In the world of Seirei Tsukai, pure maidens have the ability to make contracts with spirits and wield their power in the form of weapons. Kamito is a careless young boy who stumbles upon one of these maidens, Claire, while she’s taking a bath. Clearly, she thinks he’s a pervert, but soon she is shocked to discover he’s the only male capable of making contracts with spirits.

The similarities between Blade Dance and Bahamut are many and quite obvious. To begin with, the main characters in both shows meet each other in the exact same situation, a bath incident. Kamito has to attend an all-girls high school where he is both loathed and wanted by the female students. The biggest difference is that characters fight using magic and spiritual weapons instead of mecha.

Infinite Stratos is probably the first (or among the first) of these kind of shows, and therefore quite an original one. It tells the story of a world in which women can operate giant mecha, making them superior to men. However, there is one boy, Ichika Orimura, who can operate these mecha, and he’s actually quite skilled at it. Ichika now attends an elite academy of future IS pilots, where he’s surrounded by all kinds of girls.

Merely by reading both shows’ synopsis, one would immediately think Bahamut is an IS rip off. Both shows have a male protagonist attending an all-girls high school, where he meets stereotypical characters such as the tsundere and dandere. Both high schools happen to be training academies for mecha pilots, and in both shows the male character is challenged to a fight by the female protagonist on the first episode.

Bahamut may be, in all likelihood, an IS rip off. But who can blame them? IS is a damn good show and a nice role model for all fantasy harem anime.

Rakudai Kishi is one of the top fantasy ecchi shows of the last season. It’s pretty similar to Bahamut in many aspects but it’s somewhat original in some others. In a futuristic world, Magic Knights fight using weapons which manifest from their souls. Ikki Kurogane is regarded as the “Worst One” in his magic school for not having magical skills. Yet, he compensates that with certain hidden abilities.

Rakudai Kishi is mostly similar to Bahamut in its characters and the way some events unfold. The first thing we’ll notice is how in both shows, the female protagonist challenges the male character to a duel on the first episode. The outcomes of these battles are more or less the same, the girl is bested and the boy earns her respect and admiration. Of course, they develop a love hate relationship from that point onwards.

Sky Wizards Academy is set in a world where humanity lives on floating cities due to the threat of giant beetle-like monsters. Sky Wizards are in charge of fighting them off, so potential Sky Wizards are trained in the academy city of Misutogan. Kanata Age used to be an elite Sky Wizard, but he’s now scorned and branded a traitor. To redeem himself he has to train the three worst female students in the academy.

This fantasy action school drama is also quite new, and it shares a few similarities with Bahamut. To begin with, the male character has to put up with a group of awkward girls, who hate him one minute and admire him the next. But most importantly, both shows are about these young students who train to become knights and protect their cities from the attacks of some terrible monsters. One has got ugly-looking dragons and the other one has big fat beetles.

Date a Live is quite a good one. It’s much more of a light taste comedy harem show. It gets a bit ridiculous at times, but that’s also part of its appeal. Shido Itsuka is an average high school boy who finds a strange girl in a crater after a time space blast. It turns out that some powerful beings from another dimension appear randomly on Earth, devastating the space around them.

These beings (who happen to be gorgeous girls) are particularly difficult to eliminate, so the anti-spirit organization Ratatosk decides to neutralize them by making them fall in love. Of course, they have no better idea than sending poor Shido to do the job.

Date a Live is a fantastic action harem with a ladies man as the male protagonist, just like Bahamut. The girls use armored suits (not exactly mecha) like in Bahamut, and you’ll also find some of the same stereotypes. The big difference here is that Shido has no special abilities, and his only way to protect his world is by reaching the heart of the spirit girl, with his charm as his only weapon.