It is Eiji Kitahara dream when he joins the drama club that he can form a harem in high school like in his favorite manga. It is a dream that has yet to happen.
The next year when Rin Nanakura joins the drama club, she falls hard for Eiji and, unable to confess her feelings openly quite yet, tries to win him over by putting on all the persona that would make up a proper harem story.
However, whether she is acting mature and collected like Cool-chan or devious and flirty like Imp-chan, her real feelings for him continue to grow. Will she ever be able to tell him how she feels as her real persona?
Finally, a harem anime for people that don’t like harem anime. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Pseudo Harem, head on down below.
Anime Like Pseudo Harem
For Fans of Singular Romance With a Unique Hook
Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible
Junta Shiraishi has a special, if not sometimes inconvenient skill of being difficult for people to notice due to his lack of presence. However, while even the teacher fails to notice him, his desk neighbor Nagisa Kubo seems to never miss him.
Unfortunately, Kubo likes to tease him on a daily basis and put his near-invisibility to the test in nerve-wracking situations. However, her playful antics begin to evolve into what normal people would easy see as clear feelings for him.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible
- Nice, somewhat popular girl reaches out to a normal, if not unpopular boy she is interested in
- Romantic progression
- The heroine finds the male main characters’ quirks pretty cute.
- The plot is often unrelated slice of life stories that end comically or cutely.
- Both series offer a unique hook to augment the romantic comedy (Fake harem, nobody notices the main character even when he is right next to them)
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible
- Pseudo Harem progresses romance faster and further.
- The heroine in Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible is more demure and pleasant, Rin is a bit cutely high strung and cheerful.
- The male main character in Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible is quiet and near invisible to people, thus pretty unpopular. Eiji is just a normal guy.
The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses
By all accounts, Ai Mie is a little bit weird. However, her desk neighbor Kaede Komura finds everything she does adorable. His only wish is she would look at him with those beautiful eyes beneath her glasses.
One day, Komura notices Mie squinting and acting strangely. It turns out, she had forgotten her glasses and can barely function without them. Reaching out to her, Komura is more than happy to help her out, and as she continues to forget her glasses regularly, their relationship grows.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses
- Rom-com with romantic progression
- Both series offer a unique hook to augment the romantic comedy (fake harem, girl keeps forgetting her glasses and needs the boy’s help)
- Eccentric character quirks
- The plots are often unrelated slice of life stories that end comically or cutely.
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses
- The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses features a heroine who has a reputation for being odd at school. Rin is normal if not lightly popular.
- Pseudo Harem progresses romance faster and further.
- The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses has a singular joke (girl is blind without her glasses) and it leans on it perhaps too much for some.
Aharen-san is Indecipherable
Excited to have a different and more social high school life, Raidou introduces himself to his seat neighbor on the first day.
At first, he thinks this small girl is just ignoring him. However, he discovers that she has a quiet voice and is bad at determining personal space.
From this meeting, an odd friendship blooms.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and Aharen-san is Indecipherable
- Two quirky, but normal people have a clandestine meeting on the first day of school and start immediately hanging out all the time.
- Romantic progression
- Both series offer a unique hook to augment the romantic comedy (Fake harem, girl can’t perceive personal space well and has trouble making friends)
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and Aharen-san is Indecipherable
- Aharen-san is Indecipherable is often just comedic incidents, but surprised everyone by actually moving the relationship forward. So Pseudo Harem progresses romance faster and further.
- Aharen-san is Indecipherable is usually skit-based comedy, as in each slice of life moment starts with a set up for a comedic event. Pseudo Harem is more just normal slice of life.
- Both main characters in Aharen-san is Indecipherable are deadpan in their personality, which creates some unique and effective comedy.
- Both main characters are also a little dense in Aharen-san is Indecipherable.
Senryuu Girl
Yukishiro Nanako is cute and cheerful, but so shy she has become non-verbal. The only way she can express her thoughts is through haiku. Busujima Eiji is a delinquent in every way, except for the fact that he is kind and has never been in a fight.
Together, these two form the school’s literature club.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and Senryuu Girl
- Boy meets girl and they start hanging out all the time.
- Slice of life rom-com plot
- Both series offer a unique hook to augment the romantic comedy (Fake harem, a girl only communicates in poems)
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and Senryuu Girl
- Senryuu Girl lacks satisfying romantic progression.
- The heroine in Senryuu Girl is mute due to social anxiety and the male main character is mistaken as a delinquent. So they are not normal-type characters like Rin and Eiji.
- Senryuu Girl is often more about personal growth and making friends than romance or any sort of plot.
Skilled Teaser Takagi-san
For Nishikata, no one knows him better than Takagi-san. Unfortunately for him, she uses this knowledge to unrelentingly tease him on a daily basis.
Nishikata vows to get revenge for all that blushing he has done, but is he good enough to overcome her skill?
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and Skilled Teaser Takagi-san
- Boy meets girl on the first day of school and they start hanging out all the time.
- Romantic progression
- Cute and likable characters that are a joy just to watch
- Both series offer a unique hook to augment the romantic comedy (Fake harem, girl often teasing the boy via winning games)
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and Skilled Teaser Takagi-san
- Takagi-san is slice of life like Pseudo Harem, but most moments are just a set up for a game. So it is also skit-based in that way.
- Takagi-san follow middle schoolers, so romantic progression moves way slower than Pseudo Harem.
- The teasing in Takagi-san is playful, but you can sense the male main characters’ frustration at times. This means the dynamic between the pair is more contentious than Rin and Eiji in Pseudo Harem.
For Fans of Girls Dropping Obvious Hints
The Dangers in My Heart
Kyoutaro Ichikawa looks like a normal boy, but he has a danger in his heart – a dream of murder. He has aimed his violent tendencies at the class idol, Anna Yamada.
While reading in his haven, the library, he accidentally runs into Yamada, who comes there to secretly consume snacks. Through frequent observation, Ichikawa learns that this beautiful and popular girl is actually a huge ditz and frequently finds himself supporting her from the periphery in her ventures.
Over time, Ichikawa learns that he doesn’t actually want to kill Yamada, but rather, his desires were actually something much different.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and The Dangers in My Heart
- Clandestine meeting between a boy and a girl who start hanging out all the time
- Romantic progression
- Girl drops obvious hints that she likes the boy
- The heroines are aspiring actresses
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and The Dangers in My Heart
- The Dangers in My Heart features quirky characters like the heroine being a big eater and the male main character being an edgelord/chunibyou.
- The Dangers in My Heart is more of a unpopular boy/popular girl romance. Eiji and Rin are just normal people.
- The Dangers in My Heart has a decent amount of character growth for the male main character. Pseudo Harem develops the romance, but not really the characters.
When Will Ayumu Make His Move?
One day, Ayumu quits the kendo club and decides to join the Shogi Club which only has one member.
Urushi is happy to have a playing partner and as the older student, she seeks to mentor Ayumu. However, his straightforward and honest demeanor often has her blushing with embarrassment.
While she waits for a confession from him, Ayumu has vowed that he won’t confess until he beats her at a game of Shogi.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and When Will Ayumu Make His Move
- Girl and boy meet when one of them joins their school club
- Girls drops endless obvious hints that she likes the boy
- Boy likes the girl too, but doesn’t act on it for reasons
- Cute slice of life moments between them is the plot as they build their relationship
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and When Will Ayumu Make His Move
- Romance moves particularly sluggishly in When Will Ayumu Make His Move.
- The main couple doesn’t hang out all the time in When Will Ayumu Make His Move like the do in Pseudo Harem.
- When Will Ayumu Make His Move is about a senpai that likes the younger boy that joins her shogi club. He likes her too, but won’t confess until he beats her at shogi.
Tomo-chan is a Girl
As childhood friends and neighbors, Tomo and Jun are best friends and hang out constantly. There is just one problem.
Tomo is a girl, and Jun often forgets that.
She wants Jun to see her as a girl so she can move their friendship into something more. When she is a tomboy and Jun is as dense as can be, can Tomo escape the bro zone in order to get a start on her youthful romance?
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and Tomo-chan is a Girl
- Romantic comedies with a hook (Fake harem, the boy doesn’t see the girl as a viable romance option because she’s manly)
- Romance is barred by characters dishonest with their feelings
- Romantic progression
- The heroine drops unambiguous hints that she is romantically interested.
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and Tomo-chan is a Girl
- Tomo-chan is often more comedy focused since romance is barred by the male character’s stubbornness.
- Tomo-chan features several side couples
- Tomo-chan doesn’t progress romance as quickly.
- Tomo-chan focuses more as the heroine as the main character while Pseudo Harem shares the spotlight more.
For Fans of Cute, Comedic Harem Subversions
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You
Throughout his middle school career, Rentaro Aijo has confessed to – and been rejected by – 100 girls. After his 100th confession, he visits a shrine and prays to god that he will have better luck in high school.
Suddenly the God of Love appears and declares to him that in high school he will meet 100 soulmates that he is destined to date!
However, the catch is that once he meets these soulmates, the two must date or else the girl will die. Will Rentaro be able to make it through high school with 100 girlfriends!?
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and 100 Girlfriend Who Really Love You
- Harem elements, but subversive
- The main character dates all of his harem
- Fairly cute romance where it is hard to hate any character
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and 100 Girlfriend Who Really Love You
- Pseudo Harem is a rom-com with a pretend harem, 100 Girlfriends Who Really Love You is an actual harem, but he just dates every girl who all know he does and are (eventually) fine with their future sister-wives.
- 100 Girlfriend Who Really Love You is a bit ecchi sometimes. Not graphically, but for comedy and can be a bit intense about it.
- 100 Girlfriend Who Really Love You has more intense comedy that accents the eccentricities of its various eccentric characters.
Makeine – Too Many Losing Heroines!
Nukumizu Kazuhiko is a high school boy that is content with just blending in with the crowd. One day, he watched a popular classmate, Yanami Anna, get dumped by her childhood friend that she had confessed to.
Feeling like he should comfort her, Nukumizu ends up increasingly entangled with Yanami as well as several other girls who he witnesses get turned down by their unrequited loves.
Similarities Between Pseudo Harem and Makeine
- Harem elements, but subversive
- Embraces and shakes up common harem member archetypes
- Nice main character and a love interest who isn’t honest with her feelings
- Similar levels of cute and enjoyable to watch
Differences Between Pseudo Harem and Makeine
- Pseudo Harem has romantic progression. Makeine does not. Makeine also attempts that harem thing where who is the “main girl” of the romance is kept vague.
- Makeine is an actual harem. However, the main character isn’t exactly a harem king of it. Mostly he just has an ever-increasing amount of female friends that all turn to him for help with their problems.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Pseudo Harem? Let fans know in the comments section below.