I do realize that this is probably an essential part of the comedy, but occasionally I have to wonder why it is that in the wackier harem comedy anime, the main male protagonist is so very unlucky. It is as though the universe exists entirely to take a dump onto that character's karma. After a while, it ceases to be mere schadenfreude, and turns into a sort of horrific and yet hilarious absurdist comedy.

Offhand, I remember that Excel Saga deals with a parody of something like this in the form of Pedro and his screams of despair, and I'm sure we all remember Keitarou Urashima from Love Hina. The sequence of events goes something like such: the male lead attempts to do a certain task. Circumstances all converge in a highly improbable manner that may power starships to place him in a position of maximum embarrassment and bodily discomfort, stopping just short of outright killing him. (Or not, as the more outrageous shows sometimes attempt: Dokuro-chan, anyone?) Meanwhile, there will be the presence of an attractive girl (or several), which may or may not have any actual bearing on the male lead's predicament.

Now, note that I don't have an actual problem with this. This is, after all, what looks like a staple of the genre, and while I don't especially like the stereotypical hapless male lead, I don't dislike him either. It just is, like the mountains or the seas or the rabid fangirls.

What does give me pause, however, is in how over the top some of these situations may be. The male lead's physical resilience is shown to far exceed anything the more serious sort of Western superhero is capable of withstanding, as long as he shows an adverse reaction to it. Everything is, in effect, comedic damage, which lasts until it is no longer funny. Damage resistance is inversely proportional to how relevant the scene is for plot progression: Keitarou randomly accidentally peeks at Naru, and get punted into Low Earth Orbit with no ill effects. He gets into Tokyo University before the plot desires, and he gets squished by a giant stone head, resulting in a broken leg. This is Warner Brothers Cartoon Violence, with the addition of cute girls.

Mention should also be made that occasionally the girls are the ones suffering from the whims of comedy. To follow with the Love Hina example, Mutsumi is probably the most obvious, although all of the Hinata-sou residents (with the possible exception of Haruka) have had bad luck happen to them at one point or another (in Motoko's case, probably because the serious ones are funnier). And then there's the Misfortunes of Mikuru Asahina, where it is unclear how much of the plot abuse is due to Haruhi's viewing of the world in genre conventions, and how much is due to Mikuru's doormat personality interacting with Haruhi's forceful one, resulting in unintended consequences. Considering Haruhi's powers, this question may well be pointless.

In any case, once again, I must repeat that I don't see this as a Bad Thing, or a Good Thing, but merely a Thing Which Exists. Why it exists is something that someone else, likely with a firmer grasp of film history, would have to answer.