Nakamura Rin has just started at a new school and wants to join the drama club. While looking for the room where the club members meet, she encounters a boy named Kitahama Eiji, who is a member of the club. He leads her to the meeting place and introduces her to the other members. It turns out that Rin has incredible acting skills, and just a few lines from Romeo and Juliet were enough for the club president to welcome her with open arms.
From that day on, Rin often spends time with Eiji. She learns that he dreams of being popular with girls and creating his own harem. Rin comes up with the idea to help him achieve this dream by using her acting skills to create a harem of loving girls with different character types.
Giji Harem (2024) – Audiovisual Design
Video
As expected from Studio Nomad, I had no complaints about the visual aspect of Giji Harem. The character designs faithfully captured the essence of the original manga. The backgrounds were aesthetically pleasing and visually captivating. I was particularly impressed by how well the shadows on the characters were rendered. Key scenes were given extra attention, standing out not only visually but also in terms of animation quality.
Audio
In many ways, Giji Harem serves as a showcase of Hayami Saori’s incredible talent. Since the main character, Rin, embodies all the most popular personality archetypes found in Japanese media, the voice actress had to push her abilities to their limits. Why do I think so? The reason is simple. Maintaining the character’s essence and voice tone while simultaneously having her pretend to be other girls—who often display embarrassment or other intense emotions—is a significant challenge. Every reaction from Rin was utterly adorable. Hayami Saori’s performance in Giji Harem is undoubtedly one of her finest roles.
Given her impressive history of stellar performances, delivering something even better than her already perfect track record requires extraordinary skill. Of course, the rest of the cast didn’t disappoint either (which they rarely do). Okamoto Nobuhiko, in the role of Eiji, also delivered an exceptional performance. However, let’s be honest—Hayami Saori completely stole the show.
Giji Harem (2024) – Plot and Characters
Introduction
The moment I read the series’ synopsis while selecting summer anime, I knew I was in for a delightful experience. The promotional video, especially the clips featuring Hayami Saori’s voice work, only reinforced this impression.
A Quick Overview of Giji Harem’s plot
Nakamura Rin has just started at a new school and dreams of joining the drama club. While searching for the club’s meeting room, she encounters a boy named Kitahama Eiji, who claims to be the club president. He leads her to the clubroom, introduces her to the other members, and quickly gets caught in his lie. However, Rin doesn’t seem to mind.
The club members decide to test her acting skills by having her perform a short scene to see if she’s a good fit for the group. Rin’s talent is immediately apparent. Just a few lines from Romeo and Juliet are enough to earn her a warm welcome from the real club president.
From that day on, Rin spends a lot of time with Eiji. She learns about his dream of being popular with girls and creating his own “harem.” Rin comes up with a plan to help him achieve this dream. Using her acting skills, she creates a fictional harem of girls with different personality types just for him.
What is the series about
Giji Harem is primarily a comedy infused with sweet romance. Unlike other series of this genre, it progresses quite quickly, partly due to the age difference between the protagonists. Eiji is in his final year of high school and planning to attend university, while Rin is a first-year student. The main duo quickly becomes inseparable. Rin and Eiji spend almost all their free time together, with the events of the series portraying moments from their daily lives, occasionally interwoven with anticipation.
The gimmick of Rin switching personalities is fresh and rarely seen. I particularly liked how it wasn’t just used for comedic purposes. Rin could express her feelings under the guise of practicing her acting skills. With each episode, their relationship visibly develops.
The only downside I’d point out is the occasional large time skips. While attentive viewers could piece things together, I feel the series could have used 2–3 more episodes to flesh things out. I assume this isn’t an issue with the manga, but the anime creators clearly aimed to fit everything into a 12-episode format.
Characters
Nanakura Rin has a friendly personality, though she is somewhat shy. Her shyness was one of the main reasons she came up with the idea of acting out Eiji’s harem. It made it much easier for her to express her feelings while allowing her to mask it as practice for her acting skills, leaving Eiji thoroughly perplexed. Her acting abilities are so advanced that she convincingly adopts any character type she portrays.
Kitahama Eiji is a straightforward person, but he often struggles to read the atmosphere or understand the intentions of others. His conversations with the fictional harem created by Rin frequently leave him flustered, as reading between the lines and discerning Rin’s true feelings doesn’t come easily to him. Despite this, he absolutely loves spending time with her and is willing to go to great lengths to make her happy.
Throughout the twelve episodes, numerous characters make appearances. However, it’s clear they’re primarily supporting roles with little impact on the main storyline. The author’s intent was to focus the audience’s attention entirely on the main duo, and this is executed flawlessly.
Giji Harem (2024) – Evaluation and Summary
Giji Harem is an adorably sweet romance with perfectly balanced humor. Watching the adventures of the main characters brought me immense joy in every one of the twelve episodes. A significant highlight is the clear and steady progression of their relationship throughout the series. Moreover, the outstanding voice acting ensures that even if someone doesn’t typically enjoy shows of this genre, fans of Hayami Saori simply must watch this title.
Finalny werdykt
Final evaluation
Which translation do I recommend to watch Giji Harem (2024)?
- Crunchyroll (Official) – Giji Harem undoubtedly benefited from one of CR’s best translators. If I had to nitpick, I’d point out just one issue. The term koakuma was translated as imp. However, the standard for this character type is typically “little devil,” which better conveys the intended meaning.