Year 2018 in Review

Akatsuki no Yona

It's the time of the year again. And for the first time in ages, I am posting this right exactly on the last day of the year! Yay! Looking back, I feel like these all happened eons ago. Do you get that feeling too? Let's take a quick trip down the memory lane. This year, we have 7 anime, 5 dramas and 4 movies. Here's the list:

animes
Dame x Prince Anime Caravan
Yuuwaku Office Lover 2
Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan
Sweet Punishment
Yume Oukoku to Nemureru 100-nin no Ouji-sama TV
Phantom in the Twilight
Kiskis! My Boyfriend are Mint Candies!

dramas
The Flame's Daughter
Meteor Garden
To All The Boys I've Loved Before
Top Management
Prince of Legend

movies
The Princess and The Matchmaker
Love x Doc
Kimi ga Kimi de Kimi da

Gekijouban Tokimeki Restaurant ☆☆☆ MIRACLE6 

There are more titles this year compared to last year's. All of the anime are otome game adaptations except for Sweet Punishment which is based on manga; Kiskis!, a promotional anime for mints and Phantom in the Twilight, an original anime. For dramas, they are all adaptations of manga and novels except for Prince of Legend. There are so many books being released that I can't keep track of it while for manga I have not touched new ones. And as usual, I didn't play any otome game at all even though I downloaded the apps.

I realized I only finished three reverse harem animes from 2018. Kiskis and Sweet Punishment which are super short and Idolish 7 which turned out to be not a reverse harem at all. I did finish Sengoku Night Blood this year. But I watched more dramas/live action. The 52 episodes of The Flame's Daughter (yes 52), Top Management, To All The Boys I've Loved Before and I'm halfway through Meteor Garden 2018. I've also watched last year's Good Morning Kiss and of course, the first season, Good Morning Call and She's Gotta Have It. I watched Hanadan Next Season which is also not a reverse harem. I read last three books of Ghost Bird series and completed manga, Ouran High School Host Club and unfinished manhwa, Sarasah.

Meiji Tokyo Renka

Sadly, no top animes for me as I have not watched the rest of this year's anime save for just a couple of episodes each. Sorry if some of the titles will turn out to be not a reverse harem like in the case of Idolish 7. Another miss are the anime adaptation of Bakumatsu, Tenka Tōitsu Koi no Ran: Shutsujin! Saika 4-nin Shū and Sanrio Boys which turned out to be a bishonen animes. What were your favorite animes? For dramas, my favorites are Top Management and Good Morning Kiss but you have to go through the first season of GMK and I'm biased about the actors. I was so into the actors from The Flame's Daughter too that I had to finish it. I only had 8 reviews for the year and with still pending four titles, which is lesser compared to last year's 16 reviews. But I almost tied with last year's 71 posts with this year's total of 70 posts. 

Stageplays are still unstoppable. Some have already run while some are just announcements. We have Diabolik Lovers, Hakuouki, Fushigi Yugi, Code Realize, Nil Admirari, Meiji Tokyo Renka, Fushigi Yugi, Sengoku Night Blood, Dame x Prince, Yona of the Dawn, Norn 9, Sanrio Boys, Arcana Famiglia, Ikemen Revolution, Nightshade, Yume 100, Dynamic Chord, Kamigami no Asobi, Collar x Malice, Black Bird, The Demon Prince of Momochi House and Basara. 

For English otome games here are the already released/announced titles: The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya (Gyakuten Yoshiwara ~Kikuya-hen~),  Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (Hakuōki Shinkai: Hana no Shō) Steam Prison, London Detective Mysteria, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, Kitty Love: Way to Look for Love, Ephmeral ~ Fantasy on Dark~ , Iris School of Wizardy. There are a lot more I think but these are the only ones I was able to track.

Dance with Devils

So what are the trends for the year?

China- There are two reverse harem dramas: The Flame's Daughter (which received 5 billion views in China) and Meteor Garden and two anime: Kiskis! My Boyfriend are Mint Candies! and Phantom in the Twilight (collaboration between China and Japan). Can we expect more titles from China next year? But not all are good news, there's a Chinese company who ripped off Rejet's project that they had to cancel the collaboration.  

Streaming Sites- We have new enablers now from major streaming sites. Netflix Originals like Good Morning Call, Good Morning Kiss, Meteor Garden, She's Gotta Have it and To All The Boys I've Loved Before (most re-watched on Netflix). The latter two are getting sequels. For Youtube Originals we have Top Management and Idolish 7 Vibrato (okay not a reverse harem). 

Otome Reincarnations- This is not something new but noteworthy to mention especially now that we are getting an anime adaptation of Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta…As I was about to read this the light novel the anime was announced. Should I wait for the anime? Or should I read the light novel first? And does it mean others will follow suit too? This will be explored in a separate post as there are so many titles with the same theme.

Love/Teen Love Manga- Last year was the start of animes bordering on h scenes but being also tagged as romance. Fastforward to this year we have Sweet Punishment. The most problematic post I have ever written. I discovered there's actually a genre for this type which includes reverse harem too. *gulps* For R18 only. 

Nintendo Switch- Otome games are now being ported or released through Nintendo Switch now that PS Vita ceased in the West. Otomate will also release 12 titles through Switch.  You can also check the rest of the games on Otomekitten. Some of the ones available in English are: Kitty Love -Way to look for love-, The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya (Gyakuten Yoshiwara ~Kikuya-hen~), Iris School of Wizardy ~ Vinculum Hearts, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, Ephemeral ~ Fantasy on Dark~.

Remakes- This year we have Meteor Garden 2018 and more recently, a remake of Fruits Basket which is set to air next year. I am getting excited of the possibilities. Which anime/drama  would you like to get a remake?

Manga Live Action Adaptations- If otome games are getting anime adaptations, reverse harem manga are getting live action adaptations. For 2019 we will have Waiting for Spring (Harumatsu Bokura), Hajimete Koi o Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi and Hot Gimmick. So excited for Hot Gimmick! But there's always an exception to the rule. 

Multimedia- Multimedia is still the norm. To name a few: Prince of Legend which has TV, movie and game, Code: Realize TV anime, live action drama and live action film and more!  

Cocktail Prince

And then there were some lowlights too:

Cancellations -  Three games ended/will end: Tokimeki Restaurant, Cocktail Prince and Library Cross Infinite. Tokimeki had a movie release while the other two had anime plans which we'll never get now. Dramafever shuts down too. Magazines ceased publication like Kodansha and Bessatsu Hana To Yume. B's Log and Dengeki Girl's Style has switched to online platform. Phantom in the Twilight blue-ray release has been cancelled too. Another news which mysteriously disappeared is the Philippine version of Boys Before Flowers which is likely due to the licensing issue that it can only be remade every three years and Meteor Garden just recently aired. But to provide a silver lining from all these news, Ensemble Stars has resumed its plans for anime adaptation, but not sure though if it's a reverse harem at all. 

Scandals - Aside from the ripping off incident with Reject, Library Cross received heat from similarities with Yume 100's UI. Natsume Yudai, one of the actors stageplay adaptation of Ensemble Stars and Israel Broussard of To All The Boys I've Loved Before were both in hot waters after their old, inappropriate tweets came up. And in related news, Yusuke Yamamoto (Atashinci no Danshi, Ouran and Hana Kimi) plans a comeback next year after a scandal had his contract with his agency terminated. Park Yoochun (Sungkyunkwan Scandal) will also make a comeback slowly and gradually after a series of scandals and also breaking up with his fiance in May. Another drama that caught my attention is Four Men. It's not confirmed if it will be a reverse harem and we may not even know as it has been plagued by many problems including the lead actress and later on lead actor backing out.

Deaths- Not my favorite part of this post. :( Jeon Gi Sang, director of Boys Over Flowers and To The Beautiful You, died after being hit by a taxi. Jun Tae So, the handsome villain of Sungkyunkwan Scandal, died due to depression while Jo Min-ki, fourth prince's father in Scarlet Heart Ryo, committed suicide due to a scandal.

Norn 9

And in other notable news of the year:

Manga to Otome- We usually get otome to anime/manga, manga to anime/drama and even anime to otome/manga. But this year a manga to otome was announced. The manga, Sensual Phrase, inspired a romance rhythm mobile game, Kaikan Phrase Climax -Next Generation. It did received an anime version before but it was not a reverse harem. The game will also combines other elements of Mayu Shinju's other mangas. 

Weddings/Family- Matsudo Shota of Hana Yori Dango marries Akimoto Kozue. Choi Ji Woo of Star's Lovers and First 7 Kisses marries a non-celebrity. And just recently, Miura Shohei and Kiritani Mirei (co-stars of Suki Na Hito Ga Iru Koto) held their wedding reception last December 23. Meanwhile, Sakai Masato and Kanno Miho, co-stars of Ooku Emonnosuke・Tsukayoshi Hen, announced the birth of second child.

Military- Kim Bum (Boys Over Flowers) and Jang Geun-suk (You're Beautiful) enters military but both under alternative services due to hereditary illness and bipolar disorder respectively. Jung Il Woo of Cinderella and 4 Knights and Flower Boy Ramyun Shop was discharged this month.

Pop Culture-  In the comedy anime, Late Night! The Genius Bakabon, the father concocted an otome game concept of dating guys representing different kinds of ...poop. The game is titled 'Unko Danshi: Dokidoki Share House' and later on they actually created a browser game. 

Collaborations- I mentioned earlier of the Japanese and Chinese collaboration for Phantom in the Twilight. Aside from it, we have Brocolli collaboration with three different companies for projects aimed for women. Idea Factory collaborates too with Wright to produce reality factory with virtual YouTubers targeting women. I hope they are reverse harem-themed. Sega collaborates with Voltage in offering virtual reality wedding ceremony. Meteor Garden is also a collaboration between China and Taiwan.

Anniversaries- Reject and Honeybee celebrated 10th year anniversary while La Corda d'Oro celebrated 15th anniversary.

Yume 100

I think I have missed some details. If I did sorry! 

It's getting harder and harder for me to finish animes based on otome games and that is idol-themed. But I vow to finish all the 2018 animes next year! No old Asian dramas until I finish all remaining four. There I said so I wouldn't have a choice. I'm excited to try other reverse harem novels too now that I'm up to date with Ghost Bird. And I need to read more manga!

On a personal note, my plans of quitting my job might happen earlier than expected or might not happen at all. I'm not yet 100% sure of what the new year holds for me although I have already made plans. I'm scared but excited. Plus we're in the middle of a family crisis right now which actually involves my brother's health. Some days I just want to put the blog on hiatus which I could never do as this is my creative outlet that keeps me happy and sane. Thanks for continuing to visit Reverse Harem Garden and it would mean a lot to me if you can support me too on Patreon and the future plans I have set for the blog as well. Please follow Reverse Harem Garden too on Facebook for news, icons and other fun stuff and my personal Twitter for bishonen birthday RT and non-reverse harem stuff (lol). If you have any suggestions on what stuff you would want to see from the blog let me know. Happy New Year Wallflowers! Cheers to more reverse harem projects!

UPDATE 1/2/018 added Tenka Tōitsu Koi no Ran: Shutsujin! Saika 4-nin Shū under bishonen anime
UPDATE 1/5/2018 added Sanrio Boys under bishonen anime
UPDATE 1/29/2018 added Kaikan Phrase Climax -Next Generation under Notable News