Imagine this scenario: you get a crowd of girls falling in love with a guy. She can be the girl-next-door, the high school cheerleader, the student council president, the foreign exchange student, or even the teacher! Do note that the harem genre does not restrict itself to a school setting, as the environment can range from exotic islands to vast galaxies. So what makes this guy so special that he has girls gravitating towards him? He doesn't exactly match the criteria of the perfect guy. In fact, he is so bland as a vanilla that the only characterization given to him that he's just a nice guy. That's your harem protagonist in a nutshell.
See, if you are anything like the harem protagonist, all you have to do is be nice to the girls that you encounter, and suddenly they fall heads over heels for you. In real life, you'll be even lucky if the girl you like even knows you exist in the first place. So the only question you have to ask is, how is that harem protagonist not in the dreaded friendzone?
I think the Harem protagonist is often left as vanilla as possible because any sort of characterisation means it's harder for consumers to live vicariously through him, as he is supposed to act as a blank slate for us to project ourselves onto. – salparadise969 years ago