Luchipher-Zen said:
@nirererin Themes for an anime are not unary... an anime can be love polygon and harem at the same time.. so where the difference resides?.. its in the definition.. in love polygon romantic contenders can be two or more, i.e. it is a love polygon theme even with just two characters going after MC.. and the definition I gave you for harem was that it should be more than two, not just two... basically all harem anime can be considered love polygon themed, but that ain't true vice-versa.. Again this too can be contended if we debate how many "vertices" generally define the polygon..
Also, I see "interested" and actively vying for romantic affection as two different approaches, and non synonymous.. In Domestic Girlfriend, active romantic pursuit was by the two sisters only.. atleast that's the way I see it.. compare that to some major harem titles.. say High School DxD or Quintessential Quintuplets.. there more than two characters have been in active pursuit of romantic relationship with the same MC (even though they are two different breed of harem anime when taking the ending into account)..
Then there are also titles where the lines are diluted, such as Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai where there is visible romantic interest but no pursuit, still they have been labelled as harem in MAL (but the characters are >2).. so I think MAL's definition clearly dun match mine.. but under both definition something like Domestic Girlfriend ain't a harem anime.. same is true for another similar anime : Kimi ga Nozomu Eien..
Well, it's logical. there's nothing I can say more. harem and love polygon can come together on a same anime theme, that is justified. but it's undeniable that harem and love polygon is so close with each other and sometimes it's conflict with each and other concept or definition. Like you say 2 persons (interested in mc)= Love polygon and 2+ persons (interested in mc) = Harem. So, it’s easy to say for you number the variable to determine which is harem and which is love polygon, right? anyway keep it aside, it's not topic we talking here, let's come to main topic.
DomGirl isn't a harem. As you 2+ person if interested in mc then it's harem. example- QQ, it's a define harem 'cuz number, setting everything is tiptop for a harem anime or manga, whatever you like. here's no doubt. but for a moment if I forget about your number logic or setting and come to ending- QQ's mc have 5 options, but he choose only one girl, because it's realistic (I'm not saying QQ isn't harem). Now if I come to Domestic girlfriend, in the ending of manga, he choose both. So, if I think as real life, it's a straight up polygamy which is harem. So, now how can Domestic girlfriend isn't harem?
Everyone has there own perspective to describe anything so, it not unbelievable if your opinion don't match with everyone. No offence.