Year in Review 2020

2020 has changed everyone on a global scale. And in the future when someone looks back to what happened with reverse harem for this year...well hello there stranger. Here it is. 

For reverse harem dramas, there's Oh My Baby, Was it Love, Boys Please Kiss Him Instead of Me, In A Class of Her Own, No Going Back Romance, 38-sai Batsuichi Dokushin Onna Ga Matching Apuri Wo Yattemita Kekka Nikki , and Lascivious Lady season 2. For other levels, we have so many that it's either I didn't watch them or I only watched just the first 3 episodes. If in case you might want to check them out, see Reverse Harem Dramas 2020. 

Last year, I boldly claimed that this year I'll be reading reverse harem manga but that didn't happen. But instead, I have finally dipped into the world of reverse harem light novels with Mia and The Forbidden Medicine Report,Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?! and The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent. There are so many more but I only started in Fall Reverse Harem 2020 of listing releases of licensed manga and light novels. For reverse harem western fiction books, I only read one book which is The Veil Diaries Book 8. I read another series, Curse of The God, but this was released in 2017-2018. 

For otome games, I do not have a master list of all Japanese releases and localized games but to name a few of the localized games we have:  Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ , Code:Realize ~Future Blessings~, Collar X Malice, Collar X Malice -Unlimited, Piofiore: Fated Memories, Cafe Enchante –Palais de Reine, Nicole , Taisho Alice, My Forged Wedding and more. Aksys also announced new games for next year: Dairoku: Ayakashimori, Olympia Soireé, and Variable Barricade.

There are fewer stage reverse harem stage adaptations now most probably due to the pandemic. There's Ikemen Sengoku Toki o Kakeru Koi and Mankai Stage A3!~ Winter 2020. Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 3: Izayoiki and 13th Hakuouki musical are moved to next year.

Not including Winter 2021 titles (I'm still not done), my favorites so far for the year are My Next Life as a Villainess (anime), In A Class of Her Own (drama), and Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?! (light novel). 

Toilet-bound Hanado-kun (not a reverse harem but...)

And now for the trends and newsmakers.

~Light novels are here to save the reverse harem anime. With the success of My Next Life as a Villainess and news of the second season, we also get news of anime adaptation of The Saint's Magic is Omnipotent and Pretty Boy Detectives Club. But both are not confirmed reverse harem.  

~ And on the same note, the year is big for isekai or still big for isekai. There's Isekai and villainess. Isekai and otome game.  Isekai and reincarnation. Or just plain ol' isekai. There is so much news of licensed isekai light novels, webtoons, and manga. The biggest surprise is the sequel of cdrama Lascivious Lady dropping on Christmas day. I thought it will be released next year.

~ Joshimuke anime adaptation game is strong. For this year we have three anime: A3! Season Spring & Summer, A3! Season Autumn & Winter and Idolish7 Second Beat. We also have announcements of the third season of B-Project and Idolish7. I-chu will also air this January. 

~Reverse Harem Manga is still going the live drama routes. We have Mairu ni Vich and 3b no Koibito. (to air next year) We also have  Kiss Him Not Me adaptation but the only reason it went the drama route is that it already had an anime. Special mention to mobile game Ikemen Vampire which is getting a live-action movie next year.  

~For remakes, we have cdrama In a Class of Her Own (the Chinese adaptation of Sungkyunkwan Scandal). The fourth remake of Hana Yori Dango, F4 Thailand was initially announced for this year but was moved to next year. Fruits Basket remake is getting a third season next year.

~Late thirties heroines in dramas represent! There's Oh My Baby, Was it Love and 38-sai. 

~ China is still enabling us with more reverse harem. Mr. Love Queen's Choice is based on a Chinese mobile game. And the cdramas previously mentioned.

~I noticed a lot of dramas are being launched on streaming sites. In A Class of Her Own on iQiyi, No Going Back Romance on NaverTV and vLive, Lascivious Lady S2 on Youku, 38-sai on Paravi, and Mairunovich on Hulu.

~ Kdramas are not the only reverse harem that we are getting from Korea now. Webnovels are popular with Men in Harem and I Fell Into a Reverse Harem Game to name a few. And they are getting manhwa adaptations too.  Mobile game Mystic Messenger gets an English webtoon too. With Webtoons titles getting anime and drama adaptations, it's only a matter of time before we get a reverse harem. Or perhaps the actual drama featuring Seo Ye Jin and Joo Ji Hoon of that viral Men in Harem PV. 

~ Almost all the English webtoon, comics, manga apps I've tried has at least one reverse harem title or more!  Plus, there is so much news of licensed reverse harem manga and light novels like Bitemaker, Saint's Magic, etc.  The chances of your favorite titles getting translated are higher now compared to 10 years ago.  

~ For otome games, some of the buzzworthy items are Aksys releasing a patch for Collar x Malice translations, Bustafellows will have a second season and English release, and My Next Life as a Villainess gets an otome game.

~Is it just me but is Netflix is low-key pulling reverse harem shows? For this year, it's Emily in Paris and The Queen's Gambit. Let me know shows that I've missed. 

~ Manga and webtoon titles Ooku, Kaze Hikaru, and My Dear Cold Blooded-King have ended. But we also get spin-offs: Oresama Kingdom DX, Black Rose Alice DC al (back from hiatus), Kaze Hikaru Ooedo Shingengumi!, World's End Harem: Britannia Lumiere (on hiatus), and Elevator Orite Hidari: Five to Nine Next Door. Meanwhile, Shojo Beat's will also release the final volume of Short Cake Cake next year.

~Uta Prince no Sama, Sacred Xech Rider, and Brothers Conflict all celebrated their ten years anniversary this year.

~ The pandemic has caused delays with A3!, Idolish7 anime, and A3! stageplay. Conventions were canceled and Otomate Party 2020 moved to online (with only one new title announced and the rest are old news). Seiyuus have created their Youtube accounts. 

~ Japanese celebrities tested positive with covid19: Yusuke Yamamoto (Ouran, Atashinchi no Danshi , Hana Kimi dramas), Yokohama Ryuusei  (Hajimete Koi drama), Toshihiko Seki (seiyuu of Luva of Angelique, Ludwig of Meine Liebe and more), Kenyuu Horiuchu (seiyuu of Oscar of Angelique, and Mary Gowland of Alice in the Country) and Fumika Baba (3B no Koibito drama). 

~ Sadly, we've lost Tamaki Nakanishi (Shin of Pretear and Hatsumi Narita of Hot Gimmick drama cd), Keiji Fujiwara (seiyuu of Manicolie Angelique, Nesta of Dance and Devils and more), and Yuko Takeuchi (Lunch Queen drama).  

~ Some made headlines due to very questionable behavior. Nobuhiko Okamoto (Sinha of Yona of the Dawn, Kyōka Izumia of Meiji Tokyo Renka and more) caught cheating, Yamashita Tomohisa (From 5 to 9 drama), and Kamenashi Kazuya (The Wallflower drama) caught drinking with minors, Kentaro Ito's (Good Morning Call drama) hit and run and Ren Ozawa (Kazunari Miyoshi of A3! and Subaru Akehoshi of Ensemble Stars!) charged with domestic abuse.

Reverse harem gave me sense of purpose especially now when we're always... still at home. I'm happy with the major overhaul the blog went through and excited too with all the titles lined up for next year. I know some are complaining of fewer anime but I can feel that starting next year reverse harem anime will make a comeback. And more importantly, reverse harem is not just limited to anime and is expanding widely especially with localization. What is your favorite for the year? Or key takeaways for 2020? Let me know. :) Let's ring in the new year! 

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