Summary
The infamousHarem Routeis an overused cliché in modern anime and manga. Several series have diverted a little from the full-harem to something called pseudo-harem, where the protagonist orbits around several possible love interests, never committing and picking one, and never progressing further in their relationship.
What happenswhen the protagonist seeks commitment,or outright rejects approaching any possible love interest in the series? Then we encounter one of the rare series where there’s no Harem Route at all. This list featuresmanga where the MC avoids the Harem route.All these manga series have three things in common: They have romance, comedy, and an anime adaptation.
6Bakemonogatari
MC Sticks With His Quirky Girlfriend Despite All Odds
Bakemonogatarialso known as theMonogatari Seriesis based on the Light Novels written by Nishio Isin, and though the manga is about to conclude, the anime is still going strong, with a new iteration calledMonogatari Series Off & Monster Season,which is season 4 and 5 of the series divided into two parts. Then again, what’s the deal with theMain Character and all his possible love interests?
Koyomi Araragi, former vampire and part-time supernatural detective, has managed to remain faithful to Hitagi Senjougahara despite the many female characters orbiting around him. Though they’ve had quite a lot of ups and down, Araragi and Hitagi remain together in the chronological order of the novels and the manga, so it is absolutely certain that the silly Main Character of this story avoided the harem route and settled in. Good for them.
5Too Many Losing Heroines
The Protagonist Remains Alone Forever
Now this is a weird one: what would fans think of a series where the MC is not only friendzoned, but actively helps every female character (heroine) reach their personal happy ending? Is he crazy? Is he dumb? Is he too good to be true? No one knows for sure, as this series has a peculiar premise where, no matter what the heroines do, the MC always gives them a gentle nudge in the right direction, and then walks away.
Strangely enough,Too Many Losing Heroineshas become quite popular among fans of romance anime, who are tired of the usual school-life Harem teen drama with overly-clichéed characters. As dull and boring as this main character can be, the truth is that he’s overall a good guy (although some fans have pointed out he might be a self-insert of the author, which would be a bit weird). Nevertheless, it’s a fun read.
4Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends
MC Graciously Avoids Commitment Because He’s Scared
This is a wacky, insanely fun, and wholesome school-life comedy where a bunch of weird and awkward people try to make friends by creating a “Make Friends Club.” Yes, that’s right, and the worst part is that they end up in a sort of Harem situation, where the male MC is continuously bombarded with the awkward attempts of three other girls to “be friendly,” but with him failing horrendously.
It seems like they didn’t read the description of the club; it was supposed to be “make friends,” not “make a harem.” Regardless, the MC is obviously not prepared to make friends, much less to commit to a relationship. As the story ofHaganai: I Don’t Have Many Friendsprogresses, his dullness somehow melts away, and he figures out he’s being chased by two of the girls, he does what every cliché MC of an anime does: Avoids commitment and brushes off any romantic advances. The problem with Kodaka (the protagonist) is that he is too scared of change, and appreciates the Club too much. That’s why he ends up avoiding changing the nature of the relationship he has with his only friends.
3Wise Man’s Grandchild
A Man True To His Word Picked A Girl And Married Her
Another weird tale of isekai fantasy adventure,Wise Man’s Grandsonis a manga where the obnoxious MC is thrown into a conflict against demonic creatures, orchestrated by one of the best isekai anime villains ever conceived. However, this guy only has eyes for one thing: Cecily, one of his classmates. From the moment he sets his eyes on her, he is lovestruck, committed to this girl until the end.
He even goes as far as to declare his plans to marry her in the future in front of her family. All that seems really rushed, but in a world of swords and sorcery where death is a thing of the every-day, he seemed desperate to tie the knot before it was too late. Nevertheless, the story hasn’t progressed too much, and the main villain still needs to be defeated before they have their happy ending.The anime is at risk of being axed, so the only option left for those who want to know what happens in the end is to read the Light Novels .
2Combatants Will Be Dispatched
To Avoid Losing Their Beloved, They Moved Him To Another World
Combatants Will Be Dispatchedis priceless. The “weakest” but most “handsome” soldier of an evil organization (some Cloud Strife references here) is randomly selected by the leaders (all female) of Evil Organization Kizaragito conquer another world. The girls are so obsessed with this guy that they’re trying to protect him at any cost, which has led to Nº6 (the MC) becoming frustrated, and given that he is weaker than other combatants, they designate a robot to supervise him.
In reality, they are trying to protect him from the increasingly dangerous fight for World Domination they’re involved in, since they dote on him too much. Thus, Combatant Nº6 and Alice are dispatched to another world and ordered to build a base of operations, ready to be conquered by Kisaragi. The problem is, the new world where they swere sent is filled to the brim with beauties who are often dangerously close to Nº6, so Alice often snitches about this in her reports and causes quite a ruckus in the Command Center. The generals are not pleased, but honestly, they don’t even have to worry; Nº6 is barely interested in any form of commitment. That keeps him away from the usual Harem Route, and the fact that he is a total creep.
1A Certain Magical Index
Kamijou Touma is Bad Luck incarnate, a low-class Esper in a world full of monstrously powerful people. One day, as he is coming back from school, he finds a strange little girl hanging on the balcony of his apartment. She claims to be a powerful magician, possessing over 100,000 grimoires in her head. What she doesn’t tell him, is that she also has a bad habit of biting, but Touma will have lots of opportunities to discover that for himself.
The human piranha also comes with another surprise: She is being persecuted by an evil organization that wants to take advantage of her powers. From that point on, Touma’s luck will do nothing but get worse and worse, and though he will also be surrounded by a lot of female characters, including a fellow classmate (and her clones),most of them are deeply psychopathicor part of evil groups that want to kill him. Therefore, despite having some romance here and there,A Certain Magical Index’sMC avoids the Harem Route all the time, be it because he is just unlucky (that’s his superpower) or because he’s just too dumb to notice some obvious advances. Needless to say, that’s the whole premise of the series.
