Ty Builds a Harem

A big thanks to Moya, the writer behind The Moyatorium, for nominating me for the Build a Harem Challenge. It’s funny, because I’d actually planned to write a post like this several years ago, but never got ‘round to it. This was the final push I needed to actually do it, so, yeah, thanks for getting my lazy rear in gear!

The rules for the Build a Harem Challenge are as follows:

1. Link back to the original post on Anime QandA so they can check out everyone’s picks!
2. Use the ‘Build A Harem’ logo somewhere in the post.
3. Make sure to mention the person who nominated you too!
4. Pick 5 Anime Characters (any show & any gender) that would be in your ideal harem if you were the main character of a harem anime, explain a little bit as to why they are your picks (if you want).
5. Make sure each character you pick falls into some of the following harem character types: Childhood friend, tom boy/girl, genki girl/boy, loli/shota, trap, tsundere, yandere, kuudere, dandere, etc. (If there’s a character you’ve picked that doesn’t specifically fall into one of these types or falls into multiple types that’s fine too!)
6. Nominate 5 people to participate in this tag!

What originally inspired me to write a post like this all those years ago was Ouran High School Host Club. This fantastic show’s shrewd cast of characters formed a harem themselves, all to squeeze money from the disgustingly rich daddy’s girls of Ouran Academy. As part of this racket they adopted roles taken straight out of your typical shoujo manga. These included: the natural type, the princely type, the cool type, the mischievous type, the loli shota type, and the strong and silent type. As originally planned, I’ll use these labels for this post, but, as I’m only allowed to pick five characters, I’ll drop the loli shota type, as children, or men who look like children, don’t really appeal to me.

The Natural Type – Takashi Natsume (Natsume Yuujinchou)

This might surprise some of you, given that I recently slated Natsume Yuujinchou, but I’ve long had a soft spot for Natsume himself, partly because his pale blond hair and golden brown eyes are gorgeous and partly because he’s just so darn nice! Despite being shunned, ridiculed, and passed from one relative to another like unwanted baggage for most of his life, he’s sweet, caring, and tries to help anybody who needs it, even seriously sinister yokai. You’d be hard pressed to find a character as genuinely kindhearted as Natsume. But because of his ability to see yokai and his difficult upbringing, he is scared to let anybody get too close. This vulnerability makes Natsume incredibly endearing. He’s like a small, wounded woodland critter that you just can’t help but want to nurse back to health.

The Princely Type – Kuranosuke Koibuchi (Princess Jellyfish)

Kuranosuke is the prince(ss) of Princess Jellyfish. Given that he is the son of a prominent Japanese politician, and that he has lived his life in the lap of luxury, you might expect Kuranosuke to be extremely snobbish, and whilst his confidence does verge on arrogance, he looks at the plain, reclusive women of Amamizukan and sees beauty there. He considers them diamonds in the rough, just waiting to be polished. Kuranosuke might not appreciate, or even understand, the Amars’ dorky pastimes, but he never belittles them or sees himself as being better than them. Instead he does everything he can to, not just save their home, but help equip them with the confidence and skills that they need to save their home. Kuranosuke might dress like a princess most of the time, but he’s definitely a gallant prince.

The Cool Type – Nezumi (No.6)

I think we can all agree that No.6 was not a good show (I still have PTSD style flashbacks involving wasp tornadoes), but hopefully we can also agree on just how cool Nezumi was. He could dance, sing, act, play the piano, and, despite growing up in the slums, was well read and could recite Shakespeare with ease. Nezumi was also strong, handsome, and comfortable with his sexuality. He may have been angry at his life’s circumstances, but it seems to me that they didn’t hold him back from achieving all of these amazing things and becoming an all ‘round awesome man.

The Mischievous Type – Shigure Souma (Fruits Basket)

Shigure, the elder brother figure of Fruits Basket, ekes out a living writing erotic fiction, is lazy, a poor housekeeper, a notorious womaniser, and (which you’d know if you’d read the manga) extremely manipulative. He’s definitely not a nice guy. In fact, you could say that he’s… bad. Which is kinda hot… *sigh* I know that it’s stupid to fall for the bad guy, but in Shigure’s case, I couldn’t help it. He’s got this sly grin and swagger that’s just oh so appealing. And I’m a sucker for men in traditional Japanese clothes. Melt.

The Strong and Silent Type – Uta (Tokyo Ghoul)

Uta doesn’t have a major role to play in Tokyo Ghoul. He makes the masks that protect the ghouls’ identities… and that’s about it. Uta doesn’t have much to say and what he does have to say doesn’t really reveal that much about him. But that’s kind of his appeal, that he’s so mysterious, that and he looks like a Hot Topic store threw up on him, which I kind of dig. I’ve only just started the manga, but I hope that Uta has a bigger role to play in that, because I really want to know more about him. How did he end up making masks for other ghouls? What kind of a ghoul is he? How does he feel about humans? Who’s his tattoo artist? Can he hook me up? You know, the important questions!

I would be a very happy lady to have these fine fellas at my beck and call! If you’re stopping by, let me know what you think about my choices. As part of this challenge, I would like to nominate the following bloggers:

1. Arthifis
2. CSRadical
3. rossiroad
4. Shokamoka
5. TwoHappyCats

Good luck!