Hero!

There have been very few characters in anime that have made such an impact on everyone’s life as the can of coffee.  This seemingly simple can has acted as the Swiss-Army-Knife of relationship fixes in anime.  It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to say you’re sorry, trying to get together with that special someone, heal someone’s broken heart, or take your relationship to the next level, can of coffee is there for you.  The sad thing is that can of coffee is often ignored for all of its troubles; the can of coffee in the scre:enshot for instance just helped a young couple get over their awkwardness with each other, and how was it rewarded?  Left on the ground!  Hence, I aim to make a list of the shows that have benefited from the help of can of coffee (feel free to chime in with your can of coffee spottings):

• Hatsukoi Limited ep 7
• Boys Be ep 2
• Proposal Daisakusen ep 2
• Kimi no Iru Machi manga ch 30

Synopsis:
Comedy depicting the everyday life of five highshool girls majoring art and design; hard working but absent-minded Kisaragi Yamaguchi, overachiever Miyabi Ohmichi nicknamed “Kyoju (Professor)”, tomboy Tomokane whose firstname is unknown, hyper-active Miki Noda and cool observer Namiko Nozaki with witty remarks.

(summary taken from http://en.gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20090605_anime_2009summer/)

Looking at the characters for this, I was kind of hoping that it was just a joke on the part of whoever translated the synopsis, but I imagine it’s accurate.  This is where a lot of anime series lately seem like they aren’t even bothering anymore; they take the same cliched characters that have been in hundreds of other animes and are basically cut and pasting them into different backgrounds with slightly different jokes.  Since the same seiyuu are often used for the same character types over and over, these characters even sound the same from anime to anime.

This might be a really good anime or they might just use the standard shortcut of shoving so much moe into it that you ignore the fact that it has no originality or story to speak of.

• The Melancholy of Haruhi Sodomiya
• Elfen Lied About Being A Virgin
• Please Twins (not much work needed on that name)
• Bukakemon
• Boys Over Boys Over Flowers
• Fate Stay All Night
• Assed Exile
• Manwhoreomatic
• Mai Hymene
• Pantsu on the Cliff by the Sea

There are more, but it’s difficult to do this without making it too raunchy.

• women like to know you aren’t afraid of commitment; prove you aren’t by collecting every Haruhi figure
• Required watching (anime) Tenchi Muyo, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Nadesico, Love Hina, Last Exile
• Required watching (dorama) Great Teacher Onizuka, Hanazakari no Kimi Tachi E, Nobuta wo Produce, Waters Boys 1 & 2, Proposal Daisakusen, Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi
• having lots of friends is hard; email them all pics of you with an anime figure; those still talking to you are keepers
• conference calls are boring; add “-nya” to the end of everything you say during them
• talking to coworkers can get tiring; steer every conversation to Evangelion and soon they won’t talk to you
• playgrounds in Japan are for more than children playing; they are for lovesick teenagers.  Be sure to pick the type of equipment to loiter on based on your mood.  If you’re depressed, go for the swings; if you’re thoughtful, you need to hang out at the top of the slide; and if you’re feeling like impressing the ladies, do something on the monkey bars.

The main character of the story has to be an average guy; after all, there’s really nothing interesting or otherworldly about a really good looking guy having a lot of women in love with him.  Keitaro from Love Hina is the perfect example of a harem anime lead.  He’s not especially good looking, he’s not particularly suave in social situations, not super successful, and most importantly he’s pretty dense when it comes to women.  This is a hallmark of harem animes, that the main character usually has absolutely no idea that dozens of women are in love with him.  The male lead is usually a good natured person who helps those around him out and keeps an upbeat attitude no matter what the circumstances.

The ladies of the harem anime are the other important part of the equation and this is where the laws governing harem animes are the strictest.  If you want to make one, you MUST have some, if not all, of these character types:

• The Childhood Friend: This character has either grown up living in the same house as, or the house next-door to the main character.  She has always loved the main character and has always spent most of her life looking after him.  Naturally her chances of actually getting him in the end are pretty slim.
• The Sister: Like The Childhood Friend, this character has always been in love with the male lead and is never actually his blood relative.  This character is pretty interchangeable with The Childhood Friend except there’s usually more sexual flirtation as there’s always a scene where the “brother” walks in on her bathing, etc.  The hallmark of the sister character is jealousy at the other girls starting to gain the attention of her beloved oniichan.
• The Tomboy: This character can usually be found on the softball, volleyball, and swimming clubs.  Her exposure to the main character is pretty much the first time she has ever felt anything towards a boy and her lack of experience costs her in being able to confess her feelings for him.
• The Ruri-Type: Ruri Hoshino from Martian Successor Nadesico was such a wildly popular character that anime creators haven’t been able to resist carbon copying her into their own shows.  The Ruri-Type is easily spotted since she has the body of a 12 year old, but is usually older than the others thanks to having missed a few years of school due to illness; so she’s conveniently 18.  This is convenient for the reason that a lot of harem animes started life as ero-games, so the game makers need a way to skirt around obscenity laws.  Like Ruri from Nadesico, these characters are always soft spoken, yet quite snarky and are always quite intelligent.  Her hair, like Ruri’s, is always from the blue color palette.
• The Rich Girl: This character is even easier to spot than the Ruri-Type since she arrives to school in a limo, has large curls in her hair, and laughs into the back of her hand. She’s also usually surrounded by falling rose petals.  She’s never a serious contender for the main character’s love, but she serves to get in the way of the other characters and pad things out a bit.
• Big Breasted Big Sister: This character is more comic relief than anything else.  While she does naturally love the main character and usually ends up with his face buried in her chest, she is generally the older sister of the childhood friend and doesn’t want to get in the way of things.  Her existence is primarily for stretching the limits of breast bouncing and she offers sage advice now and then, which is remarkable since she is usually portrayed as being quite dippy.
• The Dimbo: This character is part dim-witted, part bimbo, but with a heart of gold.  She usually wins the love of the viewers (but not the main character) by saying things like “I know I’m not good at anything,” or “I know he wouldn’t want someone like me.”  She’s usually friends with the childhood friend and plays a relatively minor part in the show.
• The Tsundere: This character type is defined as being prickly and unapproachable, but quickly reverts to being cute when in the presence of the person she loves.  A good example of this would be Naru from Love Hina.  This character usually is the one who ends up getting the guy. *

The show ending can switch around about who ultimately gets the guy, but Japanese law does require that your anime contain at least four of the character types.

The minor characters of the show are the classmates, of which you have That Guy, who always says something to get slapped.  You also have the metrosexual who makes overtures to both the main character and the other girls in class. As an added bonus you normally get super perverted fat guy who is also there just for comic relief.

The other absolute requirement for a harem anime (and most animes in general) is that the parents are not in the house.  They’re either dead, or working in another country; either way they never play any part in the show.

* Thanks to Mathew Snyder of http://theillien.blogspot.com/ for pointing out my omission of this character type