@TitanAnteus:
1: So, should the MC reciprocate the feelings of the girls, developing a committed relationship, sex will become the only option for the next step? And the MC behaving like he hates the female body is the only way to keep it from happening? If this is how authors think, then it explains a lot. Even if sex ended up in their immediate future (which it doesn't need to be, even in an ecchi manga), it can still be included in the story without turning it into H--multiple stories have done this, in fact, and the ones I have in mind don't have sissy MCs.
2: "Coming of age"? Toward becoming what, a punching bag? A footstool? Perhaps an emotional tampon? Love Hina's a remarkable example you chose, BTW--Narusegawa beat the hell out of Keitaro, and he still rewards her with
marriage. It took his adopted sister socking that harpy to (allegedly, I couldn't watch beyond two or three episodes, so many years ago) set her straight. That said, lacking confidence with women is one thing--but once one makes the jump, there's no room for a lack of self-confidence, because it's only through some measure of confidence that one makes the move in the first place. What makes it even harder to believe and/or understand is that
the girls reciprocate the feelings. The only reason a guy could be so diffident is because he fears rejection or some other negative outcome; the girls in situations like that of the MC of this story make it clear that
there are no negative outcomes to fear. Besides, many of these MCs are in positions that imply they've no business not having "come of age" by that point. You can't tell me some MC will have such a cavalier attitude toward fighting or even killing (be it for just reasons or not), and even demonstrate mature perspectives on either, but some how regress to the mental maturity of a seven-year-old when it comes to women. You'd have to jump through more than a few narrative hoops to rationalize that and suspend disbelief. It's just been done too much, and exceptions do not disprove the phenomenon.
3: Another assumption. You would do well to reread that particular response to you, if you're interested in what I said there. That said, the reason I spoke of magic as I did initially was because it was/is used as a reason to keep MCs looking and behaving exactly as they tend to: like low-T, accordingly spineless wimps. I have no problems with MCs that have massive power, be it physical or magical. But...please do avoid slipping open spoilers into your replies, however minor or indirectly stated.
4: It is not the aim of the author, not when this is an ecchi manga, and not when the lead girl does what she does--once again, 0 to 90 in one chapter. That said, what is he so hampered by? What hampers him so cripplingly that he steels himself, gathers his resolve, and declares his intent to commit to three girls in lingerie in bed with him? (Speaking of which...
whatever could their presence in bed with him, in such attire--or lack thereof--mean?) If he was so hampered, why'd he do it? Why didn't he just leave the bed, and wait a few years to properly mature and stop thinking of the female body as so icky?
Moving along, sure, there are responsibilities and caveats involved with getting involved with a woman. But then, once again--why didn't he reject them all if that was such an issue? What caveats could exist upon taking girls who've effectively fallen for him--that he himself is attracted to--as servants, I don't know, but he could have just declined. (Would make even less sense, however.) And while the story has given him no reason to see them as wives just yet, it's given him ample reason to regard them at least as romantic interests--however, it has given him no reason whatsoever to view them as objects of repulsion ("Her face...it's too c-close..!"). That said, and at this point, he knows that these girls are the good ones (Lizel has already explained herself to that end already, and the other two have established their characters already--note, I get the feeling that Miyabi was testing him to see if he was as purely licentious as the others, like the hooded guy in the latest chapter), he
does know that he likes them (otherwise, why would he care about taking them as his own, not to speak of protecting them as you said), and his liking the lewdness stems from his actually liking them--otherwise, he'd be no better than The World (don't tell me you think it's solely power he seeks from Lizel, when he already has it and threatens to kill her if she resists him).
I wonder if these girls would still like this guy if he, while keeping his good morals, wasn't so horribly passive. I don't see why not, but it may not be the author's intent.