Just been reading a pretty good novel, but I’ve been noticing more and more (coincidently really powerful) female characters showing up around the mc. While the novel isn’t genred romance or harem, I have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to develop the tag. Anyone more experienced with these signs of a harem and can tell me what to look out for when reading seemingly good novels ?
What novel is it? I saw flags within Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha on harem but I don't know but there is an undertone in consideration with Han interacting with some of the women. It's never really spelled out but it can read between the lines.
-The female characters start to fall flat to you. -Male characters are the bad guys, or they show up and disappear for long lengths of time. -You start reading lots of scenes of interaction between MC and the female characters. I don’t mean things that actually contribute to the story, and it might be that it actually does matter later on, but it can still be a sign. -Not sure if the novel switches PoV, but if it does, if you start seeing things from their view, that could also be a sign. you’ll need to go to more experienced individuals for more. And I need sleep.
It’s a relatively new one Living as the Hero’s Older Brother, but barely 20 chapters in we’re already saving one of his ‘past colleagues’, then he gets a marriage proposal, and then one of the top female adventurers start getting interested in him. I don’t know if this is me being paranoid, but I’d consider it a red flag if the female characters start spontaneously outnumbering the male characters.
If you see many female characters and on top of it, you see unnecessary description of them, check the tags again. I had got fooled by no harem tag in a manga. I hadn't looked on NU at that time. I read some chapters and was confused why the heck are there so many girls. I thought it was me being too paranoid but still felt weird. Later I saw that damn harem tag on NU. I had liked the concept and the story but it's just that harem's not a cup of my tea. I just went on spoilers and got a gist of story to satisfy my curiosity. Anyways even if I didn't knew, there was a chance of me dropping after reading a bit more since I was already getting uncomfortable by seeing too many girls.
In those case I usually re-check tags or ask for spoilers ...then proceed to drop if it really has harem or even romance...
If they also start falling in love with the mc then it's leading up to a harem although the mc might still choose just 1 girl at the end (especially in jp novels).