I Can’t Believe I’m Saying This, But Harem Anime Is The Most Interesting Thing On Netflix Right Now
I know what it sounds like, but trust me when I tell you this is way less creepy adult bookstore, and way more One Thousand and One (aka The Arabian) Nights.
Harem Anime is all about court intrigue. Palaces full of women (or men) supply an emperor (or empress) with pleasure and procreation, but that’s merely the backdrop to a much larger ecosystem that fuels a plethora of plot devices. Who is allowed inside and required to run the harem (courtesans, servants, administrative bureaucrats and beyond) creates an exclusive and mysterious world, and who is allowed to come and go, and who is not permitted to leave raise the stakes with a power dynamic that is rife for potential conflict.
New arrivals must adjust to the pecking order, and use their unique skills to make a name for themselves and carve out a place of their own in the palace, while the old guard will stop at nothing to hold onto the power they’ve managed to scrape together over the years. Identities may be misleading, plots to overthrow the kingdom are most certainly brewing, and rich stories are woven together until they expose an overarching mystery or conspiracy.
Check out Netflix’s two most interesting titles from this genre below!
The Apothecary Diaries
Meet Maomao, an orphan raised in a brothel and adopted daughter-slash-apprentice of an apothecary. Her life is turned upside when she is kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace as an indentured servant. Set in an fictional version of Tang dynasty China, Maomao intimate knowledge of medicinal herbs and poisons catches the eye of Master Jinshi, a stunningly beautiful eunuch, who secures her a promotion to the role of food taster for one of the court’s top courtesans.
Where there’s poison, there’s sure to be a plot (or at least gross negligence), and Maomao becomes a sort of venom-loving (she’s built up a tolerance to most toxins) Sherlock Holmes within the palace walls. Episodes read like individual myths or fables framed by the developing relationships Maomao builds with Jinshi, his attendant Gaoshun, and the diverse set of women who call the harem home.
Both Maomao and Jinshi are hiding complicated pasts, and a comedic cat-and-mouse dynamic develops between the two, where Jinshi’s jealousy and affections for Maomao bring into question whether he is, in fact, a eunuch. Maomao, meanwhile, is pulled between two very different worlds, the Inner Palace where she finds self-actualization and acceptance, and her home in the red light district where her loyalties and responsibilities to her adopted father and the women of Verdigris House maintain a powerful hold on her.
Maomao plays court politics like a game of chess, staying silent when she knows straying from her “place” could cost her dearly, but also unable to stop herself from following the trails of clues laid out before her like breadcrumbs. She’s often the only one smart enough to save the people around her from imminent disaster, and her ethics prioritize saving whoever it is in her power to help.
You can watch the entire first season of Maomao’s story, adapted from Natsu Hyūga’s light novel series, on Netflix, but when you get to the final episode, fear not, the second season will be waiting for you on Crunchyroll, and trust me when I say, you will not be able to turn this one off. Just have a coffee ready to go the next morning after all that late-night sleuthing.
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers
This series puts a masterful gender reversal on life in a harem, with a sci-fi premise where a mysterious disease has decimated the male population of Edo period Japan and required women to step into most roles of commerce, labor, and power. Courtiers hide the death of the Shogun, and orchestrate a conspiracy in which his illegitimate daughter will impersonate him, and forcibly assemble a harem of eligible men, known as the Ōoku, to help her produce an heir. Eventually, she makes her true identity known, and a precedent for female Shoguns is established.
The series begins with the passing of the seventh Shogun, a young girl named Tokugawa Ietsugu, who is replaced by the eighth Shogun, Yoshimune. The arrival of a grown ruler to the Ōoku completely disrupts the status quo, as she is bent on making reforms. Meanwhile a new arrival, Mizuno Yunoshin, is selected to be the Shogun’s first concubine, unaware that tradition demands he be sacrificed for “deflowering” the ruler.
The events prompt Yoshimune to investigate the origins of Ōoku and its traditions, and the subsequent flashback provide the story-within-the-story which makes up the majority of the series.
We’re transported to the world of Iemitsu, the illegitimate daughter-turned-first-female-Shogun, and learn of her relationship with Arikoto, a handsome Buddhist monk who is violently blackmailed and forced to renounce his vows and become a concubine for the allegedly “picky” Iemitsu. Arikoto gradually adjusts to life in the Ōoku, and the two fall passionately in love, but cannot produce an heir.
In order to ensure the kingdom’s stability and prevent a coup, the pair must end their monogamy, straining the relationship, and testing the limits of their love. It’s an epic tale full of twists and turns, that will tug at your heartstrings, and whisk you away on the wings of fantasy. The series does a great job at providing depth and introspection in the process of world-building, showing how the pandemic exacerbates wealth inequality between the royals and the peasants, and subjects men to extreme objectification, exploitation, and beyond.
Based on Fumi Yoshinaga’s manga series, the single season series takes us through Iemitsu’s entire rule, but there is room to explore future generations of the dynasty if a second season is picked up. With how addicting these Harem Anime are, we can only cross our fingers and wait!
