I didn’t have Pseudo Harem on my radar but I got morbidly curious about it once I read the synopsis. As the title suggests, this is a harem anime where the harem is actually only comprised of one girl. Eiji Kitahama (Nobuhiko Okamoto), the show’s male lead, admits to his underclassman and fellow drama club member, Rin Nanakura (Saori Hayami) that he dreams of being popular enough that he’s surrounded by pretty girls. To his surprise, Rin uses her acting skills to assume multiple personalities, thereby making the harem dream a reality. Rin establishes four personalities in the first episode, all named by their one trait: “Cool-chan”, “Imp-chan”, “Spoiled-chan”, and “Tsundere-chan”.
As weird as the premise sounds, there isn’t anything wrong with Rin’s multiple personalities. It’s just a bit of foreplay and both her and Eiji are in on its so there’s no harm done here (though you can argue that Eiji is a bit pushy). Really, what perplexes me is that these two aren’t technically a couple. Nothing in the dialogue explicitly confirms it so technically, these two are just friends at best. That Rin still assumes her personalities even she and Eiji aren’t partners is understandable; she’s doing in the hopes that it’ll make Eiji fall in love with her. But really? This doesn’t make Eiji ask Rin out in an instant? This girl is willing to be a whole damn harem for him. If that doesn’t make her a keeper in his eyes, I don’t know what will.
At least with the first episode, this show can be pretty funny at times. Rin acting as four different girls is such a ridiculous concept that you can’t help but find it amusing. It also helps that Rin’s efforts don’t always go according to plan. Sometimes, she’ll do a personality a bit too convincingly and that causes Eiji to completely misinterpret her or she’ll alternate between them to the point that Eiji can’t figure out her intent. The chaos that ensues can be pretty entertaining. That all said, it is frankly funnier to imagine how far Rin will go with this bit and whether or not she’s going insane because of it. Like, is she going to add more personalities to the four she already has? Will she get lost in between these personalities that she’ll eventually forget her real self? Will one of the hypothetical new personalities be a yandere? The possibilities are endless and it’s very tempting to joke about it.
Surprisingly, you can find a sincere angle to the show’s plot. Throughout the episode, it’s clear that Rin is actually very shy and the different roles she assumes is a confidence boost for her. Combined with the fact that she wants Eiji to reciprocate her feelings, it’s easy to understand her actions, however ridiculous they may be. I think Eiji is a little too into the pseudo harem and, as mentioned earlier, he’s a bit pushy in getting Rin to assume one of her acts. At the same time however, I like that in a couple of scenes, you can tell that he’s still drawn to the real Rin. In fact, he inadvertently calls her real personality the cutest of them all in one scene. Moments like that make you understand why Rin is attracted to him and why she’s going to great lengths for him.
This is a pretty weird premiere and possibly a weird show in general. I can see someone getting completely turned off by the premise. Me personally, I had some fun with the insanity, even if in an unintentional sense, and there is a sincerity to this show that I find interesting. I don’t know about a full commitment but I’d like to check out a couple more episodes down the line.
Watch Pseudo Harem on Crunchyroll
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