My personal favorite, Tsukiumi.
I can just imagine the outcries against anything ecchi related in anime nowadays, considering many people feel anime is saturated with the stuff. Despite the accessibility of anime to an incredibly vast array of demographics, otaku culture remains dominated by young adult men, so the existence of a show like Sekirei will never be as surprising as it might be if things were balanced out. I sat through Sekirei, understanding its fan-service aims, and will admit that it was amusing. Not spectacular by any means, but amusing.
"Were there boobs?"
Why yes, there were lots of those. And boobs are usually attached to women (save for Sekirei's resident gender-bender Homura), meaning there were lots of women. But breasts aside, the story's main character, Minato, becomes inextricably tied to a tournament where female beings called Sekirei must pair up with individual humans (Ashikabi) and defeat all other Sekirei. Joining teams with ashikabi allows a sekirei's powers to awaken, a process initiated through kissing. Minato is paired with the unfathomably cheery Musubi after she falls from the sky and into his lap, and through their relationship we find that this Sekirei Plan is little more than an expanded version of Pokemon, where alien girls slave for male masters in order to be the best at... something.
"A pair of boobs with deadly combat skills."
"But Nelson, the sekirei were fighting to spend their lives with the ashikabi! That's the point of the tournament! Weren't you watching?"
Yes, a pharmaceutical zaibatsu called MBI decides to host this tournament to "usher in a new age of the gods" using the sekirei. The tournament was designed to eliminate all other sekirei until one is left standing, all part of an ill-defined master plan. At the end of the second series, when this plan seems temporarily foiled, MBI's chairman runs away into space and the audience gets a large smack to the face in the words "To Be Continued." If a third season or OVA film is in the works, I'd love to know about it. Otherwise, here's an anime that forces us to read manga to get the rest of the story, which explains why Sekirei's finale crammed in enough explosions and fighting and barely enough plot.
"Didn't you like anything about this show? Why are you reviewing it?"Like any successful harem, the female characters were distinct enough so that at least one would appeal to any audience member. They were also simple enough so that background info wouldn't interfere with the fact that these sekirei are objectified subjects of the male gaze and nothing more. Their sole desire was to serve Minato in whatever capacity they could, from walking into his bath sessions offering to scrub him, to placing themselves in constant peril for his sake. As one character puts it, "There doesn't have to be a reason to love someone." And this makes sense in the context of Sekirei, because the girls were attracted to their ashikabi due to strong biological urges they couldn't understand. What harem actually has the main character seeking out women of his own initiative, who love him for legitimate and intimate reasons?
My favorite characters were just about everyone - except Musubi. She was bland, a naive nothing-person, a pair of boobs with deadly combat skills. Naturally, she also became Minato's main sekirei squeeze, because it's always the safe and boring good girls who are paired with harem heroes. I took a liking to Tsukiumi, a buxom blonde who speaks medieval English and fiercely resisted being paired with an ashikabi. When Minato finally manages to woo her she insists that he marry her, and so calls Minato her husband for the rest of the show. I love her tsundere origins, which she somewhat loses as time goes on, traded in for an annoying whining about the other sekirei getting time with Minato.
"Does this prove that all harem anime suck? What are your final thoughts, Nelson?"Sekirei falls short of harem greatness (does such a thing exist?) because its awesome opening moves eventually level out to form a standard harem anime. A tournament featuring 108 space babes? A main character who is attracting powerful sekirei although he feels unworthy? Both are captivating ideas if executed with any class, and the show actually grants some depth to the sekirei agenda and allows Minato to stop being such a wimp. But when drama isn't ensuing, the story's downtime becomes repetitive dribble, the same quibbles and boob humor running around unfettered. Is it too much to ask that Musubi develop a brain, or that Tsukiumi grow a spine and make actual romantic advances on Minato?
Ah, who am I kidding? Of course that's too much to ask for.
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