Best Harem Anime

Protagonists with various romance routes and vague romantic labels have always been a popular trope in fiction. Anime, however, ups the ante with its harem genre. This sitcom formula has withstood the test of time, and viewers can now consume a plethora of harem anime in case they want to see some hyperbolic gender dynamics and exaggerated attraction.

Some of the titles in this theme or genre can be rather “daring” or worse, a crass representation of harem. As such, if someone is looking to start their genre journey, they should check out these upcoming shows first since they are the best harem anime on the market.

Updated November 20, 2024 by Mark Sammut: As the Fall 2024 anime season does not have all that many new harems, two older series have been added as recommendations. Click below to jump to these entries.

Best New Fall 2024 Harem Anime

With the end of the year approaching, the anime industry is airing its last batch of shows for 2024, and the Fall 2024 lineup is pretty well-rounded overall. The season has action, comedy, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and even racing; overall, there should be something to suit most people’s tastes.

What about harem? Well, Fall 2024 does not disappoint in this area either. Arifureta and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles are both airing new cours, so they should satisfy any isekai harem fans who want solid representatives of both themes. Loner Life in Another World is also an option. 2.5 Dimensional Seduction is a Summer 2024 leftover that balances comedy, drama, and ecchi content well. Ranma ½ takes some elements from the genre too, although it is primarily a comedy with romance.

Still, let’s take a look at the best new harem anime of the season.

Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister

There is nothing wrong with revisiting a well-worn formula, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister sticks to what works. Obsessed with studying to become a doctor, Uryuu is allowed to live at a shrine, under the condition that he has to eventually marry one of the Amagami sisters (who are shrine maidens) and take over. This clause takes both Uryuu and the girls by surprise, but they are all willing to (at least) try to get along for the time being.

While not the most original harem anime ever, Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister gets by on the likability of its four leads, all of whom have well-defined personalities and goals that go beyond their immediate relationships. Uryuu is driven and mature, while the sisters have been showcased quite evenly so far. With decent comedy, good animation, and charming characters, this Fall 2024 is an easy recommendation for harem fans.

Now, let’s get started on the best harem anime ever…

28 Girlfriend, Girlfriend

MyAnimeList: 6.54 (Season 1)

Naoya is living with his two girlfriends, Saki and Nagisa, a situation his partners are not equally thrilled about. He is also stalked by another girl, Rika, who refuses to take a hint and is not afraid to break a few laws to get her way. To make matters even more complicated, Saki’s friend, Shino, moves in with Naoya to try and make sure he does not hurt her bestie; naturally, she also develops feelings for the lead.

Girlfriend, Girlfriend is at its best when highlighting its characters’ charming stupidity, an element heightened by Naoya’s blunt and earnest nature. Saki and Rika are both capable of producing hilarious moments and tend to overshadow the more subdued Nagisa. Shino’s increased involvement in season 2 was a mixed bag, but she helped keep the story moving.

27 Love Flops

MyAnimeList: 6.70

OK, this series is a bit difficult to discuss.
Love Flops
should be experienced blind and with patience; consequently, if a sci-fi mystery harem sounds remotely interesting, skip this section and just give this one a try.

Love Flops does not leave a great initial impression, with the first half telling almost exclusively cliché stories as a bog-standard male lead finds himself saddled with a harem of archetypes. However, this predictability is purposeful and eventually goes somewhere unique for the genre, resulting in an interesting final stretch of episodes that recontextualize the whole season.

Just to be clear, Love Flops is not some overlooked masterpiece that dissects the harem concept, nor does it gradually reveal a hidden darkness akin to something like Madoka Magica. Honestly, describing it as “good” might even be an over-exaggeration that sets way too high expectations. However, in a genre that tends to play things very safe, Love Flops deserves credit for taking a risk and seeing it through. It is also an original anime that tells a complete story.

26 Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

MyAnimeList: 7.33

Plenty of isekai anime lean into harem territory, but they do not always bring out the best in each other. These stories have a habit of emphasizing the most generic traits of both themes, resulting in forgettable slogs like In Another World With My Smartphone or The Fruit of Evolution. That said, exceptions exist that not only do justice to both isekai and harem conventions but also heighten their strengths. A few comedy series even manage to parody both genres quite well.

While The Eminence in Shadow is arguably the most popular example and has a huge roster of female characters, Cid (the male protagonist) is so far removed from a traditional harem lead that he disqualifies the show from a recommendation. Fortunately, Trapped in a Dating Sim qualifies as a harem anime that confidently pokes fun at the theme’s tropes along with isekai and otome games.

At the behest of his sister, a guy is forced to complete a dating sim he hates. Once done, he quickly dies and reincarnates as a bit-part player in the same universe he detests. Armed with the required knowledge to live a cozy life, Leon sets out to play the game while also keeping out of trouble. That does not happen, and he soon finds himself attracting unwanted attention, including landing in the middle of a harem featuring the game’s heroine and villainess (who develop a surprisingly cute relationship).

25 Amagami SS

MyAnimeList: 7.29 (Season 1)

Amagami SS offers a more relatable and grounded main character for a harem story. It’s about Junichi Tachibana who has been suffering from social anxiety ever since getting stood up on a date a couple of years back. However, his luck at romance begins to turn around when suddenly, several girls start showing interest in him once again.

To add to Junichiro’s dilemma, all of them are interesting stereotypes of high school girls in anime. Amagami SS is a fairly wholesome take on the often mature harem genre, and the anime generally opts against fan service.

24 2.5 Dimensional Seduction

MyAnimeList: 7.10

Available on HIDIVE, which has sort of become the default service for ecchi content, J.C.Staff’s adaptation of 2.5 Dimensional Seduction can initially come across as rather by the numbers.

Left alone in the manga club, Masamune has decided to reject 3D girls in favor of 2D waifus, a mentality that is hardly new for the genre. However, his worldview is rocked by the arrival of Ririsa, a student who wants to join the club to pursue her love of cosplay. Specifically, she seems to spend most of her time dressing up as Masamune’s favorite character, who happens to wear a revealing costume. Other girls slowly begin to orbit Masamune’s vicinity, including a model who knew Masamune when he was a kid.

Now, 2.5 Dimensional Seduction does not currently feel 100% like a harem as only two girls have been properly introduced, and Ririsa is undoubtedly the female lead. However, the roster expands slowly but surely. More importantly, the story takes the cosplay element seriously, and it goes beyond just Ririsa.

The anime is still ongoing since new episodes will continue to air during Fall 2024.

23 Saber Marionette J

MyAnimeList: 7.38 (Season 1)

An oldie but a goodie, Saber Marionette J is a childhood classic for a lot of millennials today. This harem anime is quite a handful as it combines several other genres, ranging from mecha to comedy. It takes place on a colonized planet far from Earth where the women are merely androids called Marionettes due to a failed expedition that killed off the female part of the colony.

Marionettes were inherently emotionless, but one day, a special boy found three unique examples who showed the ability to be empathetic. Therefore, it’s up to the boy to teach the three Marionettes what it means to be human while preventing war.

22 TenPuru: No One Can Live On Loneliness

MyAnimeList: 6.73

TenPuru is a harem anime featuring a monk and nuns. Well, they are at least aiming to go down that route. Wanting not to turn out like his lecherous father, Akemitsu joins a temple in order to become a monk; unfortunately, his new home happens to be a nunnery featuring nothing but girls around the protagonist’s age. Also, as this is an ecchi show, Akemitsu’s commitment to celibacy is regularly challenged.

TenPuru is a quintessential harem comedy, in the sense that the show really sticks to the genre’s tropes. The characters are all fairly stereotypical, but they are bad either. Akemitsu is quite pleasant since he generally has good intentions, even if he tends to regularly make dumb mistakes. The girls are a bit more of a mixed bag since, so far, only a few of them have been properly spotlighted, but they produce their share of laughs as well.

Like quite a few harem anime, TenPuru leans heavily into ecchi territory, which is not going to be for everyone. The show loves its fanservice, and these sequences can be repetitive and uninspired. However, the anime’s humor frequently hits the mark, provided a viewer does not mind banter that comes with a healthy dose of stupidity.

21 How Not To Summon a Demon Lord

MyAnimeList: 6.85 (Season 1)

How Not To Summon a Demon Lord is about a shut-in gamer who gets isekai’d into his own game. Instead of being a normal guy though, he assumes the role of Demon King Diablo, his in-game avatar. Sure enough, as soon as he arrives in his newfound world, he accidentally enslaves the two girls who summoned him.

However, despite being very powerful, Diablo agrees to help these girls unbind their contract, although the journey to get there might be more troublesome than expected. Leaning heavily into comedy and ecchi, this isekai anime is arguably slightly underrated, especially its entertaining first season that produces plenty of great laughs along with quite a few intense moments between Diablo and his summoners. Unfortunately, season 2 struggled to replicate its predecessor’s charm.

20 Lord Marksman And Vanadis

MyAnimeList: 7.11

Lord Marksman And Vanadis is one of the few harem fantasy anime that has a somewhat serious tone. The plot revolves around an ongoing territorial war in a fictional version of Europe; consequently, the series has plenty of political undertones and subplots.

At the heart of this conflict is the unfortunate Tigrevurmud. He is one of the archers of a faction whose army was decimated by Elen or Eleonora of the opposing faction. In a strange twist of fate, Tigre is spared by Elen, and thus begins the former’s turbulent struggle as a defector/prisoner of war for a female general.

19 Rent-A-Girlfriend

MyAnimeList: 7.03 (Season 1)

Rent-a-Girlfriend is unforgettable, both in good and bad ways. The protagonist is a college student named Kazuya Kinoshita. The anime starts with his girlfriend suddenly becoming his ex, so he seeks comfort by rebounding in the arms of a rental girlfriend found through an app. The two quickly find themselves to be incompatible, but it is a little late for that as both of them have to fake a relationship to appease Kazuya’s ill grandmother. Along the way, more colorful and quirky girls appear to challenge Kazuya’s fake relationship.

If nothing else, Rent-a-Girlfriend knows how to get a reaction out of viewers, even if that response is frequently frustration. Kazuya can be infuriating since he is not really written to be cool or traditionally charming; in fact, he tends to get lost in his anxiety, which can get repetitive and tiresome when it happens for multiple seasons. That said, he is at least a memorable lead, which is not something that can be said for every harem protagonist.

Rent-a-Girlfriend loses some points as a harem since the end goal is never in question, to the point that the other girls can come across as distractions rather than contenders.

18 Rosario + Vampire

MyAnimeList: 6.75 (Season 1)

Looking for another disorderly twist in a harem anime? Why not monster girls? Rosario + Vampire explores that notion. Protagonist Tsukune Aono enrolls in Youkai Academy thanks to his stingy parents, but he soon discovers that it’s actually a school for supernatural monsters such as succubi, werewolves, and vampires.

Thankfully, he falls in the company of Akashiya Moka and other monster girls who view him as a precious friend since he’s the only human in the academy. It’s not all ecchi situations and opportune moments for Tsukune though as he also helps the girls address the school’s most glaring issues. Rosario + Vampire is one of the most popular and well-known harem anime out there, and it does feature quite a few of the genre’s tired tropes and conventions; however, the supernatural twist gives it an edge over most of its contemporaries and successors.

17 A Couple Of Cuckoos

MyAnimeList: 6.92

A Couple of Cuckoos features a conservative dose of fan service, which will either be a positive or a negative depending on the viewer. Also, in a surprisingly rare change of pace from most of the genre’s shows, the anime’s main male protagonist arguably earns his harem. That would be the straight-A student, Nagi Umino. He was supposed to be rich, but the hospital accidentally switched him with another baby after birth.

When he did turn 16, he finally met his real parents and the girl he inadvertently switched lives with at birth. The problem is, his adoptive and real parents now want him to marry the girl. Other problems arise when Nagi starts pursuing someone else he genuinely likes, and, on top of that, his adopted sister also has her eyes on him.

16 We Never Learn: Bokuben

MyAnimeList: 7.28 (Season 1)

In We Never Learn, an impoverished student named Yuiga gets a chance to be admitted to a top-ranked university on a full scholarship. However, there’s one condition: he’ll have to tutor the school’s geniuses in their weakest subjects.

Of course, all these geniuses are girls with dynamic and eccentric personalities, meaning it’s quite a monumental task for someone like Yuiga. While there’s nothing that stands out with this rom-com, it does everything decently and is generally an entertaining watch.

15 To LOVE Ru

MyAnimeList: 6.98

To LOVE Ru is a harem classic where a typical boy MC named Yuuki Rito actually has an ideal partner who’s also his childhood friend. Things get complicated, however, when an alien girl from another planet lands on Earth and sets her eyes on Yuuki.

To make matters worse, the said alien girl’s sisters also want a piece of Yuuki and have uprooted themselves and now live in his house. Oh, and there’s also a weapon girl who wants to kill Yuuki but also serves as a potential romantic tangent for him. But hey, Yuuki still loves his childhood friend no matter what. Sort of. Maybe.

14 The Familiar Of Zero

MyAnimeList: 7.22 (Season 1)

The Familiar of Zero initially comes across as a cliched harem ecchi anime, but it sets itself apart rather early. The MC here, named Saito, is actually a slave since he’s a familiar accidentally summoned by an inept budding sorceress. Turns out he is a powerful familiar, but his circumstances have forced him to be weakened.

Hence, Saito comes to terms with his new life, all the while struggling to stay loyal to his master as other magicians and sorceresses turn his life upside down in a way that only a harem anime can. In any case, it’s a harem with magic involved, which alone should make it interesting.

13 Is This a Zombie?

MyAnimeList: 7.33 (Season 1)

Is This a Zombie? is pure unfiltered silliness. Sure, most harem anime do not take themselves too seriously, but they do tend to ramp up the melodrama to try and keep the contest captivating. While not devoid of romantic shenanigans, Is This a Zombie? primarily wants to inspire laughter, something it accomplishes by spoofing a plethora of genres and themes. Besides harem, the show pokes fun at magical girls and even fantasy tropes like vampires. Even if not quite a full-blown parody, this anime is first and foremost a comedy, and a pretty good one at that.

So, what is the premise? Well, it is complicated and simultaneously not that important. Basically, Ayumu dies and is resurrected, becoming a zombie in the process. Later on, he accidentally siphons a magical girl’s powers, becoming a mahou shoujo zombie in the process. It is fun nonsense.

12 The Café Terrace And Its Goddesses

MyAnimeList: 7.32 (Season 1)

Hayato Kasukabe inherits his grandmother’s cafeteria following her death, only to find that it comes with five girls who had been living with his relative. Not amused with the situation, both parties start off hating each other, although they eventually form an agreeable relationship and decide to reopen the shop.

The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses does not leave a great first impression since the girls come across as rather annoying in the opening two episodes; however, that begins to change once Hayato starts to get to know them a bit better. With a strong male lead, enjoyable humor, and genuine character development, this series was comfortably Spring 2023’s standout harem show.

Season 2 builds nicely on its predecessor’s solid foundations. Hayato and the girls are still running Café Familia, although they have to deal with an unexpected threat when a new establishment opens. Furthermore, the new cafeteria is not only owned by somebody who hates Hayato, but also copies Familia’s blueprint, to the point of hiring girls to emulate the goddesses’ personalities.

The anime dropped this plot point surprisingly quickly, and the new girls became satellite members of the main harem, in the sense that they show up for the occasional ecchi scene but are not competing for Hayato’s love. Honestly, this decision was probably for the best as adding five more contenders would have messed with the harem’s balance, and they are largely overshadowed by the main girls anyway.

11 Date A Live

MyAnimeList: 7.15 (Season 1)

Date A Live delivers a unique setting for the harem genre. It begins several decades after a massive devastating earthquake killed 150 million people on Earth. These quakes have subsequently been happening on a smaller scale and are seemingly caused by pretty girls called Spirits.

Luckily for the MC, Shidou Itsuka, his little sister is working on a plan to prevent these further disasters by rehabilitating the Spirits. And what better way to tame them than to make them fall in love with a boy? That’s Shidou’s job from there henceforth; saving the world by flirting like a mythical Chad. Along with delivering fun harem shenanigans, Date A Live is also a pretty great action show in its own right, particularly in its later seasons. In fact, this series is a great harem gateway option for people who are not sure where to start with the genre.

10 The Fruit Of Grisaia

MyAnimeList: 7.48 (Season 1)

The Fruit of Grisaia might seem like an ordinary harem anime with the typical cast of dynamic girls and a quiet boy, but it adds more stakes by featuring some deep-seated psychological issues. It begins when transfer student Yuuji Kazami enters a new school. Initially, he was excited to begin a new life but was soon disappointed on his first day.

Yuuji quickly finds out that the school is devoid of its student population save for him, the principal, and five other girls. The outlandish scenario is drenched in mystery, which Yuuji eventually unearths by socializing with the girls and finding out their hidden trauma. Unlike most entries in the genre, The Fruit of Grisaia and its sequel, The Eden of Grisaia, tackle some rather mature and uncomfortable themes.

9 Tenchi Muyo! War On Geminar

MyAnimeList: 7.74

Speaking of harem anime with impressive premises, Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar takes the cake. The show is also an isekai anime, on top of dipping into the mecha and fantasy genres. In any case, protagonist Kenshi Masaki gets spirited away into a bizarre land where he is tasked with assassinating a crown empress by piloting a mecha.

Only, Kenshi fails to do this, but his ability to serve as mecha pilot saves his life since men are not usually capable of accomplishing this task. Refusing to execute her assigned assassin, the empress keeps Kenshi around to train him among the female pilots in her army. Despite featuring moments of action, the anime is not that fast-paced and focuses heavily on the characters, most of which are trope-heavy but endearing.