What is the maximum number of harem members that you are willing to tolerate?

[OP1000]

Hello!!!!
For all the people that read harem stories on this site, do you have a limit as to how many people should be a part of the harem protagonist's harem? Also, how many partners in a harem should there be in a harem story for a harem to be considered as a 'small', 'medium' or large harem? I personally consider harem stories with 2-5 partners to be 'small' harems, harem stories with 6-9 partners as 'medium' harems and harem stories with 10 or more members to be large harems.

For those of you that do not read harem stories and happen to see this post, please just skip this thread and do not respond. Because the answers you guys will come up with will obviously be stuff along the lines of "Harems are bad, how could you enjoy stories with such elements?", "All relationships where there are two or more partners consenting to love one person are super unrealistic and are basically wish fulfilment stories.", "Any relationship that consists of two or more people is already a relationship that has too many people involved in a relationship in order for someone to have a stable relationship.", etc. Just let those of us who enjoy harem stories enjoy such types of stories, however unrealistic they may be.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

My work, The Saint Series, has harem members from each of the five races, and with different ways to find and keep their partners (Just to highlight the differences of the races' culture).

Also, as for the number limit...for me, sky is the limit. lol

One may ask, how do you give 'character' to your harem characters? My answer, I give them 'time' and use them throughout the story (not just in their arc). It's a tough work, but it can be possible.

Another question, why choose harem?

Well, harem is one of the most hated genres ever since the glory days of the beta JPN mc. Hence, I took it up as a challenge to write a sensible one. I mean, it's not the best out there, but my technque still has admirers (proving it to be effective).

 

[LilRora]

For me, 3 or 4 is the highest realistic number. Any higher than that and it gets really troublesome.

Small harem for me is 3. If 2 is considered a harem as well, then that too.

 

[greyblob]

2-3 is ideal. 4 is max. anything more and characters lose focus.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

If it's for the lols, then 3000

 

[Corty]

Any number that is below the "realistically" unboneable margin by even magical op heroes are. If not for stamina level then simply for time constraints, any number above that is bad.

 

[Szaku]

4, ever. after that i start to get the feeling that authors don't know how days, time, and events work anymore. i say that, because if you're talking about a harem to begin with there's generally a shared lifestyle, living situation, or some such that would reasonably place all parties in the same path constantly.

ive seen a few chinese stories spread this out to have each member spread out across careers and social gaps, but then (like fucking always) it stops being a harem at all. it's just "some dude and all the women desperately attached to him and only him for reasons"

i digress. yea, if the characters are actually, honestly bonded, sharing, and satisfied (keyword, here) with their situation, honestly greyblob nailed it; 2 is just fine. 3 is acceptable. 4. has got to be the actual limit. or else you're kinda just bullshitting and calling it a story

 

[Sola-sama]

Whether it is realistic or not, I think the limit is the 'personality' of the harem members. Even if there's a twin-type character amongst them, there must be at least some diversity no matter how small. As long as the harem members are not copy-paste or cardboard personality whose existence simply for the sake of pumping up the numbers, I am acceptable with a large amount harem.

2-3 is ideal. 4 is max. anything more and characters lose focus.

I second to this. The problem with having too much harem members is the character to lose focus. But then again, if you can make it so that they do not simply exist to pump up the numbers, then that's fine.

 

[Leti]

2-3 is ideal. 4 is max. anything more and characters lose focus.

I third this. Anything more and the harem members will try to kill each other.

 

[NotOriginal]

If you read, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love, then the answer is probably 100 as of right now the MC has 20+ girls... so uh... yeah

 

[Cipiteca396]

It's how much the author can fit them into the story. At some point, unless the entire point of the story is the harem, having too many people will start to make the story fade away into the background. Writing out all the little details takes time, as does reading them.

My soft rule for writing is seven characters. The protagonist and the antagonist take up two slots right away. So five is the upper limit, in most cases. That said, if you're willing to sideline characters or cheat by making one memory slot occupied by two people(for example, by siblings/twins)- I think eleven is the actual upper limit.

Though the number could realistically go higher under the right conditions, it would be a chore to read at that point...

 

[greyblob]

I third this. Anything more and the harem members will try to kill each other.

hmm.. those are usually the best types of harems

 

[owotrucked]

All the way to the Dumbar number which is about 150

 

[Renaxan]

7, because there are 7 days in a week.

 

[Akaichi]

365.24 because there is 365.24 days in a year... I will leave the .24 fraction to your imagination...
Seriously though, the number can be as large as the writer can handle and the story needs...

 

[BlackKnightX]

Depends on my mood, I guess. If I want something a tad more realistic, then perhaps five is quite a good number. If I just wanna turn my brain off, then thousands plus is more than welcome.

 

[Drytron]

One for every town and cities in the country.

 

[sanitylimited]

all these fools putting limits. just create a dimension where time moves differently so you can just spend years every day boning your harem

 

[Ssthat]

i dont really mind, but once it gets too big to keep track of all the people its getting out of hand

 

[Shard]

For me it depends on the situation. If the characters can make copies of themselves to spend time together, that defines the maximum number. If they are normal and only have one body, I'd say three is the most sane, while up to five or so is possible, but more than that means there isn't enough time for everyone. If characters are busy and just join back with the group for a while now and then, that raises the number, but those who are omnipresent take up more time.