which guy … not to mention which girl IS the best girl for the guy.
Thoughtful-emotional Show ▼
ef ~a tale of memories~
ef is a veritable storm that will leave you wrecked, both emotional and mentally, and for me that’s something I can give the highest recommendation. It’s one of the most unique visual-novel anime out there, both in graphical style (possessing the touch of the same studio that animated Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) and in storytelling fashion.
Telling two stories at once, one of a old-fashioned love triangle and another of a girl with a 13-hour memory span, ef is always strong one way or another – it was best put by Jason Miao that “at no point in time are all the multiple stories at the same progression point” – you’ll see happy moments from one side and tearful moments from the other, keeping interest high.
ef has a lot of ways to shake your soul as well, as the main protagonists go through some rather emotional moments which spur some tangents on the workings and the meanings of romance. It’s not as sappy as it sounds, but it’s very much an emotional and powerful work. There are certain moments in this show where the writing and the graphics combine to create a more powerful tour de force than anywhere else. ef might be a bit too outlandish, a bit too ‘artistic’ for some people, but I see it as one of the best examples that ‘harem’ style shows (although this is more visual-novel than anything else) can be incredibly intellectually and emotionally stimulating.
Thoughtful-dramatic Show ▼
True Tears
True Tears is a strange example of romance distilled down into its raw form, being a quite simple love triangle (plus a fourth side). But it’s quite simply one of the best examples of one of these done right, being a relatively gender-neutral, surprising, and analytical-friendly anime.
The two main contenders in True Tears are appealing and complex characters, both with more than one facade. It’s easy to see how people could take sides on who is more deserving, as well as how well people could take these characters apart and analyze their rationale. That is my mark of a good show in this genre, where the characters are complex and unpredictable, yet still entertaining, and True Tears accomplishes this in style.
Additionally, True Tears contains a very interesting allegory-inside-a-story, that will certainly add extra value to anyone looking a bit deeper into the anime. But even on a surface level, watching the tide of romance ebb and sway, with a spicy but not overwhelming dose of melodrama injected into overall quite realistic characters, makes True Tears worth a watch. (Not to mention, it’s a looker.)
Lighthearted-emotional Show ▼
Clannad
Clannad is the third visual-novel-turned-anime from Key, a company famous for making ‘crying games’. It’s true that many of its works can induce a lot of emotion, but Clannad went beyond that in making a show that is just plain fun to watch. It contains a much more comedic edge than its two predecessors, with highly appealing and diverse (if not a bit moe-overdosed) characters who interact in great fashion.
Some might not like this show as much as Kanon or Air, mainly because there isn’t as much of an emphasis on the ’sad girls’ element expected from Key which can coax emotion out of the most stoic anime viewer, but Clannad strikes a balance between this and humor that will appeal to a much larger group of people.
Definitely, the relationship between the main couple is one of the big draws, as it’s realistically done and much more give-and-take than most ‘knight in shining armor’-fests, but the slapstick elements, as well as the male lead’s sharp ability to have a little fun with his admirers, are just as memorable. Clannad is a top-notch intro into the world of harem-like shows, with touching moments and side-splitting ones, and a cast of characters that anyone can find someone to like in.
Lighthearted-dramatic Show ▼
Da Capo
Da Capo is one of the more unabashedly harem-like shows for sure (being one of the poster girls for the school of siscon), but that doesn’t stop it from being a show that can both entertain and enrapture. It subscribes to the theory of separate but equal portions of fanservice and plot – which is something that admittedly will turn off a lot of people, but I found that the lighthearted early half of the show does a good job of making all the characters likable and quite fleshed out, which allowed the dramatic second half to make a bigger impact.
Again, one of the strengths of Da Capo, just like many harem shows, is that it features a large cast of characters which are all distinct and entertaining. The show spreads itself a bit thin with character episodes, but the plus side of this is that very few characters feel flat and irrelevant to the show – one can really emphasize with the plight of each, something that becomes especially strong when they start going head-to-head at the end of the show.
It’s not going to change any stereotypes about the genre, but if you’re a fan of harem shows Da Capo, as a sort of jack-of-all-trades, will not disappoint.
Lighthearted-thoughtful Show ▼
Shuffle!
Shuffle! is a show much similar to Da Capo in style, with a easy-on-the-mind (not to mention the eyes) first half and a powerful, dramatic second half, but arguably Shuffle! is more distinct in both categories. Infamous for some incredible twists in the final few episodes, Shuffle! isn’t a show you can figure out at first glance, as much as it seems that way.
The same goes for many of its characters, who while still pandering very much to the male base with their figures and unrestrained affection, have touching background and very real internal conflicts. In fact, said unrestrained affection is one thing contemplated on, among other things.
Shuffle! isn’t exactly a show that takes itself seriously all the time, but when it comes down to crunch time it can really bust out some scenes and moments that will stick as different from the norm, as much as it seems just like every other ecchi harem show at times. Don’t mistake it as such – it’s certainly got a pandering slant going on, but the story it tells and the lessons it teaches near the end are very much worth sitting through the start.
Emotional-dramatic Show ▼
Tsukihime
Tsukihime is pretty much in a class of its own, with roots in a ‘crying game’-style story surrounded in a well-expositioned supernatural world. It does feel a lot like a dramatic work more than a harem-style or even a romantic one, an unknown man in an unknown mystery where pieces are slowly put into place.
Still, it’s characters will induce a large amount of emotion in most people as each one of them has an almost tragic story, one that will definitely endear itself to viewers. The way these stories intertwine, combined with the action-orientated elements of mysterious murders plaguing the city, creates a great page-turner of sorts.
The writing of the visual novel is distinct (if not a bit complex), and the anime does a good job at creating mood with visuals and music, to create an experience which only occasionally delves into what is commonly known as ‘harem’. Most of the time it is much more mature and moving than that, which is one of the reasons I hold Tsukihime as one of the best works in this genre.
Emotional-thoughtful Show ▼
Air
As mentioned a while above, Air is one of Key’s series of ‘crying games’, and quite possibly the epitome of what you’d imagine this series to be. Air is an undeniably tragic story, one that might be too streamlined for emotion for people to enjoy, but definitely a tear-jerker if it rubs you the right way.
The stories of three girls, each with some supernatural element to it, all begin innocently and peacefully, but slowly ramp up with revealed secrets and well-done piano tracks to a powerfully moving work with a bittersweet tone. A stereotypical ‘happy ending’ with people dancing in the flowers isn’t always found here, but there’s always a uplifting mood to the show, where characters learn to be strong inside.
It’s an excellent show for demonstrating the power of anime to invoke emotion and contemplation (there are many ways to take the ending parts of the show), although its almost heavyhanded way of doing so may turn some people off.
Emotional-lighthearted Show ▼
Kanon
Kanon is the middle sister in Key’s three ‘crying games’, with just as much emphasis on the emotion as Air but with more time to be comedic and adorable. It’s a personal favorite of mine for many reasons, but in terms of harem-style anime with cute characters with touching stories, Kanon reigns supreme.
Kanon, being twice as long as Air, has a lot more time to develop the characters in both ways, both giving them appeal through heavy flavoring of moe, and drawing out their story and its effect. It really almost is like five stories in one – each girl’s arc is a bit too stand-alone, but each one is quite unique and packs quite an impact. The characters are a good mix of weakness and strength; while they all do have obvious flaws that the male protagonist is there to fix, they do have a definite backbone that is shown as they try to fight their tragic story, as they try to stay strong in the name of adversity.
Overall, Kanon is a show that feels very rewarding, as it is both enjoyable and (as you might guess) emotional, a pinnacle of the visual novel / harem genre, although it might come off as too moe-filled for some. For those who don’t mind that taste though, there is nothing sweeter than Kanon.
Dramatic-thoughtful Show ▼
H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~
H2O’s a curious case, reminding me a bit of Shuffle! in the way that it had an almost disgustingly fanservice-ful first half followed by a whopper of a intense storyline in the second half. It’s definitely a more dramatic type of show though – there was more of a sense of controversy and conflict that gave H2O the feel of a thriller.
As such, many people will dislike it because it is quite patently ridiculous, but I see it as rather unique in a crowded genre. It contains many of the same archetypes and cliches at first but the patently mindscrew-type plot of the second half is something not seen as often as the more straightforward sad story. It’s not as much of a thinker as a true analytical show, but some of the twists near the end of the show will cast the rest of the anime in a whole different light for sure.
It’s not a show that will hold up under the light of scrutiny but H2O is a wild rollercoaster to ride while you’re on it, with a special brand of insanity that applies to its plot, its characters, and its moments of mindscrew (serious or not – the parody-like episode 8 was brilliant on its own).
Dramatic-lighthearted Show ▼
sola
sola is much the same way as H2O, as it is as well a highly intense show which is enrapturing if not a bit plot-hole-filled, but the innate supernatural nature of sola, combined with the slice-of-life moments of it, give it a more refined taste that will appeal to quite a few people.
sola is definitely a visual-novel type show, as although it does feature three girls attracted to one guy the harem undertones of it don’t apply at all, given that the romance itself is understated. This isn’t a bad thing, given that the character interactions have a lot of depth and are enjoyable regardless, and adding too much sappiness would ruin the soup here.
Instead, that element of sola is more understated and subtle, giving a bit of spice and rationale to the action-heavy, thrilling nature of this show, which moves along at brisk pace and nearly always ends on a cliffhanger. Yet still, especially in the early moments, it finds some time to crack a laugh or two as well, creating an anime that is overall very entertaining in multiple aspects.
Dramatic-emotional Show ▼
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
KimiNozo is a strange show. It’s really nothing you would probably want to be watching, unless you like soap operas. It’s extremely dramatic and pathos-filled, given that a tragic accident occurs in the second episode, setting the tone for the rest of the show. KimiNozo is a exploration of the concept of ‘lost innocence’ as such, something that as you may imagine may not be the best for a sweet show but definitely makes gripping drama.
The emotional aspect comes from the fact that KimiNozo is unflichingly brutal. It’s not really a feel-good show, not until the ending (and even then, depending on your allegiances, maybe not at all), but it is an eye-opener. It’s a show that might induce a bit of maturity, or at the least a bit of a melancholy in the viewer, as all the characters definitely do fall into a pit of despair of which they can only partially climb out.
Still, they do the best they can and mature as people, so it’s not like the show is one-hundred-percent a downer, but it’s not an anime to be taken lightly. But if you’re into realistically flawed characters and a decidedly different tone of story, KimiNozo just might be worth a shot.
Special prize for the E’s Show ▼
School Days
Do I need to explain this show? It’s the anti-’harem show’ harem show. It’s dramatic beyond belief, so much so that it becomes hilarious. It’s soap opera insanity. It’s legendary for its over-the-top, meme-creating ending. And sometimes, it’s almost sobering. All I can say is that it’s worth a watch, or a skim, just because you’re never going to see something like this again. For good or for bad, I don’t know.
-CCY
(Ah, my mind gave out somewhere around the sixth show, hopefully this turns out OK.)
May 17, 2008 - 3:04 pm
Apparently I should watch H2O. Hmm. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll bear it in mind.
Anyway, interesting and amusing exercise!
May 17, 2008 - 3:20 pm
I don’t know how I’m supposed to cry manly tears when i’m a girl XD
I got ef and True tears, which i haven’t seen, but it makes sense.
This is a really cool quiz, =D
May 17, 2008 - 3:25 pm
Too bad I already watched true tears. But it matched perfectly @_@
May 17, 2008 - 3:43 pm
I matched H2O but I had a few E choices too. School Days sounds much more appealing.
May 17, 2008 - 4:45 pm
I got H2O. You win. H2O > True Tears.
And I only got three E’s (questions 2, 4, and 5)
May 17, 2008 - 5:46 pm
Firstly, did you come up with this test yourself? Because if you did, I tip my hat to you. This is one of the most interesting blog posts I’ve come across in a long time. A fantastic blog entry this is.
I ended up with True Tears. I quite enjoyed the show, so it’s a good call.
BTW, I’ve seen every single one of the shows to completion except for Da Capo. Does that make me a harem whore? Weird thing is, I don’t even consider myself a harem fan. :|
May 17, 2008 - 5:54 pm
I got matched with Air, which is (not so) surprising ’cause it was the first, and one of the best, anime series I watched.
And I totally agree with your description of School Days, the ending is something I will never forget.
May 17, 2008 - 7:14 pm
I got Dramatic plus one of Light-hearted, Emotionality and Insane (E), which are all tied on 2 points.
I guess this means I like a bit of Drama plus anything that doesn’t screw with my head. But I’ll go for Dramatic-Emotional because I like the sound of that. I really wanted school days actually, Yandere are my favourites.
What have you prescribed me?
Kimi ga Nozumu Eien: not Bad, Thank you doc.
May 17, 2008 - 9:22 pm
I hope you only meant the first season of Da Capo, cos your good points on that show only seem to correspond to that season alone (the current one has a sparkle of potential I suppose, or it could just be double the siscon pandering). I’m always impressed by how you can make a post that’s both relevant and quite accurate where other bloggers would’ve just descended into crack *lowers face shamefully*
May 17, 2008 - 11:15 pm
Oh boo, I got Tsukihime. There is no Tsukihime anime! D:D:D:
Also, my friend was tied on Emotional, Dramatic, and Thoughtful – three tallys for each. =/
May 17, 2008 - 11:15 pm
What category do you choose if your first two answer natures are even in numbers? ;_; Cause the anime under Drama-Emo I’d rather not watch (again). ;__________;
May 17, 2008 - 11:23 pm
I watched True Tears, but I really think Tsukihime > True Tears. Should have switched them, IMHO.
May 17, 2008 - 11:33 pm
This quiz is rigged, I got a perfect balance of 3 Thoughtful, 3 Emotional, 2 Dramatic, and 2 Lighthearted. Oi!
Between Thoughtful-Emotional (ef) and Emotional-Thoughtful (Air) I prefer the former immensely, so I guess I know where my loyalty lies now. Or do I? Hated Air with a passion, in any case…
(the sentient Captcha strikes again — “Mares passion” is cryptic, but not a far stretch in terms of interpretation)
May 18, 2008 - 12:40 am
Keep in mind that the quiz isn’t meant to be a definitive guide to harem. I personally enjoyed most of the list (except for Tsukihime because everyone knows there’s no such thing as a Tsukihime animé LOL) and anyone who actually gives these series a chance would most probably enjoy it too.
Also for sheer torture make them watch Wind. To Heart 2 isn’t tortuous enough. Then expose them to the Wind English Patch Drama.
Watch as they go utterly insane and you being sent to Guantanamo Bay for violating the Geneva Convention. And US/wherever you reside in law.
May 18, 2008 - 6:40 am
I got Lighthearted-Thoughtful Shuffle, which I actually kind of liked, but had to skip the infamous Kaede incident because it was too Dramatic.
It’s impressive how you managed not only to come up with the categories, but also pick anime to represent them and stuck with the choices, a feat I could never have managed.
May 18, 2008 - 10:38 am
Wow, nothing like a little reader interaction, eh?
@IKnight / Caitlin / Baka-Raptor: A lot of H2O’s in the crowd, which surprises me. This was a hard category to pick, honestly – dramatic and thoughtful works don’t usually overlap (because usually the drama will move along the plot so fast that most sensibility will be left behind), and so the analytical power in H2O is more of a ‘figuring out what happened in the story’ type thing, rather than really getting to take the powers apart.
That, and the first 4 episodes of H2O are neither dramatic nor thoughtful nor good. Still, I enjoyed the show, so, who knows. KimiNozo was a ‘thoughtful’-type too personally since it was so different compared to the rest of happy harems.
@ shirokiryuu: Ah, guess I forgot to account for that. What’s the female equivalent of manly tears, I wonder…womanly chest hair? XD
@ IcyStorm / nckl: Good to know the quiz seems to work.
And yeah, this post was basically borne out of a “I feel like defending harem shows today” urge mutated by insanity. Keep in mind that I’ve watched all of these, so don’t try to make yourself more of a ‘harem whore’ than I am. :P And the purpose of this post was to show that the harem genre isn’t that horrible, that it’s not completely full of pandering junk, so don’t be so ashamed of it, eh?
Maybe that’s because I usually call them ‘visual novel anime’ rather than ‘harem shows’ though.
@Lenroc: Glad to see I’m not the only one that started with Air. I enjoyed it very much too (I think it was the anime that affected me the most), although I’ve learned to love other shows more now.
@Teeif: Yandere make a show interesting, but I think that’s only because they aren’t very common in anime. Too many of them and I would go crazy too, I think, from all the drama.
@issa-sa: Yeah, I was mainly referring to the first season of Da Capo. D.C.S.S wasn’t too bad and had a great deal of characters, although this means they were spread pretty thin. (Not to mention Aisia being far too annoying at the start.)
I really disliked Da Capo II and never got past the 3rd episode … I wonder if it’s necessary to watch it in order to make sense of D.C. II S.S. – like you said, I’ve heard it’s better.
@Nagato: I only hinted at it a bit, but that recommendation applies to the Tsukihime visual novel as well. I hated the anime a lot at first, but that’s just because I’m much more of a ‘far side of the moon’ fan. A lot of characters had to get shafted but the anime did quite a few things I liked; it’s one of the better anime at ‘mood’ I’ve seen.
@Miha: Hahaha, KimiNozo really is emo, not emotional sometimes. (Yes, I treat them as different words.)
I would try the reverse then, emotional-drama, since I think Tsukihime is something that would move a lot of people.
@Michael: They are pretty close, true. I found myself more affected by Tsukihime the visual novel, while True Tears made a dent but not a quake; the emotional category reflects my personal bias of what shows moves me most, so Tsukihime was that first and foremost.
Maybe Tsukihime just gave me too much of a headache with its vampire world terminology and the like for me to really reflect on it on any deep level.
@Owen S: Copy-cat. Took it myself and I got that same distribution.
As mentioned, I like Air, but Key’s style of emotional pandering (aka ‘cry now plz’) doesn’t work for everyone – although I really adore it personally.
Well, except for the Clannad movie. That just sucked, but spoilers go elsewhere. D:
@Drm: Yeah, forgot to mention that. This is mainly a list of vaguely serious and recent harem anime, since I haven’t watched a lot of the old harems, or the fanservicey type.
Never heard of Wind before, and I’m hoping never again from what you said … but I’ve proven myself to be a masochist before.
@DKellis: Someone lighthearted! Finally! XD
Did you try Da Capo? I was tossed up between that and Shuffle! for the thoughtful category – both tilted more towards the dramatic side.
*takes breath, passes out*
May 18, 2008 - 10:52 am
Geez… Depends on which why I go. I either got H20 or True Tears. :)
May 18, 2008 - 11:33 pm
Nicely done! I got Ef and AIR, which are my two favourites, (unless you count something like Eva as harem…) albeit in the opposite order. Even when EF is reminding one of Anno in his pomp, the central concept of AIR gives it a sense of coherence and scale which nothing else quite matches.
May 19, 2008 - 3:54 am
I got ef so I’m happy. The funniest was watching my sis take the test. She got 3-3-3-1 where the 1 was lighthearted and was torn between 6 different shows. Thank you for giving me another opportunity to make fun of sis with the Minami-ke “plain yogurt” reference.
May 19, 2008 - 4:17 pm
I got 4 emo, 2 drama, 2 elitist, 1 shallow, and 1 joke.
I looked up emo-elitist (’cause drama’s totally not my thing) and I found, lo and behold, Air. One of my favorite shows ever, and yet, I have nothing but disdain for (almost all) the things you mention in your description of it. It was an eye-opener and a thought-changer and it entranced me with its visual and aural aesthetic. Plot? Characters? Come on.
Freakin’ disgrace.
Tsukihime and EF were MUCH better on those fronts. Psh.
EDIT: also, since when were AIR and EF harem shows?
May 20, 2008 - 7:32 am
Interesting, I liked ef the best out of all the ones that I’ve seen, but I ended up with Da Capo. I’ve never seen it so I’ll take this as helpful advice. I’m just glad I didn’t get H2O :P
- I’d say visual novels adaptations are a subset of harems, not the other way around.
- ef had 3 girls and 2 protagonists, can that ratio really count as a harem?
- True Tears is a love triangle, Aiko was an incidental plot device more than a girl.
- What, what, WHAT happened to the harem of all harems, the quintessential collection of archetypes surrounding, punching, and eventually loving a humble nerd, the omission of which makes me what to go all-caps — Love Hina? I’d say it goes for the lighthearted-dramatic end, but it’s also just plain great.
But getting away from all that nitpicking, props to you for putting together such an involved piece of work, not to mention have it make some sense, yowza.
May 24, 2008 - 9:16 am
What no Higurashi? I thought that was where those E answers were going.
I was surprised that I got so strong a split – 6 thoughtful, 3 emotional, 1 dramatic. And my matching show ef was one I haven’t seen so maybe I’ll put it in my queue. When I flipped my 2 categories around I got Air. I love Air – I’d love to see a 26 episode remake of Air over more Clannad episodes.
Anyways, great post.
May 27, 2008 - 2:40 pm
I tied for Emotional/Thoughtful and Thoughtful/Emotional. While I can’t say that this was helpful (I’ve already seen these lol) it was certainly entertaining – and unlike many quizzes, it was hard to predict what answers would lead to what show.
June 14, 2008 - 12:12 pm
Heh. Funny quiz here. I scored 4 thoughtful, 3 dramatic, 2 emotional, and 1 lighthearted.
Of all the shows you mention, I’ve seen six; ef, Clannad, Shuffle, Air, Kanon, and KGNE. I think KGNE is my favorite, followed by ef and Air. Clannad was alright–and had some good, genuine humor going for it. I did not like Kanon (and because I did not like it I did not watch KyoAni’s remake) and Shuffle is a pile of crap, IMO. :D
H20 is on my to-watch list, though, as is Tsukihime. And maybe, since your quiz suggested it, I’ll try True Tears. I’d never heard of it until now, though.
July 3, 2008 - 3:42 am
I got Emotional-Thoughtful, which means Air. This quiz is a conspiracy. I prefer CLANNAD and to a certain extent, Kanon.
August 18, 2009 - 8:16 am
Ai Yori Aoshi, is a great lighthearted anime.