Ecchi anime has had a controversial last few years with titles such as Interspecies Reviewers airing in Winter 2020 and Redo of Healer airing in Winter 2021. The two titles aired with a lot of controversies as Interspecies Reviewers reached borderline pornographic content making it almost impossible to censor, resulting in Funimation cancelling the simulcast and dub release of the series. Redo of Healer hit even higher levels of controversy as it aired with full sex scenes that weren’t entirely consensual, with many feeling the scenes had been wedged into the series just to keep up the spice factor.
Harem shows are some of the most infamous for lewd ecchi content, and this year has been no different with the Winter 2022 season following every other year with the much-anticipated release of World’s End Harem after the series had been delayed from an Autumn 2021 release, finally airing in January 2022. This delay occurred despite the first episode airing on Japanese TV as a “special advance broadcast”, with all streaming episodes not coming to platforms for another three months.
World’s End Harem has been a popular sci-fi manga serialised in Shonen Jump+ since 2016, with fourteen volumes so far released. The series follows our protagonist Mizuhara Reito as he wakes up into a dystopian world that has been ravaged by the MK virus. Immediately questioning why he is surrounded by women, Reito finds out that the MK stands for “Man-Killer”, a disease that has wiped out 99.9% of the world’s male population. This means Reito is a rare living male and is seen as a critical figure for repopulating the planet.
Delays often leave fans waiting, but most of an anime’s audience will be happy to wait if it means the studio's employees have an easier time putting out a quality show. So, why is the show being called controversial? Well, that lies in the absurd male fantasy presented in the story of World’s End Harem. The anime so far has played out like a hentai plot with risque scenes befitting such a setting being censored beyond belief for Japanese TV release, with Crunchyroll even keeping the censorship for all of the anime’s streaming simulcasts.
Unlike Interspecies Reviewers, which was pulled for its over the top NSFW content that could not be censored in time, World’s End Harem has aired fully on streaming platforms but with such heavy censorship receiving backlash from fans. However, the controversy over Interspecies Reviewer and its banishment to illicit streaming sites did wonders for the show's popularity; World’s End Harem has faced the opposite with the heavy censorship on platforms like Crunchyroll leaving fans disappointed with its viewing.
Final Thoughts
World’s End Harem has aired to quite a lot of controversy, which has split fans, with people either finding it to be the embodiment of the worst of anime. However, the anime has held a sizeable audience throughout its first season’s running, enjoying all things ecchi about the sci-fi romp. So what do you think of World’s End Harem? Has it been too censored for your liking, or are you glad of the big black bars? Lets us know in the comments!
Author: Lewis Williamson
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