Characters
[Loved Trope] "Monogamy is for cowards"
Spoiler
Basically whenever the story sets up a love triangle/corner or similar in the story with the implicit expectation of having to choose between the partners but then the story pulls the rug under you asking "Why can't they all be happy?" and allowing all involved character to date each other
Rentarou x Hahari x Akane - The 100 Girlfriends who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really love you: Rentarou is a guy who falls in love easily to the point that, at the age of 16, he has confessed to 100 different girls and has recieved 100 rejections (With his first one being at 8 months of age), he's then confronted by the God of Love who confesses that, due to an accident while watching "Castle in the sky" by Studio Ghibli, he accidentally made Rentarou have 100 soulmates. He explains to Rentarou that having 1 soulmate is an incredibly lucky occurance, to the point that those people who are blessed to have one have exhausted all their luck in life and are prone to accidents that scale in severity until they meet an early end. Thankfully their luck resets if those soulmates find each other and live together. This still applies to Rentarou and he only technically needs to date 1 soulmate to avoid death, but it also means that the 99 other soulmates are fated to die without him. And he's instantly confronted by having Akane (The tsundere archetype) and Hahari (The "Lewd" Archetype) fall in love at the same time with him. He considers dating them in secret, but he genuinely loves the two of them and can't bring himself to do something that would hurt them in the future, so instead chooses to come clean about his feeling and being unable to choose, so instead he confesses his love to them and asks them to date him at the same time. They have some hang ups at first, but eventually decide to give it a test. At this point in the manga, the two girls have even develop feelings with each other, being one of the few girls to actually love someone as strongly as they love Rentarou
UNDEADXUNLUCK - Ripx Leilax Latla: Rip and Latla are both members of the UNDER organization that are seeking to steal an artefact from "The Union" that, theoretically will allow them to time travel. They want to time time travel to save Latla Sister and Rip's fiancee Leila, who tragically died due to Rip's Negator ability, "UNrepair", and Latlas "UNtruth" which manifested during a life threatening operation that Rip was performing. They eventually would die in battle against UNdead. Then, when Fuuko is entrust with the final loop, she makes sure to guarantee everyone's happy ending, which among other things, involves studying over 100 years to learn how to properly operate someone's heart. Later, after the fight everyone assumes, including Latla, that Rip is going to have his happy ever after with Leila while Latla will be sideline. Instead, Rip confesses to Fuuko that he loves them both equally, he has always done so. And that he couldn't care less what other people think, since it's their happiness and not the strangers, So in the day of Leila & Rip's wedding he proclaims that the three of them will get married to the surprise of the guests and Latla herself.
His little sister Can be with Icarus (wax wings guy), Nemesis (personification of Vengence), Moros (personification of Doom) and Eris (personification of Strife)
Two of his wives are superhuman demi-gods and the third has the most potent healing powers in the world to the point that she can revive someone that just died... which is to say, they put him to work, not the other way around.
does it make me bad that i think "if for no other reason than ideally not having to deal with 3 women being pregnant and then 3 infants at the same time."?
It was spoiled by Dunky because he tried baiting the Xenoblade fanbase for controversy except after his bullshit with 2 they just ignored him, so he posted the image online, knowing that a spoiler from literally just before the credits would piss people off, and then acted like the fans were just butt hurt that he didn't like 3.
Funnily though it got so much attention that the actual spoilers were buried underneath so nothing actually important to the plot got around.
Rex from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is revealed in Xenoblade 3 to have answered the question of who to choose between Pyra, Mythra, and Nia with a resounding "Yes."
If I remember right (someone correct me if I'm wrong) there was a scene in Torna ~ The Golden Country where two members of the Indoline Praetorium were discussing how human and blade DNA were identical. But despite this humans and blades couldn't reproduce, though they did marry according to Rex's adoptive mother Corinne.
I think the biggest question surrounding XB2 we don't have a concrete answer for is if Klaus gave blades the ability to reproduce with humans. The answer is most likely yes, since Rex in XB3: Future Redeemed speaks about having a core crystal as being a dominant genetic trait, suggesting there's more children of Blade-Human relationships than his own in his world after the events of XB2.
Yeah, it’s refreshing to have stories that dodge past all the Love triangle BS and heartbreak and have an outcome where everyone is happy.
On a related note, one thing that annoys me about a
lot of supposed harem stories
is that tend to end up
just being monogamous relationships with some side girls to add some spice.
What makes it even more annoying is that oftentimes the “main girl” is usually the most stock and generic one, meanwhile the more interesting and charismatic side girls are left to rot.
I never really nailed the reason as to why most harem relationships were so weird to me, but I think you are right. They are just monogamous relantionships with side girls.
Also yeah, the mere existance of a "Main girl" is what truly rots the story since it means that one girl is above the others, when they all are, supposedly, equals. Also the "Head wife" archetype just irks me the wrong way and its one of the reasons as to why I can't take relationships like in Mushoku Tensei in good faith. They have it briefly in 100 gf with Akane and Hahari competing for who is the headwife / First GF and its honestly the weakest part of their characters. I do like they dropped the "Numbering" Girlfriend really quick in canon so they never really talk about it
Several goddesses (like Leto or Themis) or mortal mistresses (like Europa) was called Zeus wives though. Even with Hera around.
Ancient Greeks marriages, despite being monogamous in nature, were pretty much polygamous by modern standards. It's not unusual for man in Ancient Greece to have several mistresses especially for people of the high status.
Renako from watanare/there's no freaking way i will be your lover
After 4(? I forgot if it 3 or 4) whole volumes of this light novel she was forced to choose between mai and ajisai
She chose both
Satsuki after witnessing the event declared "her greed sickens me" and later sent a message to renako saying "since you already have 2 girlfriends then you wouldn't mind 3 right?"
Don't know if you've kept up with the light novels, but It's pretty clear Satsuki is going to join the polycule, she just has a lot of shit to work through before she acknowledges that's she's a) in love in general and b) really head-over-heels for Mai, Ajisai, and Renako (in that order, probably.) She's really trying to pull the "I don't do love" card while actively being Mai's official fiancee (arrainged by Mai's mom). Which is a whole 'nother can of worms, but I do love the implication that Mai's mom isn't homophobic (Mai's previous fiancee was a weird French girl), she's just controlling.
Oh yeah i'm still in volume 6 but its pretty obvious that satsuki needs to work on herself, it was pretty obvious back at start of volume 5 with the whole "you already have 2 so 3 is fine thing" and then completely denying it once renako questions her and also at the end of the same volume where detective girl (forgot her name) says that satsuki one of renako's girlfriends and she can't confirm nor deny it
So glad I avoided looking at spoilers for the sequel season, since I was BEGGING for Ajisai and so the reversal genuinely took me out at 3 am in pure peak.
If HIMmel is the minumum a person should aspire to be as a person, then Rentarou is the minimum a person should aspire to be in a relationship. My man is out there doing the rounds just to make his partners the happiest they can be
Another good example - Mighty Nein - the TV show only briefly shows them, but one of the MCs was in a poly relationship in the past, they'll drive more into their backstory in the future seasons, but it's honestly a very casual an cool depiction of a relationship that just happens and is there and it never really is made a big deal about.
He has had almost 300 wives over his lifetime and approximately 53 at the same time before his demise. They were unwilling, but he got his punishment eventually.
Context: His power let him basically become invulnerable by entering a state of frozen time. Thanks to it he doesn't age or need to eat, drink, and sleep. However in order to keep it constantly active, he needs a host to transfer his heart to so it can still beat while he fights.
For him, it manifests as his wives. They literally carry his heart for him. As long as they're alive, he can't be killed.
The main characters got around it by freezing all his wives. Then they killed Regulus and unfroze the women.
Yeah. His body is stopped in time, both externally and internally, which means his blood flow and therefore the ability to get aroused is frozen too. He has ED and died a virgin.
I don't think so. There is a spin-off with one of Tenchi's friends that has a harem ending, but I don't think Tenchi himself has ever had a definitive ending like that in any of his shows.
The true ending of the otome visual novel, Nameless, has the main character end up with all the love interests at the same time. This is controversial considering at least three to four of them are possessive jealous Yanderes.
The main character Monty murders most of his horrible family to gain a fortune, at first partially to impress a shallow woman named sibella who he was having an affair with. During the murder spree, he falls in love with the younger sister of one of the terrible family members(who he also was having an affair with if the lyrics to the song better with a man are to be believed). They get engaged in a musical number you can find on YouTube. He continues his affair with sibella despite genuinely loving his cousin phoebe as well.
At the end of the show, he is arrested for killing the one member of his family that he didn’t actually kill. Sibella and phoebe having learned of each other, work together to get their lover off of the murder rap by framing each other, creating reasonable doubt. All three walk off together at the end.
It's like Re:Zero but with a more comedic approach, and set in an alternative South Korea.
Bonus: there is an additional romance between his male best friend with a crazy backstory & a hacker woman who fakes her identity to be a teacher for reasons. They make a good couple.
I mean, one not actually his wives, and two Elayne is definitely way more into Rand than she is girls, she terrorized everyone else in that bond when they bonded him
They never actually get married — indeed, basically the only major characters (regardless of whether or not they survive) who end the series without it being official
I mean all three girls had reservations about each other, Aviendha mainly worrying if Min would be honorable enough to be seen as a first sister, the only girl we have a pretty distinct lack of POV over feelings for Rand is Aviendha in terms of outright stating how she feels? Nah she wants to ride the Dragon as much as the other two
Naoya Mukai finally gets his childhood crush Saki Saki to agree to be his girlfriend. But then he meets Nagisa Minase, who he hasn't met before but who has been secretly in love with him for a while and is also completely charming. He can't decide between them, so he decides to propose a throuple. After some argument, Saki agrees to allow it. (Nagisa was cool with it from the start if it meant being with Naoya.)
After a while, Saki starts to fall for Nagisa, and Naoya acquires two additional girlfriends.
If we're talking games, Hades very openly allows players to be poly, romancing both Thanatos and Megara in the same run and it's not hidden or anything they have a conversation and are up front about it, it's cool.
Damn I’ve been playing hades and I didn’t realize you could romance the characters. Also it’s a bit weird to me that you can romance Thanatos. I always interpreted him and Zagreus’ interactions as a sort of brotherly bickering since they’re technically step-brothers.
Exactly!!! watching Latla final moments on the "Original" loop felt so bad. She was literally sacrificing herself just so that Rip could get his happiness with her sister and he even says that she was distancing herself because "It would be for the better". But Rip's "Happiness" Was always the three of them
There’s actually a subgenre of romance called ‘why choose?’ Where love triangles end with a poly relationship. Most of them focus around one woman and multiple men.
Putting a spoiler tag on something without hinting what the spoiler is for makes the tag useless, since people won't be able to know if it's something they've already seen or not
Hated trope for me. I don't doubt it's possible and realistic to love more than one individual but the execution of this trope 99% of the time makes me cringe hard
Its a really hard trope to write correctly since most of the time its a "Wish fulfillment" type of fantasy rather than an actual love story. I like it more when its kind of a background story happening along side the actual plot (Like the UndeadxUnluck example) since atleast it forces the writer to only show the actual "Meat" of the relationship, so to speak
Yeah, proper poly relationships are rarely written and rarely written WELL on top of that so it's not really surprising people don't find many good examples.
Ofc poly relationships same as monogamous relationships can be functional or very much not functional. It really depends on the people in said relationship. Honestly writing dysfunctional relationships can be fun, but it still has to be written well enough to be engaging and not cringe.
99% of the time it's just reader power fantasies of having a harem and not trying to be a good or realistic depictions of poly relationships (at least I hope they're not trying). For men the harem stuff is mostly in anime and manga, women it mostly shows up in why-choose romance and romantasy.
There's a really good Yuri example of this one - "There's no freaking way I'll be your girlfriend, unless..." or Watanare for short - has the MC paired with multiple potential love interests that are all great in their own way and it gets quite poly.
The show is freely uploaded to Youtube so I recommend ppl to give it a try it costs nothing.
Honorable mention that I wasn't sure was allowed to go into the main post:
"Home" Katawa Shoujo Fanfic by Laparoscopic - Hisao x Lilly x Hanako : The story acts as a continuation after a Hanako route in the game. With Hisao and Hanako dating and living together with Lilly. During the story Lilly is dating someone else, but prefers to live with Hisao and Hanako due to being closer and having a special connection with them. As the story progresses its clear that Lilly isn't the happiest on her relationship and that she even is being mentally abused in it, which culminates on breaking up. Hanako and Hisao do their best to help their friend through the break up and get even closer during it. After a while though, Hanako has to leave on a school trip for a day, So Hisao and Lilly are left alone in their apartment. but due to the abscense of Hanako they both start thinking about their lives after graduating and how, eventually, they'll have to say their goodbyes to the days of living together, at which point Hisao realizes that he loves Lilly as much as he does Hanako, which prompts him into confessing to Lilly while hugging her in bed (long story. Its normal for them). Lilly, not wanting to hurt her dear friend like that decides to leave and never speak of it. But Hanako had anticipated this exact situation happening and she left a note to each about how she truly feels. The both of them decide that its better to wait and talk to her (And chew her out for such a reckless way to even propose to a poly relationship). They do have a heart to heart to heart between them, each confessing their feelings for each other and how, even being a "Weird" way to do so, they can't deny that they love each other a lot. So they agree to go foward with the idea of dating each other.
Legit one of my favorite stories ever and the reason as to why I wanted to make the post in the first place. I really love how genuine the reaction of the characters is and it even feels like an extension of the main material. Scarred Muse is another great hit from them
I said you should give it a try. It reads more like a story of three friends falling in love, wouldn't say its a harem (Like 100 gf's is) since it is an actual love triangle, meaning Person 1 loves Person 2 but also loves person 3. Person 2 loves person 1 and person 3. Person 3 loves person 1 and person 2. It is also a kind of slice of life story at its core so it feels good.
By continuation of a Hanako RouteI mean its after a while that they started dating and graduated Yamaku, so yeah!
If harem doesn't fit, then poligamy. It's the same xD. I liked KS because it's realistic, so a poligamous relationship kinda unlands the massage in some way, even if I could see it.
However, maybe one day I'll try it. After all, Lilly is the best girl and Hanako is Hanako.
This is an extremely common trope in anime apparently, the one I know that kinda works is from Keenan and kel.
So Keenan pulls bitches. I don't know how he does it, he's an rather self centered idiot. But he sets a date with a girl he likes at the movies. His family has his dad's bosses family over for dinner and they pressure Keenan into going on a date with her, also at the same movie theater at the same time. So Keenan is actually pulling it off, it's not going great but he bounces between both movies and both girls. The whole time kel is saying hes got it all figured out. Kel booked Keenan a third date with yolonda, when asked how that would make it better he says "I told her your name was Alphonse, so if anyone asks you can just say that's not my date, that's alphonses date. Yolonda is hood as fuck, she's like baby d in next Friday. She's wandering through all the movies screaming "Alphonse! I didn't take the #3 bus here just to be stood up". But she keeps getting distracted cause she insists on fighting anyone who shushes her. Yeah it didn't work out.
I think that fits. I dunno, it's definitely the funniest episode of an already very funny show.
I really recommend the webtoon “Love Me to Death” for this. Genuine poly relationship that’s pretty cute and sweet. The writing isn’t perfect tbh, I had my issues with it, but it’s very charming and well worth a read anyway imo. It’s also a rare example of the relationship being between two men and one woman, which I feel is so much rarer lol
I considered adding it to the post, but The Commander has never actually formalized a relationship with any of them, and the few times it has been hinted at him dating someone the other Nikkes get violent, so I decided to not do so
Although I do forsee a Commander x Rapi x Anis becoming canon in the future since there are a few hints of it on their interactions (Probably only if Rapi gets the title of head wife though)
Rance Series - By the end of the Series he unites Humanity against a monster invation because the Queen and Princessses were his women in fact all the beautiful girls in this series belongs to him
Basically yes, although there are some that initiates it and the major characters fall in love with him after or sooner or later. Although not stated in later series, because he is the chosen hero he doesn't have a level limit and the girls he fucks regularly gets their level cap increased because of him. some of his girls who are power hungry stays with him so they could grow stronger
Same, while reading the story I was really angry that the direction they were heading was a Rip x Layla ending. Even though I do admit they did have good chemestry together. So I was happy that Latla got some love in the end (Even funnier when they fall under the charm of "Unchaste" and Latla is ready to beat the shit out of him)
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the manhwa/webcomic "Webtoon Character Na Kang Lim". The main character marries the 6 female leads by the end of the story. Heck, he literally strikes a deal with a godlike being to change the rules of the world in order to do so
It’s not otome isekai just bc the setting is an otome game, just like how if a female protagonist isekai into male oriented RPG game setting it is classified as OI if the audience is meant to be female. This has a male protagonist and a harem around him; this just ur typical isekai for men but in an otome game setting.
Does Divayth Fyr in Morrowind count? He has several 'daughters' / 'consorts' but they are also just clones of himself? And they all have their own personality and will but are pretty happy with the bizzare arrangement.
Then there is whatever the fuck is going on with vivec with Molag Bal and Nerevar and sometimes Almalexia? They are definitely married to Molag Bal, had a, umm, 'ceremony' and everything. But then he also was more than just a mentor to Nerevar its sort of implied. Definitely taught him 'love'. And while thats implied to be in the divine sense, its also maybe kinda implied to be more. And then its been forever since I played Teibunal but I think they and Almalexia had a thing. Who was definitely involved with Nerevar as well. And again, all the while Vivec is married to Molag Bal.
Hey so on this topic has anyone else noticed an uptick in poly representation in manga/anime?
Is there possibly a cultural push for it in japan lately?
I knpw poly stuff is slightly less taboo in japan, what with its history of harems, but my understanding is in modern culture its basically just as taboo as the west (very rare, only some individuals will do it)
Yet I can think of like 5? 6? Distinct shows in the past couple years featuring poly relationships.
Harem has always been a popular genre in manga. It was always stupid to sell a premise of a harem but then break it all down for one girl. I just think readers who were frustrated by that just went ahead and went, "Fuck it, it says harem."
Honestly what I care way more about, is the relationships between the girls.
And not in like an R34 way but in a genuine "I wanna see girls supporting girls"
Like in 100 girlfriends, the moments where we see some of the ladies supporting/helping each other, and the demonstrations that instead of them being toxic and hating each other, they actually care for/about each other... I fucking love that shit.
In Girlfriend Girlfriend, seeing the two of them stick up for each other and support each other, and even check in at moments to be like "Hey are you okay" and etc, 10/10
I fucking hate harem shows where the girls are constantly being crabs in a bucket and tearing each other down, hating each other, competing in a toxic way, etc.
Mushoku Tensei also has some pretty good vibes so far, I havent read the LNs but the show pretty clearly demonstrates a quite healthy relationship between the two ladies. Everyone else is mad but the two of them are like "Actually I quite like this lady, we are friends now"
Third lady addition is prolly gonna add an interesting dynamic that Im excited to see how it plays out next season.
Folks who have read ahead, please dont spoiler me lol
1.- It is still very much taboo in Japan as it is in the west if not more so. Its kind of a paradox really, they have tons of Yaoi/BL/MLM and Yuri/GL/WLW stuff but they are still really homophobic
2.- I think its pretty much just a extension of the consequence of Manga & Anime becoming more mainstream / More accepted. Harem has been one of the most popular genres for a few decades now, back in the day you couldn't get into a totally legal streaming service/Forums of Anime without being bombarded with To Love Ru, Highschool DxD. HSOTD, Sequan no qwaser, Sword art online, and who knows how many other shows clips. Hell, even shows that arent harem like Fairy Tail had discussions about it. It also helps that there are a few big hits making the rounds recently that just gives them even more spotlight
Lol bruh, adultery is a damned near a national pastime in Japan. I don't know a single married person that DOESN'T cheat on their spouse in one way or another. Sugar babies and soap-lands (google it) as far as the eye can see.
They're not even shy about it. Hell, a few years ago, they made it such that prostitution isn't considered cheating (used to be).
No one is that "progressive" outside of the US. It's just basic storytelling. It feels bad to only have one winner out of like 5 girls in a harem(an already popular genre).
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u/Cronkax 8h ago
Tengen Uzui (Demon Slayer)