Boys, boys, boys – Tall boys, cute boys, brooding boys, bad boys. Reverse harems shows are the shows for anime fans that want a (likely) boilerplate female protagonist that is surrounded by beautiful boys around every turn for any number of reasons. It might turn into a romance as harem shows are want to do, but even if it doesn’t, you still have the eye candy. If you are looking for an eclectic collection of reverse harem anime series, we have anime recommendations for that.
Best Reverse Harem Shoujo Anime
Ouran High School Host Club
While Ouran High School Host Club is more “com” than “rom” at first, it develops at a nice pace and never becomes overwhelmingly about romance. In the show, the main character is forced to join a host club in which handsome men pamper visiting women and treat them like princesses. As a girl herself, she ends up cross dressing in the club while developing friendships, and some relationships, with each of the boys.
Amnesia
Based on a visual novel, the protagonist in this series is barely existent as you were supposed to be making her decisions. The plot involves her waking up with no memories, but also several different men that all claim to be her boyfriend. You explore their various stories in the series so you can find your true best boy.
Kamigami no Asobi
The plot surrounds a girl being transported to another realm to teach gods how to empathize with humans. As such, she is surrounded by men that are literally as handsome as gods. It is the easiest writing device ever for creating a series of diverse Gary Stus for ogling, but it is actually not as bad as you’d think.
Brothers Conflict
If you don’t necessarily need your reverse harem to be well developed and a great anime in its own right, like Ouran High School Host Club, but just need a wide array of diverse boys – this is for you. Brothers Conflict isn’t…a great example of anime in general, but it does have tons of boys. A girl’s father remarries, she finds herself with 13 stepbrothers, they all seem to have amorous feelings towards her immediately and for sometimes no real reason.
Hakuouki
If you are in the mood for tasty Meiji Era samurai, this is for you. A girl disguises herself as a boy to look for her father, sees a vicious murder by a monster, and is saved by the Shinsengumi who then take her captive. It turns out they are also looking for her father so they end up protecting her. Under their captive protection, she bonds with a variety of them.
Kiss Him, Not Me
As a series about a once chubby girl who gets skinny and cute then has boys all over her, this series doesn’t send the best message on body positivity, but whatevs~ This series is a nice tight reverse harem with each of the core boy tropes. Unfortunately, it also comes with a main character that fights her destiny by shipping her paramours together instead as she is quite the fujoshi.
Boys Over Flowers
For aging anime fans like myself, this was the series that primarily introduced what a delightful concept a reverse harem could be. The animation is…Just awful (I recommend the J-drama actually) but the story is told. A poor girl goes to a rich high school, she runs afoul the rich boys that run the school. The alpha rich boy ends up falling for her and drama and romance ensue. It is the ultimate fantasy for those hoping a rich prince will sweep them off their feet.
The Wallflower
Similar to the aforementioned Boys Over Flowers in terms of “meh” animation and the fact that this series features another four-some of boys, The Wallflower is a little hit or miss. It is about four beautiful men rehabilitating a weird girl so they can continue to live in her fancy house rent-free. While that may seem to send a problematic message, it actually become more positive in its romance than you would think.
B-Project
B-Project, in reality, is a virtual idol project. It also has its own anime which shows off the personality of the huge number of boys that comprise the three combined idol groups. It is promotional eye candy and only promotional eye candy. It is, however, also very cute.
Arcana Famiglia
This series is one that isn’t afraid to have fun with its plot, or to have a plot even. The story follows a mafia family whose head of house is hosting a tournament to choose his heir and husband to his daughter. His daughter, not wanting to be a prize pig, enters the tournament as well. It is about fighting, but alongside plenty of handsome boys with a variety of feelings towards her.
Saiunkoku Monogatari
Far from a witless and fluffy romance, this series is stuffed with both handsome men in fancy outfits and political drama. It actually has quite a bit of intrigue to it in its plot, which combined with its array of romance options makes for a heady combo.
Code:Realize
Imagine characters like Arsene Lupin, Dr. Frankenstein, and Van Helsing were all handsome young men. Well, in this series they are! Code:Realize actually begins with an intriguing plot involving removing a girl’s power to melt everything she touches. Unfortunately, it very soon devolves into typical otome game tropes, but in a reverse harem show, that is not unexpected or necessarily a bad thing.
Fruits Basket
Legendary among the reverse harem genre, Fruits Baskets is about a homeless girl that gets taken in by a family who then turns out to be almost exclusively male. Members of the Sohma family pop out of the woodwork all the time, and they are all handsome. Unfortunately, they also have a dark secret – when they are touched by women, they turn into their zodiac animal.
Do you have more reverse harem options for fans? Let them know in the comments section below.
