Winter 2022 First Impressions – World’s End Harem

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 11

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Five years ago, Reito went into cryogenic sleep in order to wait out a cure for Cellular Sclerosis, a currently incurable disease. This occurs, inconveniently, just as he confesses his feelings to his childhood friend and fellow researcher, Erisa. He leaves a token with Erisa so that they can reconnect after he’s awoken from stasis, but as he slumbers the world transforms into an inhospitable and broken place.

After the MK (“Male Killer”) virus quickly obliterates the male population of Earth, society begins to crumble and deteriorate. For reasons that are still being studied, Reito’s Cellular Sclerosis treatment makes him immune to the ravages of the MK virus, and as one of 5 known men in his same position, the potential for his offspring to carry that immunity makes his sperm cells a precious commodity. In order for the Human Race to survive, Reito must help repopulate it. But the only woman that’s on Reito’s mind is his childhood friend, Erisa. Thus, he’s given an ultimatum – he can try to find Erisa, but in the meantime he’ll be faced with many other women who are passionately focused on obtaining Reito’s seed.

Impressions: I’m often intrigued by troubled productions – not really because I enjoy pointing and laughing at the suffering of others (I don’t), but more because I find myself fascinated by our inability, in the quest for progress and creation, to keep in mind the human element of how things come into being. This series was delayed several months from its intended premiere due to the sort of production troubles that have increasingly plagued anime production prior to and during the pandemic. We sometimes joke about episodes being completed just hours prior to their airing (Shirobako has an entire episode related to this), but the fact is that art is created by people, and people who are overworked, underpaid, and forced into untenable situations simply can’t be expected to produce their best work.

And World’s End Harem is far from what I’d call anyone’s best work simply judging from its premise. A thinly-veiled impregnation fetish romp wrapped in sci-fi clothing, It’s the kind of story that’s just never intended to win any awards for creativity or execution. But entertainment meant for sexual gratification isn’t doomed to be bad either, and even if produced under less-than-ideal circumstances, it’s often the case that art speaks to something greater than itself even if its message isn’t entirely intentional.

Having been faced with the prospect of spending a good portion of his waking life having sexual intercourse with women willing to carry his offspring, Reito protests to feeling like he’s being turned into a stud horse against his will. There’s a cultural perception that any heterosexual man would be delighted at being told that hundreds of women would jump at the chance to have sex with him. Yet, coming from my own demisexual background, the reality is that sexuality isn’t an automatic function, and being forced to go through with the act without the accompanying desire is a sort of horror that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Perhaps World’s End Harem can serve as a sort of microcosm of this idea, more specifically as it relates to animation productions. I’m sure its budget was similar to the standard set by other anime series, and yet here it is, stumbling onto the scene a season later than was intended and still not looking particularly refined or even very visually consistent. With all other things being equal, it simply feels like a project that didn’t have the benefit of any creative passion in spite of how hard anyone may have been forced to work to complete it. However one might feel about the actual premise and content of the series, that’s perhaps the element that damns it the most.

Pros: I like that this story doesn’t seem to be as straightforward as one might expect. Its immediate focus doesn’t seem to be on titillation at all; in fact, a lot of the “fanservice” this series dishes out is made decidedly uncomfortable due to the fact that the situation surrounding it is so dire and toes the line of consent. The process of willing procreation can be fun, but obligatory, emergency procreation is decidedly un-fun and sort of gross, depending on the specific circumstances. I think that this episode at least tries to speak to that point.

At least until the collapse of society, the series portrays a sort of utopia that I hope is someday achievable. People are no longer forced to work simply to live; those who do specific jobs do so because that’s how they feel fulfilled. I’d like to think that this is a philosophy that might manifest in real-life someday (although, without an accompanying terrible pandemic that wipes out half of the population).

Cons: Speaking of wiping out half of the population, there’s an aspect of this premise that doesn’t sit well with me. After all the men are killed, it’s stated that there’s a huge loss of expertise, especially in the science and tech worlds. While this could be interpreted as a warning about the consequences of gender-based gatekeeping within these sorts of careers, the tone of the series seems too unquestioning for this to be the case. On the contrary, it reads to me as more of a set of toxic assumptions about women’s ability to learn quickly and adapt. I feel as though there’s very little expertise that can’t be taught or learned, and people with even a basis in certain fields could likely pick up on knowledge they would need to keep technology infrastructure from collapsing. While resource distribution would more than likely suffer from a lack of warm bodies to move things around, I don’t appreciate the implication that so much knowledge would be lost from an inability of women to learn how things work.

Content Warnings: Fanservice (potentially graphic, although the streaming version I watched was heavily censored to the point of obscuring literally everything with black boxes). Implied sex discrimination/gender-based negative assumptions. Violence.

Would I Watch More? – The subject matter in this series isn’t really my cup of tea to begin with; add to that the coercive sexual angle and the generally cursed production itself and I can’t see myself really enjoying this series. While I’d be comfortable saying there’s more meat on its bones than I expected, that doesn’t mean I find it entertaining.