Has anybody read a GOOD harem story?

[Cauldrons]

I'll start this off by saying something probably controversial, but most harem stories are at most passable with a lot going into the downright bad territory. The way I see it the author throws in several girls (or guys) for the one character because it either shows how 'cool' they are or because they're trying to replace quality with quantity when it comes to the romantic aspect of a story. I'm not saying all stories that have harems in them are bad. No, I'm saying that they don't & probably shouldn't put much focus on them if they do include them unless a lot of planning is done. It doesn't help that harems tend to get tied together with a lot of other lazily put together tropes that need a lot more work than most people are willing to put into them to make them good.

That being said I'm hopeful their are some gems out there. Let me be clear I'm not looking for 'meh' stories I'm asking about stories that when you read them make you go wow those characters & the dynamics they have with each other are really interesting!

 

[Anon2024]

None, even the enjoyable harems aren’t “good” because there is too much suspension of disbelief needed to accept those characters as reality.

 

[SailusGebel]

You didn't say anything controversial. You said something true for almost every genre\tag\trope. I've read some good harems, but our definitions of good probably differ.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Harems usually stick the same tropes with one dimensional cookie cutter characters all falling for bland protagonists. Whether it be a harem of guys, gals, furries, traps, tomboys, or all of the above, it's rare to find something different. There are good harem stories out there but they are hard to come by and strangely hated by normal harem enjoyers as they don't fit the basic harem character molds they simp for. A lot of it is personal preference combined with self insertion. Though that's pretty much how most people ship characters as it's usually just a character who is their type shipped with a character they can project themselves onto. Sometimes people will ship two characters they think matches personality wise but it's rare for average harem enjoyers to ship in this manner. Good harem stories exist, they are just hard to come by.

 

[Le_ther]

I read harem things that I would simply see the most utterly 1 dimensional disgusting loyal dog of a female/male or so written that it hurts my mind who the fuck are you based on female/male character.

 

[Zakuro]

Imo a good harem story is a story where the protagonist has to earn their harem through hard work. Not where the characters effortlessly falling with the protagonist. It's rare to see good harem these days because most protagonists are wish fullfilment self inserts.

 

[gogo7966]

my next life as a villainess: all routes lead to doom is increadibly funny and worth anybody's time

 

[StainedGlassThreads]

I think 'NPCs Can Save The World Too!' is a pretty fun harem story so far. It helps a lot that all the love interests have personalities and interests outside the lead, have their own personal goals and desires, and form friendships and rivalries sometimes independent of their feelings towards the lead.
It also helps that said lead isn't a dense moron, and is trying to purposefully pursue a polyamorous relationship, talking out with his partners where they stand and what they're comfortable with. Rather than passively standing around while a bunch of girls scream and fight with each other, he and his partners can focus on stuff like the plot, healing from trauma, or kissing.
It also, as was mentioned, gives most of the love interests a reason for liking the protagonist so much. Said reason being, they're boss monsters of a game he was isekai'd into who he got attached to and now wants to save.

Unfortunately, yeah, most harem stories are wish fulfillment, and wish fulfillment isn't usually very good. It swaps out quality for a protagonist you can project on or envy. The appeal is not that the romance is good or interesting, it's that it's there at all.

 

[Onehand_Writer]

Cebelius' Celestine Chronicles, and everything else by him.

 

[LostLibrarian]

Honestly, I think the biggest problems are the expectations in that case. You are looking for something in harem stories that run contrary to the general core of harem stories. Multi-layered characters and strong interpersonal relationships would grind any harem story to a halt. Let's say the MC adds girl number 5 to his harem: that would mean, that you have at least 5 relationships to introduce with a lot more of them to update due to changing power dynamics. At that point, you aren't reading a fun story but a scientific study...

It's the same for LitRPGs. They suck at being games. The majority of them (especially those with the usual OP Mcs) would never have been created let alone be "that one game three billion people play so that any good player will get all the money in real life".

And like that we could go on. The overwhelming majorty of stuff published in the webnovel region is objectively mediocre stuff. (To make it clear: my stuff is included). You could go and pick any genre and pick massive holes into it. Because the goal of most webnovels is easily accessible entertainment.

Going into a harem story and looking for deep characterization is like going into a cute girls doing cute things story and expecting a deep retrospective on the problems of modern terrorism. Of course, it's not there. You are looking at the wrong location. Harem stories aren't romance novels that focus on relationships but they are power fantasies.



If you look for relationships, you should look into romance novels with multiple love interests but one clear winner. Oregairu would be the general direction to look for. Where the harem itself isn't a power fantasy but the problem that needs to be solved... but those are ones you'll rarely find in webnovels, because they mostly have a higher barrier of entrance...

 

[greyblob]

Of Monstergirls and Men

It's a snusnu deathworld where humanity is hellbent on keeping the incredibly powerful monstergirls enslaved. That's where Rick comes in. He's not from this world. Rick needs to survive along with the people that came with him. The wilds first, the monstergirls second, humanity third. Good...

www.scribblehub.com

Wisher Beware

How does it feel to have the knowledge of an advanced civilization, clearly out of your world? Would this insight even be useful, when the people around you trusted the power of a fireball and had no idea about the power of steam? How would you fare as a lowly...

www.scribblehub.com

Hovestile Project: Beastkin of GRIM

Trapped on a dying Earth, humanity desperately exploited technology to access the parallel world of Hovestile, a realm of magic and monsters. Hundreds of talented individuals were carefully chosen to enter this world with plans to prepare for colonization, but contact with the humans of Earth...

www.scribblehub.com

this one is a bit odd. mc is a dragon so the harem is for his human companion. great novel overall though

Vainqueur the Dragon | Royal Road

Vainqueur now has a Webtoon adaptation! It is now available on Amazon! Book 1 (Audiobook 1), Book 2 (Audiobook 2), Book 3 (Audiobook 3), Book 4 (audiobook 4). Vainqueur Knightsbane is your average dragon: a giant, fire-breathing lizard who loves to take naps on his golden hoard, kidnap...

www.royalroad.com

there are more but i'd have to dig real deep to find anything worthwhile

 

[Vnator]

my next life as a villainess: all routes lead to doom is increadibly funny and worth anybody's time

I didn't even realize that all the people following the main character around were here harem until like over a dozen episodes in! As far as she's concerned, they're all her close friends.

 

[FaustVoncleave]

Yes, but frankly a lot of them were good DESPITE the harem rather than the harem adding any meaningful enjoyment to the work. That said, there were a rare few that I think actually used the harem plotline well.

First and foremost is Sevens, which is just all around a great webnovel. has a harem, but it's done extremely well, with most of the girls having good development and reasons for being there, both plotwise and personally(as in many of the girls actually have (agency). There's a lot of group dynamics, as the girls have pretty diverse personalities, and their interactions with one another are well written. I genuinely can't imagine this story without the harem aspect, it just wouldn't be the same.

Maden no ou to Vanadis is also a pretty good one. Mind you the main draw is the really fun largescale battles of this series, but the relationship between the characters and the resulting harem is done well. That said, if the mc just got with the first girl he met and the rest were just friends it wouldn't have changed much.

Valhalla Saga does the harem aspect worse than those two, but it still does it well enough that I'd consider it a positive to the story. The author had the restraint to keep it small, which I think harem writers consider blasphemy for some reason, even the two prior on this list have girls in the double digits, but this one mercifully keeps it below five, which is good because the character interaction in this one isn't as solid, and I don't think it could've managed it if it bloated the harem.

Those are the three that immediately come to my mind when I think good harem (They can all be found on novelupdates btw).

 

[K5Rakitan]

The only good harem is a reverse harem.

 

[GodlyKamui]

As an isekai harem smut writer (the worst kind of writer, or so I'm told), I wholeheartedly agree that more often than not, most harems anime/novel/manga leave a lot to be desired.

The author had the restraint to keep it small, which I think harem writers consider blasphemy for some reason

But that's just part of the charm... Right? I mean, why only have a bunch of characters when you could have all of them! Now seriously, adding new girls is kind of an addiction. You know that you cannot possibly write that many characters in a scene/story, but you do it anyway cuz le waifu cute.

 

[MarukiLikesMikey]

Heyo! I'm new here! I was thinking of making a fantasy harem kinda story thingy i guess, heh. and how do I post on The Lounge???????
and I rp, like fandoms, and also draw! Dont be afraid to shoot me a DM!!!!!

 

[rain-090]

I'll start this off by saying something probably controversial, but most harem stories are at most passable with a lot going into the downright bad territory.

Not controversial in the slightest

 

[TheEldritchGod]

The only good harem is a reverse harem.

Well, what if it is a reverse harem when all the gender roles have been flipped? So a reverse reverse harem?

Because the more I write IWS, the more it seems to becoming about a reverse harem in reverse world. Not intended, but I believe in free-range characters. I'm just here to balance the equation.

 

[ForestDweller]

Well, my readers say I write a pretty good harem. No girls are sidelined to the background once captured and they all have their own well-established personality. I even got one woman reader who said she liked how well-developed they are.

But they're probably biased from sticking with my story for so long.

 

[pynkbites]

do lesbian harems count?