Feb 17 2008
The choice in harem shows
It has been a long time since I’ve written an entry over here, but what Aibu mentioned to me this afternoon got me thinking.
Was watching CLANNAD and SHUFFLE! today
and it gets depressing when the main character has to choose which girl he goes with
I realised, the reason I didn’t like CLANNAD as much as Kanon was, Kanon takes the story one arc at a time, with the male character’s attention focused on one girl. On the other hand, CLANNAD brings out all the girls together, excluding Fuuko of course. The end of episode 18 was kind of sad for me as well, when the other girls come to the realisation that they can never take Nagisa’s place.
CLANNAD is not the only anime that employs this cruel plot. SHUFFLE, the D.C. franchise, and many others also pit the girls against one another, and what makes it all the more heart heart-wrenching is the fact that the end result is already predetermined.
Maybe its my nature of hating to make choices, but I do prefer animes which are more relaxed in nature, with much less competition between girls. Two is alright, like Kimikiss, but I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the breakfast scene from CLANNAD 18.
To laugh is better than to cry…
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Haven seen Kanon yet.
Is it nice?
Rokku:
Kanon is brilliant - but also has its horribly depressing moments. Watch with caution, I guess you could say.
As for the original post, it’s mostly a matter of bad writing that these harem shows turn out like they do - if it weren’t for brilliant examples like the aforementioned Kanon, one might be able to make the argument that it’s inevitable that there’s a huge let-down for all girls except the one chosen, but since we have seen how it can be done right it just seems cruel to keep writing shows with that same ‘choose one, let the others suffer’ pattern. It’s a shame, though, especially since with CLANNAD in particular the rest of the show is just so well-done (sadly I can’t quite say the same about shows like SHUFFLE!…)
However, as for to the breakfast scene you mentioned, that’s just one of many examples of CLANNAD’s self-referential nature - the absurdity of the scene was meant more to parody harem-show convention than to show a legitimate conflict (the tennis game later on in the episode, however, wasn’t a parody at all). So regarding that one, laugh all you want.
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