Beocat

Well, I for one am glad to see you back again. I hear the acute illness thing. A couple of years ago I had a pneumonia/head cold from working with all those pediatric patients (half of them with whooping cough. Parents would rather their children suffer and die from asphyxiation than vaccinate them these days. Tragic and inhumane.). I halfway think it was whooping cough (I could have been one of those non-responders) it was so bad. Took me three months to recover. I looked like death walking. Anyways, as a Southerner, I suggest chicken soup. The broth cures almost everything (it warms the soul, so even if you aren't cured you still feel better.). I am so sorry to hear about Wendy too. Losing a pet is never easy. When I lost Tiggr, I thought my soul might never mend. It's good though that you have three new additions to the family to help you get through it. Izuku sounds a lot like Riptide in some ways.

Welcome back Vivi! Been wondering how you've been doing.

@RepentantSky tried any yet? Still having trouble or want more suggestions?

Okay, check this list out Here. I basically did a quick search on sci-fi and guns, excluding mecha. Not much out there. Haha, guess me and @Misari think alike!

Welcome back to the forums

Naruto... Seven Deadly Sins.... Actually, most mainstream action-based titles I avoid these days. The fact that I picked up and enjoyed AoT was fairly surprising and so I give them extra points for pulling me in (even though the MC is really annoying at times). I find most mainstream anime suffer horribly from lack of creativity, carbon copies of one another with the events in different orders and different names for the characters. I also am not a fan of Evangelion, which I have been led to believe is extremely popular.

Where did you see it? Was it Toonami or Adult Swim? Or is this something you picked up online one day? What country or region are you based out of as well? (Some titles may go to EU but not NA or AU, others stay in JAP, etc)

S cryed? Or Sacred Seven? Those are my best guesses. It kind of feels like you are remembering two different anime. Part of it sounds surprisingly similar to Tekkaman to me.

How about giving us more information. What did the main character look like (hair color, etc)? How long ago were you a child (or maybe a range of dates)? If you give us more info, we might be able to help you more efficiently. Truth be told, I was going to say Ronin Warriors (even though I'm sure they didn't need a gem for their armor) but that's more along the lines of my youth than most people's youth here.

Name a Disney character that would probably hold their own in Dungeons & Dragons That one. Stared at it for about 5 minutes trying to decide if you were asking if the character would hold their own as a player rolling dice and deciding, or hold their own as the character the player plays. For instance, I chose Elsa as I could see her being a frost mage of some power and holding her own inside th game. Not sure however that she has the creativity and imagination however to really be a great D&D player. Name a character famous for carrying a sword. * This one I wasn't sure if you meant video game (like Cloud from FF7) or Anime character. Those were my questioning questions.

Mine is the hammer from hammerspace. It is present across several anime and always welded by righteous maidens punishing a guy for something horrendous.

Xam'd?

Why not?

@Animesta_MidnightLove Haha...yes, they form a club that is designed to basically make money by charging female classmates who want to spend time with them (while they portray classic male style characters in Japanese anime, for example the prince type, the cute kid type, the yaoi twincest type). I can say that it is quite funny (though I didn't appreciate the ending of the manga. Poor Haruhi.) and it is a good reverse harem. Nothing dirty happens in the anime. It is mostly comedy.

@Animesta_MidnightLove. Yeah...Ouran is entirely reverse harem and not a Shojo (whereas Maid Sama is both). What is off putting about Ouran if I might ask? Just curious.

Exactly! Number 2 would have been further down the list had it not been an example of extreme lack of creativity. The grope trope is also the one thing that I believe really gives anime a bad reputation among most people unfamiliar with it. I find most anime with a huge grope focus have abhorrent MCs. They aren't humorous or enjoyable. Just cringe worthy. The "become a whore" trope is just downright bad writing and so messed up. If you can't write that character in a believable manner, it just shows how bad a writer you are. Not to mention how nauseating it is to see it take up the precious screen time per episode... Ah, a reverse harem lover, like me! Yes, reverse harems are more wholesome and base more on plot and character development. Some like Uta no Prince-Sama maybe go a little too far in the harem (up to season 2 was good but season 3 just seemed to stray too far with too many reverse harem characters and not really any development) and others like Amnesia or Diabolik Lovers have some real crazy, creepy guys.... but it's the good ones that make it worthwhile. In general, there are more good ones than bad whereas straight up harems have too many bad ones and not enough good ones.

I think it is actually interpreted as not distributing male genitalia. Female parts are considered art. Go figure....

Hmm, I didn't get pictures with that link. Any way you could more explitly state the issue? The way you've worded this has me a bit confused.

I'll be honest. After nearly 30 years of watching anime...I still sometimes have to look these Japanese words up. >_> So, by Shojo you mean young girl, innocent, pure and endearing main heroine that brings out the best in people and may focus on character development type right? Not straight up romance but could have it, but mostly innocent or bright? I'd say...Petite Princess Yucie or Fate/Kaleid. I liked Petite Princess Yucie because it is so pure and because it shows true sacrifice as well. She struggles with her own messed up life, with making friends, and with the aftermath of it all as well. In my opinion, it was expertly written with just the right amount of sass and humor mixed in with drama and tragedy. Well done all over and Yucie remains a beacon in the night. I liked Fate/Kaleid because the two main heroines are so pure and innocent. They wear their emotions on their sleeves and the humor on the side helps to keep the anime from being pulled down into the darkness of the Fate series.

The original was alright and enjoyable...it may not have withstood the test of time. Live action type movies are rarely good in my opinion...that one seemed to cover season one of Rouroni Kenshin. I remember watching the CG Harlock movie. I went in with low expectations so it wasn't too bad. I guess the key is to lower your expectations appropriately then be pleasantly surprised when they pull it off.

So, anyone who has ever watched a Harem anime (or one with Harem elements), this might be familiar to you. This is a personal list of six of the Harem Tropes that personally irritates me to no end…some worse than others. So let’s start! I actually trimmed it down from 10 Tropes just to make it more concise. Anyone agree or disagree with me here? What are your thoughts on the tropes? This is not an all-inclusive list (that would take months as many as there are to fully flesh out) but feel free to list your own top gag-worthy harem tropes you'd like to see discontinued! And which are the worst offenders? For me, Familiar of Zero, the Tenchi Muyo franchise (and related shows), and Lord Marksman and Vanadis are by far the worst offenders overall. Disclaimer: I had planned on canning this post but a few people commented that they actually wanted to read it, so here goes.... By the way, some of you may become offended by some of what I say down there...tough. 6. And the wind rises……I’m not sure that’s what Ghibli was intending with that title but it describes it perfectly….that skirt straight up. The Marilyn Monroe look is very popular in anime. This is exacerbated by the dress code of Japanese schools (which insist on short skirts in most anime). Apparently, seeing a woman wearing her panties is very, very intimate…I mean, you can look at lingerie models in the department store catalogue and get essentially the same thing, so it must be life-altering to see them, right? Common examples include Negima with Negi’s sneezing wind, Your Lie in April’s Kousei meeting Koari scene (as he times it just right to get a photo of her panties…inadvertently of course!) and yes, Your Lie in April is a Harem (Kousei has at least three girls who are in love with him), and so many more… I personally think anyone who wears a short dress or skirt is taking chances there so the normal reaction of “I’m gonna smash his face for looking” reaction you get nearly every single time in anime is kind of uncalled for. This is really an unnecessary trope. I just wish they’d stop using it. I roll my eyes every time it happens and like a psychic I know what will happen directly after... 5. Let’s have a sleep-over! Now what harem anime has not done this? Short of pillow fights, it’s a staple of the genre. Sometimes the MC is living alone (his parents died or moved away….never mind that it’s illegal for a minor in Japan to live alone like that), occasionally he has just a single parent watching over him. Always the girls see an opening to play house! Common examples include Tenchi’s harem of alien girlfriends who live at his remote home with him and his perverted father who acts as a creep the entire time, Kanon where one of the girls moves in randomly and another is his cousin who already lives there…Familiar of Zero in the later seasons (I have so many issues with this one. How did this anime sneak its way into my heart? Must have been Louise and that whip of hers….), Log Horizon….really, I would have more difficulty finding a harem that did not employ this tactic on at least one girl. I seriously am trying to think of one that I could exclude…maybe Your Lie in April? That’s the closest I get to No Sleep Overs. He still suffers from the lack of a proper guardian, so I can't really give him a free pass. 4. Boobs…. Big or small….apples or melons? Maybe just paper and melons? Anyways, every harem (or nearly every one…I would suppose some hentai harems are exclusively triple G sized in the breast department) has at least one big busted girl and one flat chested one. I suppose they are foils…at least character foils for breast development…because no character development will ever take place there. Typically, these girls are at odds with one another. Big boobs constantly pointing out and demeaning flat chest for not having any…flat chest constantly feeling self-conscious and upset for not bouncing or busting out of their clothing. Honestly, some guys don’t even care about boobs! Let’s just get over it and move on. No one wants to watch two women argue and demean one another over the size of their organs. No one compares them. We get the picture because…well anime is made of a bunch of picture frames essentially. We can see it without the argument. Not to mention it generally serves as an excuse for a close up on the breasts...not what I want to see. In my collection, the worst offenders are Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Tenchi Muyo, and…Familiar of Zero (FoZ is becoming a broken record here…) 3. May I squeeze them apples? The inevitable boob squeeze, copping a feel down below and other forms of groping women. Not just for train rides anymore! Sometimes even the women ask for it and other times…well…creeps be creeps I suppose. This is an unfortunate addition to most anime out there, especially mainstream ones, harem or not (Seven Deadly Sins for example). I have to admit that the Japanese society has a lot of fondling and rapes that occur on their trains/subways that doesn’t seem to occur in the rest of the world. While I do not believe that violent video games cause violent people, I do think that the widespread fondling in anime might contribute to a relative acceptance of such actions by impressionable individuals. It’s in most anime that come out and Japan watches more anime than the rest of the world. If it’s okay for the MC to do it and everyone loves him for it, why not Creeper67 on the last subway car too? I just think that if Japan really wants to stop the poor life choices of some individuals who take the train to work and back, the least they can do is take a personal stance against it in their own artwork. That is my own personal opinion anyways. Now, I know every single one of you can name an anime where the MC reached out and squeezed a boob (usually followed by a blush and a squeal of delight, maybe even drool…which is downright ridiculous.). Some particularly bad ones that come to mind are Lord Marksman and Vanadis and Familiar of Zero. Now, Lord Marksman or Tigre, he’s pretty handsy. One of the Vanadis actually only has one scene in the anime where she teleports to his room at night and he gropes her breast while half-asleep. Yeah…that was all her character meant apparently. That is just one example of many from that anime. Familiar of Zero…when is Saito not copping a feel on the Princess or the Maid or really any female character other than Louise?! He deserved every lashing he got! It didn’t help that they were all trying to get him to do it. Us women just can’t squeeze our own apparently. Now, a sister trope to this trope is the “Oops…..” trope. Oops, I tripped and landed in a compromising position on top of you! Oops, I reached for the door and accidently fondled your breasts instead! Oops! Somehow something went all wrong and you ended up sitting on my face! Yeah…an accident… lots of accidents happen in Harems. If an accident like that happened to me, I certainly wouldn’t be pursuing him as a romantic interest. Let’s leave it at that. I already mentioned the Oops moment from Your Lie in April, then of course, Familiar of Zero had it…and Tenchi… Oops is usually followed by someone being angry and someone being embarrassed (and sometimes it’s both at the same time for the same person). 2. There are only three kinds of harem focal points. The first kind is a womanizing pervert who just wants to squeeze things…boobs, butt cheeks…you name it, he’s probably squeezed it before. You can throw in the accidental perverts in there too…you know, the kind that have done pervy things…by accident of course! Then there is the second type of guy who is just very average. He excels at nothing (or pretty much nothing until the women show up, then he excels at something) and yet girls are obsessed with him, picking him out of a crowd even as interesting even though they know nothing about him. Usually, these types find the girls to be a hindrance or a distraction. Then there’s the third kind of guy. The third guy is the kind that has no real reaction to girls. Usually, he’s the type not to notice that they like him (Kousei from Your Lie in April is a perfect example of this. He’s utterly clueless!). Guess that’s part of the romantic tension. The guy who actually likes one of the girls and actively pursues her at the expense of another’s attention is pretty rare. Then again, would the harem still exist or would it be a rom-com then? Hmmm….I might need to consider that. No other tantalizing men exist in the world of anime, at least, not any that are sought after by so many women at once. Remember, if you want women to chase after you, be one of those guys. Don't be interesting, observant, or chivalrous. 1. And the number one biggest eyesore and vomit-worthy harem trope on my list is…. Become a whore! So, it is very likely if you have seen enough harem anime that you would have come across this particularly distasteful trope. Typically, this trope takes a shy, demure, proper woman (or girl) who has little real interest in the MC and suddenly pastes on the Major Slut personality and discards every single piece of her original personality for this new sex-crazed one. It gives off the vibe of I’m so desperate for a man, I’ll literally do anything and…oftentimes in anime they will go to insane lengths. The biggest and worse offender of them all that comes straight to my mind is the Maid character from Familiar of Zero (I disliked her so much I never bothered to remember her name). Starting out in the first season, she was very proper and respectful, fully clothed, and had reasonable reactions to Saito’s lecherous behavior. Then season two comes around and she drops her entire personality to become a desperate slut, even going to the lengths of climbing in Saito’s bed between him and Louise, usually with barely any clothes on at all. At one point, she essentially serves him wearing nothing but a tiny apron in a blatant attempt to tempt him into ravishing her. She went from being a pretty good character in my book to being downright loathed by me. The whole debacle was demeaning to what she had been…and honestly demeaning to women everywhere. Then again, that show was prone to nearly every harem trope I list, so it isn’t surprising that the Princess experienced a similar devolvement as well. I guess the take away point here is that if a man refuses you and pursues someone else, you should take off your clothes and try again anyways. ~gags~

Welcome to the forums!

So...you were Haruhi from Ouran then? I'm so sorry! Perhaps tonight I shall make that post. I wrote it last night but never posted it. It needs polishing badly lol... I might cut my list from top ten to top five seeing as otherwise my post might go on forever...

Ok...I remember my last trip to Atlanta to see the whale sharks at the aquarium but....I could do a weekend with hotel and food there for less. That is insane! Shop around buddy. I always get a hotel room around 20 minutes away from the con. I live too far from the one I go to commute and I like the place I stay at. I spend maybe 300-400 dollars on the hotel depending on my check in date (not bad for 4 days), probably between 300 and 800 dollars on anime. I go in with a budget and rarely break it. Food wise....probably 200 bucks for my husband and me. The anime budget is where I spend the most. Are you staying at the Ritz?

Is it imagination or is it parroting what I've seen? Well, maybe I'll make a Harem Tropes thread tonight if no one beats me to it LOL I used to complain about the tropes at length though now that I have spent a good few years out of the harem circle for the most part, I think I can talk about it without giving myself a headache. Maybe I'll make a few shots before I write it anyways. Can't hurt to be a little less sour when I write about it lol.... The fingers flow faster and lighter with a little bit of Alkyhol to lubricate the joints haha The pervy boy is definitely one of the tropes. And yes, DxD is definitely a harem. Please do not mistake the Japanese dream for reality. Vulgarity, crudeness, and lecherous behavior rarely won the hearts of maidens fair.... I will say, for all my distaste of Harems, I really do enjoy Reverse Harems. There is far less pervyness in them in general and far less fan service. It's just more character and story based than anything else.