Reverse Harem Garden

  Boss Bride Days Volume 1 by Narumi Hasegaki (Gokutsuma Days: Gokudou Sankyoudai ni semaretemasu) Sakura Kisaragi is a shut-in, otaku comfortable spending her days playing her favorite yakuza dating sim game. Life imitates art when she finds herself in the middle of real-life yakuza succession which hinges on whomever among the three brothers wins her heart.  There's something about gangster trope that you already love it, without even reading it yet. It did not disappoint with the characters' visuals and charm. Sakura's expressions with her glasses and her hair make her cool and dangerous. Especially when she's spewing lines straight from Yakuza dating sim, which is so cute by the way, and will lead her to this dilemma. The three guys are Shusuke, the popular and eldest; Reo, the middle child unrivaled in strength; and the youngest Ryusei, smart and tactician.  The manga can be easily labeled as four flowers (three guys or more vying for the heroine, more on  ...

No Ae Jung is a single mom and a film producer. She finds herself waist-deep in debt and her only way to pay it back is to produce a movie. And on top of that, these four men will make her life more complicated.  There's the PE teacher, the loan shark, the writer, and the actor. And one of the guys is possibly the father of her daughter.  It started off strong (check  First Impression  eps. 1-4) but as predicted I got bored when it's evident you know how the story will end before it even passed the halfway mark. Heck, it was already obvious from the start. The only thing that is making me come back is the cliffhangers. Still, it is feel-good and entertaining with endearing moments.  The  Korean version of Dreams is a great song choice. It sets an over-all happy mood.  It is four flowers alright (multiple men after her, see  Levels of Reverse Harem ) but it seems forced. They were just keen on the idea of an older F4 trope and decided to make a sto...

No Ae Jung is a single mom and a film producer. She finds herself waist-deep in debt and her only way to pay it back is to produce a movie. And on top of that, these four men will make her life more complicated.  Okay, I said I was hooked from episode 1 but it was exactly in the last part of the first episode. This drama makes use of cliffhangers effectively. It's just so incredulous though that she will meet again the guys from her past all at the same time. Actually, not all of them. It reminds me of kinda reverse harem drama, Reply 1994 , where it keeps going to the present as the drama is set in 1994 and teases you of who she got married to in the present. (One of the guys in WIL is also in Reply 1994) In Was it Love, we get flashbacks from 14 years ago of who might be the father of her daughter. The past is keeping me on my toes of what really happened. It was not obvious at first but as it goes on I think we know who the father and the main guy is.  Well, I ...

Kenka Bancho Otome: Girl Beats Boys- 12 episodes Hinako was convinced by her twin into swapping places with him in the all boy school, Shishiku Academy. And it's not just simple as that. It is a highschool full of delinquents and she has to fight her way all the way to the top.

Ozmafia (2 volumes ongoing) - art by Yurino Tsukigase and story by Poni-Pachet Sy and Hobibox Fuka wakes up without memory in a town divided between mafia families. She falls under the protection of the Oz Family.  Even though the title is a dead giveaway that it's going to be a fairy tale and mob, I've always had these preconceived notions that it'll be sweet and wholesome because of the soft colors and art. It's cute alright but there's a sinister feel in their dialogues and situations. But despite that, the omake really cracked me up. The humor is spot on sarcastically funny. The characters doesn't use the obvious names of Dorothy etc. Lion was easy to recognize thanks to his clothing. But it took me longer to figure out who Tin Man was though. His personality is so "charming". And logically whoever is left should be Scarecrow. There's a scene where they pointed out that they're all men in the house, so she has to live in a di...

Capriccio - stile Arcana Famiglia (OVA) Jolly creates a potion which would have serious yet hilarious effects. It's such a fun episode! And the only hint I can give is that you'll see all of them in a new light. Dante really shined in this OVA.

Sakura Sakurakouji meets Ogami in a most unlikely situation. She witnessed him killing a criminal by blue flames and he doesn't feel any remorse about it. Then she discovers there's other people similar to him with powers and they're called the Code: breaker. Few years before the anime, a lot of people already suggested the manga. But I was told and I've read that it's actually a shonen. That's why when I learned that it's going to be animated, I just have to watch it. If you want to get your boyfriend to watch animes with you then this is something you can both enjoy. Seriously, my husband and sons stops whatever they're doing and watch it with me. It has a lot of fight scenes, powers and a reverse harem vibe. 

The town of Regalo is protected by the organization, Arcana Famiglia, whose powers are drawn from contracts with cards.  The head of the family announces the Arcana Duello to which the victor will succeed him and wins the hand of his daughter, Felicita, for marriage.  I had very high hopes with the first episode. The premise is action-packed with very cool and dark character designs. Bad boy types in dark suits plus the girl literally kicks ass. My favorite bishies are Debito and Luca. I also love their Italian names and phrases. It's a breath of fresh air from all the reverse harems. Surprisingly, the reverse harem set up is neatly divided into 3 by generations and the trio of Felicita-Nova-Liberta reminds me of Tohru-Kyo-Yuki. I really love the catchy opening song too which for some reason reminds me of old animes. But man, they stretched out 11 episodes with character background and fillers. It's okay to have random episodes if not for the fact that the character...

Heart no Kuni no Alice: Wonderful Wonder World (movie) If you're new to reverse harems the title is a dead giveaway. It's Lewis Caroll's well-loved fairy tale but well turned-otome-game-turned-movie. It's a given that wonderland is strange and colorful place but the movie managed to turn in into a psychedelic disco with haphazard time sequences and open-ended, random stories one after another. I have not finished the manga yet and I haven't tried the game. But I had high expectations of the movie and it left me disappointed. I just wish the story is linear with clearer plot. But still, I love how we get to see all the eye-candy characters but the airtime for each characters is a bit short. I know it will be unrealistic for a movie to give a lot of fair airtime for all the bishies not unless it's a series. 

By ayreesa "Heart no Kuni no Alice~Wonderful Wonder World~" by Soumei Hoshino 1 volume-ongoing Alice becomes a player of a mysterious game in Wonderland. There she meets an assortment of shady characters. Now with the anime being delayed, it's a good thing that at least the first chapter of the manga was scanlated. This small bit of the manga makes my heart pound with excitement for the anime with the popular seiyus, very cute art and clothes and bad, bad beautiful boys.

"Red Lion" by Yong Sun Kim 7 volumes-complete Eisul promised her mom that she'll be just like any other normal school girl. But her gangster past is fast catching on her as she attracts troublemakers, delinquents and bishies too. I'll be brief with the summary but for a giveaway the heroine is like Yamaguchi of "Gokusen" just make her a student from a regular household. For some reason all the characters' drawings remind me of Shin of "Gokusen". It's disappointing that the plot never progressed to anything outstanding. But if you're looking for light reading, this is it. It's action-packed, no tear jerking drama and a few laughs here and there. The length is just right, you wouldn't feel like the story is going in a loop. Next thing you know, you're done reading it.

The protagonist is a female? Check! The supporting cast are predominantly males? Check! Romance? None! Almost a reverse harem, but not a chance. Here are some of the successful titles that didn't bank on the universal theme of love. By ayreesa 1. Gokusen- (abbreviation of Gokudo no Sensei,which means Gangster Teacher) Yamaguchi, a Yakuza heiress, fulfills her dream and becomes a teacher to delinquent highschool boys. Though there are some characters who are in love with Yamaguchi in Kozueko Morimoto's manga, it wasn't distorted in the anime and the live series at all. I was disappointed with the doomed 'Shinkumi' pair that I didn't even finished the anime and the drama. I'm now trying to finish the anime and then maybe the dramedy. By ayreesa 2. Azumi Azumi is raised with her childhoods friends to become assassins. It is based on Yu Koyama's manga, but the original storyline are girls being trained to become killers. Being a slashe...