La Biblioteca de Amestris

I've already been advocating for this anime for some weeks. To find a leading female character in isekai series is remarkable. While there are a few cases out there, like Inuyasha, that is not the standard; we are often stuck with the average Japanese gamer-sex-bomb and his harem.  That's the default isekai. Yet, that is not the most catching thing about HameFura. What excites me is that this is an anti-otome/isekai. Today, I want to address that.

As a preliminary matter, talking about harem and reverse harem is shortsighted. This approach is also misleading because you are reducing everything in a dichotomy of harem (male focused) and anti-harem (no male focused). While most of the dating sim industry is focused on male players, this should not be the sole perspective of analysis. Yes, the industry often demands male protagonists and a harem of gorgeous waifus, in other words, the otome industry is smaller in comparison with the harem genre. That's out of question. However, the otome genre deserves respect. Did you know that this industry has experienced fantastic growth in the last decade? The Internet is the fortress of these fans. It's so encouraging to see these otome fans cheering and sharing their love for their husbandos. They deserve acknowledgment; it has been so many years hiding in the shadows.

While the anime industry approached the otome genre as something out of the cannon of harem in the first years, there is no excuse now. These standards have changed. Thus, the idea of the reverse harem is not only shortsighted today, but it is also anachronic. The proper term is otome.


Now, going back to the main question, this anime is not a classical otome -I apologize for writing three non-related paragraphs. These are my reasons:

First, there is no conquest route in HameFura. In dating simulator games, you advance through the story by "conquering" each of the desired partners. The whole idea is making them fall in love with you; it's called dating sim. That's how you complete the game. Accordingly, the protagonist is always attacking but never defending. That's why you usually start the game as the interchange student or "arriving someone." It also makes more sense from the player's perspective because you get introduced to new characters and places -sadly, it's always easy to explain rather than show.

The fact that Bakarina is the villainess of this dating sim is fantastic. She has nothing to conquer because she is protecting her realm. This is why this is not an otome game: The game starts with Bakarina ruling them all. Do you remember the birthday party of Bakarina when everyone is fighting to dance with her? That scene tells us so much about the following events. Even every female character in the show seems to be in love for Bakarina. I'm in love too.


Bakarina is basically a charming version of Bowser (Mario Bross), holding all the desired partners as hostages. This is not an otome game; the whole cast is already attracted to Bakarina. This anime is a satiric version of a dating sim because of that. I cannot imagine the frustration of starting a game in a dating sim where everyone already loves you. Still, your character is incapable of reading the situation.

On the contrary, you can say that this anime was kinda an otome game when Bakarina was a child. That is arguably true because every single episode was about Bakarina "conquering" each of the desired partners. However, Bakarina was not really interested in them. As she briefly explained in the first episode, she cannot be involved with these 8-year old brats. It was more about avoiding the "doom flags." So, even if there were some actual elements, this cannot be an otome for the lack of romance.

Second, the driving force of the plot is not romance. Bakarina is not attracted to the heroes, but she is trapped in a romantic setting. She is even afraid of them, especially from Geordo. In fact, her relationship with Geordo is the most dysfunctional relationship I have ever seen, which works as a recipe for comedy. Have you notice that every time that Geordo approaches Bakarina, she thinks that he is going to kill her. Bakarina has also been caught multiple times plotting plans to defend herself from Geordo in the future. I'm, in fact, expecting a sword duel with the song "duels of fate" playing in the background between Bakarina and Geordo. "I've the high ground, you cannot win, Geordo-sama," Bakarina may say.

Third, Bakarina is not advancing the romantic plot to advance the story, she must stop these plots from happening. In otome games, you continue through the game by interacting and making other characters to fall in love with you. Bakarina, on the other side, is starting to realize that her only chance to survive is frustrating all the plotlines between Maria Campbell and all the desired princes.

However, she seems to distress using all energy in learning how to make a profit of farming. This is not Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, Bakarina. This is an anti-otome/isekai. This is not the way! -I honestly love the fact that she is doing these pointless things in the misconception that may help her to improve her magic abilities.



The salvation of Bakarina is destroying the original plotlines of Maria Campbell. The route that I would follow is trying to ruin every single dating scene between Maria and the prospective partners. This was the first idea that comes to my mind. It's is obvious. This is also what has been successful for Bakarina upon this point. This means that while Bakarina tries to avoid being the antagonist of the story and sometimes even cheer for Maria, her only chance may be actually becoming the antagonist. This is the irony. Bakarina, you must protect your fortress and the interest of all the desired partners.

Again, what is the path that Bakarina should take? This is a tough question.

In the fourth and fifth episodes, we saw some scenes of this. Bakarina is also starting to realize that her actions are destroying the main plot lines of the original game. For instance, the love line between Keith and Maria is screwed at this point because Keith is no longer a starving playboy -he became the "sister complex" character now. Poor Keith; indeed, watching this poor guy trying to persuade his sister that he was not interested in Maria was hilarious.  I couldn't stop feeling sorry for the poor Keith while Bakarina was cheering for his nonexistent relationship. Keith's plotline was also later screwed when Bakarina saved Maria from the bullies.


This is very nonrelated, but at some points, I found myself making parallels with Toradora. In Toradora, the two main characters' goals were to make the other two different side characters to fall in love with them, so they made this weird alliance. However, succeeding in their original goal was destroying the real plot and conflict: Facing your own emotion, be honest with you, and that the main characters were, in fact, already in love for each other. Here, it's the same, if Bakarina pursues her love interests, it may destroy her chances of achieving her main goal, which is surviving. Instead of pursuing love, she may need to just seek friendship with all characters or stealing Maria from the other characters by engaging in a lesbian relationship. Whatever it takes to survive, please take it, Bakarina.

The fact that after so many years, she can just do a earth bump is hilarious

To conclude, I would label this anime as an actual satiric of an otome game. There is no romance, no structure, and no rules of an otome. It actually makes fun of these elements. HOW CAN WE EVEN CALL THIS AN OTOME WHEN THE ONLY GOAL OF BAKARINA IS SURVIVING THIS MAD GAME THAT WE CALL LOVE?? Poor Bakarina, I'll cheer for you. Please keep making us laugh every weekend. You are legit. I also cheer for Keith, he is the best husbando-sister-complex-sidekick.

PD: If you like this entry, you may also like this one: Infinite Dendrogram; The magic of gaming with your brother or sister (Episodes 1 and 2)