Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World

Episode 4

Alright, here we are! Four episodes into the show all about getting sex slaves and we finally get to see our hero have sex with a slave! It's easily the most momentous, notable thing to happen in this show in a month, and so much like the series itself, I'm going to make you wait before I get to it. It's nowhere near the almost two hours of foreplay that Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World made us sit through to get here, but there are still just enough other elements I feel I need to address and discuss in the run-up to this episode's underwhelming climax. Because it seems like every corner of the surrounding context here can be pulled up to reveal another mess of issues with this anime that distracts from its alleged appeal even more than the obligatory censorship.

To start, there's the question of Roxanne herself. I've had my wonderings about her since the beginning of the series, but figured I could hold off until she was bought into the main cast as she has been now. Obviously I know it's a fool's errand to seek especially deep interiority from this character in the show entirely about objectifying women, but Harem Labyrinth has hinted at just enough details about its alleged female lead that, dangit, it's got me curious! I think it's fair to wonder why Roxanne was forced to put out the red light, what her unique circumstances alluded to by the slave trader might have been. But that goes uninterrogated in all the run-up this episode, with barely even any illustration of Roxanne's personality. We find out she is, uh, particular about equipment selection and maintenance, but every other one of her interactions comes off with a sense of vaguely-pleasant resignation, staring at the ground or making remarks on clothes and items she wants.

I bring up the curiosity that Harem Labyrinth piqued with me regarding Roxanne's personality because I want to make clear that I didn't come into this show unilaterally wanting to dump on it, I really was hoping and searching for some interest points beyond the perfunctorily pornographic premise. Similarly, I initially had the intrigued impression that the setup for the series was our main character purchasing people sold as sex-slaves, but 'cleverly' opting to use them as a quick and easy way to fill out his party for taking on that titular labyrinth. Except it was established a couple episodes ago and reinforced this week that using your collared concubines as maze-exploring muscle is a standard, accepted practice by plenty of adventurers in this world already. Which not only comes off as a really frickin' weird piece of regular lore if you think about it for more than two seconds, but casts one more aspect of this whole show's setup as something Michio didn't conceive of on his own, but just had thrown into his lap by the setting.

Michio's disposition through all this is honestly the weirdest part to me. After three episodes of him enthusiastically saving up his lunch money to buy Roxanne, fantasizing about all the action he was going to get with her, he suddenly seems to forget his actual arrangement for 75% of this episode. It's downright jarring, making it come off like our main character was possessed by some kind of determined, horny ghost up until now, before regressing into a freshman on his first prom night the instant he actually catches the car that is his inaugural slave-wife. He comes off as bizarrely noncommittal to the whole slave-owner schtick, not seeming especially interested in asking Roxanne about herself or learning more about her as a person, but only sweetly regarding her from afar to pass the time until their big night together. And I understand that treating her simply like some exhibit in a heavy-petting zoo is the surface-level way a lot of audience members are going to engage with this show, but for me it only highlights what's lacking about this story's setup.

And that's the key issue that I think can be critically assessed. You certainly don't need me to tell you that the sex scene itself is rendered utterly pointless by this broadcast, that's the entire business model! All vestiges of saucy imagery (including tongue-kissing!) have been blocked behind error pop-ups to be revealed with later premium-purchase versions in what is effectively an official ransomware scam by the anime producers themselves. Yes, there's some unintentional comedy of when and how the censorship boxes pop up, or the undertaking of the actual intercourse in this cut necessarily being shown through the amusingly avant-garde representation of a piano solo and thirty-three seconds of hands. But is all that even going to be worth it to you when what you end up uncovering with your hard-searched torrents (come on, I know none of you are actually buying this) is the hardcore fantasy of courteous missionary-position sex under the covers?

Those are the middling consequences of Harem Labyrinth's wishy-washy approach to its fantasy as it finally hits this half-baked honeymoon. There's no tension or dynamic to the duo of characters that even approaches the inherent power fantasy behind its nominal slave-ownership element. But then it also doesn't make any real effort to dial up the potential romanticism or genuine connection of the two characters who wound up in this setup. It instead hits a mediocre middle ground, coming off more akin, to me anyway, to the most half-baked step-sibling fantasy romances: Simply predicated on having A Girl in preset cohabitative proximity to you that you can interact with on a quasi-romantic basis without having to do the scary meeting and getting-to-know-someone parts of a relationship. But those are the best parts of watching a romance! What we got here instead was twenty minutes of two porn actors who didn't know each other standing around waiting to start shooting their scene, which then A) couldn't be fully shown here and B) wasn't all that interesting from what we did get to see.

Rating:

Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.