In order to help his family out financially, Nariyuki Yuiga dedicated himself to becoming a high achiever in order to get a special nomination that covers future university fees.
While he is constantly overshadowed by two other classmates in math and literature, he manages to get the nomination anyway with the condition he tutor these two other students in other academic areas.
It turns out that these two girls that excel over him in those two subjects are mediocre at everything else.
While all in all another harem experience, Bokuben did a decent job keeping you guessing on who was going to win it all. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Bokuben, head on down below.
Anime Like BokuBen: We Never Learn
For Fans of Beleaguered Tutors
Quintessential Quintuplets
As his family is in some serious debt, Fuutaro Uesugi is a serious penny pincher. However, his great grades have landed him a higher than normal paying tutor job.
The problem is that his five wards, all sisters, are dumb as door nails and think he is a complete idiot.
However, to get his pay, he has to think of a way to get these five unique girls to study and learn.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Quintessential Quintuplets
- The main characters that are poor, but smart enough to get by on tutoring
- Plots both revolve around tutoring girls
- Both are harem anime
- Diverse harem with a vague main girl
Differences Between Bokuben and Quintessential Quintuplets
- Quintessential Quintuplets follows five sisters who look similar, but have different personalities.
- Bokuben keeps the winner of the harem vague by giving each girl a strong focus arc, Quintessential Quintuplets baits a wedding to one of them in the future and plays roulette with who you think it is.
Shomin Sample
Kimito Kagurazaka is a common man who was kidnapped and brought to an elite all-girls school where he was to serve as a sample of common people to educate the girls. The catch is that in order to not lose his manhood, he must pretend to be interested in only men.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Shomin Sample
- Both series follow normal boys who serve as a tool for learning for women
- Both offer higher comedy, more unpredictable harem
- The male main character is often to the straight man to the eccentric women
Differences Between Bokuben and Shomin Sample
- The main character in Shomin Sample is more “human specimen” than tutor
- Shomin Sample features less of a romance focus
The Royal Tutor
Heine Wittgenstein is the royal tutor in the court of King Grannzreich. Unfortunately for this little professor, he has a big job cut out for him by being in charge of the education for the king’s four sons, each with their own eccentricities and each not a diligent student.
Similarities Between Bokuben and The Royal Tutor
- Both series follow tutors trying to teach problem students
- The students are all quirky and eccentric
Differences Between Bokuben and The Royal Tutor
- The Royal Tutor is an all-male cast, so it is a comedy rather than a harem romance
- The Royal Tutor takes place in a fantasy land where the tutor is teaching four young, quirky royal princes
- While both follow bespectacled tutors, the main character in The Royal Tutor is much more stern than Nariyuki in Bokuben
For Fans of Dysfunctional Harems Full of Odd Girls
Girlfriend, Girlfriend
After loving her for years, Naoya Mukai finally confesses his love to his childhood friend, Saki. However, just as he settles into dating her, a girl named Nagisa comes out of the woodwork and confesses her secret love for him.
Instead of shooting her down, he is charmed by her feelings, and suggests to both her and Saki that he date both of them.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Girlfriend, Girlfriend
- Both are harem anime that aren’t afraid to go big with the comedy
- Harem starts with two girls with more to come later
- While high in comedy, they do focus on character drama for plot
Differences Between Bokuben and Girlfriend, Girlfriend
- Girlfriend, Girlfriend is framed as a polygamous relationship rather than the study group-turned-harem in Bokuben
- Girlfriend, Girlfriend definitely doesn’t take itself as seriously as Bokuben
- The couple lives together in Girlfriend, Girlfriend whereas Bokuben is limited to just meeting at school
Nisekoi
Ten years ago, Raku Ichijou made a promise with a childhood friend to meet again and use the key she holds to open the locket he wears around his neck then be together forever. In the present day, this heir apparent to an intimidating yakuza family continues to wait for his friend’s return while trying to be as uninvolved in family matters as possible.
However, when a rival gang invades his family’s turf, the family leaders decide Raku should start a romantic relationship with the other chief’s daughter, Chitoge.
While they pretend to be dating to maintain the peace, Raku is almost positive his classmate Kosaki Onodera is the girl he made his promise with.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Nisekoi
- Both series start as a harem of two, but expand over time
- School setting with each character’s past explored over time
- Plenty of comedy between the eccentric characters
- Main characters are almost too nice and helpful to everyone
Differences Between Bokuben and Nisekoi
- Nisekoi keeps more to a love triangle than Bokuben which is more of a true harem romance
- Nisekoi loves to go back and forth on who it presents as “the main girl”
- Nisekoi features a fake dating scenario to stop a yakuza war, which is quite different from the tutoring-focused set up of Bokuben
Love Flops
One normal day, high school student Asahi Kashiwagi wakes up and watches a fortune teller’s predictions on TV. On his way to school, as according to the predictions, he has a variety of accidentally lewd encounters with five different people.
After these five clandestine meetings, he discovers that all five of them are new members of his class. What’s more, their encounters have all sparked the embers of love between him and each one of them.
Now he needs to follow his own heart else his love life flop and fizzle out.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Love Flops
- Harem anime in a school setting
- The main character isn’t particularly interested in romance, but gets a harem anyway
- The girls are all comically eccentric
- Both series enjoy comedy more than romance
Differences Between Bokuben and Love Flops
- Love Flops is about a father arranging marriage candidates for the main character, which is different from Bokuben’s tutoring focus
- The harem moves into the main character’s home in Love Flops
- Love Flops loves ecchi jokes
Actually, I Am
Completely on accident, average boy Asahi Kuromine discovers that Youko, the girl he has a crush on, is actually a vampire.
According to her father’s rules, she must now quit school, but since Asahi doesn’t want her to go, he agrees to keep her secret.
However, it turns out she won’t be the only supernatural being entering his life.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Actually, I Am
- Both series are school-set harem anime
- Both are lighter, more comedic harem anime rather than more romance-oriented harems
- The girls are all unique and delightfully eccentric
Differences Between Bokuben and Actually, I Am
- Actually, I Am is a supernatural harem, which means each girl is often some sort of creature
- There is a very clear “main girl” in Actually, I Am whereas Bokuben keeps it impressively vague
Haganai
Due to his blonde hair and bad boy face, Kodaka Hasegawa is often labeled a delinquent. When classmates shiver in your presence, it makes it difficult to make friends. Yet, when Kodaka meets Yozora, a girl that is perhaps a bigger outcast than him, the pair start the Neighbors’ Club.
In the Neighbors’ Club, those without any friends are invited to join, but not all personalities may mesh well.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Haganai
- Both series are school-set harem anime
- The women in the harem all have personality flaws/quirks that make them eccentric and good at certain things
- The main character is so nice to the point where he doesn’t have much personality himself
Differences Between Bokuben and Haganai
- Haganai is filled with eccentrics, but isn’t as wild with its comedy as Bokuben
- Haganai is centered around a club for outcasts that all happen to be cute girls
- Haganai features a more clear “main girl” while Bokuben keeps it vague
Oresuki – Are You The Only One Who Loves Me?
Jouro is your average high school boy that dreams of a love story. He is thrilled when he lines up two dates, but unfortunately, both girls confess their love for his best friend.
Of course, his friendly face is just a facade. Schemer that he is, he decides to make his friend fall for one of the girls so he can swipe the other.
Unfortunately, his efforts are threatened by Pansy, a gloomy girl who knows of his secret personality.
Similarities Between Bokuben and Oresuki
- Both are school-set harem anime
- The harem girls are eccentric for comedy
- Both are definitely more comedic than romantic most of the time
Differences Between Bokuben and Oresuki
- Oresuki is more of a parody of harem by making all the girls and the main character quite scummy and kind of the worst people (done for comedy, of course)
- The main character in Oresuki is scummy and underhanded, very much unlike the cinnamon roll that is Nariyuki
- Even the romance in Oresuki feels more like it is used for comedy than for romantic reasons
The Terrace Cafe and Its Goddesses
After his grandmother passed away, Hayato returned to the seaside cafe she had ran since he was a child, intent to sell it. However, after leaving for university, he didn’t realized that his grandmother had let five young women live on the property and work at the cafe as well.
In their desperation to keep their home, they convince Hayato to keep and re-open the cafe. However, between running a business and dealing with five unruly women, he is in for a difficult time.
Similarities Between Bokuben and The Terrace Cafe and Its Goddesses
- Both are harem anime
- The main character helps the variety of diverse girls he lives with
- Both make the “main girl” very vague
Differences Between Bokuben and The Terrace Cafe and Its Goddesses
- The Cafe Terrace follows college-aged characters in a dorm/seaside cafe
- The main character in The Terrace Cafe is not as nice and selflessly helpful as Nariyuki in Bokuben
- The Terrace Cafe has comedy, but it isn’t as high energy as it is in Bokuben
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 Bokuben and The 100 Girlfriends That Really Love You
- Both series are school-set harem anime
- The harem is filled with wildly eccentric and very likable girls
- The main character is a too-sweet cinnamon roll that is devoted to each girl
- Both are pretty vague with the “main girl”
Differences Between Bokuben and The 100 Girlfriends That Really Love You
- 100 Girlfriends means it when it says 100 girlfriends. It grows into a very big harem, unlike the manageable one in Bokuben
- 100 Girlfriends goes extra large with its comedy, to the point of being a parody of a harem while also still being a harem anime at the same time
Do you have more anime recommendations like Bokuben? Let fans know in the comments section below.