Let's talk about Light Novel Harems

Chi C

@shrike_al Except you don't NEED them to all be in love with Hajime for comedy interactions. You don't even need it for dirty jokes. Tio has the exact same jokes as Darkness from KonoSuba, and they manage to do it without an ever expanding harem.

My biggest issue with how things progress in Arifueta is two fold. First, it reflects badly on the characters. People say that "well at least Hajime isn't a clueless harem protag who doesn't realise what's going on" except this makes it WORSE. This makes every single girl terrible, because they are all persistent stalkers who won't give up even when Hajime flat out rejects them hundreds of time. Harems with indecisive MCs have the guy be kind of a wimp and annoying for not making a choice, but in those situations you can sort of understand why the girls keep at it. They all still feel like they have a chance of being "the one". But in this case, when Hajime has flat out said he's in love with Yue and nothing else, then it just makes every other girl seem terrible for throwing themselves at him in that situation.

I mean, I like Shea as a character, but her obsession over Hajime just can't end well. Either she eventually wears Hajime down through attrition, in which case he might sleep with her but he won't ever love her the way he loves Yue, or she just has to finally grow up and give up. The second choice should be the correct one, the one that's actually healthy emotionally. But given that this series is clearly heading for a harem we're going to end up with the first route, which is totally not healthy and a recipe for a messy divorce years down the road.

Eins

Uhh... I was under the impression that the purpose for the harem in Arifureta was that each girl in his life reclaims a piece of humanity that he lost when he became a monster.

shrike_al

@chi-c I'm not saying that I like it. I'm saying that I get it. If you've read Arifureta up until Kaori joins, you'll sorta get it too. (Maybe)

@Hyferzftw Haven't caught up with Realist Hero. Thinking about doing it soon. You're not the only who has said that it's good though.

I think there's another series with a harem that I really find acceptable, but I can't remember what.

Paul Nebeling

@shrike_al For the first three volumes, the girl on the cover has been the girl that joins the harem. Does that tend continue? (Obviously a spoiler.)

myskaros

@paul-nebeling said in Let's talk about Light Novel Harems:

For the first three volumes, the girl on the cover has been the girl that joins the harem. Does that tend continue? (Obviously a spoiler.)

spoiler

paulnamida

@myskaros

spoiler

LegitPancake

@paulnamida Oh, I could’ve sworn the person on the cover of V6 was Ai-chan sensei.

Paul Nebeling

@legitpancake That's who I thought is was too.

myskaros

@legitpancake She doesn't have glasses!

shrike_al

Now that you guys mention it, does she, you know, join the gang, in the LN version too? I've always been slightly disturbed by it.

Paul Nebeling

@myskaros Confused. Girl on the cover of Volume 6 looks like she's wearing glasses too me.

myskaros

@paul-nebeling said in Let's talk about Light Novel Harems:

@myskaros Confused. Girl on the cover of Volume 6 looks like she's wearing glasses too me.

Yes, and Ai-chan-sensei does not wear glasses O.o

Thomask

I recently used a wack of credits on the smartphone series. Now, perfect world I’d read from the start even having watched the anime... however I find I enjoy it more if I do two reads. Frost from the anime end point then into the books, then a re-read later to enjoy it much deeper.

My question is this, where is the best place to pick up from the anime in the books, and is there anything that changes huge between the books that I’d be skipping that would cause things to “not make sense”

Ie, if it was a different sister that was made his fiancé from the king/royalty, or a different Babylon lab?

I’m just thinking about how 2nd season of Sekirei strayed from the original content...

LegitPancake

@thomask I went straight to volume 4 of Smartphone after the anime, and I feel like it worked out. Most people will probably tell you to start from the beginning. I honestly didn’t like the anime enough to spend $21 on its source material.

Aruseus493

@thomask I'm one of the people that would say to start from the beginning. The anime is pretty garbage of an adaptation as it randomly cuts out scenes and rushes through the content. It's even worse that it does this since the series is a slice of life. This pretty much means it should have been an easy series to adapt, yet the director still fucked-up.

Terabyte

@aruseus493 said in Let's talk about Light Novel Harems:

@thomask I'm one of the people that would say to start from the beginning. The anime is pretty garbage of an adaptation as it randomly cuts out scenes and rushes through the content. It's even worse that it does this since the series is a slice of life. This pretty much means it should have been an easy series to adapt, yet the director still fucked-up.

I totally agree with you there. I initially liked the anime and read the WN, after reading that and the official LN (I'm at half of volume 5 right now), I can say that the anime is pure garbage.

@Thomask honestly I suggest you to read it from the start. Apart from the fact that the last episode of the anime did quite a big spoiler talking about the total number of wives (which are not talked about until later on in the LN near the end of volume 6), they totally skipped over explaining a huge amount of little things. Once you start reading the LN a lot of strange actions from the anime will make much more sense, and without those it leaves kinda a big initial void later on in my opinion. Like how Touya thinks, how certain things came to be, how he uses them with his phone, and so on.

A few things in the LN are also different from the anime:

spoiler

There are more differences but I'm in a hurry right now :p

shrike_al

@thomask I kinda like the anime, but I'd recommend reading from the beginning. There are a lot of names to remember. Not to mention better jokes.

But like @LegitPancake said, if that's too pricey, going straight to volume 4 works too.

Paul Nebeling

@thomask My $0.02: The anime covers the first three volumes, but leaves out a couple of interludes and rearranged the sequence of one event (and rushed thru it). It also leaves out a fair amount of Touya learning to use magic in conjunction with his smartphone. In short, as others have said, the anime is garbage.

If you've watched it, you could start at volume 4 without any major problems. I would recommend reading the first three volumes though. The story they contain is much higher quality than the anime and well worth the $18-21 to purchase them.

Canadadesu

@paulnamida weeeeeel. Except for a certain soulmate.

Thomask

@shrike_al said in Let's talk about Light Novel Harems:

@thomask I kinda like the anime, but I'd recommend reading from the beginning. There are a lot of names to remember. Not to mention better jokes.

But like @LegitPancake said, if that's too pricey, going straight to volume 4 works too.

Not a question of cost, I already have the books from my JNC credits. It was a question of time vs the story continuity.