Alternative title(s): Giji Harem
Manga Adaptation by Nomad
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Rin Nanakura is a talented actress and naturally, she decides to join the drama club. One of her dorky senpais jokes about wanting a harem of pretty girls, and she plays along by becoming a one woman harem – using her acting skills to play different classic character types like The Cool Girl and The Tsundere.

Jel’s verdict: It’s not that bad! Hear me out…

Good characters, chemistry, and writing can overcome even the worst sounding anime rom com premise. I was relieved to find that Pseudo Harem has at least some of those things. It starts with the one woman harem hook, which ends up being a dumb inside joke between the main couple that they do not take seriously. When you frame it that way, I have probably made similar or dumber running gags with my friends. This sets the foundation for a surprisingly loose and breezy series of vignettes about two people flirting with each other.

The main couple have a natural chemistry that starts with Rin. It’s interesting, she’s the only character that we can hear their inner thoughts, and it’s here we discover she has an unambiguous crush on the main guy, Eiji. Her harem act is explicitly her way of flirting, and not something she’s being coerced to do. I personally found Eiji slightly annoying, but I was glad he’s not the typical quiet, loner incel type of loser protagonist. He’s actually outgoing, has friends, and is kind of a goofball. It’s not a total shock that Rin likes him.

Is Pseudo Harem still male targeted fantasy wish fulfillment? Probably. There is a lot of screen time devoted to Rin making cute faces and saying cute lines while looking directly into the camera at the audience. Eiji’s requests for Rin to play certain characters sometimes push up to the border of creepy. Those aspects are mild enough that they didn’t bother me though. I am more concerned that Pseudo Harem will not have enough interesting content to fill an entire season of anime. These two kids are already practically dating, and there’s only so many anime stereotypes that Rin can play. So I don’t anticipate watching more of this, although if I have time maybe I’ll check out episode 2. That’s a lot better than what I expected going into it.