When the hate goes too far =(

This is a tribute to, who I feel are, the most misinterpreted and hated anime characters in anime (specifically: harems). Diverging fanbases often wage war on each other, winners are cursed, losers are consoled by alternate game endings and in the end everyone gets along. But in the following three cases, no such pleasantries are kept. The winning bishoujo is praised by her legions of fans and conversely hated and bashed by the rival fancamp. So without further ado, let the opinions, bias and spoilers fly!

3. Housen Elis

…pantsu o.o

Possibly one of the greatest “WTF!?” moments in all of anime history:

The ending of Canvas 2 suggested a Kiri loss, but nothing seemed to be set in stone…that is until the credits finished rolling and the screen faded out with Hiroki and Elis in a post-coital cuddling session. How’s THAT for a plot twist XD After I picked my jaw up from the floor and replayed the scene a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, my brain went to work trying to justify Hiroki’s choice.

After much internal debate and careful consideration of leading events, I in fact did conclude that Hiroki’s choice was ultimately the right one. The choice of Elis vs Kiri that Hiroki faced was not simply a choice between two possible lovers, it was much more complicated than that. The two represented the two diverging paths of life that laid ahead of him. Had he chosen Kiri, Hiroki would have continued his teaching career, one which he was clearly not suited for (this was even stated by Kiri herself). Rather, he opted to go with his true passion, art, this is the life that Elis represented. Of course this is but one of the contributing factors to his decision, such theories have been dragged out in detail before so I won’t bother going into heavy detail.

Another misconception is that Hiroki’s switch over being seemingly impulsive and poorly thought through. Elis’ dominating screen time, character development focus, jealousy scenes, et al. hinted towards an Elis ending all along. However, this was cleverly covered up with the formation of a weak romance with Kiri. On my second watching of Canvas 2 I was surprised at how much more time was spent developing Elis’ character as opposed to Kiri, who had a rather two-dimensional personality.

And so, the more I thought about it, the more this incestuous, itokoXitoko pairing made sense. Not that I have anything against Kiri, but she was an obstacle to Hiroki’s return to the art world. And anyways, the jailbait high schooler ALWAYS reigns victorious over the mature childhood friend ^^.

2. Asakura Nemu

Pantsu ^^

Oh come on, you saw this one coming. My favourite character of all time, Asakura Nemu, rings in at number two. Contrary to what the poll that was running here at AniAri a little while ago, the hate for this stunning bishoujo is immense. The Shirakawa Kotori fancamp usually has nothing but insult for Juunichi’s kawaii imouto.

The reason for my preference of Nemu over Kotori is simple, character development and screen time. It’s been stated time and time again that I value characters over all else when it comes to anime, that’s not to imply that I hate Kotori, but she just seemed generic to me. She was your typical school idol, Ms. Perfect, type character, this was changed a little as the series went along and in the beginnings of DC:SS, but by then it was too late.

Nemu just got far more attention, countless episodes were spent solely on NemuXJuunichi dynamics. Whole arcs were based around a lover’s quarrel and its resolution between the two. Throughout the series and its sequel we got to see all sides of Nemu, the good and the bad. The end product was a multi-faceted character who was easy to identify with. Kotori never got this treatment and therefore came off as a terribly underdeveloped character.

And the result? …

Love her or hate her, you have to hand it to her…Many a sister/cousin have hugged, kissed and even bedded their respective onii-chans but, to my knowledge, Nemu was the first to marry hers. You go girl!

And so, who takes the crown? Which character bears the most scorn?

1. Hayase Mitsuki

Seeing a trend? =D

In the genre of harem, few are hated more than KimiNozo’s victor, Hayase Mitsuki. From backstabber to wh0re, there’s a whole range of colourful vocabulary used to describe this bishoujo.

Denying her own feelings, Mitsuki introduces her best friend, Haruka, to her love interest, Takayuki, and then steps down as the two fall in love. Only to “betray” Haruka and steal Takayuki when her supposed best friend gets in a traffic accident and ends up in a coma.

I put “betray” in brackets because I don’t think such a simple term can do justice to the complex series of events that led to the MitsukiXTakayuki pairing.

It was implied at the beginning of the anime that the one that Takayuki truly had feelings for was Mitsuki, but he was sort of guilted into dating Haruka, after struggling for a while he manages to force the relationship into working and it even develops into what you might call love.

Also, it’s not like Mitsuki jumped into bed with Takayuki the night of Haruka’s accident. She had spent over a year watching over him, making sure he continued to live on, despite his state of depression. Finally she realized that this was no way to live life, and for both of their sakes she gave herself (mind, spirit and body ^^) to Takayuki.

I actually think that it what Mitsuki did was admirable, she altered her entire life’s course in order to care for Takayuki. She halted her path to becoming a professional swimmer, dropped out of school and spent everyday cooking and cleaning for him.

The other source of hate for Mitsuki stems from her behaviour when Haruka awakens from her coma and some competition heats up. However, I think the anger in this case is misdirected, the one at fault in this circumstance was Takayuki NOT Mitsuki. Takayuki was the one who had wavering feelings and despite his knowledge of how it would hurt Mitsuki, decided to carry on the pseudo-relationship with Haruka.

Mitsuki was put in a difficult position, the man who she changed her entire life for was drifting away from her, you can’t blame her for losing it a little. She desperately tried to cling on to the only thing that she truly valued in her life, and when she realized she was fighting a losing battle, she tried to let go and start over. Which, unfortunately, led to…

Even I had to resist the urge to curse at this scene

However, even this was an act of desperation in light of the recent events. I believe that the MitsukiXTaira scene was her way of releasing Takayuki. Furthermore, I think it was a test to see how strong her love for him was. As it was suggested, it could have been anyone she slept with, she was just trying to see whether her love for Takayuki was genuine. And of course, it was. This led to her conscious decision to shut him out of her life, not being able to serve as a replacement for Haruka any longer. This of course backfired when Takayuki came running back and professing true love, funny how life works out sometimes.

Kiminozo is often termed as a more realistic take on what maintaining a relationship is all about. While I do think it is more convincing than the generic harem template, it by no means illustrates real life. I think the best way to describe it would be an anime soap opera, which means copious amounts of exggerated drama and a lot of angst. And as such, Mitsuki’s actions may not have been morally righteous, but they were definitely justified considering the circumstances.

Honorable mention

c-c-c-combo breaker

EDIT* Just for clarification, Asa is NOT a hated character, per se. However is the victor in the harem with quite possibly the most broad range of fanboys.

Asa-sempai, SHUFFLE! Though there’s not so much hating going on here as there is diverging fancamps (Suki Suki Sia, Ran Ran Nerine, Kitto Kitto Kaede…etc). But they, more or less, tend to get along with each other.

And so ends my defensive rant, the characters I picked are mostly from recent animes (DC’s getting a little old) so I may have passed over a lot. Any suggestions on expanding this list into 5 are more than welcome and may even warrant a repost, depending on how good they are. If you actually read this whole post, then you sir/madam, possess immense patience…or, like me, far too much interest in harem characters XD