Is there a way of making a harem or shounen romance MC who isn't

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>MC of harem rom com show
>relatable NEET
>achieves success through luck and intelligence
>not total pervert as he is only attracted to darkness for her appearance but gets grossed out when she starts talking
>not Kodaka

what more could you want

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>>152487892
chaos head

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>>152487892
>forgetting the protagonist of Spring 2016's most popular anime

>>152487892
Surprisingly, Kodaka wasn't any of the things you mentioned.

>>152488069
that anime was shit

>>152488069
I don't understand why /a/ likes characters that also love 2D girls like they do. I mean I understand that /a/ loves 2D, but if the character himself is 2D and living in a 2D world, shouldn't they want him to fuck the 2D girls?

I've been thinking about this lately too, but mainly in terms of design, thanks to Masamune-kun apparently being some kind of hot stud despite looking just like every other bland protagonist.

In terms of character, what bothers me the most about these bland MCs is they always have this sort of "apathetic bastard put-upon by the world" character, and they're always pretty much considered scum, but they're misanthropes with a heart of gold! and they leap to action to defend their friends who'll, if they're not already oddly in love with him, they will be at that point.

I'm rambling here but another trope that grinds my gears, related to what I just said, is the sort of self sacrifice that comes from either taking physically taking a beating for the sake of a friend, or just enduring some sort of humiliation for their sake. It's not necessarily a terrible thing for an MC to do, but fuck it happens so much. And then of course the girls fall in love with him.

This sort of shit is why I end up watching CGDCT shows with no male MC, you rarely see girl characters do this same shit over and over.

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>>152487892
Yes, just make it an adult and suddenly they become 100% less infuriating. The MC of demi chan works too, although I like harems with lesbian female leads.

Haremshit is all about author wish fulfillment, so no.

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Ainz Ooal Gown.

>has a harem: check
>not a typical blank slate self insert jap highschool kid: check
>relatable older post-NEET jap salaryman wageslave VR junkie
>gary stu yes, but a very beta one. hes forced into the role. he just bullshits his way around every problem via sheer dumb luck and being just so damn op.
>not physically able to be a pervert, but is surrounded by cute meidos, lewd semen demins and loli vampires all lusting for his non exsistant dick.

and people wonder why overlord is so popular.

>>152488368
This is what infuriates me about Hagani. If you look at it as the sum of its parts it looks like it should be amazing but it comes together terribly.

>>152487997
>>152489112
This shit ain't a romance though

>>152488668
Elitists never settle for less.

Huh? What was that?

I don't understand.

Little boy

>>152489964
>he doesnt read the light novel

>>152489112
>>not a typical blank slate self insert jap highschool kid: check
>>relatable older post-NEET jap salaryman wageslave VR junkie
> a very beta one
So basically your argument is that he's not a generic self-insert because he's not a teenager.

>>152489964
>He doesn't know that Megumin won the Kazumabowl

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>>152487892
Yes, read something that isn't an author's first work.

>>152488550
You watched a low budget anime of a good VN. What did you fucking expect?

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He is the best harem MC out there.

>>152488973
I get the appeal of CGDCT, but that shit gets old real fucking fast. I can't stand watching more than one episode of K-On in a day for fuck's sake. There has to be a balance or else it gets boring and repetitive as shit. I can't bring myself to mindlessly watch a show where cute girls interact with each other for 24 minutes unless the show actually goes somewhere with an interesting plot.

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>>152492789

>>152492789
Glad to see Oregairufags admit the story is a harem. Too bad they refuse to admit 8man is as self-inserty as it gets. Not a good harem MC by any means. Entertaining? Yes. Good? No.

>>152492789
this. defeatist pessimist is great for a change.

>>152492940
the series is literally called "my romantic teen comedy is wrong as expected". whether its "harem" or not depends on what you consider "harem". 8man is not "as self-insert as it gets", that's your generic harem protagonist like "Darling" from Monster Musume who rarely has detailed eyes to detach his character from any personality whatsoeveror or Yuki Rito who is so incredibly uninspired that it's quite difficult to name a blander character.

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>>152493127
>edgelord teenager who feels sorry for himself because muh genuine
>great
>not a self insert

His character doesn't make any sense. He's supposed to be a loser but he has all the popular kids looking up to him and hangs out with girls and STILL feels sorry for himself. He's an annoying fuck and if you take him seriously than you are probably an annoying fuck as well. All of the drama in that series was fabricated out of thin air.

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>>152487892
Yes, but they take effort to write, and good writers aren't gonna waste their time with neither harem or shounen romance.

>>152493127
Allow me to rephrase that then. "Most self-inserty MC for the fedora-tipping crowd."

Wait, woah. I just realized that applies to the majority of anime viewers.

>>152493127
Just in: Self-insert with a personality is surprisingly more likely to be a vessel to the loser audience than a self-insert with no personality. More at 11.

>>152493281
It's a light novel: there are going to be girls and there are going to be a lot of them. People have mixed feelings about him and he doesn't seem to "feel sorry for himself", just brooding.

>>152493444
>>152493529
sorry for being a fedora-tipping loser

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>>152487892
You're just not looking far enough. The Intellectual Yakuza here is pretty alpha and a pervert, but not a blank mary sue and not obnoxiously pervert (like Issei etc). The other two protags count too, I guess.

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>>152493701
>The other two protags count too, I guess.
The Detective is too pure for this shit.

>>152493127
The thing with the examples you listed though is that the audience literally doesn't give a flying fuck about them. They are pretty much just there so the audience can hope to see some sex with their favorite girls (which of course doesn't happen). They are as generic and bland as it gets so it is unlikely that the audience would even bother to try and see themselves as them whereas like the anon in >>152493529 mentioned, MCs with common personality traits that are very much like the viewer's is much more likely to be self-inserted as. You can't honestly tell me that you and Yuki Rito are like birds of a feather rather than you and 8man, can you?

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>>152493639
>doesn't seem to "feel sorry for himself", just brooding
What the fuck does that even mean? He literally wept about fucking nothing, he gets angry over fucking nothing, and he acts sad about nothing in particular. He's not a pessimist by circumstance, he's a pessimist because the girlies didn't talk to him when he was younger and now he's a whiny bitch. The two girls clearly wanted to be friends, but not they're not GENUINE enough. That doesn't even fucking mean anything, what does he think they should be his family members or something?

I mean I'll admit, he pisses me off especially because I was similar to him when I was younger. I mean I still don't have many friends but I'm not a bitch about it anymore, I grew up. I mean really all the poor kid needs is a father to kick him in the ass, which he clearly doesn't have.

But no matter how you look at it, he has the traits of a "loser" but is still very influential in the school social scene and is always imparting his wisdom upon the cool kids; he's a fedora-lord power fantasy, and a poorly written one.

>>152488284
Who was a complete shit character and only a major autist could identify with this retard.

The last three harem light novel MCs I watched where nice
Kazuma
Subaru
Masamune

They arent great or anything, but at least they don't make me want to kill myself like Saekano MC or Nisekoi MC.

>>152488973
>I'm rambling here but another trope that grinds my gears, related to what I just said, is the sort of self sacrifice that comes from either taking physically taking a beating for the sake of a friend, or just enduring some sort of humiliation for their sake. It's not necessarily a terrible thing for an MC to do, but fuck it happens so much. And then of course the girls fall in love with him.
It should be considered that this also serves the aspect of making the MC relatable to the audience. If the MC were extraordinary capable and would solve issues through some kind of ability (an ability he wasn't just handed through the plot, but an ability that defines his character, e.g. something he has worked to become proficient in) then that would alienate him from the 'useless' audience. An MC who can't do anything but endure and suffer, is relatable to the audience because even if they can't do anything themselves, they can still suffer for their loved ones.

Even though he is commonly praised, Araragis that kind of character. He really isn't particularly good at anything except getting himself beat up for his loved ones, that's how he solves problems. Subaru is quite similar, even though he occasionally also accomplishes something, but he does so through suffering defeat after defeat and humiliation after humiliation, learning from experience rather than having the innate ability to master situations as they come.

>>152492789
The first season was good but the second season was utter garbage. Not even Iroha could save this trainwreck.

>>152493956
he was very awkward

>>152493959
All shit characters except for Kazuma, who's also beta as fuck.

>>152488284
REzero isn't a harem and Subaru is a retard.

>>152494093
There's more ways to make the MC relateable than
>it'll just stand here and let myself get punched, I'm so brave and honourable, flee, my friends, enjoy your lives while I make this noble sacrifice... oh boy I'm such an interesting and well written character, at least they'll write that on my grave
Fuck that, that's not relateable. I've never done that. I know no one who's ever done that for me. I know no one who's ever done that for anyone else. I'd be more engaged if they found another way around the problem. You seem to have a limited understanding of just how much can be done with a story if you think it'll be too much for the audience to see the MC do anything other than
>a) be a wretched piece of shit whose only value in his social circle is to be a sacrificial punching bag in an extreme situation
>b) be a fucking mental and/or physical ubermensch who was secretly in control of the situation the whole time!
I don't know how many anime you've watched but it really does happen all the fucking time. I'm sick of seeing the MC just stand there and willingly get beaten up for the sake of someone else. As I tried to say, I have no problem with the concept itself, it's just it's lazily used in so many shows. It's awful. It's like a weird self-serving act of self-pity.

It's similar to how so many male MCs are lowest of the low human trash NEETs going on and on about how proud they are of their NEETdom (when they're interrupted by a mysterious girl falling out of the sky), do we need to relate to the MC THAT much that they need to be literally this same character over and over? I would say it shows a lack of respect for the audience's intelligence just copypasting this scenario every fucking time. I guess the real surprise is that it still sells...

I can't relate to it. I'm a NEET right now and I do pity myself a ton, that doesn't mean I want to see it on TV, otherwise I might as well just sit in front of a mirror, cut down on my electric bill

>>152493959
Masamune isn't an LN.

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>>152487892
Generally it's pretty easy - you make the character a normal fucking dude.

It's just that the target audience has a fairly pitiful standard for what constitutes 'normal'.