Its not a stretch to say that the action harem genre in anime is one of my favorites out there. Well, it may not be a stretch to even say that its my FAVORITE among all other genre types. Harem animes have always been rather entertaining, I'm not one to dis-welcome fan service, and if you throw in some awesome fight scenes along with some cheesy lines, I'm sold. Plus, if there's a good story behind it (its usually decent), then we have an extremely enjoyable ride for the most part. There a ton of great action harem animes out there, but I'll just list some of my favorite ones here, and I'll share why I feel that these animes are generally awesome in the long run.
The Awesome Ones
Everyone has heard of "Index", at least everyone in the otaku community. Its concept of mixing magic into a mostly scientific based fictional world is an interesting one. As if that wasn't good enough, you throw in girls and a very harem centric cast...boom, instant cash in. The story was decently good, but it was the overall lore and fiction of the world that made it so interesting. Fan service is everywhere, and its because of "To Aru Majutsu No Index" that one of the most popular tsundere female characters ever existed: Misaka Mikoto. Not only that, it spawned another series based off her, "To Aru Kagaku No Railgun". Because of all these combined, the franchise is currently one of the most well known ones out there in the world of action harems.
This one is a little less well known, but its amazing nonetheless. "Tenchi Muyo:War On Geminar" is a great example of living an awesome harem school life. A very cheerful and bright cast of likable female characters, a simply overpowered air headed protagonist along with a fairly interesting world was enough to make the show likable. To top it off, it one of the most interesting mecha esque plots out there, making the harem elements seem....seemliness. The anime made itself so that it was a serious show on its own, but still had this harem esque thing going on. Its a little hard to explain...but you know what I mean.
"Campione" is pretty much how we determine "A powerful king and his magical whores", because the entire gives off this feeling. Not that its a bad thing, because if fan service and cool abilities are what you are looking for, you have hit the jackpot with "Campione". The anime's lore about "Campiones" in general is interesting enough, though the main plot by itself is iffy at most. While 3 of the heroines are nice enough to be well received, the fourth felt a little rushed and underdeveloped. Despite everything else though, as action harems go, its great enough.
Now this is one that I absolutely love, for all the right reasons. One, a nice diverse cast of characters with tons of likable and attractive girls. Two, fan service up the balls, GOOD fan service. Three, the story, world and lore is awesome when put together, its simply amazing the way they do battle. And yes, the action in "High School DxD" is just devastatingly good. The entire concepts of characters being chess pieces on a great board of events is just too cool to pass up. While the initial first season might be a little bit too light on plot and heavy on the boobs, season two makes up for the serious side in an awesome way.
"So I Can't Play H" is a little bit more unique than most in this list, because the main character has an obvious love interest right from the get go. What's better than a regular action harem is an actual one where the main character actually chooses his girl at the end. "So I Can't Play H" doesn't have an incredibly strong cast per say, other than the 2 main leads, but it DOES have a nice story that develops well into romance. The action may not exactly be the best thing out there as well, but its serviceable. And of course, fan service is pretty well above average.
One might not consider "Unbreakable Machine Doll" an action harem anime, but if you think closely enough, look at the cast and actually watch the damn thing, it easily qualifies as one if you ask me. Having a good majority of the cast as girls that actually flock around our unusually moody main character and wanting to sexually tempt him 99% of the time (especially Yaya) can be easy to define. The character cast is fine (though the best character IMO isn't a girl), the story is alright, but what really strikes as the benchmark here is the innovative action segments. Action harem isn't complete without "Action" after all.
With just these examples alone, you'll find plenty to like in the action harem genre by itself. Still, there are other genres that are worth taking note of, but this is one that I'll never be able to let go, even at this age. Currently watching "Strike The Blood" now, and I stand by my word, action harems are just great!
