Marco’s A Harem Anime Protagonist
Shows like Star vs. The Forces of Evil tend to take a lot of influence from anime coming out of Japan. The whole premise was inspired by Daron’s Nefcy love for Sailor Moon, after all. However, I’ve also noticed that the show wound up taking influence from other genres of anime without meaning to; specifically, the harem anime genre. Case in point, we have our main male character, Marco Diaz.
A running gag throughout the Star fandom is the fact that Marco winds up having a bunch of different girls attracted to him. Thus, he’s the subject to heavy shipping in the fandom. Starco, Jarco, Janco, Markapoo, Kellco, Higgsco! The guy’s like a harem anime protagonist. So, in this next fan-fic, we run with that idea and see how far it can go.
Marco’s Highschool Harem Life
Author: NoHonor
Type of Fan Work: AU/Harem
First Published: July 15, 2019
Status: Ongoing
Synopsis
Marco Diaz is your normal 16-year-old high schooler. When he’s not getting good grades in school, he’s hanging out with his friends, his twin sister Mariposa, or practicing his karate like his idol Mackie Hand. Then one day, his life changes when the Principal tells him he’s been accepted into an exchange program with a school call Mewni High. The catch is that this isn’t a normal school: it’s in another dimension. And most of the school’s population consists of humanoid monsters.
In this new world of strange and incredible beings, Marco quickly feels out of his depth. Fortunately for him, he’s met with a cast of familiar faces who help him adjust. Together with his new friends, Marco begins his new life as the first human to attend Mewni High, with all the adventures you’d expect from a harem story!
Backstory Time!
Firstly, I think I should provide the premise behind this story. In this story’s timeline, Queen Skywynne Butterfly (aka Eclipsa’s grandmother) chose to abolish the monarchy and founded Mewni High. Which may or may not be Butterfly Castle converted into a boarding school. Eclipsa eventually became Dean, and somewhere along the lines, she accidentally made herself immortal. Thus, she’s been Dean for three hundred years.
Secondly, Mewni High’s home to students and faculty from all across the multiverse, including the Monsters of Mewni. Thanks to the school’s efforts, Monster’s are treated as equals from the get go, so things are much more peaceful. In addition, some of the adults from the show work as teachers at the school, including members of the Magic High Commission. This is the world that Marco Diaz finds himself in, and it’s pretty fun.
Reimagined Cast
Beyond Marco and characters explicitly from Earth, the rest of the cast are either Mewmans, monsters, or characters re imagined as monsters This includes Marco’s group of friends in Mewni High, who all happen to be the girls he’s close to on the show.
Firstly, we have Star Butterfly herself, who’s stuck in her Mewberty Form full-time. Unlike the show, though, it’s not boy-crazy and has to do with helping her body soak up magic. Jackie Lynn Thomas is a mer-girl, which is a nice nod to the fan theory that she was a mermaid. Hekapoo’s the same as she’s always been. Janna’s a witch, which is no surprise, and Kelly now has pointy ears and a tail under her hair. What is a surprise, though, is the last three members of the main cast. The first is Tammy, a gender-bent version of Tom, and Meteora, who’s been aged up to Marco’s age. Rounding out the group is Higgs, who starts out as mean-spirited as she was in the show, but eventually becomes the tsundere of the group; and she’s also a Valkyrie.
Really crazy cast huh?
Three Great Advantages
I’ve developed a soft spot for harem stories over the years, though I do have some standards regarding the genre. That said, I think NoHonor does a good job of adapting the show to fit this, and he has three things working in his favor.
Firstly, the idea of a harem for Marco’s not new: a lot of jokes have been made about how many girls are attracted to Marco in the show. As a result, they all transition well to this type of story.
Secondly, thanks to the show’s premise of inter-dimensional adventures and magic, the idea of a high school with students from across the multiverse doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Third and finally, this story takes a lot of inspiration from a harem anime called Rosario+Vampire. The premise is the same: human boy goes to school for monsters in another dimension and befriends a bunch of cute girls who all end up attracted to him. The difference is Marco doesn’t have to keep his human identity a secret.
Believe it or not, Rosario+Vampire was my first harem anime.
A Light-Hearted, Loyally Good Time
It may be because of my enjoyment of good harem anime, but I like Marco’s Highschool Harem Life. NoHonor clearly knows what he’s doing in regards to the show’s cast. Each of the characters retains enough of their personality to be recognizable, but unique enough to do their own thing. In addition, NoHonor stay’s pretty faithful to the show’s lore, throwing in a lot of easter eggs and references for eagle-eyed fans to look for.
In addition to all this, NoHonor also throws in references to other popular works, fan-made or otherwise. One chapter takes its name from a quote from Dragon Ball Z Abridged by Team Four Star, which I’m a big fan of. That same quote even recreates the most iconic scene from the 2000 animated The Emperor’s New Groove, which I found hilarious. Another chapter was basically a JoJo reference that will make fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure drool.
In short, I’d recommend you’d go read this if you like Star vs. The Forces of Evil or harem stories.
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