The Harem Protagonist Was Turned Into A Girl!! And Doesn’t Want To Change Back!!!?? is novel by Fern V. Bedek. It is trans-affirming take on the Harem Genre and in particular of the tropes that frequently occur from 1980s-mid 2000 anime and manga (such as Urusei Yatsura, Tenchi Muyo!, and To Love Ru). It puts a spin on the usual "male lead is turned into a girl and hijinks ensue" plotline by having this happen to someone who at first appears to be a Chick Magnet Unlucky Everydude standard male Harem lead Kevin Fujikawa... who very quickly decides she wants to stay a girl because she just feels much more herself that way for some reason. It doesn't take her long to pick a new name, Svetlana.
Unfortunately for her most of the rest of harem (with the main exception of Svetlana's first girlfriend Vivian Wong and O’tmyil the sapient Hologram AI/attractive robot who operates Svetlana's super power battle uniform) balk at this for various reasons, from simple religion based bigotry from heir to various royal European bloodlines ridiculously wealthy Augusta Hozenberg-Lemonov-Bouragne, guilt from alien general Plynx (who's sister caused the transformation in a misguided attempt to break up Svetlana and Plynx), and confusion from gentle hearted vampire Thisbe. Svetlana has all this to juggle along with helping her best friend Cartridge McIntyre (formerly Andrew) who also come to her own self-realisation alongside Svetlana adjust as well.... and being the destined heir to the Galactic Empire which is how she ended up with several of her love interest in the first place, and caught up in an Intergalactic War where she has to frequently fight off random mooks from the Kobaroian empire.
Can be read on Scribble Hub here
, and a version illustrated by the author can purchased in ebook form on itch.io here and in both Kindle and print on demand paperback via Amazon.
This novel provides examples of:
- Armored Closet Gay: Augusta is in deep denial about being bisexual, she's the last of Svetlana's girlfriends to come around and only does when Plynx reveals Issiod’rian tech can easily allow two women to have children together.
- Battle Harem: Plynx is an alien soldier, Thisbe has vampire powers, O’tmyil is the A.I. that can fight on her own but usually is the onboard A.I. for Svetlana's battle uniform, Augusta and Vivian are ordinary humans but both have martial arts training. They frequently have to fight invaders from the Kobaroian empire who come to attack Svetlana.
- Closet Key: Svetlana acts as this to both Thisbe and Augusta, though Thisbe reacts a lot better to it than Augusta. Inverted with Vivian who says pre-transformation "Kevin" was the only reason she though she might be bisexual, turns out it was more a case of If It's You, It's Okay.
- Clothes Make the Superman: Svetlana can don a superpoweful alien battle uniform by activating a small disk that is effectively O’tmyil's brain - O’tmyil being the onboard A.I. for the suit.
- Gender Bender: Technically not, this was what Mynx intended from the the Issiod’rian Sexual Reassignment ray - to try and punish "Kevin" with forced transformation and make Plynx no longer interested in "him". She fails on both counts as Plynx is bisexual and "Kevin" immediately experiences gender euphoria once transformed and begins to socially transition more or less immediately.
- In Medias Res: We begin the plot just before Mynx uses the transformation ray on Svetlana and Cartridge (who at that point are still going by Kevin and Andrew). Some of Svetlana's musing reveal how she got the harem and why she's being attacked by aliens and has a power suit.
- Monster of the Week: The setting of the plot is intentionally reminiscent of the type of harem show where the protagonist also has to fight alien invaders as well as deal with harem shenanigans but we are thrown into the middle of this plot and the focus is on Svetlana and Cartridge's lives and relationships after being transformed.
- Polyamory: Fairly early on Vivian floats the idea of polyamory to Svetlana who agrees to try it out, the other members of the harem take varying amounts of time coming around to the idea.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Happened before the reader enters the plot, the reader can piece together that were this a conventional Harem story that Svetlana (known at the time as Kevin) being revealed to be the heir the Galactic Empire would be what attached several of the love interests to her.
- Rich Bitch: Augusta is easily the most abrasive and judgemental of the love interests and is ridiculously wealthy.
- Royal Brat: Augusta Hozenberg-Lemonov-Bouragne is apparently heiress to practically half of Europe, she also is rude, violent, and the least accepting of Svetlana's trans status believing the transformation ray to have messed with "Kevin's" head. This is largely due to her strict Catholic upbringing and wanting to have Svetlana's child so that the Hozenberg-Lemonov-Bouragne estate will have a male heir. She's also in deep denial about her own bisexuality.
- Transparent Closet: Svetlana and Cartidge waste little time in switching to female pronouns, and picking new names (Svetlana had been thinking about hers for years), experiencing gender euphoria and it still takes them having a conversation with nonbinary character Geordi for them both realise they both were always trans. Up till then they both had worried they'd been disrespectful to other trans-feminine people.
- Trans Relationship Troubles: Whilst Vivian and O’tmyil are accepting of Svetlana's transition the other harem members take more time, Thisbe as she didn't even consider dating another woman, Plynx as she doesn't realise Svetlana had always felt like her old male form didn't match her identity in fact she's horrified when she learns that humans assign gender at birth because Issiod’rians delay that decision till a person comes of age and Augusta due to a mixture of religious bigotry and wanting to get pregnant via "Kevin".
- Trans Tribulations: Whilst Svetlana has a lot of support from a lot of the cast she still experiences issues with some of her romantic partners, and a lot of self doubt about her identity at first. Cartridge is implied to have far less supportive parents but this only hinted at as it seems they aren't in contact anymore.
