Man, I'm actually kind of tired of seeing 'Ash x harem' used as a shorthand for 'complex relationships' on Wattpad. It often feels like an excuse for wish-fulfillment where every girl in the Pokémon world is obsessed with him without any real friction. The complexity gets flattened—Misty's fiery temper, Serena's quiet determination, Dawn's competitive spirit—they all just blur into this adoring chorus. The most interesting fics I've found are the rare ones that break from that mold, where Ash's own obliviousness becomes a genuine source of conflict, not just a cute running gag. There was this one story, forget the name, where May actually got fed up and left on her own journey after a huge fight about his priorities, and it completely shifted the group dynamic for chapters. That felt real.
Most of the time, though, the 'complexity' is just a rotating door of romantic declarations that Ash somehow never hears, or a new rival love interest who shows up for three chapters. The platform's algorithm seems to reward quantity of pairings over quality of interaction, so you get these sprawling casts where Lillie, Marnie, and some OC from Alola are all hanging around with zero narrative reason to be there. The truly layered dynamics come from writers who commit to one or two relationships and let the messiness of juggling friendships, rivalries, and romance play out slowly, instead of just checking names off a list. I end up scrolling past the obvious harem tags more often than not these days; my patience for that superficial version of 'complex' has worn pretty thin.