Whats are some differences between harems and reverse harems
Aside from that, you know, in harems the MC has multiple female interests, and in reverse harems they have multiple male love interests. For me, it’s that reverse harems tend to start with most, if not all, love interests already present, while from what I’ve seen, harems collect love interests over the course of the show.
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Or rather: You are not describing a demographic.
Saying something is a „reverse harem“ means that there is one woman and a bunch of guys who are into her. It says nothing about the demographic at all
It's like saying "action" or "fantasy" is a demographic.
They aren't.
They describe HOW a story is, not WHO is watching.
Obviously you can do a statistical analysis and then say "More men than women watch action movies."
But that's a totally different thing
Why does there need to be a difference between harems and reverse harems aside from the gender of the characters?
Like...why do you not accept "they are the same"?
i wonder if this is completely true. not that i have the numbers for this, but the harems i’ve seen were usually shounen anime. and the reverse harems i’ve seen were usually shoujo anime. those are just target demographics, but as a M, i don’t really go out my way to watch reverse harems, but i am not opposed to them when seeing a shoujo happenstance (Fruits Basket).
the other part of the OP’s questions are how reverse harems and harems differ in terms of trends (although not explicitly said, it’s implied). i find reverse harems to be very emotionally driven. it’s not full on “assets” and lust in harem as it is about actual meaningful connections. there’s eye candy in both, but there’s an additional emotional depth in reverse harems that just makes the relationships more meaningful. this is all a generalization but it’s the sentiment i’ve been left with based on the anime that i have seen
It is by defintion.
What you are doing is:
"What is the gender split of the viewership of reverse harems?"
But that's a totally different question!
Of course you can analyse this, but that doesn't mean the target or intended demographic is that.
>this is all a generalization but it’s the sentiment i’ve been left with based on the anime that i have seen
And this may be true, but it's not baked into "reverse harem".
I don't even disagree with what you're saying, but you are looking at different things.
Reverse harem is simply a harem where there is one woman and a bunch of man. That's it.
And that's step one.
You can then, afterwards, go: "How are reverse harems typically written?"
But how something is tpyically written is not an inherent quality.
I can also say: "Most battle shonen are at least slightly misogynistic."
This is absolutely a true statement.
However, a battle shonen doesn't need to be misogynistic and a manga being misogynistic doesn't mean it's a battle shonen.
What I am saying has nothing to do with harems or reverse harems, in fact, I don't read/watch either (though I do watch isekai and shonen and they tend to feature harems from time to time, but since I hate romance, it's not really a focus for me).
I think if you take harem and reverse harem at face value without its context within anime, then naturally demographics is not part of the equation as you were talking about. but, eh, i find little reason why OP would even ask such a question on r/anime (an anime subreddit) - “what is the difference between the definition of harem and reverse harem”. OP already stated the definition in the first sentence. it was somewhat evident to me they were trying to find some patterns between harems, reverse harems, maybe that crosses boundaries with demographics within anime (and something they seemed to care about to this poster’s reply), you know nuance.
Why would the term "harem" and "reverse harem" mean anything for anime demographics, but not in any other context?
Why would you inlcude a demographic element to it, but wouldn't give it to a live action show that features a harem.
>it was somewhat evident to me they were trying to find some patterns between harems, reverse harems, maybe that crosses boundaries with demographics within anime
I mean, that's great that you understood this, but I didn't.
And to me, it also doesn't make any sense, but I'd also need to check OP's new post they wanted to make, as to maybe get a better understanding of what they are going for.
Edit: And yeah, the new post they wrote is something that I can personally understand much better.
Because that is about trends, averages and differences on an aggregate level.
* Traditional harem: 1 boy / Multiple girls.
* Reverse harem: 1 girl / Multiple boys.